ManyWriters

During spring cleaning, I lost the bone bracelet that my wife Annalise always clutched in her hand.
She flew into a rage over this, pushing me down the stairs and breaking my leg.
Only then did I realize that the bracelet was made from the bones of Dean, her deceased first love.
Despite her severe germaphobia, that night she rummaged through every trash can downstairs.
While I was hospitalized, she never showed up, yet her social media was flooded with memories of her and Dean.
[If you didn't have a slight resemblance to him, Liam, I wouldn't have given you a second glance in the first place...]
I closed my eyes and dialed that long-buried number.
"It's me, Julian. I'm back."
If the beginning was a mistake, might as well end it sooner.

The Bone Charmer

Annalise rambled on in front of the gravestone.


From her words, I pieced together the whole story.


They met in high school, and Annalise fell in love at first sight with "Dean."


They spent what she called "a happy time" together.


As high school was about to end, "Dean" died in a car accident.


I frowned, carefully examining my brother's photo.


The facial features were indeed my brother's, Alex.I remember now. Back then, my brother and I were at different boarding schools.


But he did mention there was a girl at school who was obsessively chasing after him.


From my brother's description, it was entirely Annalise's one-sided fantasy.


The so-called happy times she spoke of, my brother never experienced.


Even before graduation, to smoothly go abroad and escape her clutches, my brother resorted to the drastic measure of faking his own death.


Thinking back to the angry and desperate tone in my brother's voice on the phone then.


Comparing it to Annalise's nostalgic expression now.


She narrowed her eyes, looking displeased.


Of course, I was laughing at her delusions.


Laughing at how karma really does come full circle in this world.


"Liam, you've disappointed me so much."


"I brought you here to meet Dean to resolve the past, so we could live well together going forward."


"I never imagined you'd be so ungrateful!"


As Annalise spoke, she stood up, looking down at me condescendingly.


When she finished, she snatched the phone off my lap.


"I'm going to teach you a lesson. Otherwise, you won't respect my feelings for Dean."


Annalise's gaze as she looked at me was especially cold.


"Annalise, you're going to regret this!""That's for me to worry about later."


After saying that, she turned and strode away.


I struggled to maneuver my wheelchair behind her, repeatedly calling out her name.


By the time I'd painstakingly made it to the cemetery gates,


All I could see were the taillights of her car as it sped off into the distance.


As darkness fell, I sat there motionless, recalling my first encounter with Annalise.


Back then, I had awakened in the hospital with my mind a complete blank.


She was almost constantly by my side, watching over me.


Until one day, she had to work overtime and didn't come.


I stubbornly waited an entire day outside the hospital.


When she hurriedly arrived, I was running a high fever from catching a chill.


I awoke in a daze to see her holding my hand, her eyes red-rimmed.


She said she would never leave me alone again.


It was then that I started to fall for her.


Like a lonely boat adrift for ages, finally finding a harbor to dock.


But now, the Annalise from back then has long disappeared.


Chapter 3