Elinor Flowers POV
The next morning, the fog still clung to the cliffs of the Pacific Coast Highway. I drove my rental car to the end of the winding road, to the isolated cliffside where Jadon had told me he loved me, eight years ago. The air was crisp, salty. The ocean roared below.
I slipped the diamond engagement ring off my finger. I placed it on the rough concrete railing, the "K&J" engraving facing upwards, catching the pale morning light. Beside it, I placed my phone. The screen displayed a final message to future Jadon: "Thank you. You saved me. And them."
I took off my shoes, lining them up neatly at the edge of the cliff. A final, silent theatrical flourish. Then, I got back into the rental car. I drove to a quieter, more isolated stretch of the coast, further down the highway, where a steep, rocky ravine plunged into the sea. I carefully positioned the car. I engaged the gear. I pressed the accelerator. Then, at the last moment, I opened the door and rolled out, tumbling into a thick patch of bushes. The empty car plunged over the cliff, crashing into the churning waves below.
The sound was swallowed by the ocean. My "death" was staged. My new life had begun.
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Jadon Mclaughlin POV
The phone rang late that afternoon. It was the Coast Guard. My blood ran cold.
"Mr. Mclaughlin," the voice was grim. "We believe your fiancée, Elinor Flowers, may have been involved in an incident on the Pacific Coast Highway. A car matching the description of her rental vehicle has been found at the bottom of a cliff."
My heart stopped. My world imploded. I dropped the phone. It clattered to the floor. I sprinted out the door, fumbling for my keys. I drove like a madman, the speed limit a blur.
My mind raced, fragments of Elinor's strange behavior flashing before my eyes. Her sudden, urgent visit to her parents. Her quiet, almost melancholic gaze when she looked at me. Her question, "What would you do if I wasn't here anymore?" I brushed it off as pre-wedding jitters. I thought she was just being dramatic, wanting reassurance.
I thought her "don't ever leave me" was a playful plea. I thought her embrace was a passionate promise. It wasn't. It was a goodbye. A farewell I was too blind to understand.
I screeched to a halt at the cliff's edge. Police cars, ambulances, and Coast Guard vehicles swarmed the area. I pushed through the crowd. My eyes scanned the scene.
A pair of shoes. Neatly placed at the edge of the cliff. They were hers.
Then I saw it. On the concrete railing. Her diamond engagement ring. It sparkled, reflecting the searchlights sweeping the crashing waves below. I picked it up, my hands trembling. My eyes fell on the engraving inside the band.
"K&J."
My mind reeled. K&J? Who was K? Kimberly? No. It had to be a mistake. A cruel joke.
The searchlights from the rescue boats swept across the dark water. Below, the ocean swallowed the wreckage. My hand, clutching the ring, shook violently. I fell to my knees beside the railing, the cold concrete digging into my skin. "Elinor!" I screamed, my voice raw, broken. "Elinor, what did I do?!"
Then, her phone rang. It lay beside the ring, its screen flashing. A video call. I picked it up, my hands still shaking. I answered, my mind numb with grief.
A face appeared on the screen. My face. But older. Much older. His eyes were shadowed, his hair streaked with gray. He looked like a ghost. My own ghost.
My brain seized. My vision blurred. What was happening? The shoes. The ring. The strange engraving. Elinor's odd behavior. And now this. My future self. It all spun out of control. My reality shattered. I clenched my jaw. What was going on? What had happened to Elinor? What did that engraving mean? And what had I done to push her to this point?
