Emily had never been on a date before. Never in her life. She wasn’t sure of a lot of things. She had spent her afternoon worrying about whether she was dressed correctly, whether her makeup was perfect, and a whole list of other things that would take days to go through.

She was a standard teenager. Fifteen years of age, shiny brown hair that made the hearts of her male classmates throb, blue eyes that some would say sparkled under any light, and a face that most people would describe as attractive.

But there was only one boy that she had agreed to go on a date with. This boy was something special. Ever since Emily had met this boy, she had been in love. When he had asked her on a date, it was a miracle that she had not fallen unconscious on the spot – it was like a dream come true.

She only lived in a small town in the United Kingdom, so she had doubted her entire life whether she would find her soulmate in such a small pool of males. But this boy ticked every box.

Her heart was practically trying to escape her chest as she strode along the dimly lit road towards the restaurant. She thought that the white dress she had picked was perfect for the occasion. It complemented her makeup rather well and hid what she would have described as imperfections in her body.

A worrying thought crossed Emily’s mind for a moment. As her small heels clicked against the dirty pavement, she wondered whether or not this boy would already be at the restaurant waiting for her. She didn’t really mind waiting – that is just how marvellous this boy was – but it would make a better impression if he was there waiting for her.

‘God…’ she breathed as she checked the time on her phone. ‘I’m five minutes late…’

They had agreed to meet outside the restaurant at five o’clock that Saturday evening. It was 17:06. Any troubling thought that he was going to arrive after she vanished in that moment. Surely they weren’t both going to be late.

Emily began to speed up her walking. This was hardly necessary, as the restaurant was now in sight.

It was only a small building. Large lights decorated the outside from each corner of the brick building. There were only two cars in the tiny car park on the side – it really was a small place.

As Emily got closer to the building, she slowed back down to a normal speed. She didn’t do this because she was nearing her destination, but rather because she could see her date and wanted to look her absolute best in front of him.

Just looking at him made Emily’s heart throb. He stood outside the small front door dressed in a black-and-white suit. His tie and waistcoat seemed to be arranged perfectly around his semi-muscular frame. Everything down to his shiny black shoes seemed immaculate.

Upon seeing her walk towards him, his eyes seemed to sparkle, but that may have been because of the large lights around him. Emily hoped it wasn’t.

As she came face-to-face with him, Emily got a much better look at the features she had fallen so madly in love with.

He stared at Emily with those blue eyes that most people would perhaps describe as ‘cold’, but they seemed to show nothing but admiration as their eyes met. His short blond hair had seemingly been combed to meet the perfectionist standards that his clothing had been modelled to. His jawline, too, made Emily feel almost faint. It wasn’t the sharpest, but it was just sleek enough to drive her crazy.

‘Do girls still like flowers?’ he asked softly, and Emily noticed for the first time that his arms were behind his back.

She tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her right ear.

‘It depends on who they’re from,’ she giggled.

‘What if they were from me?’ he smirked playfully, leaning in slightly.

‘Then I think it would be very much appreciated,’ Emily smiled back.

No way, she thought to herself. There was no way that he had actually gone out of his way to buy her flowers. Sure, some of the boys in her classes had bought her chocolates and things before, but something about it coming from this boy in particular made it mean more to her.

From behind his back, the boy in front of Emily pulled out a marvellous assortment of flowers. She could not have named them all if she had been given all the time in the world, but there was a variety of beautiful colours. There were some blue, some white, some red, and even some pink and purple ones in the bouquet that had now been presented to her.

‘It definitely is very much appreciated,’ Emily had to fight the urge to squeal with delight.

‘I hope there’s space for them at our seats,’ the boy teased, flashing brilliantly white teeth at Emily. ‘Speaking of which, should we go inside?’

He confidently offered his hand and Emily, not hesitating for a moment, took it gracefully with her left whilst taking the flowers with her right.

‘I think we should,’ Emily smiled at him.

The boy began to gently lead Emily inside, and as he did, he tossed a smirk over his shoulder. ‘And, by the way, this is the prettiest I’ve ever seen you.’

