~ • A Special Chapter: Ryan's POV Of His Past lives • ~
The memories came to him in fragments, like shattered pieces of a mirror reflecting a life that was and wasn't his. In the quiet moments, when the world of his third life grew still, the ghosts of the other two whispered to him. They reminded him the story of a boy who had loved a girl across lifetimes.
~ • The First Life • ~
His world had shrunk to the four walls of his bedroom. The air was hot and thick, and the sheets on his bed felt scratchy against his feverish skin. He was a small boy, and a terrible sickness called smallpox had claimed his body as its own.
Through a hazy, dreamlike fog, he was aware of the world outside his door. He could hear the muffled sounds of his mother, Lyra, weeping.
"Please, Julian, just for a moment," her voice would plead, strained and broken. "I need to see him."
"You cannot, my love," his father's deep, sad voice would reply. "It's too dangerous. The physician was clear."
