Chapter 9
The night was dark and brooding. I wore the white dress from our first meeting and took a taxi to the lab.
“Are you really sure?” The Doctor sighed.
“I’m sure, I’m too tired. I want to see my parents,” I smiled, feeling as if everything was finally ending. In this world, I’ve always felt like the extra
one.
“I respect your decision. You’ll be relieved, you’ll be reborn.“”
I took it as the Doctor’s way of comforting a pitiful soul, nodding in thanks.
I turned and lay in the cryo–chamber.
As I lay on the machine, my phone kept buzzing. The Doctor handed it to
“Make a clean break.”
I nodded, opened my phone.
It was a message from Jack.
“Julia, answer the phone!”
“Julia, where are you!”
“Julia, stop being unreasonable! You can’t leave me!”
His tone softened.
“Julia, I’m begging you, please answer the phone?”
- me.
Begging me? The golden boy, Jack, actually begging someone he once looked down upon, a mere blemish.
The phone rang again.
His voice awkward, yet he spoke, “Julia, where are you? Lily didn’t mean it, I just need Lily’s child, I love you.”
I felt a wave of nausea. Jack was always a playboy, what was I expecting? He could say such things: “I promised Lily, I won’t bother you anymore. You’re not mine, and I’m not yours, so I’m not blaming anyone, just myself.”
“What do you mean?” Jack’s voice sounded a bit panicked, with the sound of wind and Lily saying, “Slow down, I’m scared.”
The pain in my heart made me weak, I laughed softly, “Jack, do you remember, when we first met, you said, ‘Julia, be with me, I’ll only need you, okay?‘ You don’t know how happy I was then.”
“Jack, now, I’m letting you go, I’m giving you back to Lily, you give me back my love, okay?”
Jack’s voice panicked, “Julia, where are you? What’s wrong?”
10:12
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Jack’s voice panicked, “Julia, where are you? What’s wrong?”
I suddenly felt relieved, I glanced at the butterfly landing on the window, whispered, “Jack, I’m giving you back to Lily, and the money you gave me, I’m giving it back too. I buried the flowers in the attic on that hillside where you first gave me flowers. So, we should be even now. You don’t have to pretend to love me anymore, you’re free.”
“Julia, where are you? Wait for me, what’s wrong with you?”
“Jack, if I could choose again, I wouldn’t go to that bar, then none of this would have happened.”
I hung up, nodded to the Doctor.
“Bzz, bzz, bzz…”
“Goodbye, Julia.”
“Thank you.”
A current surged through, my vision blurred.
Jack, finally, I’m free too…
Soon, I lost consciousness…
