A nightmare

Laila was anxiously waiting for Noah to respond to her big secret. To give a reaction. Any reaction. But he was completely silent. Staring to an empty space, looking right past her with wide eyes. A look which crushed her to her very soul. The thought that he couldn't even look at her anymore, the possibility that he might be hurt by what she had done, by who she was or better yet, by who she wasn't. Those thoughts became too much for her and she desperately tried to explain herself. Tried to show Noah that she didn't want to lose him. Tried to fill that silence that laid all her deepest fears out in the open.

"Please know that it was a lot to take in for me as well. All of a sudden I had to make the switch of being married to Jake to being married to the person whom I had known for most of my life as a good friend, a person I hadn't seen in years after drifting apart after I had chosen Jake. Fortunately for me, you have become an even greater person than you already were. This is why in no time, I found myself feeling like the luckiest woman alive for being married to you and I had embraced all of what it meant to spend my life with you. During this period I also noticed what was wrong with my new life, which seemed close to perfect upon first glance and which was perfect in many ways. These wrongs had more to do with who I had become without the hardships from my previous life and your love, which was both forgiving and ever present. I also discovered something that I considered a potential threat to this almost perfect life. So, in order to protect it, in order to protect you and me, I decided to take action and pave the way to the future I know I can have with you by my side."

Noah was completely flabbergasted. In his mind one question after another kept popping in. What did Laila just say? What was she even talking about? A different timeline? Her being a different person from the person he had been married with for years and years but also the same...? The more he thought about, the more confused he became. His head was spinning and he couldn't make sense of what Laila had said. How could such a crazy story be true but at the same time, why would she lie about that. It perfectly explained what had been going on. Her not knowing so many things. Her confused look from time to time. The strange feeling he had been having of Laila almost being a different person. But no matter how perfect, it was beyond bizarre. No matter how he thought about it, this surpassed his imagination. So, instead of trying to understand how this could be possible, he tried to understand Laila herself. "Why did you wait till now to tell me this?"

Laila was glad that Noah was no longer silent. Anything was better than him not talking to her. She could deal with confusion. She could deal with him being angry. But if he chose to ignore her all of a sudden and didn't want to be with her anymore, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. She took a big gulp and nervously tried to answer Noah's question best way she knew how.

"Well it is not like I didn't want to. I just didn't know how. So, please don't be mad that I didn't tell you sooner. I was so confused. I hadn't even made sense of it myself. So, how could I possibly explain it to someone else. Plus, to be honest, I think I was afraid as well. Afraid of this all being just one big weird dream. Afraid that you might not be able to accept me if you found out that I wasn't who you thought I was. Afraid that you might be afraid of what I was. I knew that I had to tell you at some point but I just didn't know how to start a conversation like that and the longer I waited, the more difficult it became."

Noah took a deep breath and let out an equally deep sigh before he said, "I am not mad. Just very, very confused about all of this. When I look at you, you are my Laila, my wife. When I hear you speak, you are my wife. But your lips tell me that you aren't. That you have no memories of me. Of us. That until two weeks ago you were someone else's wife. That is very hard for me to accept. Even though deep down I suspected that something was wrong. Never would I have thought of something this mind blowing. Hearing you tell me that I was right. Hearing you tell me that my own wife has been replaced by another from one day to another, without so much as a sound or a sign, is just far more than I can comprehend right now. I'm sorry."

After saying this Noah got up and left the room without another word, leaving Laila behind alone. The room which had been so warm and so full of happy feelings had instantly been turned into a chilled prison, with Noah being the one holding the lock and the key. A nightmare that Laila felt she could not escape.