Everytime she dies, the world rewrites him

Lena's POV

The first thing I noticed was the sound of people screaming.

Then came the headlights.

Bright.

Blinding.

Rushing straight toward me.

For a second, I couldn't move.

My feet felt glued to the road.

The horn blasted.

Someone shouted my name.

"Lena!"

And then,

Everything went black.

I sat up with a gasp.

My chest hurt.

My heart pounded so hard I thought it would burst.

Sunlight poured through my bedroom window.

I stared at the familiar white ceiling above me.

My room.

My bed.

My desk by the window.

The stack of textbooks I kept promising to organize.

Everything looked normal.

Too normal.

I pressed a hand against my chest and took a shaky breath.

It was just a nightmare.

That had to be it.

Because there was no way I had just died.

Right?

A knock sounded on my bedroom door.

"Lena! Get up! You'll be late for school!"

Mom's voice.

I froze.

Those were the exact words she had said yesterday morning.

Every single word.

A chill ran down my spine.

"Coming!" I called back.

My voice sounded strange.

Weak.

I grabbed my phone from the bedside table.

The screen lit up.

My stomach dropped.

June 18.

My birthday.

The same date.

The same day.

Again.

"Nooo"

I checked it twice.

Then three times.

The date didn't change.

My hands started shaking.

Maybe my phone was wrong.

Maybe I was confused.

Maybe...

"Lena!"

Mom knocked again.

I forced myself out of bed.

Everything felt unreal.

At breakfast, Dad read the newspaper.

Mom drank coffee.

The television played the morning news.

The same news report.

The same weather forecast.

The same joke from the news anchor.

Exactly like yesterday.

Every word.

Every detail.

I almost dropped my glass.

Nobody noticed.

School wasn't any better.

The moment I walked through the gates, I knew.

Everything was happening again.

The security guard greeted the same students.

The bell rang at the same second.

Even the birds sitting on the school fence looked familiar.

"Happy birthday!"

I turned.

Mira Lane ran toward me.

Her curly hair bounced as she smiled.

In her hands was a small gift box wrapped in blue paper.

The same gift box.

The same ribbon.

The same smile.

I felt sick.

"Mira..."

She tilted her head.

"What?"

I stared at her.

Yesterday she had given me this exact gift.

Or maybe tomorrow.

Or maybe...

I didn't know anymore.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah."

The lie came out too quickly.

Mira narrowed her eyes.

"You look pale."

"I'm fine."

I wasn't.

Not even close.

By lunch, I knew I wasn't imagining things.

Everything was repeating.

The same conversations.

The same teachers.

The same announcements.

The same stupid joke from Mr. Hale during math class.

I knew every word before he said it.

It was impossible.

Yet it kept happening.

When school finally ended, I didn't wait around.

I grabbed my bag and rushed out.

Yesterday I had walked home through Oak Street.

That was where the accident happened.

Not today.

Today I would take a different route.

I cut through the shopping district instead.

The streets were crowded.

People moved around me.

Cars filled the road.

For the first time all day, I felt relief.

Maybe I had changed things.

Maybe I wasn't trapped after all.

Then I saw him.

A boy standing across the street.

Dark hair.

Black jacket.

Hands shoved into his pockets.

He was staring directly at me.

My stomach tightened.

It was him.

The boy from before the accident.

The one who had looked at me like he knew something terrible was about to happen.

For a moment neither of us moved.

Then he started walking toward me.

Something inside me screamed to leave.

But my feet refused to listen.

The boy stopped a few feet away.

His eyes studied my face.

Almost like he was checking if I was real.

"You survived."

I blinked.

"What?"

His jaw tightened.

For a second, he looked relieved.

Then the expression vanished.

"You weren't supposed to survive this route."

My heart skipped a beat.

"What are you talking about?"

The boy ignored the question.

Instead, he asked one of his own.

"Do you remember dying?"

Every sound around me disappeared.

The traffic.

The voices.

The footsteps.

Everything.

Gone.

I stared at him.

Unable to breathe.

Unable to think.

"Who are you?" I whispered.

The boy looked away briefly.

Like he was deciding whether to tell me the truth.

Finally, his gaze returned to mine.

"My name is Noah Reed."

The name meant nothing to me.

But the sadness in his eyes did.

Because it looked like the sadness of someone carrying a secret for too long.

"You don't know me," Noah continued quietly.

"But I know you."

Fear crawled up my spine.

"What do you mean?"

He took a slow breath.

Then he said the words that shattered whatever was left of my normal life.

"This isn't the first time you've died, Lena."

My blood turned cold.

I stepped backward.

"No."

"It happened before."

"No."

"It has happened many times."

I stared at him.

My pulse thundered in my ears.

This was insane.

Impossible.

Yet part of me already knew he was telling the truth.

Because somewhere deep inside my head...

I could almost remember it.

The headlights.

The horn.

The darkness.

Death.

Noah's expression darkened.

And then he said something even worse.

"Someone is trying to make sure you never remember."

Before I could ask what he meant, his eyes suddenly widened.

He looked past me.

At something behind me.

Fear flashed across his face.

Real fear.

"Lena."

His voice became urgent.

"Run."

My stomach dropped.

"Why?"

Noah took a step toward me.

Too late.

A cold voice spoke directly behind me.

"She remembers more than last time."

I froze.

Slowly, I turned around.

And saw someone standing there.

Someone who definitely wasn't there a second ago.

Someone smiling at me like we'd met before.

Someone I had never seen in my life.

Yet somehow.

I knew they were the reason I kept dying.