I sighed as the sun's rays shone through the window and hit a book on a bookshelf. I got up from where I laid on the floor and rubbed my side where it ached. I grabbed the book and stepped to the side to get away from the sun's heat. I almost chuckled as I read the author.

Edgar Allen Poe.

Though I never read his books, it was because of Tristian that I recognized the name. I almost put the book back when Tristian came out of the bathroom, his towel hung around his neck as he messily tied his hair back into a ponytail. His face appeared to be better without all the dry blood and dirt on his face, but it still looked pretty bad.

His left eye was completely swollen and a nasty gash ran across his forehead. There was a cut on his lips and all over his knuckles. His face twisted into pain as he slowly lowered his arms. He wore a clean long-sleeve black shirt with black sweatpants.

It seemed weird to see him without his mask or half mask. It was like he was naked as my eyes roamed over his face and neck. There were a lot of scars on his face, some deep and long and others faint. The one that struck out to me was the long scar that ran across his neck.

As if sensing my stare, his eyes met mine and stood next to me. He chuckled, a deep rich sound that made my cheeks tint pink. He nudged at the book in my hands.

"Did you ever read the book that I let you take?" He asked, referring to the one that I accidentally took during our first encounter. I shook my head, sliding the book back in its place.

"I don't like to read." I reminded him, wiping my nose with my sleeve. Tristian blinked and let out a sigh, his shoulders dropping as he put his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry about Javon. I really didn't know..." He trailed off. Even though I cried all night to the point where I felt like there were no more tears, I felt a bash of new tears burning my eyes.

"Javon was my best friend. He helped me through so many things. And at some point, I really thought he was the one," I said, shrugging my shoulders as I wiped away the tears, "Are you sure Harry left his body?"

Tristian nodded. "The arrow basically kicked Harry out of Javon's body. It didn't kill Harry, but without a body, Harry isn't strong enough to attack you. He'll be back as soon as he finds a freshly deceased body to possess."

I sniffled and crossed my arms over my chest. "I thought ghosts could possess people that are alive." Tristian rubbed the back of his neck and walked towards the makeshift bed he set on the floor. He sat down, pulling the blankets over his lap. I sat across from him and hugged my knees as he sighed.

"Harry isn't exactly a ghost. He's a curse," Tristian began, averting his eyes until he finally locked eyes with me, "I should probably explain everything from the start."

I forced a smile and nodded. "No secrets and no holding back, got it?" Tristian chuckled awkwardly and nodded. He cleared his throat and exhaled slowly.

"In your first life, you were married to my brother, Harry Vale. When you and Harry moved to what used to be the colonies, we met for the first time. I was working on building the settlements for those coming over for a long time, so we never met before your marriage. There was a party being held for Harry's arrival. I went, of course, and we... clicked. We started seeing each other more and I confessed my love to you one night." Tristian paused, his cheeks tinting pink.

I blinked, remembering a dream I had where I was at a ball, dancing with Javon and meeting his brother. A brother who had the most beautiful brown eyes... As if sensing my thoughts, his eyes lifted to meet mine and I inhaled sharply. That wasn't a dream...

"We made plans to run away together, but Harry caught on and locked you in his house. Soon there were rumors he was going to kill me, so I had no choice to get into hiding. I hid in the woods when I was approached by an old woman. I was hungry and tired so I went to her little cottage. She treated me nicely and I told her everything. She said she could help us escape and make sure no harm was done to either one of us but I had to give her something in return."

"What did you give her?" I whispered, feeling a sudden shift in the air. I shivered and rubbed my arms. Tristian's shoulders dropped, his eyes brimming red.

"I... gave her my soul and in return, she granted me immortality." Tristian finally answered, looking away in shame. My eyes widen and my lips parted as my body tightened.

"She was going to offer the same deal to you, but we didn't get there in time." He continued and I frowned. I raked through my memories and remembered a dream I had when Javon was dragging me through a field to be hung in front of a lot of people. I swallowed hard, my hand rubbing my neck as I remembered how vivid the dream was. My heart felt like it was going a hundred beats per minute as one detail stuck out.

"My name is not Javon. I'm Harry. Harry Vale."

He visited me before. That monster was in my dreams. I blinked, looking up at Tristian. He folded his hands in his lap then started to pick out loose threads on the blanket.

"Sometimes you are able to remember some pieces of your first life through your dreams. It's more common than you think."

"Wait—you keep saying 'my first life'. What does that mean? Is that like when I was first alive?" I asked, more intrigued than freaked out. Tristian nodded.

"So there have been other times?"

"Yeah..." Tristian trailed off and looked away, pain tearing through his eyes as his fingers kept playing with the loose threads.

I let that sink in and tried to remember more strange dreams I had, but none of them seemed to fit in with what he was saying. I only dreamt of my first life which meant I had no recollection of my other lives. I slowly took a deep breath in and locked eyes with Tristian.

"So you have been alive all these years and I keep being..." I paused searching for the right word and Tristian turned to me, "reborn. Why is that?" His Adam's apple moved as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"The old woman promised me she could bring you back, but she needed time to. That's when she added more to the deal. She wanted me to... Every first night of a new month, she wanted me to bring her a pure body, which meant I had to—" He stopped himself and pursed his lips as if he couldn't bring himself to say. Before I could react to it, he sat on his knees, his eyes visibly watering.

"You couldn't understand how much I needed you with me. H-How much I missed you. I did what I had to do to bring you back and I-I just wanted you. I wanted to hold you." He rushed to say, inching closer to me. I pushed myself back, feeling numb as I finally understood.

"So you killed innocent people to get me back? Those rumors about you... The legend of the masked man... It was all true?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"Yes, but I don't do it anymore! After you came back, I stopped and the old woman got angry and placed the curse. For the rest of my days, I had to relive you coming back only to be taken away by Harry. After your hanging, he moved on and died peacefully. He was happy, but the witch made his soul vengeful and he isn't able to rest even if he wanted to. He's not doing it because he still wants revenge. He's under the old woman's spell."

"So... I'm... I'm gonna die?" I asked, my voice cracking. A tear slipped past Tristian's defense and he bit down on his lip as he shrugged.

"I've been searching for years on how to break the curse and— I never meant... When I first saw you, I promised myself to leave you alone, but... I just couldn't. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't." Tristian confessed, wiping away the tears with the ends of his shirt.

I wanted to run away from him. I wanted to hit him, scream at him for ruining my life all because he couldn't move on from me. I wanted to blame him for every bad thing that has happened since I moved here since he was the cause of it.

But yet, my heart broke as I stared at his defeating state. I wanted to wrap my arms around him. I wanted to tell him that maybe this time, everything would be alright. I wanted to assure him that I was here to stay, but how could I?

I knew nothing about this. I didn't exactly understand how the curse worked or the witchcraft behind it. I didn't even knew witchcraft was real! But from what I always heard in stories, there wasn't a curse that was unbreakable. The curse had to have some weakness, some loophole, some way to get ourselves out of it. There had to be something that could break the curse.

"I... don't hate you," I started, making Tristian lower his arms, "And I don't blame you either. I don't know what I would've done if I was in your shoes, so I can't exactly say I understand your decisions. What I do know is that I'm willing to work with you to stop this cycle."

"But there isn't." Tristian said, crushing what little hope I had left. I swallowed hard and looked towards Tristian's room.

"There has to be. Drakon lost his father. He isn't losing me too."