When I'm Gone I'm Never Really Gone Novels & Stories

I once believed that I had a place in her heart. However, everything that happened in my previous life made one thing painfully clear: I was never the person she loved. Thinking of that, I let out a long sigh and looked at Rowena as if nothing had happened. I said casually, "Rowena, we're still missing a diamond ring for the wedding. Let's go take a look together."

They spoke at the same time, but neither managed to get the word out. Tabitha opened her mouth, only for Koben to press his index finger against her lips. He forced a smile and said, pretending to be relaxed, “I have a class reunion to get to. We can talk when I get back.” Once Koben was gone, Tabitha sat at home in contemplation. Without realizing it, she had grown accustomed to Koben’s presence in the house. If there was ever a day Koben would walk away, she prayed it would come much later.

The room was empty. Some people, once you lose them, are gone forever.

Nothing. “So we’re back to nothing,” I said. Wyatt’s voice came out quiet beside me. “No.” He paused, moving closer. “We’re dealing with someone who knows exactly how to disappear and erase every trace.”

Her complexion was much better now. She forced a small smile and said, “Do whatever you think is right. Just don’t leave yourself with regrets.” She tried hard to sound casual, but I still caught the faint sadness in her tone. I smiled and shook my head. “I just realized that I don’t have feelings for her anymore.”

"Shirley, where are you?" I answered calmly, "Haven't you had enough of this act these past six months? I'm tired of watching." For a moment, all the noise and questions on their end fell silent, and I no longer cared about their reactions, blocking every single one of them. Then, I turned and looked ahead. Not far away, my adoptive parents were standing there, holding a sign to welcome me home. My real home had always been here. That little bit of borrowed affection… I did not need it anymore.

That life was gone. Forever.

I'd been with Leo Blackwood for five years. But we'd never once made it through a mating ceremony. Every time we were about to seal the bond, something would happen with Linda—his adopted sister. And every single time, Leo would leave me behind. This time, he swore he'd planned everything down to the last detail. Promised he wouldn't miss it. I waited five days and five nights—because I wanted to tell him I was pregnant. He never showed. Instead, I got attacked by rogues. Got infected with wolfsbane because of it. At the very last moment, I called Leo. It was Linda who picked up. She put the video on, and that's when I saw it—Leo and Linda, right in the middle of some celebration. "Freya." H

I’ll never be able to go back home, even if the threat passes and I could somehow come up with some kind of reason why I disappeared, my home is gone forever. I will never again smell the familiar scents of the church, or sit on my little loveseat with a book and a cup of hot chocolate. I will never go into the confessional to recite my unimpressive sins to Father Abraham or sneak away to the orphanage to play with the children. Gone. All gone in the blink of an eye. By the time Adrian returns, the cabin is spotless and I’m in the corner with my legs drawn up to my chest, forehead on my knees, crying softly. “Pippa?” he asks and crouches in front of me. “Are you okay?”

“And there never will be again.” And with that, she turned her back on me, a final, dismissive gesture that was more painful than any scream. She walked away, leaving me standing alone in the sterile, silent hallway, a broken, hollowed-out shell of a man. The finality of her words was a death sentence, a cold, hard confirmation that my world was truly, irrevocably over. And I knew, with a certainty that settled deep in my soul, that I would never be the same again.