Page 114 of Blade

She gasped. “No! I’m so sorry, Micah.”

She placed her hands around my arms, pulling me closer.

“They moved us again: another new town, another new name. No new friends. Within a few months, they found us again. They killed my father on my eighteenth birthday. I watched them do it. I was expecting to be killed as well. Instead, they told me I was safe. For sixteen years they hunted my parents, but because I was two when my dad turned against them, they didn’t hold it against me.”

I certainly hadn’t expected to walk away.

“I think maybe my reaction to my dad’s death played a part in why they let me live. There was no crying. I didn’t scream, didn’t even accuse them. It might have been shock, but I thanked them. Finally, I was free.”

This was where it would get dicey. This next part would make or break my future.

“It took a few months to get cleared from WITSEC. I was eighteen by then and they couldn’t force me to stay in the program. So I left. I went through the process of having my name permanently changed to Micah Spade. Then I came home. For you.”

This time I let her lean up, as she turned to look at me.

I needed to see her face, and I needed her to see the truth in my eyes.

“You were gone by the time I came home. You had moved away with your mom. I went to see Grams, and she told me what had happened. How you weren’t doing well here anymore and so she sent you off to college. She told me how to find you and I left again. I was coming for you, Becca. I decided I wouldn’t live anymore of this life without you.”

“What happened?” she asked, waiting to hear my story.

“I went and found you.”

Seven years ago

I had to find her. Grams said she hadn’t been the same since I died. I needed to know if she loved me the way I loved her. I wanted a shot with her. Trying not to ruin our friendship wasted so much time. I almost lost her forever.

I pulled my bike up to her mother’s house in Ohio, idling at the curb. Garnering the strength to climb off my bike and walk up the steps, I tilted my head to the sky and said a silent prayer. I swung my leg over and it took everything in me to face what I hoped was my future.

Knocking on the door, her mother answered. She never really liked me, but she tolerated me as much as she tolerated anyone.

“Micah? Is that you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“How? You died! What are you doing here?” she questioned, looking over my shoulder like she was expecting someone.

“It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, everything you thought about my dad was true. He’s gone now. Both my parents are, and I’m free to live my life however I want. I want to live that life with Becca.”

“Oh, Micah, I’m sorry. Rebecca has moved on. She’s happy, finally. Your death really took a toll on her and we had to move away.”

She crossed her arms against her chest and leaned in the doorway. She never invited me in.

“I can’t let you see her. She has a boyfriend now and they’re pretty serious. He’s planning to propose soon. Do you really want to disrupt her life when she thinks you’re dead? Do you know what that will do to her? I can’t imagine she would be happy knowing you lied to her.”

I’d thought about that, but I had to know for sure.

Standing there, I didn’t know what to do. I loved her so much.

Did I love her enough to let her go?

“I’m settling down in Diamond Creek. When she comes to visit, we’ll run into each other. I think it would be better for her to know the truth sooner rather than later, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t. She won’t go back there. She said she would never go back. Not even for her grandmother’s funeral. She never wants to step foot in that town again. Please, Micah, let her live her life. You don’t know what she’s been through.”

“I’m really sorry, Miss Washington.”

“It’s Sawyer now. Rebecca and I have moved on from Diamond Creek. Forever.”

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