Elara vehemently shook her head. “No! It can’t be like this! You must be angry about Chris and me, you’re definitely lying! How could my parents die? My parents…” She suddenly remembered something, her fingers trembling as she dialed her parents‘ number. The call went straight to voicemail, repeatedly.
Just then, a call came through. Her face immediately brightened with hope, but then turned deathly pale as she saw it was Mayor Thompson calling. Mayor Thompson’s voice crackled from the other end. “Elara, you finally answered! Your parents‘ bodies have been here for two days, you need to come back quickly to arrange their funeral!”
Elara held the phone, opening her mouth several times, but no sound emerged. Mayor Thompson asked, bewildered, “Are you liste- ning?” Only then did she slowly manage to ask, “My parents… they really died in the avalanche?”
The Mayor was speechless. “Yes, it’s been two days. Didn’t Alex tell you? If he hadn’t come and pushed us to evacuate, who knows how many more would have died in that avalanche. It’s just a shame about your parents. I don’t know why they were so stubborn, refusing to leave no matter what we said…”
I knew why they wouldn’t leave: because they had fully trusted Elara’s words.
At that moment, Elara hung up the phone. She rushed to get dressed, as if she were about to leave. She didn’t utter a single word, as if she had suddenly become mute, Chris walked over. “Elara, what are you doing? Aren’t you coming back to shower with me?”
Elara suddenly froze, then looked up, staring directly at him. He immediately faltered. “What… what’s wrong?”
“Why did you turn my phone off for two days?” Elara asked abruptly.
“Because I didn’t want Alex to harass you…”
As Chris spoke, Elara swung her hand and delivered a vicious slap across his face.
“Elara, why did you hit me?” Chris was stunned, utterly bewildered.
Elara didn’t answer a single word. She finished dressing, grabbed her bag, and walked out. I watched them leave, indifferent, then began to pack my own belongings. Elara had already signed the divorce papers; it was time for me to go.
Elara returned to Willow Creek Town and arranged her parents‘ funeral. Mayor Thompson said she was quiet throughout, not maki- ng a fuss, not even shedding a single tear. But I knew, deep down, she must have been suffering immensely.
Two
to
wo days later, Mayor Thompson suddenly called me. “Alex, you need come and check on Elara Thorne! She’s been kneeling at her parents‘ graves for two days straight, refusing to leave no matter what. If this continues, something terrible will happen to her!”
Honestly, I had no desire to care about Elara’s fate; in my previous life, she had taken mine. But she had just lost her parents, after all. And besides, I felt it necessary to clarify a few things with her, lest she resent me further.
I drove to Willow Creek Town. At a grave, I found Elara, kneeling silently. In just two days, she seemed like a different person. All trace of her cold, arrogant demeanor was gone. She slowly turned her head to look at me, and I saw that her eyes were utterly dev-
oid of light.
“Alex, did I kill my parents?” I suspected that question had been tormenting her for days.
I stood there, meeting her gaze, and answered honestly. “Elara, do you truly think I’m a liar? That day, I told you repeatedly that Will- ow Creek was going to have an avalanche, but you refused to believe it, no matter what. Not believing it was bad enough, but when I reported the disaster, you told Director Miller I was just having a tantrum… I called your father, I rushed there and pleaded with him to evacuate, but your single phone call made them completely distrust me. Even twenty minutes before the avalanche, I called you, desperate for you to convince them to leave with me, but you utterly ignored me…”
“I… I didn’t know about that,” Elara said, her face pale.
It was a good thing I had a habit of automatically recording calls. I found the caltrecording and played it for her-
Please, just believe me this once, okay? Everyone in town has evacuated, only your parents refuse to leave. Tell them, quickly! The
avalanche is only twenty minutes away, it’ll be too late soon!
Chris’s scornful laughter echoed from the other end.
Where’s Elara?
She’s in the shower. She already told me she doesn’t want to waste her breath talking to you.
Get her to the phone! This concerns her parents‘ lives!
Alex, are you insane? You’re still trying to trick people with this avalanche lie? Do you even know what Elara and I are going to do
tonight? Her soft, pliant grace, her passion… you couldn’t even imagine-
“Why didn’t you just force them to leave?” Elara demanded, her voice rising.
I stared at her, astonished, I genuinely hadn’t expected her to so quickly start finding fault with me. Just like in my previous life. Chris’s horrific death abroad had absolutely nothing to do with me, yet she wanted me to suffer the same fate. I was truly and utte-
rly disgusted with her now.
I opened another recording. From it, her mother’s shrill, bitter curses rang out clearly-
You monster! Are you cursing us, two old people? My daughter was right, you’re just a lying swindler…
10:07
When the recording ended, I told her. “I did want to force them to leave, but they locked me out and gave me no chance. And when
the avalanche was only ten minutes away, they threw an ashtray at me, hitting me so hard I nearly passed out. I had no choice but
to leave. See the lump on my head? That’s from them. Believe it or not.”
