20 Years Later Novels & Stories

TWO YEARS LATER Two years old feels heavier than it sounds. Diana knows this as she stands by the window, watching the backyard slowly fill with people she once thought would never live long enough to argue about tablecloths and cake flavors. Two years is not just candles and balloons. It is survival stacked on top of survival until it starts to look like a life. Atlas turns two today.

“You still can't remember?” “I don't remember killing this woman or ordering anyone to kill her.” “Cal can't be wrong you know.” “Why remember this now, I'm sure it's been over 20 years.” Mr Harper said. “20 years?” “You quit the Mafia about 20 years ago right?” He nodded his head, “Jonathan, call Cal and ask when Judi’s mom was killed. “Yes boss.” “There's no way it'd have been 20 years ago, Judi looks not more than 25 years.” I thought out.

FOURTEEN YEARS LATER Catrina lay on the bed, her eyes facing the ceiling. It has been fourteen years since the war, her life has been going great. Epie is in her final year in the university, Catrina finished school years ago and now "mom" the voice of her handsome son who left looks just like his father but has her eyes, distracted her from her train of thoughts.

Ignisvath moved in front of Emmy and her sister. Amethra raised her key. Jasmine pulled her daughter close. The smoke gathered. A woman formed. Older. Silver-haired. Violet eyes. Gemma’s face. But the smile was wrong. The echo looked at Emmy’s newly freed sister. Then at Emmy. “Twenty years.” Its voice sounded like a thousand whispers beneath Gemma’s. “I waited twenty years for that body.” Emmy’s claws extended. “You’re not getting it.” The echo smiled. “You misunderstand.”

When he finished, the silence between them stretched long and heavy. “How long?” she asked. He looked at the table. “Twenty years.” The number landed like a physical thing. Twenty years. She would be in her fifties. The children they had always talked about having would be grown. The life she had imagined — the family, the future, the ordinary mornings and quiet evenings — compressed into a single, impossible number that she couldn’t make herself accept. She pressed her hand flat against the glass, and he pressed his against the other side.

He didn't want his friend to be the target of the pack leader. “Direct him to my study...” Dareen said, taking off his spectacles. The servant bowed his head and left the study. Soon the door swung open. He looked up, a small smile graced Dareen's lips. "Dareen? It's really you…" Blake exclaimed, Dareen rose from his chair, his face breaking into a wide grin. "Blake! Yes, It's really me." A chuckle left from Blake. Dareen approached Blake. The two old friends embraced each other. It's been twenty years since they met. They had once been inseparable, but life had taken them on different paths. Things that happened here made them lose their contacts.

22years into the fifty years, 8 years to the fiftieth year. I was running, hard. My feet crunched heavily into the snow as I maneuvered my way around the trees, clothed now in snow. I made a pause to catch my breath, Abigail had gotten it into her fair head to chase me around the forest and had instigated the snow ball fight. I let out a breathy laugh, puff of vapour billowing around my face, I couldn't say I didn't enjoy the freedom, I just needed to catch my breath.

Instead, standing upright beneath my own weight. Amon shows up by my desk one hour after I’m already deep into work. He asks what happened at the meeting. “Good. Really good, actually. I forgot how much I love this work.” “I’m proud of you. You’re finding your way back.” “Is that allowed? Finding my way back? Isn’t it too soon?” “Sarah and Ayana, died two years ago. You’re allowed to have a life again.” Two years gone by. Can it truly be so much time passed? At times, memory makes it seem like just last week. Then again, some moments make it feel ancient, buried deep in the past.

In the same way, I had predicted though, it was already too late. In less than fifteen seconds, Alice whispered something that I had waited twenty years to hear and nothing came after that. “I love you.” Every single fight I had in me, left. I was sent back twenty years when I was three and would constantly ask her if she loved me. She always waved the question off. Today when she had finally said it when she had finally said what I wanted to hear. I could not help but feel intense sadness.

It was like she had this hidden disdain for me, always ready to unleash it whenever she got the chance. Their conversation reverberated in my mind, the words echoing like a broken record. The mention of "two years" hit me like a tidal wave, stirring up a whirlwind of emotions within me. It had indeed been two long and tumultuous years since that day, the day that forever changed the course of my life. "Jasmine, let me ask you something," Carmine began, his voice filled with a mix of curiosity and a burning desire for understanding. "What is it?" She asked, his tone tinged with irritation.