The moment I locked sight with him, my heart beat raced, and I forgot to breathe. His dark, black hair. His furrowed eyebrows. His pitch-black eyes that happened to be so light and clear. Everything was the same. 

As I stared at him,  memories of the past flashed across my mind. Memories I tried to forget after so long. 

He looked at me, his expressions remained unaltered. “Is there a problem?” He asked, unaffected by the sight of me. 

My heart dropped as I quickly hid my disappointment. I didn’t know what to expect. Another life, another repeat of my previous past. It’s not like he would magically remember who I was to him. After so long, all I realized was miracles don’t exist. And remembering him was perhaps my greatest curse and blessing at the same time.

 “No, nothing” I replied, forcing my emotions down and my voice from shaking.

Relationships of the past don't matter, focus on the present. It was an ideal I forced onto myself after the repetitive despair I felt, life after life.

The moment I realized I harbored the memories of my past lives, I couldn’t be happier. I sought him out almost immediately. But once I found him, all he saw in me was distrust and annoyance. In the beginning, I would tell him about our relationships, but I quickly gave up after I realized he would never believe me. Everytime I told him, he would stare at me in bewilderment and utter the few words, “I think you’re mistaken, I don’t know you.” And each time, it felt like daggers plunging into my heart and leaving a dark hole of void in it.

Not wanting to remain in the past any longer, I turned my back on him after quickly bidding my farewell. “Goodbye, Mr. Alatus, I’m afraid I must go,” I told him, trying to get away as soon as possible.

As I turned toward the white door, an elegant, light voice came behind me, “you are the new director of our company right, what’s your name?” he asked in a curious manner.

I smiled at his words, “Renata Lancaster” I answered, giving my new identity to the person I’ve known for so long and yet so short.

As I walked out, my expression turned bitter. As we’re reborn, we are given a new fate, a new identity, and a new role in life. So why, Alastair, please tell me. Why are you exactly the same as you were centuries ago?

As humans die, they reincarnate into a new life in which they are given new memories and identities. I was one of the cursed individuals that managed to remember all of their past lives.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

 I was a general of China, a samurai of Japan, a philosopher of Greece, a socialite of France, and the King’s advisor in England. I was born with different nationalities, races, and backgrounds. I met different people, had different parents, and encountered different allies and enemies. Yet the only one I met through all my lives and encountered repetitively was my first love, and  comrade who fought and died alongside me on the battlefield. The story of our tale is tragic, and I pray, for his own sake, he never remembers me.

I walked past him, and out the door toward my car. It was a black Tesla SUV that I recently bought after wearing out my old lexus. It was funny how fast humans evolve and time passes. Centuries passed in a blink of an eye. It was as if yesterday when carriages relied on horse and man powers. 

I unlocked and opened the door of the car and drove toward my apartment clearing my thoughts in the meantime. I was reliving my 66th twenty-nine year after finishing my master’s degree with a few years of work experience. Due to my past experiences and knowledge, entering university was easy and since I chose a top-ranked university, finding a job was childs work. I graduated from the Harvard Business School and chose a top company to work at hoping for an easier life than the one I last lived, but never considered the possibility of running into him. 

Me and Alastair always meet despite our circumstances. It was as if fate was playing a joke with me. Every single time, I would run into him whether it was as friends or strangers. I never considered we would be colleagues this life.

As I came close to the apartment I just moved to, I felt unsure of whether I wanted to continue my career in the same company as him. I thought about retracting my contract before deciding I wouldn’t let someone who doesn’t even recognize me define my life. 

I reached the apartment and parked my car in the garage as I headed toward the elevator. I stepped into the elevator and pressed my floor number, 72, before pressing the close door button. As the door started to move, a man ran toward it, pressing his finger between the two doors. He was panting and out of breath before looking up at me.

As I stared at him, I was in a daze. No way, I thought. No way is this real. 

The man before me was the same executive director, Alastair. He smiled at me, as if telling me “Surprise, fate is playing a joke on you”. 

He leaned in to press the button before stopping. “It looks like we’re on the same floor,” he said in a bright tone.

 My hand was practically shaking. 

I made it my life journey to stay away from him, but to say he was my colleague and neighbor was basically a punch in the gut. 

“That’s… nice,” I said in a measly voice. He smiled at me. “It is.” 

I wanted to punch him. He’ll never understand the hardship I had to endure. The cold stares at me as if I had gone insane, which, in a way, I have. He’ll never understand what it’s like losing all of his loved ones even though they were right next to him.

I liked him, but as much as I did, I hated him.