By The Time They Believed Me—I Was Gone Novel by ElaraThorne _ Novel



By The Time They Believed Me—I Was Gone Novel by ElaraThorne _ Novel

By The Time They Believed Me—I Was Gone Chapter 01

Ten years after her death, Kathleen Coffey woke up to a world that had already moved on.
Her fiancé, Harvey Schmitt, a lieutenant commander, was at the altar with her cousin, Brielle Howell. Her parents, Davion and Serena Coffey, along with her brother, Hector Coffey, sat among the guests, tears in their eyes as they blessed the couple. Even the flowers in the venue were painfully bright.
Her arrival caught everyone off guard, shattering every bit of joy in the room.
Brielle let out a shrill, then fainted, her face pale.
Harvey rushed down and grabbed Kathleen's shoulders, his face dark with anger. "I finally managed to forget you. Why did you have to come back?"
Davion and Serena glared at her, fury blazing in their eyes.
"Since you ran away, you should have stayed gone. At least that would've been respectable," Hector sneered, his eyes red.
"What happened to that defiant girl who walked out on her wedding and cut everyone off for ten years?"
Kathleen shook her head frantically, tears streaming down her face.
That wasn't true. A decade ago, she had died in an explosion. There were no remains left to bury.
She was back because she'd struck a deal with the Grim Reaper—ten days with her family and the man she loved, for the price of her soul.
***
But no matter how hard she tried to explain, no one believed her.
"Go on. Keep lying." Davion shoved her to the ground. "I'm a military commander. You're my daughter. If you were dead, the police would have shown up at our door. It would have been all over the news."
Then he picked up Brielle and carried her into the military vehicle. Hector and Serena followed close behind.
Kathleen sat on the ground, stunned. She couldn't understand it. Their beloved daughter had come back. Why weren't they happy?
Then Harvey walked past her, his face cold. The firm set of his jaw made him look far grimmer now than he had a decade ago.
His combat boots landed heavily on the ground, each step a crushing blow straight to her heart.
"You also think I'm lying?" Kathleen reached out suddenly, her fingers curling tight around the heel of his boot.
"You've always been spoiled and reckless. What wouldn't you do? You ran away from our wedding after a single fight, after all..."
Harvey paused. His gaze turned icy and bitter.
"Kathleen, over these ten years, the more I think about it, the more I realize that every bit of love I had for you was nothing but a joke."
She closed her eyes in pain, forcing her trembling body to stay still.
It took her a long moment to find her voice. "So... you never even... never even tried to look for me?"
At that, his eyes sharpened. His lips pressed into a thin line. Just as she thought he wouldn't answer, he spoke, his voice cold and harsh.
"Of course, we didn't. Your family and I were all deeply disappointed in you."
Kathleen's entire body went rigid. She could not believe what she was hearing.
She had been missing for ten years and died a horrific death, yet her family and the man she loved simply assumed she was sulking somewhere—and never even tried to find her!
A surge of emotion surged through her. She blacked out.
Right before she lost consciousness, she saw Harvey bending over her. The bright red wedding boutonniere on his green uniform burned into her vision—just like the blood that had poured from her body the day the explosion tore her apart.
She regained consciousness to the steady jostle and rumble of a moving vehicle.
When Kathleen opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Harvey's cold, sharp profile and a scar that had not been there ten years prior on his neck.
Harvey turned the steering wheel of the jeep, then glanced at her. "We had that huge fight the day before the wedding. Don't you owe me an apology?"
Kathleen's grip tightened on her seatbelt. Memories flooded back.
That day, she hadn't just fought with Harvey. She'd fought with Davion, Serena, and Hector, too.
She was a commander's daughter, raised in privilege, spoiled from childhood. She had never even lifted a finger to clear her own plate after a meal.
Harvey was a lieutenant commander, promoted ahead of schedule, the most promising rising star in the military, a man her family wanted her to marry.
Luckily, she actually liked him. So just three years into the relationship, she wanted to marry him.
He was, after all, the only person in the whole military base who'd ever been willing to spend time with her.
It almost sounded laughable, but in her twenty-something years of life, Kathleen had never made a single real friend. Everyone said she was spoiled, entitled, and impossible to please, so no one wanted to get close to her.
But that terrible reputation had been spread entirely by Brielle, and somehow, every single person had believed every word of it.
Desperate to shake off that unfair label, Kathleen had snuck off to a frontline military unit without telling her family. She lived and trained alongside the female enlisted soldiers, pushing herself to the limit to earn an official commendation. When catastrophic floods hit, she'd thrown herself into the raging waters to evacuate trapped civilians, only to be swept away by the current.
She'd fought for her life for three full days before regaining consciousness, and the incident had finally alerted her family to what she'd done.
Kathleen came clean then, telling her family she wanted to enlist in the military. Davion, Serena, and Hector all said no, accusing her of being unreasonable, telling her her only job was to settle down and be a lieutenant commander's wife.
When she couldn't convince them, she went to Harvey.
He got even angrier. He told her, very seriously, "Just stay behind me. I'll be your pride for a lifetime. You're not cut out for hardship, and I can't bear to watch you put your life at risk."
Kathleen's eyes went red. She shot back, "Says who? Harvey, you don't even know me."
Harvey just laughed, speaking to her in a condescending, patronizing tone like he was soothing a fussy child. "Ms. Coffey, I know exactly who you are, far better than you know yourself."
That deeply dismissive, mocking remark was what started the huge fight. She stormed out.
On the road, a fuel tanker exploded ahead of her. Her brakes failed, and she'd crashed straight into the fiery wreckage...
"I was wrong." The flood of memories broke off, and Kathleen sobbed, gasping for breath. "I never should have left that day. I'm so sorry..."
If she hadn't left that day, she wouldn't have been blown to pieces.
It really hurt.
Harvey froze, his hand moving on instinct to hand a handkerchief to her. Just then, his pager beeped.
"Harv, Elle's awake. She's crying and asking where you are."
Hearing Hector's voice, Harvey slammed on the gas. Soon, the jeep stopped outside the clinic.
Kathleen followed him in, but Hector blocked her in the hallway.
"Elle got scared when you showed up out of nowhere. She's in an unstable state. You can't go in."
His words cut deep, like her very presence was some terrible, unforgivable mistake.
Inside the hospital room, Serena was rubbing Brielle's back, murmuring soft comforts to calm her down. Davion, a gruff man, was carving an apple into the shape of a puppy to cheer her up.
Harvey walked quickly to the bedside and handed Brielle his handkerchief.
"Elle, don't cry. I'm here."
Elle?
The way he said Brielle's nickname was surprisingly gentle.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" Hector appeared beside her out of nowhere.
"Kathleen, do you have any idea how much we were hurt when we searched everywhere for you and found nothing?"
Kathleen froze, her heart racing uncontrollably in her chest.
Harvey had lied to her earlier. They had tried to look for her.
But what Hector said next was harsh.
"If you were so dead set on sneaking out of the country, faking a new identity, and making sure we could never find you, you should have stayed gone forever. What the hell are you doing back here?"
At his words, Kathleen was completely stunned. It had all been a terrible misunderstanding.
"I didn't do any of that..." Her eyes reddened. She grabbed Hector's arm and explained over and over.
But Hector just sneered and wrenched his arm out of her grip.
"Stop lying. Elle already found the proof. Even the people smuggler who got you the fake passport confessed."
In an instant, Kathleen's sobs died in her throat.

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