The Stop Between Then and Now

---

Chapter 3: The Stop Between Then and Now

Tuesday came faster than expected.

All week, Zayne walked through his days like someone out of sync with time—his mind circling the photo, the umbrella, the bus stop, and the way Mira had pointed at him like she already knew who he was. Like she was waiting for him to remember.

She had barely changed. Her face was older, sure, but her expression... it was the same. That soft, almost dreamy calm that felt out of place in a city that never stopped rushing.

Zayne hadn’t said anything to Eli. He hadn’t told anyone. Some truths didn’t need to be spoken aloud to be real. They lived in the silence, in the rain, in the seconds between heartbeats.

When he boarded the bus that night, he didn’t sit.

He stood by the back doors, hands tucked into his coat pockets, body swaying slightly with the rhythm of the road. The city outside was a blur of headlights and soaked sidewalks. His reflection in the glass looked unfamiliar—older, harder, but somehow... lighter.

Stop 24. Stop 25. Stop 26.

And then—

The bus slowed.

He saw her before the stop sign came into view. She was already standing there, red umbrella open, face tilted toward the sky. The rain danced in soft sheets around her, and for a second, Zayne felt like he was watching a memory in motion—something pulled from a dream he never wanted to wake from.

The doors opened with a hiss.

He stepped off.

The rain greeted him instantly, cold and alive, soaking into his collar. He blinked the water from his lashes and took a breath. It smelled like pavement and petrichor and something strangely familiar.

She looked at him, unsurprised.

“You remembered,” she said.

Her voice was just like he remembered—soft, like a whisper wrapped in velvet.

“I think so,” he replied. “Summer camp. The juice box. You got hurt climbing the fence.”

“You tried to fix my knee with a packet of ketchup,” she smiled, almost laughing. “I still have the scar.”

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Zayne asked, stepping closer. The umbrella covered them both now, sheltering them in their own little world beneath the storm.

“I wanted to see if you'd remember on your own,” Mira said. “Sometimes the heart remembers before the mind does.”

He looked at her closely. “What are you doing here, Mira? Why now?”

Her smile faded, just slightly.

“I come here every Tuesday,” she said, eyes drifting to the wet pavement. “Ever since last year.”

“Waiting for something?” he asked.

“For someone,” she replied. “I thought it might be you. But I wasn’t sure until last week.”

Zayne’s heart beat unevenly. The rain seemed to quiet around them, even though it hadn’t stopped.

“But why this bus stop?” he asked.

She looked at him then—really looked at him—and for the first time, he saw the weight in her eyes. Like she’d been carrying a storm longer than he knew.

“Because this is where I last saw my brother,” she said. “He never came home. The night he disappeared... it was raining. Just like this.”

Zayne froze.

“Mira, I... I’m sorry.”

She nodded. “I thought maybe if I kept coming here, I’d find a piece of him. Or maybe... someone who remembered him. Someone who could give me closure. And then you came.”

Zayne swallowed. “I didn’t know your brother. I mean—maybe I did, but...”

She took his hand, gently.

“You were there, Zayne. That night. You just don’t remember it yet.”

The rain picked up again, louder now, like the sky was holding its breath.

Zayne stared at her, the world shifting beneath his feet.

“What do you mean?”

Mira’s fingers tightened around his. “Next Tuesday. Come back. I’ll tell you everything.”

Then, without another word, she let go and stepped back into the rain.

The bus pulled away behind him.

Zayne stood at Stop 27, alone now, his heart pounding, the sound of the rain swallowing every question he didn’t know how to ask.

---

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***