The Surviving Trace (Surviving Time, #1)

by Calia Read

Pictures from the past give me a thrill, make goose bumps appear on my arms, because I believe that relics from the past show what life truly is—they start out so beautifully, but slowly fade with time.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I whisper. He swallows, and I watch his Adam’s apple bob. “Because suddenly I’m not so sure I want you to leave my world.”

It’s okay though, my mind whispers. Only the water will feel your heartbeat and choppy breathing. Only the wind whistling through the trees will see you reach for him. They’ll keep this a secret.

“You think you belong in another time. Belong to another man. But maybe you have it all wrong. Maybe you belong here, with me.”

Love is hoarse cries. It’s anger. It’s sadness. It’s happiness and laughter. It’s everything wrapped into one. Love is one of the heaviest of words to exist. It’s a miracle anyone survives it.

“Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward.” ―Søren Kierkegaard

My mom once told me to find a man who gazes at me as though I’m the sun, moon, and stars. But what she failed to tell me was how to move on from a love that spans decades.

“With each passing moment, I’m becoming part of the past. There is no future for me, just the past steadily accumulating.” ―Haruki Murakami, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

“No matter what happens tomorrow, I love you forever,” I say. Étienne squeezes my hand and kisses the crown of my head. “I know. Nothin’ changes between us. You’re my surviving trace.”