Emily felt as though she was going to faint. It meant absolutely nothing when a random boy from the back row of her Maths class said she was cute. But this? This made her feel as though she was about to fall over.

In her attempt to hold back a girly giggle, Emily let out a rather strange sound from her mouth. ‘I must say, you look rather pretty yourself.’

The boy’s face turned slightly pink at that comment.

Emily began to think about what she would order to eat. She didn’t want to look like a tramp. Nor did she want to order the biggest thing they had. That would make her look like a pig. And if she ordered the most expensive thing on offer, she would look like a gold digger.

The inside of the restaurant was lit by beautiful little lamps that hung from the ceiling and were adorned by cute little brown lampshades. Numerous booths with cushioned red seats sat along the wooden walls of the place, perpendicular to the windows showing the beautiful evening outside.

Because it was June, the sun had yet to set, but the evening still looked rather stunning.

The man standing by the door was holding a tablet. He was rather tall, around six feet or so, with serious brown eyes and hazel brown hair gelled to his left. A slender black waistcoat, grey shirt, and black trousers made his appearance even more…official?

‘Have you got a reservation?’ he asked in a rather snobby voice. The town was not exactly posh, or rich, so his tone shocked Emily. The boy that accompanied her barely even seemed fazed.

‘Yes, sir,’ the boy said confidently, giving Emily’s hand a little squeeze. Her heart was pounding. ‘Thomas Rotlam.’

The waiter typed something in on his tablet before nodding slightly.

‘Follow me, if you would, please, Mr Rotlam.’

The waiter led us along the right-hand line of booths, before stopping at the one at the far end of the restaurant. A candle sat in the middle of the table, giving off a marvellous scent. Not only that, but red cloths that looked as smooth as silk were situated on the table in the spot where a plate would go. No other tables had either of those things.

‘We’ll be ready to take your order whenever you are ready to give it,’ the waiter said calmly. ‘Enjoy your night.’

As he walked away, Thomas gestured for Emily to take her seat. Smiling, she placed her flowers against the wall and then sat next to them. Wordlessly, Thomas took the seat opposite her.

‘Did you have this done to the table?’ Emily whispered excitedly. ‘No other table has this!’

Thomas smiled somewhat sheepishly. ‘I may have had something to do with it. I wanted to give you the best night possible.’

‘And you definitely are,’ Emily smiled warmly, placing her hands palm-up on the table for him to take.

He understood immediately. As he took her hands on the table, Emily began to notice the small details about them. They weren’t the roughest that hands could be, but they weren’t the softest. They were comfortable to hold, and Emily felt a shiver run down her spine as his thumbs began to stroke the sides of her hands.

They were like a man’s hands. Comforting yet worn.

‘And ‘Thomas Rotlam’, huh?’ she teased, squeezing his hands slightly. ‘That sounds like a nice name. Rolls off the tongue nicely.’

He smiled at her. ‘Emily’s a better name, in all honesty.’

‘‘Rotlam’ is way better!’ Emily scoffed. ‘It’s way more unique!’

Thomas chuckled softly. ‘Yeah…I’ve never heard of any ‘Rotlam’ before.’

The two of them gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment. Emily hoped that her makeup really was as good as she hoped.

Thomas’s eyes looked wonderful in the candlelight. It highlighted their blue colour. Emily felt as though she could swim in his eyes. Get lost in them forever. She almost wanted to.

‘As pretty as your eyes are, Emily…’ Thomas began, a cheeky smile growing on his perfect face. ‘I’d rather look at them on a full stomach. Do you wanna order?’

She giggled at that, and she didn’t care that it sounded girly. ‘You’re funny, Thomas. You really are. Yeah, let’s order.’

Rotlam really did sound like a nice name. It sounded like the name a wealthy family would have. Not that that mattered to Emily. She would’ve fallen for Thomas if he owned only a single penny.

Thomas let go of Emily’s right hand as he reached for the menu but made sure that he was still holding her left. It was only small, but the fact that he still held her hand whilst even reaching for things made Emily’s heart flutter for what was not the first time that evening.

