Watching from the other side of the road, a beautiful girl walks past. Her blond hair flutters in the wind as her glowing live, warm skin breathes in the morning air. She holds her head high, and walks as if she were a model on a runway. She is flourishing, thriving, and she used to be mine. I slipped through universes where she was never sick, we got married and had a million kids just as we had planned. In many of these universes we broke up or she got too ill, and in all of these worlds my heart broke a little more each time. 

How many times can the same thing break your heart? I’d wonder, but I always secretly knew the answer. As long as you love it, and as long as I loved her, it would always hurt. I used my gift to live out my life next to her. Through the hurt and the pain, the love and warmth. We lived every life out until the very end. 

My favorite world was the second one we’d ever lived together. It started when we were young. We met the same way we did in our original world, when she sat next to me in our 4th period chemistry class. 

“Hey, my name’s Kiarra.” She smiled warmly, flashing her bright smile towards me.

“I’m Mason.” I shyly nodded, and from those first few words, our future started. We went on movie dates and to skate parks, and we loved every minute of it. We grew old together, and she never got sick. We were always happy. That universe was my favorite, it was the world we had imagined together. Passing in between parallel worlds was a gift randomly bestowed to me. Most times, I try to believe that somehow, someway the world knew I needed it. It knew I needed Kiarra, so It gave me a way to stay with her. 

I don’t know how I learned to control my power. The day after Kiarra’s death, I just woke up in a new world, with a new Kiarra. I was confused at first, and even now I still don’t understand how this is even possible. I’ve done research and read books, but still nothing explained this crazy phenomenon. All I knew was that I was with Kiarra, and that was all I needed. She was all I needed.