Page 21 of Harbinger of Destiny

“Novelty? I think I’m gonna be offended now,” he said and sat up in bed. “What do you think we just did here?”

Amy sat up too, and the sheet dropped to her waist. “We had sex.”

Joshua stared at her. He knew what she was doing. She was building a wall around her so she wouldn’t get hurt again. She’d shared her story with him, and probably regretted having let him get this close.

“Then I guess I have my work cut out for me.”

She gave him a quizzical look. “Doing what?”

“Showing you that…” That he cared about her? No, she wouldn’t believe it, he didn’t even believe it himself. He didn’t understand what he felt for her. Was it pity? Was it the same kind of feeling he had when he came across a wounded animal and nursed it back to health? Perhaps.

“Showing me what?” she asked defiantly. “That you’re different from other guys?”

“I am different.” How different she would find out soon. “But that’s not what I want to show you.”

“Then what?”

“I want to show you that you too have something important to contribute to this world. You deserve affection and respect just like anybody else…”

And love, but he didn’t know whether he would be the one who could give her the love she needed, because he didn’t know if he could ever truly look past her external scars. And only somebody who could truly love her for who she was would be able to help her heal her internal scars. Maybe once he’d brought her to the future, there would be somebody who could love her.

Joshua put his hand on her nape and pulled her face to him, while he put his other hand around her back. “So, tell me something. Have you ever slept with the same guy more than once?”

Stunned, her eyes widened. “Why are you—”

“So you haven’t. No wonder you think I’m just gonna go away after having sex with you once.” He chuckled. “I’m not an only-once kind of guy. You know why?”

“Why?”

“Because it gets better the more often you do it.” He moved his hand up her torso to her breasts, caressing the supple flesh. Slowly, he pressed her back onto the mattress. “Now be a good girl and let me take care of you.”

13

A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

Sunday, April 6, 2025

Amy woke later than usual. It was no surprise. She’d slept well in Joshua’s arms. His closeness was comforting and gave her hope that maybe good things were finally happening in her life.

She showered, glad that there was hot water, rather than the cold one she had to put up with at home when several of her roommates had already showered before her. Besides, it was a luxury to have nobody bang on the bathroom door to ask her to hurry up.

By the time she was dressed and ready to leave, Joshua was stirring, but she decided not to kiss him goodbye. Instead, she snuck out before he was fully awake. She didn’t want him to see her in the light of day, scars and all. What if he regretted the previous night? It would only rob her of the feeling of happiness that was blooming inside her, because despite all the things he’d said to her, she wasn’t sure he meant them. If he did, he knew where she would be: at the coffee shop. And if he came to see her there again, she would be ecstatic, but if he didn’t, she would at least have the memory of a beautiful night.

Amy took the bus back to her place and unlocked the door to the apartment building. It was relatively quiet inside, which wasn’t unusual for a Sunday morning. After all, most of the students living in the apartments were probably out partying all night and hadn’t come home until the early hours of the morning, and were still sleeping.

The elevator was out of order as usual, so she walked up the two flights of stairs. In front of apartment 3F, she stuck her key in the lock. The lock was sticky as so often, but after the second try she managed to unlock the door. She pushed it open, and hit her head against the door. Annoyed she pushed again and lifted her head to look more closely why the door was only opening a few inches. The chain was set from the inside of the apartment.

“Damn it!”

She didn’t want to wake her roommates, but she didn’t have a choice. One of them had accidentally set the chain without making sure that everybody was at home.

“Hey, anybody awake?” she called out through the gap between door and frame.

There was no answer. Sighing, she tried again, this time louder.

“Hey, it’s me, Amy. The chain is on. Can you unlock please?”

This time, she heard a toilet flush. Then the sound of footfalls.