Before even glancing at the menu’s contents, Thomas handed it to Emily, a sweet smile coating his face.

‘You find what you want to order first,’ he said softly. ‘Then I’ll decide.’

Emily smiled, taking the menu, before teasing, ‘What a gentleman.’

Emily’s eyes frantically scanned the menu, and her heart sank the more she looked. There was almost nothing that she could order, and much less eat without looking trampy. She and her family weren’t exactly posh, but she wanted to look her absolute best for her date.

‘Do you need help deciding?’ Thomas offered, rubbing her hand gently.

What was she to do? Should she be honest with Thomas and reveal exactly why she was taking so long to come to a decision? Or should she just gamble and make a random order?

Emily mentally swore at herself for getting so stressed over what was, in reality, only a date. It didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Who knew? She may never see Mr Rotlam again after their meal.

‘You don’t have to worry, you know?’ Thomas whispered soothingly. ‘I’m not gonna judge you for what you wanna eat, Emily. And you’re still gonna look pretty as hell no matter what you order.’

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Surely she was dreaming. This had to be false. At any moment, Emily was going to wake up in her own bed and lie there in her sorrow that this was not reality.

Thomas was too good to be true. Surely he at the very least was not real. An apparition. Maybe she was on a date with a normal boy and her mind was tricking her into believing that he was this ‘Thomas’.

Emily found that she had been staring blankly at Thomas whilst facing this inner battle. Embarrassed, she looked down at the table.

‘Um, yeah…’ she murmured, feeling rather ashamed. ‘I don’t know what to order.’

‘Well, what would you say is your favourite meal? Or favourite food?’ Thomas squeezed her hand slightly.

Emily thought about this question for a moment before answering. ‘Probably Italian food.’

‘Isn’t there spaghetti on the menu?’ he asked, smiling warmly at her.

Emily’s eyes flicked downward and she began to scan the list of food items. Sure enough, there was spaghetti and meatballs on there.

‘Wha- How did you-?’ Emily spluttered, but her mind seemed to shut off as Thomas began to gently squeeze and rub her hand.

‘A wizard never reveals his secrets,’ he teased.

Emily opened her mouth to point out that he had said the saying wrong, but then thought that it would be better if she just stayed quiet about it. So what if he said a stupid saying wrong by a single word? He was pretty.

‘Uh…yeah,’ Emily murmured. ‘I’ll have the spaghetti. Are you sure you don’t mind paying?’

‘It would be wrong to invite you on a date only to not pay,’ was Thomas’s response, and he sounded rather offended.

Emily faltered. ‘Uh…sorry, I just don’t know what to say. What are you gonna have?’

She knew she sounded rude. There was a part of her that was furious at her tone. She had nothing but appreciation for Thomas Rotlam, but it seemed as though she had so much of it that she simply could not express it properly.

‘I think I’ll just go with the steak,’ Thomas replied thoughtfully. ‘We’ve just gotta wait for a waiter to come over.’

Emily smiled at him.

‘You know, I’ve never been on a date before,’ she began, still smiling.

Thomas’s eyes widened. ‘Really? Someone as pretty as you?’

Emily laughed sweetly at his comment.

‘Loads of boys have asked, but I’ve never said yes until now.’

She was hoping that this highlighted to him how special he was to her. Emily found that she was much better at implying her feelings rather than saying them out loud.

‘What makes me so special, then, huh?’ Thomas pried jokingly. The gentle smirk now present on his face was working wonders on Emily’s heart.

‘Have you seen yourself?’ she quipped. ‘Muscular, nice face, great eyes – I could go on forever.’

Thomas chuckled at that, and Emily was certain that his face was going a slight shade of pink once more.

He was spared from having to formulate a response, however, as the waiter from the door appeared beside their table at that very moment.

‘Are the two of you ready to order?’ he asked, sounding really like a snob, in Emily’s opinion.

‘Uh, yes, if you wouldn’t mind,’ Thomas said quickly.

‘Have you decided on drinks?’

No. They had not.

