Reunion at Sunset Boulevard

Three years after I got out of prison, I ran into Seraphina Rowe on Sycamore Lane, the place where our story began.
She was taking a leisurely stroll with her new husband. I was just standing under a plane tree, lost in thought, wearing an old jacket that had been washed so many times it was nearly white.
She walked right past me without a second glance.
But ten minutes later, she came back. Alone.
"Adrian It's been a long time."
My nails dug into my palms. I forced a calm smile. "You have the wrong person."
A flash of pain crossed her eyes. She grabbed my shoulders, her composure cracking. "Adrian, sending you to prison it was never what I wanted."
"You have money, you have looks," she pleaded, her voice tight. "You could still have a great life after getting out. But Leo is different. Hes an orphan, he has nothing. A criminal record would have destroyed him!"
I brushed her hands away, my voice flat. "I don't know what you're talking about. Please don't harass me, or I'll call the police."
I turned and walked away, leaving her standing there with a look of stunned disbelief.
The boy she once knew, the rich kid Adrian Vance who had seen his entire world in her eyes, had died three years ago. He died the moment she submitted the false evidence that sent him to prison.

1.
A soft rustle, the sound of something light hitting the ground.
I turned to look and saw a folded piece of paper lying on a fallen sycamore leaf. My release papers.
Ever since I got out, finding a job has been next to impossible because of my record. Id gotten into the habit of carrying them with me everywhere.
I bent down to pick them up, but a slender, pale hand was faster.
Looking up, I saw Seraphina staring at the document, her eyes wide.
"Adrian"
She started to say something else, but I snatched the papers from her hand, cutting her off.
"Thanks," I said, my voice cold and distant, before walking away.
How strange. She was the one who destroyed me, and now she was playing the part of the long-lost lover. The sycamore leaves drifted down around me, but I could still feel her gaze burning into my back. I felt nothing. I just kept walking until I rounded the corner.
I passed by our old university and saw a large banner hanging over the main gate, thanking Seraphina Rowe for a generous donation. I couldn't help but stop, taking in the familiar campus.
Just then, two figures I knew well walked out of the gates.
It was Leo Foster and Mr. Davison, our old homeroom teacher.
They both froze when they saw me.
"Adrian? Is that you? It's been so long! Where have you been all these years?" Mr. Davison still recognized me; I guess I hadn't changed that much.
A genuine smile touched my lips, but before I could speak, Leo cut in. "You probably didn't hear, Mr. Davison. After graduation, Adrian here went to prison."
A flicker of shock crossed our old teachers face, but he quickly masked it. My gaze shifted to Leo. Just as I expected, the look in his eyes was a toxic mix of smugness and contempt.
"Oh! That reminds me!" Mr. Davison suddenly exclaimed. "I still have some of your old things I confiscated in my office. They were too valuable to throw out. Im heading there now, I can give them back to you."
When we got to his office, I saw what he meant by "valuable."
He handed me a small box. I sorted through the yellowed pages inside. They were all love letters I had written to Seraphina. As a teenager, I must have written her name a thousand times.
"And this," he said, pulling out a small red jewelry box. "I kept it safe for you."
I took the box and opened it gently. Inside, a silver necklace still glittered. I felt a pang in my chest and turned it over.
There, engraved on the back, were my initials.
It was one half of a matching set I had given her seven years ago when I was trying to win her over. Back then, when I liked someone, I wanted to give them the best, the most expensive things. Id seen the set in a magazine and knew I had to have it for us. I even had them custom engraved with our initials.
But she had turned it in to the teacher, claiming it was a distraction from her studies.
I gave her the one with my initials. The one with hers, I wore all through my youth.
I snapped back to the present with a silent, bitter laugh. A laugh at my own naivety back then, and at the wreck I had become.
"It's nothing valuable," I said, my voice hollow. "You can just throw it all away."
And just like that, the necklace that had once held all my hopes and dreams was dropped into the trash can by my own hand.

