Chapter 3

3.

Autumn yanked me out of bed and forcefully shoved a mushroom pastry into my mouth.

Shocked and dazed, fury flared inside me.

I shoved her away with all my strength, sprinted into the living room, and spat the mouthful onto a napkin.

Autumn leaned against the bedroom doorway, watching me with a cold, disgusted sneer.

I ran straight into the bathroom, rinsing and spitting repeatedly until the taste was gone.

I only walked back out when Autumn's mocking voice drifted from the hallway.

"Anyone watching would think I just fed you rat poison!"

Her eyes were brimming with pure disdain.

To my body, it practically was poison.

I walked past her into the bedroom to grab my phone so I could call an ambulance.

My mushroom allergy wasn't life-threatening years ago.

Repeated exposure, however, had turned it into a severe, volatile medical emergency.

Now, a single bite was enough to trigger full-blown anaphylactic shock.

My throat began to constrict, and breathing became agonizingly difficult.

My face turned bright red as hives bloomed across my skin.

I fumbled with trembling fingers to dial 911.

My voice shook violently as I gasped into the speaker.

"Lakeview Estates, Building 2, Unit 1... Riverside Avenue..."

Autumn stood nearby, sneering at me with arms crossed.

"People with real allergies carry an EpiPen everywhere they go. Stop putting on an act, Luke, I'm not falling for your drama!"

Her ringtone suddenly went off.

It was Silas calling.

Like a schoolgirl in love, Autumn immediately hurried over to the couch, curling up as she answered with a sweet grin.

"Hey Silas, how are you feeling? Is your leg still hurting?"

"Where's Autumn? I want to talk to her..."

"Mommy, I'm right here..."

I collapsed helplessly onto the floor, my vision blurring as I stared at Autumn's beaming face.

Hearing Silas's little daughter call my wife "Mommy" shattered whatever was left of my soul.

A single tear rolled down the corner of my eye.

This was the very picture I had dreamed of for years.

I had imagined holding our own baby in my arms, watching Autumn smile affectionately as our child cooed for her attention.

If souls truly existed, I thought to myself, I would be meeting my baby in heaven very soon.

I wanted to hold that little angel and whisper that their daddy had never wanted to let them go.

"Luke? Luke!"

My entire body was going numb, but a voice filled with panicked concern seemed to echo in my ears.

I forced my heavy eyelids open, and Autumn's face came into sharp focus above me.

"I knew you were faking it!"

Her expression snapped back into an ugly scowl.

I realized the panic in her voice had just been my own dying hallucination.

How could the present Autumn ever care if I lived or died?

She stood up, kicked my leg in annoyance, and began berating me for being a jealous brat.

She was utterly convinced I had staged the collapse just to interrupt her phone call with Silas.

"Luke, you've become a complete stranger to me!"

Autumn looked down at me with deep disappointment.

Had she ever considered how deeply she had disappointed me first?

When we first started dating, we might not have been a fairy-tale romance, but we were genuinely happy.

Back then, no matter how busy work got, she made sure to check in on my feelings and set aside time to travel with me.

She hated hiking, but she climbed three mountains with me because she knew it made me happy.

She couldn't handle spicy food, but she tried Mexican dishes just to share a meal I loved.

Autumn had truly loved me once.

It was just that her love had faded with time.

She glanced down at her screen, typing a quick reply.

There was no need to guess who it was for.

Her voice softened into honey as she sent a voice note.

"I'll be right over. Text me if there's anything you want to eat!"