Emily knew that they were too young to be drinking, both of them only being fifteen, and didn’t exactly want to break the law. Despite being in a ridiculously fancy restaurant, especially for such a small town, Emily settled on just a Pepsi.

‘I’ll have a Pepsi, if you don’t mind, sir,’ Emily managed to blurt out before Thomas could awkwardly ask her what she wanted.

‘Make that two Pepsis, if you would,’ Thomas added, grinning. ‘Are you ready to take our food orders?’

‘Whenever you are.’

‘We’ll get a spaghetti and meatballs and a steak with that then,’ Thomas said, rubbing Emily’s hand softly.

‘How do you want your steak?’

‘Well done, if doable.’

The waiter finished typing the order up on his tablet before nodding his thanks to the pair and shuffling off towards the kitchen door at the back of the restaurant.

‘Do your parents know you’re on a date with a boy?’ Thomas teased as the waiter left Emily’s sight.

She smiled sarcastically at him. ‘Of course they do. They were more supportive than I expected, in all honesty.’

‘How so?’

‘They were actually pretty glad that I’ve found someone.’

A cheeky grin spread across Thomas’s face. ‘Oh yeah? Am I ‘someone’?’

Emily felt her face turn beet red.

‘You definitely are special,’ Emily teased, but her voice was quiet. She’d never really flirted before. The only people she had seen flirt were the boys who hit on her. And they did not provide a good example of how to do such.

‘Well, Emily, you’re special to me, too,’ he smiled. ‘I’m glad I get to spend my first date with you.’

‘Oh? This is a first for both of us, is it?’

Thomas looked rather sheepishly at the table. ‘Yeah…’

‘I’m just as shocked that you’ve never been on a date as you were when you found out this is my first,’ Emily continued, genuinely meaning her words.

He scoffed. ‘I’m not that popular with the girls. I’m surprised you didn’t reject me.’

Emily’s eyebrows shot up.

‘Oh, don’t give me that,’ Thomas joked. ‘If anything, be happy that you don’t have any competition.’

‘I’m more so surprised that you thought I would reject you,’ Emily said quietly, beginning to rub his hand as he had been doing to hers. ‘We’re like a perfect match.’

Once again, Thomas’s face changed colour slightly. He was cutest when he was blushing.

***

Emily set her spoon down. The two of them had just finished their desserts, and she found herself feeling rather full.

‘Where to now?’ she asked slowly as Thomas waved a waiter over to pay the bill.

‘You like stargazing, right?’ Thomas replied absent-mindedly, seemingly fixated on pulling out his bank card.

Emily blinked. How did he know that? She couldn’t remember telling him over the course of their date, but she might have done so without realising. They had been talking about strange things they liked.

‘How did you- Yeah, I do,’ she managed, staring at him.

He finally looked up from his jacket, smiling. ‘There’s a nice hill right behind this restaurant. We can go up there, lie down, and stargaze.’

Emily’s heart began to beat so rapidly that she half-expected to look down and see it pressing out against her white dress.

‘That sounds like fun,’ she said quietly, taking extra care to not make her voice sound like a squeal.

Thomas paid for the meal rather swiftly, thanking the waiter as he did so.

‘Well, I’m ready to go whenever you are,’ he teased.

Rather hastily, Emily grabbed her bouquet of flowers before rising to her feet. The two of them smiled at one another.

Emily had heard tales of people falling in love as hard as she had. They had seemed so unrealistic, so simply impossible, that Emily had forever ruled out the possibility of ever finding love like that. But it seemed as though Thomas had shown her that fairytale love actually existed.

As Thomas rose from his seat, he gracefully took Emily’s right hand with his left, giving it a little squeeze.

A nice dinner and stargazing? It was as though Thomas knew exactly how to please her.

‘Thank you for the dinner, sir,’ Emily said sweetly as they passed the waiter at the front door.

Then something strange happened. Emily was certain that she was seeing things, but something told her that she wasn’t. She didn’t exactly have bad eyesight. Sure, she couldn’t see like an eagle, but she didn’t need glasses.

Thomas’s free hand flicked outward for less than a second. Perhaps it was a twitch. Maybe he had an itch that he couldn’t attend to because his other hand was holding hers.

