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Archway Publishing - Matthew Markland

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110 pages

English

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Extrait

Description

Leo starts having déjà vu and can’t tell if the sinister things going on in his life are just his imagination or his new reality.
Leo is caught between the talons of fate when his long-term boyfriend, Sam, attacks and leaves him for dead. Soon after, he starts having fits of déjà vu and the past and present seem more connected than they should be. Is it just a weird dream or the work of something more sinister?

Sujets

Policier & Thriller

Thriller

Thrillers

Suspense

Fiction

Informations

Publié par	Archway Publishing
Date de parution	04 janvier 2023
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781665736138
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0450€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

I REMEMBER

A MYSTERY NOVEL

MATTHEW MARKLAND

Copyright © 2023 MatthewMarkland.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6657-3614-5 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3612-1 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3613-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022924022

Archway Publishing rev. date: 01/03/2023

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For Austin,
Thank you for always being patient with me and encouraging me to be the best possible me that I could be.
I love you.

CHAPTER 1
I remember. I remember being in this exact place. I remember the feel of the breeze on my face, the calm rustle of leaves floating across the lawn, and I remember the cold nipping at my nose and ears. What I remember most, though, is the pain. I remember the dark and empty feeling that followed. I just don’t remember why it happened. And I don’t remember when. All I know is I’ve been here before.
More importantly, I remember him. Yes, the memories of how much love I had for him and the heartbreak that tagged along with his charm I remember all too fondly. But how is this possible? I’ve only been with him a few years, but it feels as though I’ve known him my whole life.
Maybe it’s some cloudy memory of a movie, or maybe it’s my conscious looking out for me. Yet, I love him and hate him at the same time and I cannot fathom how or why on Earth I’m feeling this way. As I continue walking next to him, my mind wanders farther and farther away.
“Are you okay?” Sam’s concern shows clearly on his face for my wellbeing. I don’t want his sympathy- I want answers. I want to know why I’m having trouble finding my breath and at the same time breathing heavier and heavier. “Leo? Are you okay?”
Snapping out of it, I answer, “Yeah, sorry. I’m just having a bit of déjà vu.”
“What of?” He asks, probably whole-heartedly, but his presence this very instance is bothersome.
“I feel like I’ve been here before and with you, but it wasn’t you. Not exactly, anyway. Does that even make sense?” I realize I probably sound bat shit crazy when I ask.
“Well we’ve been here like a hundred times. It’s two blocks from our apartment, so...” He looks at me with a puzzled look and raises his left eyebrow in question- the same face he makes that sets me off lately. I used to think it was cute, but now it just boils my blood. The park we’re walking in is only a couple of blocks from the apartment we currently live in. We’ve been there for almost two years. He told me it’d be temporary until he can get us a house of our own. His empty promises reverberate around the inside of my head so constantly that I’m numb to hope of us lasting much longer.
Rolling my eyes, I start walking faster to put some distance between us. “Why’d you ask if you don’t like my answer, Sam?”
“Leo, you’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to sound like-”
“Like it was coming from an asshole?” I hiss the words before I even have time to think of them.
“What’s your problem today? You’re acting like a dick for no reason and treating me like crap. I don’t have to take this from you, you know. I was fine all morning until I decided to walk home with you. Then it was like this huge, black cloud started following you around.”
“My problem is your condescending tone and that awful fucking eyebrow raise you do when you look at me like I’m stupid. I think-” I take a deep breath and slowly let it out trying to alleviate my racing heart. “I think we should take a break. I’m not happy lately and we fight more and more every day. You deserve better and I’m not it.”
Sam looks at me in shock at first and walks away. He stands a few feet in front of me, staring off into the distance.
“Sam?” I say, worried at his response.
Letting out a dry laugh, he puts both his hands on his hips and turns around to face me, “Finally.”
“Finally?” I repeat his singular, iron-clad word that suddenly weighs heavier on my chest.
“Finally.” The smile leaves his face so fast, I barely have time to prepare for what happens next.
Running towards me, he grabs my shoulders hard and throws me to the sidewalk. The concrete, normally cold to the touch, is canceled out by the hot pain my hands are feeling. I lift my palms to see little craters imprinted by the force of them meeting the sidewalk. Quickly they start to itch and I turn my head to look up at Sam as he grabs the hair on the top of my head, pulling it back. Before I can let out a scream, he pulls back and slams his fist down on my jaw.
As I keel forward and spit up a mouthful of blood and what I’m sure is a piece of one of my teeth, he kicks me in the stomach and suddenly the pain in my jaw is muted by the sudden contractions I’m having in my lower abdomen. I throw up blood and lunch and wipe my mouth with my sleeve, unaware if my attacker is still near or not.
Sure enough, before I can pick myself up off the ground, I feel the hood of my jacket get pulled and I’m being dragged across the sidewalk into the damp, lightly frosted grass through shallow mud puddles until all I see are trees and shrubs surrounding us.
“Sam! Please, stop!” I beg as I throw my hands over my face attempting to block whatever attack comes next.
Instead, I feel a very sharp, hot feeling in my side. I let out a shriek as I look down and see a knife being pulled from my midsection and thrust back into my stomach, then back out and then back in, all the while he’s saying though gritted teeth, “Shut the fuck up!”
Accepting my fate, I start to pass out, but not before I hear a woman shouting from not so far away. It must have startled Sam, because he ripped the knife from my stomach, wiped it on my now ripped and muddy jeans, whispered something in my ear, and ran.
Fading in an out of consciousness every few seconds, I see the woman whom I assume scared my attacker along with another woman and a man running through the fallen leaves and dodging the dormant trees to get to me as quickly as possible.
“It’s going to be okay, sweetie! Help!” She tries to stay calm, but you can hear the panic in her voice. “Reggie, call 9-1-1! Did anyone see which way he went?”
“There’s so much blood! What the fuck!” The other woman seems in shock. Debbie- I think I heard the first woman say. “Is he going to make it?”
At this point, I think to myself, I wouldn’t bet on it. I want to sleep. It’s so cold that my blood seems hot as it soaks the sweater under my jacket and trickles down both of my sides. My eyelids feel so heavy, it’s hard to keep my eyes open fully, if at all.
“Hang in there, hon! Help is coming! Stay with us. Just keep listening to my voice.” Her panicky voice seems to have calmed down slightly as she realizes I’m in and out of consciousness. “I’m Julie. What’s your name?
Annoyed and in tremendous pain, I muster out a dry, “Leo.” If that’s even my name. Up until a few minutes ago, I was sure I knew all the small details of my life. But now, it’s all so distant. What I can’t seem to wrap my head around is that this all feels like it happened before. Even the pain feels like a memory.
“Leo, who was that man? Do you know who he was?” Julie asks, trying desperately to hold back the shakiness to her voice. “What did he want with you?”
My boyfriend. It’s my boyfriend. We live not far from here. I don’t know why he did this! I realize I’m not even speaking as the sounds of sirens in the distance get louder and louder until I can see the flashing lights from behind my almost shut eyelids.
“Sam. His name- it’s Sam. He’s my-“
What he whispered to me before he ran echoes in my head as the sounds of footsteps rush to help me. ‘I’ll see you in the next.’ I close my eyes and the cold consumes me until I feel nothing.

CHAPTER 2
“No!” I yell as I sit up in bed. What an awful dream. I haven’t had night terrors since I was a child and even then they weren’t nearly as vivid as this one was. I’ve never been murdered in a dream before. It felt so real as if I were actually there. Looking down, I notice my sheets are damp from sweating so profusely. I take note of my whole body glistening in the morning sun as I try to slow my breathing. Lying flat in bed, I notice my ey