2.
After saying goodbye to Mr. Davison, I left the school. I didn't expect to see Leo still waiting for me outside. I tried to ignore him, but he chased after me, shedding any pretense of dignity.
"Adrian! Why did you have to come back?"
I stopped. "What's the matter? Does this city have a new rule against ex-convicts?"
At the mention of prison, I saw a flicker of superiority in his eyes. "So you do know your place. Good. You're not some golden boy anymore. Seraphina and I are married now." He took a step closer, his voice a low threat. "You'd better stay away from my wife."
This arrogant posture was so different from the timid boy who used to hide behind Seraphina's back that I almost didn't recognize him.
I looked him straight in the eye, a cold smile playing on my lips. "Shouldn't you be the one who remembers I was in prison?"
"After all, Leo," I murmured, "aren't you afraid of ghosts?"
The color drained from his face. A few years of comfort had made him careless. He was seething, but he had no comeback. He just ran a hand through his hair in frustration and stormed off.
I stood there for a long time, lost in thought, until dark clouds gathered overhead, and I hurried back towards my shabby rented room. My shoes were cheap and ill-fitting, and the back of my ankle was rubbed raw and burning with pain.
I had just made it inside when the sky ripped open and the rain began to fall in sheets. I shut the old glass window, but water still seeped in through the cracks.
To be honest, I've only lived in a place like this twice in my life.
Once is now, in this rundown little room Ive called home for the three years since my release.
The other time was seven years ago, at Seraphinas house.
Seven years ago, I was a different person. I had money and I had love. I acted without thinking of the consequences. And someone like me, against all odds, was completely captivated by Seraphina Rowe. I was surrounded by beautiful faces, but there was something unique about the girl who always had her nose in a book.
It was no surprise I fell for her.
I tried everything to get her attention. I knew she loved to study, so I bought her entire libraries of textbooks and research materials. I knew she only ate at the cafeteria, so I bribed the staff to give her extra portions. But she was untouchable, an ice queen. Every time I got close, she would just give me a look of pure disdain.
Then, a friend told me her grandfather was sick in the hospital. I found out she was scrimping and saving every penny to pay for his surgery. The hospital bills were piling up, and they were about to turn him away.
Without a second thought, I took a fraction of the trust fund my father had left me and paid for everything.
When my mother found out, she was furious. We had a massive fight. I'd never been treated like that by my own family. I ran out of the house, swearing I would never go back.
And that's where she found me, on Sycamore Lane, huddled under a tree in the pouring rain.
Through the downpour, I heard her voice, a strange mix of anger and concern. "Adrian, are you an idiot? Hiding under a tree in a thunderstorm? Are you trying to get struck by lightning?"
Tears welled in my eyes. I heard myself choke out the words, "Seraphina this idiot has nowhere else to go."
That was the first time she let me get close. She took me back to her home.

3.
That night, the rain beat against her windowpane just like it was now.
I had never been in a house so small, so sparse. But when I saw her sitting at her desk, a strange sense of peace settled over me.
The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. "Seraphina, be with me. I know you need money. If you're with me, I promise you'll have it."
The lamplight flickered across her face, hiding and revealing her expression. She was silent for a long time.
After what felt like an eternity, she spoke. "This is just for the money."
It was a strange, disconnected statement, as if she were saying it as much for herself as for me. The words should have stung, but they didn't.
Because in that moment, I knew. She was finally letting me in.
Later, she got into Northwood Universitys prestigious law program. I used my familys money to get into the same school. I was deliriously happy then. I believed we were in love. We were like any other couple, holding hands, kissing in the campus gardens. I was so naive, thinking our story was a real-life romance novel.
I was her hero.
It wasn't until our sophomore year that another boy started appearing by her side: Leo Foster. Seraphina told me he was just a friend from her hometown, a freshman in her department. When I learned that, like her, he was an orphan raised by relatives, I didn't press the issue.
But the way he looked at me was anything but friendly.
He would take gifts I gave Seraphina and show them off subtly, trying to make me jealous. He would invent excuses to pull her away from our dates. He would "accidentally" break my things, trying to embarrass me. In any story, he was the villain.
I played the part of the magnanimous boyfriend and never said a word to her about it.
But the worst thing he ever did was hire a group of thugs to assault me in an alley.
He had asked to meet me at a coffee shop that day. I was running late because I was visiting my mother at our old family estate. That small delay, that one twist of fate, changed everything. The thugs he hired mistook Leo, who also happened to be wearing a pink shirt that day, for me. They dragged him into the alley instead.
In the struggle to defend himself, Leo killed one of them.
By the time I arrived, all I saw was a blood-splattered Leo and a body on the ground.
I told Seraphina everything. She was the one person I trusted.
But I never imagined that I would be the one charged with murder.
I thought there had been a mistake. I tried to explain, frantic, desperate. I told her I was innocent, that I wasn't even there.
But Seraphina just stood there, shielding Leo behind her, and gave me a single, chilling look. "Does it matter if you're innocent?" she asked, her voice light as air.
"What matters is that Leo won't be the one going to prison."
In that one, sickening instant, I understood everything. Why she wouldn't believe me, even though Leo was the one covered in blood. Why she identified me as the killer, even though I had an alibi.
She knew. She knew from the very beginning that Leo had killed that man.
She was just playing dumb, pinning the crime on me. The so-called evidence against me? She submitted it herself.
She was protecting him. And she was willing to send me to prison to do it.
All along, it really had been just for the money. In the end, she chose him, the boy from her world, not mine.
A loud clap of thunder outside jolted me awake. I was slumped over on the edge of my bed. I wiped the tears from my eyes and rubbed my temples, my head throbbing from the nightmare.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
It was late. A knot of suspicion tightened in my gut.
I peered through the peephole and saw Seraphina. Her hair and shoulders were soaked with rain.

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