The Purple Heart (21 page)

“
I knew there was something
wrong with this guy. He lied to you. He’s a gravedigger. Taking
over someone else’s name so he can get all the
benefits.”

“
But—”

“
Look, Sydney, here’s his
picture. This is the
real
Aiden Thane.” She handed me the
picture.

My hand flew up to my mouth. I couldn’t
breathe. I felt my entire body go cold.

“
See, I told you. Not the
same guy.”

“
Cheryl …” I could barely
get her name out. My voice was high-pitched and barely audible. I
started to hyperventilate.

“
Sydney, what’s wrong?” Now
Cheryl was panicking.

“
It’s him.
That
is
Aiden. I don’t understand.
I don’t understand!
What the fuck is happening here?” I was shaking uncontrollably. My
breathing was shallow. I felt like I was in the middle of a
terrible nightmare.

“
What do you mean, that’s
him? How can that be? I—”

“
Cheryl, I have to go. I
have to talk to him. I have to find out what the hell is going on.
How can he be dead? I made love to him this morning. I’ve spent
every day with him.” Even I could hear the anxiety attack I was
having in my voice.

“
Sydney, I’m sure there’s
an explanation. Maybe it’s a mistake. I’ll call right now and
confirm this.” Cheryl did her best to try and calm me. But there
was nothing she could do. I was beyond reasoning with at the
moment. All I could focus on was getting in my car and racing back
home to confront Aiden.

“
No, I have to go. I have
to go right now! I have to talk to Aiden.” I grabbed my purse and
keys and started to fly out the door. I could hear Cheryl as I
left.

“
Sydney, don’t rush off.
Sydney! It’s icy out and you’re way too upset right now. You
shouldn’t drive like this! Just call him. Sydney! Wait!
Please
!” She was screaming after me.

There wasn’t anything in hell that
could stop me from getting back home to Aiden.
What the fuck was
happening?
I had to know what was going on; I had to talk to
him. I needed to see him, see that he was fine. I needed to find
out why the hell he was listed as deceased. I had seen the papers.
They were official. I had seen his picture and there was no
doubting it was him.

I started the car and pulled out of the
parking lot like a banshee charging out of hell. I flew onto the
exit ramp to get onto the highway. My hands were shaking and I was
still having a very hard time breathing. There had to be some
explanation
. I mean, he obviously wasn’t dead. He
wasn’t.

I could feel my car sliding all over. I
knew I was driving way too fast and the roads were ten times worse
than they’d been on my trip in. I couldn’t find it in me to calm
myself and slow down.

I came around a turn way too fast and
hit a patch of what could only have been black ice. My car began to
skid up a hill. I felt the car spin and it became stuck, sliding in
a straight line towards a light post. I watched in slow motion as
the pole and my car neared each other. I was on a straight path to
collide with it. I turned the wheel and pumped the brakes but there
was nothing I could do. The car wasn’t responding. I was going to
crash. My life didn’t flash before my eyes, as I would have
expected, so I took it as a sign I was going to survive this
unavoidable accident. I braced myself for anything that was about
to happen.

Right when impact should have occurred,
my car careened to the right and I missed the pole by mere inches.
I came to an abrupt stop right before an embankment. I sat there
for a moment trying to catch my breath and get a hold of myself. I
could have been killed.

I noticed I was still holding onto the
steering wheel. My knuckles were a pure white color. I slowly
released them. I tried to slow my breathing, but I was still
freaking out over what was happening with Aiden. I put my head in
my hands and let the tears flow freely; hoping it would help me
recover my senses.

When I finally thought I was in a
better position to drive again, I carefully veered my car back onto
the highway. This time, I moved much slower until I reached my
exit. I pulled off and jumped onto the back roads that led to my
house. I sighed in relief.

I pulled into the driveway and examined
my house all the way until I had come to a complete stop. I sat
there for a moment, trying to calm myself more before I entered the
house and interrogated him. The lights were all on. Nothing looked
out of place; it looked just like it had when I left. I stepped out
of the car and steadied myself against it. I was dreading the next
few moments. I knew it had to be done. Slowly, I moved towards the
house, but soon my pace quickened and I was running up the walkway,
trying not to slip on the ice. I threw the door open and flew into
the house.

“
Aiden? Aiden? Where the
hell are you? Aiden?” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I heard my
voice echo.

There was no reply. I ran upstairs and
looked in his room first. The bed was made perfectly, military
style. I could have bounced a coin off it. I peeked into the
bathroom, even though there were no lights on, but he wasn’t there,
either. I ran to my room, hoping to find him napping from our
recent activities.

Just as I turned to search downstairs,
I caught something out of the corner of my eye and it made my heart
beat wildly. The tray from lunch was sitting on the floor to the
side of the bed. Everything was there but something was terribly
wrong. My head was having a very hard time processing what I was
seeing. I moved closer, almost afraid of it, rubbed my eyes, and
mustered all my strength to take a good look. There were two cups
of coffee but only one had been used. My sandwich had been eaten,
but his sat untouched. That wasn’t possible. I had seen him eat it.
I had watched as he had two cups of coffee. This wasn’t sitting
right with me.

“
What the fuck? What the
fuck? Aiden? Please answer me.” I said the first part under my
breath, but yelled his name as loudly as I could. It wasn’t very
loud at all. I had no breath in my lungs.

I ran to the bathroom again, because I
needed to be sure I wasn’t dreaming. My fear was quickly confirmed.
There sat only one toothbrush in the holder, and it was mine. None
of his things were there. I started to think maybe he knew he would
get caught using someone else’s ID and had packed up and left while
I was gone. But it didn’t explain the tray of uneaten
food.

