All Chapters of Ashes to Dawn : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

GRACE'S POV The smoke in the room wasn't coming from the room, it was coming from somewhere else in the house. With my brain still foggy, I hopped out of bed, coughing violently. I immediately rushed out of the room and went straight to the kitchen. Susan was in the middle of using a kitchen towel to blow the smoke out. Meanwhile, the source of the smoke, a charred something, sat still in the frying pan on a not turned off stove.I would've slapped my face in desperation if I wasn't on the edge of choking. I went straight to the stove, turned it off, and then put the charred whatever in the bin. Susan turned to me, a guilty smile plastered across her face. “Hey, sleepyhead.” She coughed.I wasn't smiling. I was annoyed with her. “What is this, Grace? Are you trying to kill me by suffocation?” I snapped, pushing past her to open the window wider. “Asphyxia. That's the medical term that covers the entire…concept of suffocation. Just so you know, you know. But it's not like I was tr

GRACE’S POVNo. No, no, no. Absolutely not. I did not want to see Michael, not even if we had never met in this timeline. My breath hitched, sharp and painful, like my lungs had suddenly forgotten how to work. Michael stood across the road, one hand tucked into his pocket, the other holding his phone loosely. He looked…normal. Calm. Unbothered. Like a man waiting for someone or something, not like someone who had once murdered his wife, nor will ever. My stomach twisted violently. I forgot about where I stood, memories of my previous timeline flashing through my mind in reminder. I remembered catching him, Susan in his arms on our matrimonial bed. The look on his face that said he was glad I'd found out about them. The annoyance on his face when I confronted him and even when I told him about my cancer. The fact that he believed I was just seeking attention with my illness baffled me and hurt me too. The pain of my head colliding with the edge of the table came back in a split se

GRACE'S POV The weekend rolled by smoothly, and met me on my couch, with a bowl of salted popcorn and a show that made me laugh, but I didn't know the plot. It's not like I didn't want to know the plot or that I wasn't paying enough attention. I was paying attention, it's just that I had a hard time following movies sometimes. The dialogue was pretty good though. “Like I was saying, then, she gathered all the files, mine and hers, and then dumped them on my desks.” Susan said as she came into the living room, dressed up in my shirt and a pair of shorts I believe I'd thrown away. I turned to look at her, eyes wide in interest. “No way. Like, hers and yours?” She threw her hands in the air, exasperatedly. “I know! Can you imagine? She gave me both hers and mine to work on. Who does that? And when I confronted her about it, she screeched that she was heavily pregnant and needed no stress. And that besides, she's my superior and I have no other option than to do what she says.” Okay

GRACE’S POVBy the time we stepped out, the night had already settled into its usual rhythm.There was something about weekends that made the world feel louder and wilder, especially the nights. It was like everyone had been holding their breath all week, enduring and finally decided to exhale at once, letting go of all the pressure of the week. Music spilled from open doors, laughter echoed down the street, cars zoomed back and forth. It was just as beautiful as it was chaotic.Susan practically vibrated with excitement.“This,” she announced, linking her arm through mine, “is already a better decision than staying in.”I sported a quiet laugh, glancing down at my outfit for the umpteenth time. It wasn’t that I looked bad, I thought I looked okay. Perhaps even good. It was just that stepping out like this felt like stepping into something unpredictable. It always made me feel like I was standing on the edge of something I was unable to see quite well. “That, I can argue for days,” I

GRACE'S POV The moment those words left my mouth, I wished I had just slipped out of the bar and gone home instead. What was I even thinking? Was I thinking?Lana's head snapped towards me. Shock spread over her face, surprise mixing in. She clearly wasn't expecting me to be here, talk less walk up to her.“Grace?” she said, blinking like she wasn’t entirely sure I was real. I wish I wasn't, too. “In the flesh,” I replied lightly, crossing my arms. The stance looked defensive, but that wasn't my aim. I just wanted to look like I didn't feel too sympathetic. There was a brief pause between us, the air freezing slightly in anticipation, just like I was.She studied me for a moment, her expression shifting between confusion, then something more guarded.“I didn’t expect to see you here,” she said finally, shifting her eyes to somewhere else.“Me, too, but, well,” I shrugged. “I suppose life is full of unexpected things.” That, I could make my everyday mantra.Her lips twitched slight