The Intrusion Chapter 2

“Bullshit!”

Sarah's comeback was instant, but her eyes flickered. “Dead men don’t just... walk back in.”

“Sam found it all! Your plane ticket to Brazil. The security footage of you at JFK! You left us!”

I closed my eyes. A bitter laugh escaped me. “I booked the ticket. But I never got on the plane.”

On the way to the airport... a tanker truck. It jackknifed on the BQE. I was right beside it. I was... vaporized. There was nothing left.

The next thing I knew, I woke up, standing at the back of a church. Ten years later.

To them, it was a decade. To me, it was a blink.

I looked at my wrist. Only two scars left. Two days.

I forced a smile. “Sarah... I was wrong. I’m sorry. Please. I just want to spend these last two days with you. With Mom and Dad. Please.”

Before she could answer, Sam spotted me.

“Mr. Vance…” He flinched, pulling his hand out of Claire’s. The movement was too sharp, and it ripped his IV out. Blood welled up on the back of his hand.

And then, before I could even process it, Claire leaned down and... licked the blood from his skin.

Sam’s ears turned bright red.

I just... stared at my feet. My nose burned. Claire. My Claire, who had a borderline phobia of germs. Who used to make me wash my hands three times before I could even touch her.

She just licked another man's blood.

“Sonny, you need to rest that leg,” Mom fussed, fluffing his pillow.

I felt like a ghost. A complete stranger.

“Mr. Vance... Julian... please, sit,” Sam said, his voice polite. On his hand, a massive, deep-green emerald ring flashed under the fluorescent lights.

I felt the air rush out of me.

The Ashton family ring.

I remembered the night I turned 18. Claire, shivering on my doorstep, having waited hours in the cold just to give it to me.

“Julian, I’m all in. I want this to be forever.”

And I remembered the fight, when I was 22. “I’m not ready for this, Claire! I need to live my life!” I’d thrown the ring back at her.

She’d cried. For the first time, she’d cried in front of me. “It will never be anyone else, Julian. Only you.”

She lied.

But... I couldn’t blame her.

I sat down, my head spinning.

“Julian.” Claire’s voice was cold, sharp. “You haven't explained. Where were you?”

My parents, Sarah... they all turned. Waiting.

I couldn’t tell them the truth. It was too cruel. So I made something up. A story about amnesia, getting lost, finding my way back. It sounded weak. Pathetic.

Dad snorted. “You should have just stayed lost. We were better off.”

A direct hit. The tears I’d been holding back finally broke. They just... streamed down my face.

A long silence. Then a sigh. “Oh, for... stop crying.”

I looked up through the blur. My dad was holding something out to me. A little boat, carved out of an apple. Just like he used to make me.

My heart hammered. I reached for it...

But Sam’s hand shot out first. He grabbed it, took a huge bite, and smiled.

“Thanks, Dad! It's great!”

I licked my lips. A long time passed. “So sweet,” I whispered.

Claire, who had been watching this whole exchange, her face unreadable, suddenly spoke. “I’m not marrying him.”

Sam froze, the apple halfway to his mouth.

“I’m not marrying Sam. I... I always just saw him as a brother.”

Dad exploded. “What? Claire, you can’t! He’s waited for you for ten years!”

“No!” he roared, slamming his fist on the tray table. “You and Sam are getting married. Two days from now. That’s final!”