Waking Broken by Huw Thomas Page B

nodded. ‘I agree. It’s not a joke. It’s not funny and I’m not laughing.’
    Rebecca sat stock-still with her mouth slightly open.
    ‘Over the last couple of years things have just got better,’ said Harper. ‘Six months ago I took you away to Paris again. We went back to the same hotel. This time I asked you to marry me and you accepted.’
    Rebecca shook her head. ‘This is too much.’
    ‘We bought a flat together, the top two storeys of a house in William Street. We moved in a little over a month back. We’ve been doing up the flat together and organising the wedding.’
    Rebecca smiled weakly. ‘Where are we getting married?’
    ‘A small hotel in Appleby, just down the road from your mum and dad’s place. It’s going to be a civil wedding. Due to take place on 5 th November, which is your mum’s birthday. Also, so we’ll be able to celebrate with fireworks on every anniversary. Then we’re supposed to be going to southern Spain for our honeymoon, staying in Granada to begin with because you’ve always wanted to see the gardens at the Alhambra.’
    Tears rolled down Rebecca’s cheeks. She stared at Harper in disbelief. ‘I don’t understand this. Harper, Daniel, whoever you are, how… I don’t understand.’
    Harper reached out and gently took one of her hands. It was her left and as his fingers curled around hers he felt the lack of an engagement ring. ‘Neither do I,’ he said softly. ‘And it’s killing me. What I don’t understand is why none of it’s true any more; while you don’t understand how any of it was ever true.’
    She left her hand in his, hardly aware of the contact. ‘This is crazy. None of it’s true.’
    Harper nodded. ‘You’re right. It is crazy and, for you, it isn’t true. Some of the bits I told Brendan weren’t true for him either. But for me…’
    He sighed. ‘Listen. On Monday, I had a day off work. I got up while you were still in bed and went off on my mountain bike. I spent the morning up on Beacon Ridge. But then, when I was coming home, this car skidded on some ice and ran into me. I woke up in hospital. Nothing was really wrong apart from some bruises and scrapes. They wanted to keep me in overnight but I was supposed to be meeting you from work in the evening. You wanted to go and see a film down at The Wharf. Afterwards, we were supposed to go to La Cantina for a meal.’
    Harper looked her in the eye. ‘I checked myself out of hospital. I didn’t have any money so I started walking home. Then I met you in the street and you walked past me like I was a stranger.’
    Rebecca bowed her head. ‘This is mad,’ she sighed. ‘How can this be possible?’
    Harper shook his head. ‘I’ve got no idea. Brendan says I’m in the wrong life. He reckons that somehow, when I was hit by the car, my life got fractured. I got shunted into a world where Daniel Harper’s life turned out differently.’
    ‘But how?’
    ‘That’s what I can’t understand. Maybe me and this other Danny Harper had accidents at the same time. The staff at the hospital thought I’d been knocked down crossing the road.’
    ‘Maybe your memories are just… shaken up.’
    Harper shook his head. ‘It’s not that simple. How could I have known the things I told you just now?’
    Rebecca blushed slightly and shook her head.
    Harper sighed. ‘I know I’m not crazy. I had a different life — and I want it back.’ He gestured around. ‘All this is terrifying. That’s why I had to see you. To find out if I was imagining everything.’
    Rebecca frowned. ‘What are you going to do?’
    Harper pulled a face. ‘That’s the hard part. I want my old life — and you — back. But if I can’t return to my other life, I’ll have to start again here. And, if necessary, win you back.’
    Rebecca shivered.
    ‘What?’ said Harper.
    She looked pale. ‘Well, if you’ve swapped lives like you said, there must be another me too: the one you are getting married to. What’s happened