Another Life

A cold chill ran through her body as her feet gently rode along the ice. Her hair was pushed back by the speed as she dug the blade of her skate into the ice below and threw her body into a jump. Her leg twisted as she went to land and ended up falling forward, holding out her hands in an attempt to cushion the fall.

Figure skating for Olivia usually cleared her mind, there was something about the elegance and precision that caused her to focus on what she was doing and forget about anything that was on her mind. Although today, no matter how many times she attempted the simplest jump she couldn’t keep her thoughts off the letter she’d received this morning.

Pulling herself up from the ice, she stalked off of the rink and over to her bag, where the letter sat inside. Olivia pushed a hand through the front of her hair and pulled the letter out of the envelope, reading it through for the 4th time today.

“Dear Olivia,
This is probably going to confuse you and you might not understand, but just let me explain before you freak out and jump to conclusions (because we all know how much you like to worry before you realize what’s happening).

I’m Gabrielle and I’m what they like to call a ‘guardian angel’. Now, I know you don’t like to associate with all that paranormal stuff so you might not believe me when I say that I’m your guardian angel, but I’m here to help you whether you believe me or not.

Now, before you jump to any more conclusions, I want you to know that normally us guardian angels don’t come in contact with the people we’re helping, which is why you won’t be believing this right now, but I heard your wish last night and you have a decision to make.

I can grant you your wish two different ways. You can either get exactly what you wished for and you can go back to last summer and be 18 and in love again, bear in mind that because Taylor and Andie were there last night, they will be included in the wish. The catch to this is that you didn’t know them back then so you won’t know again if you choose to go back. Now I know how close you’ve became with the two which is why I’m going to offer you a different option, and I’ve been very nice with this one. See, us angels, not only can we go back in time, but we can also erase the past.

So your second option is that we basically erase you relationship with Harry. Not the friendship, of course, just the romantic side. So, if you choose to go with this option you would’ve spent the whole summer as friends and you obviously wouldn’t have had to go through the break up. Now this seems a little pointless, right? Well Harry and his band mates are coming back to London next week and are staying here for a month, in the same complex as you, actually. So if you go with this option you’ll be able to reconnect with him.

Now as of any good situation, both of these have a downside. If you choose to go with the first option, you obviously won’t have Andie and Taylor with you along the way and there is also the chance that what happened last time may happen again. But if you go with the second option, you have a challenge. You have that whole month to get Harry to fall in love with you again. Sounds like a stupid fairytale, right? That’s just the way it goes with wishes.

I know it’s a hard decision to make which is why I’ve given you a week to decide. Well, six days now by the time you’ve woken up and read this. Think carefully and don’t mess this up. A second chance is all you have.”

Olivia shook her head before shoving the letter back in the envelope. It had to be some sort of sick joke, right? But she knew if it was Taylor or Andie, they would’ve confessed to it by now, and no one else was there last night.

Although she usually used figure skating as a way to clear her mind, Olivia finally gave up on it for today, her mind was too jumbled to even focus on skating properly. She quickly changed back into her converse and made her way out of the ice rink.

As she entered her apartment, she was greeted by Andie calling her into the kitchen straight away.

“I think you need to believe it.”

“What?” Olivia looked over at her, grabbing a bar of chocolate from the fridge.

“The letter,” Andie looked up from the pasta she was cooking, “I think it’s legit.”

Olivia jumped up onto the kitchen counter beside the stove, “What makes you think that?”

“I remember the same thing happened to my mum when I was younger,” she paused to turn the stove temperature down, “Like, she got a letter and everything. It’s worth a shot anyway.”

Olivia mumbled an agreement, chewing on another square of chocolate. Andie had a point, it was worth a shot. Whether it was someone playing a joke on her, she could at least try it, right?

The next few days were a blur or eating, sleeping, working, rereading the letter and a lot of googling about ‘guardian angels’. Turns out, the whole letter thing isn’t that unusual. Olivia was still sceptical of the idea, but knew she should make a decision soon, as tomorrow would mark a week since she got the letter.

Olivia knew for sure she’d love to choose the first option of going back to last summer. It was exactly what she wanted but she didn’t know if she knew how to turn it around and stop her and Harry from splitting up like they did. Would she not move to London and follow Harry to Birmingham? But then what would happen after that? What if it didn’t work out after that? And if she ended up not coming to London would she be able to make it through without Andie and Taylor? Harry was basically her only friend left in Cheshire and she’d grown so accustomed to having her two best friends around her 24/7, she didn’t know if it was worth losing them to start over back then.

Then again, if she chose the second option, was a month a long enough time? Sure, they’d ‘fell in love’ within a two month period of the summer after meeting but how did Olivia know if Harry was any different now? What if him being famous had caused him to build up walls easier? The whole week had been spent with so many questions swarming around her head, she felt both mentally and physically exhausted.

The night before she had to make the decision, Olivia dragged herself home from work and straight into a warm shower. Just like any other activity she’d done this week, her mind was once again filled with decision making, but this time Olivia was determined to not leave the shower until she’d made a decision. She washed her hair as she weighed up the pros and cons of option one and the same to option two as she washed the rest of her body. Olivia sat herself down on the floor of the shower and ran a hand through her wet hair, frustrated at how she couldn’t decide.

Another 10 minutes passed on the floor of her shower until she’d finally come to a decision. Olivia knew she’d probably regret either option after making it, but she’d decided that she’d been given two amazing opportunities and either one had their good sides and their bad.
Olivia grabbed her towel and wrapped it around herself as she stepped out of the shower into the steamed room. She turned to leave the bathroom as she noticed a green post it note on the bathroom mirror.

“Made a decision yet? Need it before midnight.”

Olivia sighed and went to find a pen from her room. She swallowed the lump in her throat and scribbled her answer at the bottom of the note. She quickly pushed it to the side of her bathroom counter and left the room before she changed her mind.