Remember

"No!" I gasp. How could he have been lying the whole time? I thought he loved me - I mean her character, Sarah. This is so typical, the writer leads you to believe that the character has no flaws and loves the other character completely. I slam the book shut and stare blankly at it in my lap.

"Everything ok?"

I shoot my head up. I had been so involved in this fraud of a romance that I didn't even see a handsome stranger sitting next to me. He has a British accent which surprised me. We're in California after all.

"Oh, sorry - I thought- I thought -" What? What did I think? Honestly I thought I was alone. No one ever sits in the back of the library in these old sofa chairs. That's why I like it here. I looked back down at my book. Then back at the stranger.

"Sorry, just my book," I exclaimed holding it up to show him.

"Wow," I thought to myself. Just my luck that I would make a complete fool of myself in front of the most gorgeous guy I'd ever seen. He was wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt. He has the most beautiful dark brown hair I'd ever seen. It was thick but flowy and cut short. He was lean and muscular but not bulky. And his eyes... they are the most hypnotic shade blue and green that they almost look fake.

"That good, hu?" He asked. Making me stop staring at him.

"Not really," I muttered.

"Well I guess that makes sense, seeing that you screamed, No!" He acted out, raising his hands like he was scared.

I started laughing embarrassed but was still a little surprised that he heard me. I barely hear myself say it.

"Can I see it?" He asked softly.

"Sure," I said handing it to him.

"Ah, Between You and Me by Isla Hall. You didn't like the ending?" He asked.

"No, well I didn't finish it yet," I said taking it back.

"Well you must, it gets better," He said, picking up his own book and leaning into the chair. "Gone With The Wind" it read "No way" I thought.

"I love that book," I said.

"Really?" He asked. "It's ok."

"What? It is a classical piece of literature." I said out loud.

"So I hear," He said not looking at me reading the book he thinks is "Just ok."

"I can't -"

"You two," I heard the librarian cut me off. "No talking, people are trying to work. I have gotten many complaints about the two of you. If I get another you will both have to leave," she said and stormed off.

We both started laughing.

"Maybe we should just leave now." He suggested.

"That's probably a good idea." I agreed.

We both got our stuff together and walked out the grand door.

"I know this is going to sound a bit forward, but would you like to go out to lunch?" he asked.

"We just met. I don't even know your name," I said looking into his beautiful eyes.

"Right,” he sighed. “Of course you still don’t remember,” he whispered to himself. 

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing. I'm Simeon," he said, extending his hand with the handsomest smile posible.

"I'm Cora." I said shaking his hand. It was soft but firm, and I couldn't help feeling like I've shook it before.

"I know," he said quietly like he was about to cry.

"What did you say?" I asked shocked as I tried to pull my hand away. But he just tightened his grip and intertwined our fingers together pulling me in to him. For some reason, I didn't want to pull away now.

"I feel like I know you, from somewhere." I said slowly. I could feel my heart begin to race. I was having a major feeling of deja vu.

"That's because you do," he said.

"Really? From where?" I asked, feeling my heart race.

"No, don't do that to me Cora. Come on remember." He said putting his forehead to mine.

All of the sudden I did remember. I remembered everything. Simeon is my best friend and husband. He is a vampire. We were both born in 1901 in Buckinghamshire. There were lots of rumors going around in our town that demons of the night were living among us. Luckily Simeon had gotten a daylight ring that protected him from the sun which helped him blend in. It seemed like enough at the time, until we started having incidents...

The town council started putting vervain in the town's water supply to see who was affected by it. Then they would take whoever was affected and kill them. (Vervain is a plant that is fatal to vampires) We found this out when Simeon was drinking water one day and his throat and face turned red. He coughed up the water and was not able to breath. Luckily no one noticed because we were in our house. Things got progressively worse after that. We decided that he should leave town for a little while. I would have gone with him, but I had to take care of my sick mother.

We didn't know how long he would be gone, so Simeon gave me a substance to drink that would make me immortal but not turn me into a vampire. After five years, I couldn't keep on waiting for him to never return. The memory of him was too much for me to bear. So I went to a witch and had her erase my memories of him. She said it would only come back after I've seen him 13 times. Any time before the 13th and I would forget about him all over again.

I didn't matter how many times he told me who he was or how much he loved me. By the next day I would forget him. I could now remember our past 12 encounters. He tried so hard the first few times to make me remember. But he slowly gave up hope. Our past three encounters have been by quinsident. I know this because the last time he really tried was on the 10th time, and he told me it was the last time he was going to try and make me remember. If it didn't work he would leave me alone and let me live my life.

This happened for the 13th time and It worked. It finally worked.

"Simeon," I said as tears ran down my check. I cupped his face in my hands.

"Cora, you remember?" he asked so full of hope. He stared deep into my eyes trying to see straight into my heart to know if I truly remembered.

"Yes, Simeon. I remember. I finally remember," I said before kissing him for the first time in 84 years.