But, no. Thomas’s right hand seemed to be closed around something. Emily couldn’t quite see what – he had simply moved too fast for her to do so – but she doubted that he was just balling his fist.

She tried not to trouble herself with this issue, however. They were stargazing. That’s where they were going. Something positive. Emily liked to think of herself as a positive person, and what positive person would dwell so much on something that their mind could’ve simply been tricking them into seeing?

‘Oh, crap!’ Emily hissed under her breath.

When Thomas looked at her – evidently he had heard her cursing – Emily felt her face flare.

‘Sorry,’ she murmured. ‘I don’t usually have such a crude mouth.’

‘No need to apologise,’ he replied comfortingly, squeezing her hand slightly. ‘You okay?’

‘Yeah…I was just worried about my dress getting dirty on the hill when we lie down,’ she said, extraordinarily quiet.

She hated being petty, and she was extremely fearful that she was putting Thomas off. But, rather than seeming annoyed or disgusted by her statement, Thomas smiled rather warmly at her.

‘I brought a blanket in case you said something like that,’ he said soothingly.

Emily blinked. ‘Hu- What? Where are you storing a blanket?’

He shrugged, grinning. ‘This jacket has very big pockets, what else can I say?’

‘It doesn’t even look like you’re carrying anything in there,’ Emily remarked.

Thomas’s smile grew. ‘It’s like I said: ‘a wizard never reveals his secrets’.’

Once again, Emily didn’t exactly feel like telling him that he was getting the saying wrong. Who was she to judge someone like him?

‘This hill?’ she asked abruptly. She hadn’t noticed that they had been approaching it until they had been right at the very base.

‘Yeah…this is the one…’ Thomas said slowly, looking up at it.

It wasn’t the tallest hill, and Emily guessed that it would only take about three minutes to climb.

‘We’re gonna get the best view from up here,’ Emily said joyfully as she began to playfully pull Thomas up the hill behind her.

‘That was the plan,’ he joked back.

‘No one’s ever done this much for me,’ Emily told him as they reached the halfway point. ‘I don’t even know if my parents have gone to these lengths to make me happy.’

He scoffed. ‘I don’t know whether I deserve to be called better than the people who raised you, Emily.’

She squeezed his hand. ‘Well, at the very least, you have made me very happy, Thomas Rotlam.’

He smiled up at her. ‘Only for you.’

Emily’s heart was pounding. Only for her, huh? He seemed almost as in love with her as she was with him, but that may have just been her wishful thinking.

‘How come you asked me out?’ she asked slowly as they neared the top of the hill. ‘Why not any of the other girls from school?’

Thomas sighed, but his warm smile was still there.

‘Because, Emily, to put it simply, you’re the prettiest, and you’re the one that I like the most.’

Emily’s heart skipped a beat.

‘You really know all the right things to say, don’t you?’ she teased as they finally reached the hill’s summit.

‘Again: only for you,’ he grinned.

Emily began to ponder how exactly to ask him to get the blanket out, but she didn’t have to worry about that, as he spoke first.

‘Actually, Emily, before we lie down, there’s something else I have for you,’ he began as he reached into one of the inside pockets of his perfect black jacket.

Emily’s face definitely lit up.

From his jacket, Thomas pulled out a narrow grey box. It was rather long, definitely over a foot, whilst only being a few inches wide. It was decorated and held shut by a thin black ribbon. It wasn’t the prettiest of boxes, but Emily was in no position to complain after the wonderful evening Thomas had already given her.

He smiled. ‘Open it.’

Emily had absolutely no clue what could’ve possibly been inside. It certainly wasn’t another set of flowers. The box was too large to hold something like promise rings, so they were ruled out, too. Unless the box held multiple things.

Emily stopped that thought before she got her hopes too high.

She stepped forward, smiling at him, and gently pulled the knotted ribbon loose. It fell onto the grass below rather gracefully. Thomas smiled back at her.

Emily placed her hands on either end of the box before slowly pulling it open.

A knife.

