The snow swirled heavily around Daphne. She let out a heavy breath, trying to steady her heart thrumming wildly through her chest. She clutched the convenience store bag tightly in her gloved hand.
Of all the days Asher had to get sick, of course, it was December twenty-third.
Just as it had during the first iteration of her life, the snowstorm had whipped up rapidly with no warning. The blizzard warning had gone off on her phone as she trekked through the snow to get to the convenience store. Asher's and Daphne's plan had been to ensure that Daphne didn't leave the house for the entire day, but that had quickly fallen apart when Asher had developed a high fever and had been completely out of medicine.
I should have left earlier before the snow arrived. She closed her eyes, shaking her head. I should have known that this could happen, as soon as Asher said he was staying home because he was sick. He never gets sick. Of course, when he does, he gets really sick.
Getting to watch over me was an added blessing for him? Ha! More like an added liability for me. A shiver ran down Daphne's spine, and she buried her face into the scarf around her neck. It took me almost 30 minutes to walk to the convenience store that takes two minutes to drive to.
Daphne let out a heavy sigh. She looked up at the gray sky and the huge fluffy chunks of snow swirling down from it. I can only hope that I make it back to Asher's place so that I can give him this medicine in the first place. Daphne swallowed hard. I'm going to be okay. She clutched the bag tighter in her hand. I just have to keep going. Asher, Tanpopo, and Pippin are all waiting for me.
Daphne heard a car engine revving, and she whirled her head around to where it was coming from, and saw a young man trying to push a car out of the snowbank. She shook her head at herself, letting out a quick sigh, a puff of white coming from her.
I truly came back to the past, didn't I? Just like before, no one was prepared for this kind of weather. Daphne reached her hand up towards the sky, still trying to calm her heart, and caught one of the fluffy flakes in the palm of her glove. I think it's later than it was last time. That means the storm only continued to get worse. She carefully turned her hand over watching the clump of snow flutter softly to the ground. I guess it means that it's going to be a white Christmas.
Since they hadn't been able to spend Thanksgiving together, Asher and Daphne had decided that Daphne would spend the weekend at his place for Christmas. Even though he’s sick, this sure beats getting dumped two days before the holiday.
Daphne could barely make out the lights in the distance of Asher's townhouse among all of the clumps of snow falling from the sky. I'm almost back. She chewed on her bottom lip and her stomach doing flip flops. I can surely make it this time. Daphne's throat was tightening. Rose is in jail. This time, I am not in danger.
Still, every part of her was screaming the exact opposite.
Daphne started scanning the roads for vehicles, chewing on the inside of her lip. There were a couple of very slow-moving vehicles inching down the snow-covered road. I'm safe, she tried to convince herself, relaxing her grip on the handles of the bag. Unlike the road I lived near before, people around here are driving appropriately for this weather.
Some of the tension in her shoulders started to melt away as she was beginning to make out the windows on Asher's house in the distance. I'm almost there. He's waiting for me.
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Daphne looked at a snowbank that she was approaching as her vision began to get blurry. Her hands started shaking as she heard the roar of the truck's engine and saw the blood in front of her face on the concrete. Rose's red lipped smile popped into her vision for a brief moment.
She stopped walking, pausing for a moment as the memory of the coldness penetrating deep through her, rushed through her entire being.
Daphne shuddered, pulling her coat tighter around her. It's in the past, Daphne told herself, fluttering her eyes, the memories and the reality hardly distinguishable between her blinks. Rose can't attack me anymore. The car accident never happened in this timeline.
She stumbled forward. The knots in her stomach clamping down harder. Daphne placed the bag of medication down on the ground and looped the scarf around her neck another time, in an effort to keep her body warmer. Her body still felt cold, her shoulders tightening down. She picked the bag up off the ground.
Just keep going. Her eyes fluttered and she saw the yellow mums on the sidewalk. She shook her head, clearing her vision momentarily. It's just because it's the day of the accident and the weather is the same. Don't be afraid. Just keep walking back to Asher.
The ice that had formed in her stomach was growing outward, spreading its coldness with it. Maybe I should have just moved in with Asher. Maybe I wouldn’t have had to go out in this weather then. She shook her head seeing Rose's smile again momentarily. For now, I just need to get home. Our future together is waiting for me there.
Daphne let out a heavy breath, her vision clearing and her head steadying. She shook her head a little, the clarity of the moment in stark contrast to the wave of memories that had been flooding through her.
“Ha,” she breathed out, some of the tension loosening from her body. “It must have been because it's the day of the accident. The memories have never been so intrusive.”
She took a couple of steps before hearing the screeching sound of a car's brakes. Her stomach tightened, a blizzard of her own raging within. Her legs wouldn't move forward, and she turned seeing a sedan’s headlights heading straight for her.
Is this what it means to have destiny? Is this something that is truly inescapable for me, no matter how hard I try? Am I always fated to die on December twenty-third?
She felt the impact of the sedan as it hit the right side of her body. She didn't fall as hard as she remembered falling with the truck, but the pain, oh, the pain.
She groaned aloud, still tightly holding the bag of medication in her glove, she opened her eyes, searching for the pool of blood in her blurry vision. Through her coat, she could feel the snow that she had landed on, but her body didn't feel as cold as it had even moments ago, when the memories of her murder had filled had infiltrated her entire existence.
Her breathing was heavy, and she closed her eyes, gritting her teeth to distract herself from the pain. She heard the driver's side door click open, and the memory of Rose's red lips flashed on the back of her eyelids.
“Hello, yes, I need an ambulance, please,” a woman's voice said. “I'm on the corner of Douglas and Pine.”
Ambulance. Yes, please.
“Hurry!” the woman shouted into the phone. Daphne felt as though she was hearing the woman's voice underwater. “I hid a pedestrian!”
Daphne felt a hand on her shoulder, and her eyes fluttered open and she saw the orange lips of a woman in front of her. “Stay with me!” the woman shouted at Daphne. “Don't go to sleep. Whatever you do, okay? Fight it!”
No matter what I did, the past still found a way to repeat itself. The woman's voice was drowned out by ringing in Daphne's ears. She tried to keep her eyes open, looking for the pool of blood or the yellow chrysanthemums.
I can't die here. I have too much to live for. I have so many reasons to be happy, this time around. I haven't spent enough time being happy to die. I can't die yet.
“Please help,” Daphne croaked, reaching her hand out a bit towards the driver. The woman looked desperate, but Daphne couldn't hear what she said. Daphne tasted a bit of blood in the back of her throat.
Please no. Over the roar in her ears, Daphne could just barely make out the sound of sirens in the distance. Daphne's eyes fluttered shut.
“Stay with me!” the driver's voice echoed through her mind.
Daphne heard the sound of her raspy, and labored breathing. In spite of the pain she was in, each breath still steadily came.
I don't want to die.