I stifled a scream as it built up
inside me.
No. No, they were the same person.
The
same.
Aiden Thane was the man in the picture Cheryl had shown
me. It was
my
Aiden. I knew it was him. There was no
mistaking it was him. Did he have a twin? I surely would have been
able to tell. It had to be the only explanation. But it listed the
name Aiden.
Had he taken on his deceased brother’s identity?
I began to use this thought to make sense of it in my head. Aiden
had told me he was the youngest of three brothers. He had never
mentioned a twin.
What was he hiding from? But the tray of
food!
My head was spinning. I couldn’t completely rationalize
anything that was happening.

I ran back downstairs. I stood in the
middle of my living room, spinning around, looking up and calling
for him.

“
Aiden.
Aiden!”
I
hollered and then broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. It was all I
could do. There was nothing left in me. Nothing made any
sense.

“
Sydney.” I heard his voice
come softly from behind me. Instant relief washed over me. I spun
around to face him, but my heart sank as soon as I saw him. There
he stood, in full dress uniform. My body went completely cold. I
felt a strong chill run up my spine, and my skin broke out in goose
bumps.

“
Aiden. What the hell is
going on? I don’t understand. What the hell is going on? Tell me!”
I was fraught, throwing questions at him.

“
Sydney, I don’t know where
to begin. Please calm down. You’ll understand everything shortly. I
promise you. There will be no more questions, and then I can
explain it all. I promise you.”

“
Are you real? Are you
Aiden Thane? Are you?” I threw the accusation at him, daring him to
respond.

He nodded his head solemnly.

“
How? How can that be? I
saw your deceased file. I saw it. I held it in my hands. I saw it!”
I was hysterical. My words came out as frantic shrieks.

I heard muffled words and then someone
putting a key in my door. Aiden turned his head. I swung around and
glared at the front door. It opened slowly, and Cheryl and Gina
came into the house.

“
Why are you two here? How
did you get here so fast? I just saw you at work. How did you get
from there to here with time to pick up Gina? Is this whole thing
some kind of sick joke?”

But they didn’t answer me. They entered
my home and it was evident that Gina was crying and had been for
some time.

“
I can’t believe this is
happening. I told her not to leave. I told her she was in no shape
to drive in that condition. I told her! It’s my fault. I shouldn’t
have let her leave.” Cheryl was crying, too.

“
Cheryl, I’m right here.
What the hell is wrong with you?” I said. She ignored
me.

“
I’m so sad. I thought she
was finally going to find love and be happy, and now this. I can’t
believe she’s gone.” At this point, Gina turned in my direction and
proceeded to walk right through me.

I gasped for air. I clutched at my
chest. I felt her. I felt her move right through me! I felt her
inside my very soul. My eyes grew wide, and my body went tense and
cold. I felt like I was frozen. I spun around and stared at Aiden,
hoping to see him as shocked as I was. But he wasn’t. His
expression remained exactly as it had been.

“
What the hell just
happened? Why can’t they see or hear me?”

“
Sydney, remember.” His
voice chilled me. I suddenly felt like I was in a fog. Images
started to flash through my mind.

Meeting Aiden at the
office.

The hum I felt when we
touched.

Making dinner
together.

Cuddled up on the couch with
him watching a movie.

Kissing him.

Our picnic at the
park.

Holding him after his
episode in bed.

The dread of him leaving
me.

The joy I felt at his
return.

Finding his
scars.

Making love to him over and
over again.

Talking with
Cheryl.

Seeing his picture and his
deceased file.

Running out of the
office.

The panic I felt.

Driving down the
highway.

Skidding on the
ice.

Seeing the light
post.

And then… hitting the light
post.

Everything went black. I was back
standing in my living room with Aiden, Cheryl and Gina.

“
I didn’t miss that
accident, did I?” I managed to squeak out. Aiden solemnly shook his
head no.

“
Am I … I’m …
dead?”

Aiden nodded again.

“
And you, you’re dead as
well?”

“
Yes, Ma’am. I died in the
line of duty almost a week ago. The day we met. The moment we
met.”

“
I don’t understand. I
can’t understand any of this.” I was getting frantic again. “How
can this be happening? This isn’t real!”

“
But it
is
real,
very real. Well, in a sense,” he told me.

“
But I could feel you.
Touch you. I made love to you.” I was still so confused. My
thoughts were foggy and twisted in my head.

“
Because what we had …
have
… It’s a gift; a gift from fate. Sydney, you and I were
supposed to meet when I came home from the war. You were going to
be my case manager, anyway. We were supposed to fall in love and
get married, have children. But I saved all those men and lost my
life. So our love wasn’t to be. But fate made a deal with me,
because I saved those men … and because you and I were supposed to
be together. Ours is one of those loves that is timeless. The kind
everyone wishes they could find. True love. Till death do us part
doesn’t truly apply here.”

“
So you came back as a
ghost to seduce me? And then to let me die with you?” I was angry
with him for taking my life away. What kind of cruel game had be
been playing?

“
No, Sydney, it’s not like
that. When something changes fate, fate needs to make adjustments.
Had I lived, we would have both been alive for a long, and very
happy life together. But since I died, your destiny was unbalanced.
Fate was going to let you die, anyway. But I begged for you. Once I
was on the other side, I could feel your life force. It was calling
me. Everything we were supposed to have had together. We needed to
be connected; we needed to be together. So I searched you out and
found you. I needed to let you fall in love with me so you wouldn’t
die alone. If we’d never met, even this way, we would have spent
eternity looking for each other. Always missing something. Fate
gave us that chance, to be together this way, in death. It’s why I
had such a hard time letting you leave this morning. I could feel
your time getting shorter.”