The inside of the box was coated with white velvet, which is where the knife sat.

The blade was a little over a foot long, and it glimmered in the moonlight. The brown leather handle was rather small, but it was definitely holdable.

Emily remained quiet for a moment, her mind blank.

‘T-Thomas?’ she managed after what felt like years of crushing silence. ‘What does- Why is- A knife?’

That was all she could manage. A rather terrifying lump seemed to have formed in her throat, preventing her from forming any more words.

Thomas was holding the box with his left hand, meaning that his right hand was free to reach into the box and take the knife. And that is exactly what he did.

Once the knife was safely in his hand, he threw the box to the grass below.

‘I must say, Emily, you did provide me with a rather nice night out,’ he said, so quietly that Emily instinctively leaned forward. ‘But, I’m afraid, it must now come to a rather…unexpected…end.’

‘W-What?’ Emily stammered.

‘You see, Emily, this whole ‘history’ that you remember the two of us having…all these memories…’ he continued at the same volume. Emily was certainly not a fan of the sudden sinister tone of his voice. ‘They were false. Fabricated. They did not happen.’

Before Emily could even think to question this, he continued.

‘I planted those memories in your head to give myself the best chance of success on this date. And it worked, didn’t it? You said ‘yes’ when I asked you, didn’t you?’

Emily nodded slowly.

Thomas’s new smile was not warm.

‘The funny thing is, Emily, I didn’t even ask you. That was a false memory, too.’

‘But why-’

‘Because I’m on a mission Emily,’ he cut her off. ‘It’s nothing personal. But if this does not happen now then it is sure to happen later.’

‘But…I thought…Thomas!’

He stepped towards her. Fear kept Emily completely still. A gleam entered his eyes. His arm came up. He took another step forward. Pain flooded Emily’s neck. Then he was behind her.

As Emily’s hands impulsively flew to her throat, Thomas snarled, ‘And do not call me Thomas.’

Emily’s vision blurred and she fell to her knees. Her mind was horrifyingly blank. There were no thoughts in her head. What could she have thought?

‘W-Who-?’ she gargled, but he cut her off once more.

‘Maltor. Maltor Confussée. There is no Thomas Rotlam.’

‘Mal-?’

‘Yes. Maltor.’

‘You’ll…You’ll be…caught,’ Emily managed, her own blood pouring through her fingers faster than she could stop it.

Glancing down, Emily’s stomach flipped. Her hands were completely crimson, as was the top section of her dress.

‘Will I?’ he scoffed. ‘I am very powerful, Emily. So powerful, in fact, that I can take memories just as easily as I can give them.’

‘Wha-’

‘Nobody in that restaurant will remember a Thomas and an Emily sitting at that table. No reservation will be on the record. We are gone from their memories.’

‘But-’

‘Shush. You have less than a minute of life left, Emily. I would think that you would like to die in peace? If so, then be quiet. Save your breath and let your final moments be filled with silence.’

Emily’s vision was getting blurrier by the second. She could only make out the vague colours of Maltor standing over her.

‘But…I…I thought…I liked…’

‘Life isn’t fair. That is a lesson everybody learns at some point. It was either you or another random girl. You are sacrificing your life for the sake of others. There, die with that thought. Die believing that you are a hero.’

Emily or another random girl? Was it pure chance that Maltor chose Emily to kill that night? What if he had picked another girl? Would somebody else be in the exact position she was in?

‘My parents…’

‘Your parents don’t even remember you mentioning a date, let alone who I am. The truth behind your death will forever be a mystery to them.’

Emily felt hot tears creep into her eyes. Was she really going to die here?

‘Only a few seconds left now, Emily. I’m afraid that this is where your short life ends. Any hopes you had…any dreams that filled your mind…kiss them a solemn goodbye.’

Emily blinked, then realised how big of a mistake that was. As her eyes closed, even though it was only for a fraction of a second, she felt her life slowly begin to seep away.

She would be dead by the next blink.

‘I win,’ Maltor breathed, and Emily did not know whether his voice was actually faint or whether she could just barely hear him. ‘I always win.’

Emily blinked.