Novel & Cerita Have Been There Before

The thing that scared me most wasn’t the possibility that someone had been there. It was the realization that he had,before me. Shit.

All too familiar. It's like I've lived with her before. Like I know her from somewhere.

Before it becomes too stained, too damaged, to fix. It has happened before. I can’t let it happen again.

He tilted his head slightly, eyes gleaming. "But you weren’t the first." The forest seemed to breathe around them. The trees whispering. The bond shivering beneath Lyla’s feet. Eli tensed beside her. "What are you talking about?" The man spread his arms. "We were here before Silverwood. Before Blackwood. Before Ridge." His pack stepped into view now, no longer hiding. They were strong. Scarred. Marked by a history that Lyla had never been taught. The man’s voice was calm, but there was steel beneath it.

Like she'd been there before. Then, it hit me. Ma'am Maryanne?!!

Not anymore. Not when both of them were already here.

Simple. Metal. Restraining straps hanging loose at the sides. Ariana’s stomach dropped. “No…” The man stopped beside it. “Recognize it?” She shook her head quickly. “I’ve never been here.” But even as she said it— Her body reacted. Her pulse quickened. Her hands trembled. Like something inside her did remember. Daniel’s voice was low. “This is before your lab.” Ariana looked at him. “What does that mean?” “It means…” Daniel hesitated, then forced the words out, “…this system existed before you ever touched it.”

I whisper. Someone already got here first.

Something… someone had been there. And they had run. But not far. Not far at all.

She had gone back. Far back. To a time before me, before our children, before the life we had built.