Before We Knew It Novels & Stories

"Before we pulled any of the records. Before any of us had said his name out loud today." The room was completely still. "Someone in this house," I said, "already knew we were looking."

“Mom, that doesn’t make any sense.” “I know.” “No, you don’t understand.” I shook my head, my voice trembling. “How could anyone know about me before you did?” Beside me, Damien remained unusually silent. That frightened me. Normally, Damien always had answers, or at least questions. Now he looked as lost as I felt. My mother wiped at her eyes. “It started before your father and I got married.” That caught my attention immediately. Nobody ever talked about that time. To me, my parents had always simply existed together—solid, unshakable. The idea that they once had complicated lives before becoming my parents felt strangely foreign.

It wasn’t jus‍t about the‍ contract‍ anymore. It hadn’t been‍ for a while. ⁠ And t‌hough neith‌er o⁠f us had said the words, we both knew: ‌whate⁠ver this was, it was already changing us.‌

Neither of us spoke, neither of us needed to because in that single moment. We both understood. Nothing between us would ever be the same again.

but certainty. “Zayden” He looked at me. and in that moment he knew. before I said it. before the bond shifted. before anything changed. and when the ground beneath us split again—and the thing finally broke through—the first thing it reached for—was us.

That was warning enough. Fate was shifting, and for the very first time ever, I didn't know if we were nudging it—or it was nudging us.

“We’re taking a little road trip.” I rushed to pack, my mind buzzing with anticipation. The next morning, we were on the road, the thrill of the unknown pulling us forward.

Was it a surprise, then, that it happened? It was bound to. We knew it was going to happen, that it was a ticking bomb waiting to explode. And because we wanted to be blown away, neither of us did anything to help it. It was why when it happened, we were helpless. ** I was twenty-three and untouched.

The kind woman said to the other people looking down at us while swallowing hard. However, when they squatted while others stood rigid on the spot, we looked at our faces and it washed with confusion. We didn't know some things but we knew more than what we were said to have known. And at that moment, the knowledge we had didn't blend with what we had heard. So we asked ourselves, "Are we babies?"

What if it was us? With every passing day, I knew one thing for sure—we needed to figure this out. But I didn’t know how. And neither did he.