Enjoying YesterWorld? Order your print copy today!

I stood on the platform, waiting for the eastbound train. It would take me as far as New York, where my brother and Piper would pick me up and drive me north to their place—my place, I should start saying—in Boston.

My dad had run into the station to buy me snacks for the trip, and I was flapping my tank top away from my chest to try to relieve myself from the mid-August heat. I checked my new phone, hoping to see a reply from Christy. I had sent her a congratulatory text the night before when she'd posted that she was about to get on a plane for Berklee. In what was perhaps an over-eager attempt to rekindle our broken friendship, I had wallpapered the phone with lots of hearts and champagne glasses and fireworks.

She had written me back, "Thank you."

Nothing else had come in since.

I couldn't be mad at her for drifting away after I'd asked her to go to the pharmacy. I had suspected it would be the last straw for our friendship, and not just because she's a Christian and it goes against everything she believes in, but because I wouldn't even tell her where I'd been or who I'd been with. I had asked her anyway. I had asked her because I'd had no one else to ask, and I couldn't risk the alternative. Adam and I hadn't been careful enough the second night.

And I had asked her because, on some level, I suppose I had wanted her to know one true thing about me. Even if that thing was ugly. Even if it meant I would lose her too.

The fact was we were doomed from the start. Friendships can't be built on a lie, and my whole life had been a tower of lies since the night I lost Robbie, one stacked on top of the other. The tower was always going to fall eventually. Christy and I had been living on borrowed time.

I was so busy looking at the phone, at the blank screen under her last curt little message, that I didn't notice Kieren until he was standing right beside me.

"Hey, you," he said, shocking me almost out of my skin.

"How did you know I'd be here?" I asked, fumbling with my phone and eventually dropping it back into my purse.

"Your stepmom kept posting about how proud she was of you, how you were taking the morning train to school."

"I didn't know you followed Laura online."

He laughed, shaking his head. "She insisted back when you and I were... you know."

We stood together for a moment, our eyes instinctively heading down the tracks, to where my train would eventually appear.

"I feel like what happened is my fault," he finally said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, nervous suddenly to hear the answer, or maybe just nervous because he was next to me again. The last time we'd been together on this platform was when I'd seen an alternate present in the Today door—one where we were in love.

"I pushed you towards Adam. I shouldn't have let you stay with him."

I flushed with a sudden understanding. "Brady told you?"

"Yes."

I shook away from the awkwardness of the moment, but I couldn't quite look at him. "It was my choice, Kieren."

"I should have protected you, though."

I kept looking down the track, not sure what to say.

"I guess I always thought," he continued, "that someday you and I might find our way back to each other."

The breath forced its way into my lungs. "Yeah," I nodded. "I guess I always thought that too."

My eyes wandered now to the street, to the distant point where the road bent on its way over from the high school.

"And now?" he asked.

"Now I don't know."

He nodded silently. "Maybe I could visit you someday. I mean, I know your brother won't let me in the house, but..."

"What about Stephanie?" I asked.

He hesitated, following my sightline to the road. "She would stay behind."

I took a step away from him. What was he even suggesting? That I could be his... side chick? That he could keep her and have me too? Is that what he thought of me now? Is that what we had become? Or was it worse than that? Did he mean that we could be just friends? "I don't think that's a good idea," I said softly. And he kept his distance while we continued to stand there.

Finally, Dad came back from inside the station, his arms laden with candy bars and bags of chips, with one lone apple sitting on top. He froze when he saw Kieren by my side, but then continued to approach us. "Kieren," he greeted him.

"Sir," Kieren said back, years of living with a father in the military having engrained a rote kind of respect into his tone.

"I'll wait over here while you two say goodbye," my dad offered.

"Thanks, Dad."

After a second, my train started to approach. The chugging was so silent at first, but soon it overtook us and speech was impossible. It was a relief when it pulled up close, causing a breeze to whip us in the face.

"Why do you keep looking down the road?" Kieren finally asked.

"No reason," I answered, maybe a bit too quickly. There was no reason to be looking. He wasn't coming for me. He was gone.

Kieren could tell I was lying, but he misinterpreted why. "Is, um... is Brady coming?"

I sighed, shaking my head. I had texted Brady several times over the months, asking if we could talk, wanting another chance to apologize. Last night, I had tried again. "He won't respond to my texts. I'll keep trying, though. I'm still hoping he'll forgive me someday."

"Oh."

"I don't expect him to," I admitted. "But you never know."

Kieren took my hand. I didn't want him to at first, but then suddenly I was afraid to let him go. "I hope that happens for you," he said. "I really do."

I squeezed his hand for only a moment, so tight that his fingernails dug into my skin, almost piercing the thick padding of my palms.

And then he was gone. I turned to see him walking away down the platform, and I could still feel the imprint of his hand in mine.

My dad handed me my snacks and walked me to the train door. I closed my eyes when I hugged him, not wanting to see the tears forming in his eyes. "We won't say goodbye," he whispered. "Just 'till I see you again.'"

I nodded, pulling away from him and stepping onto the train. But before I made it all the way on, I turned one last time to look down the long bend of road winding its way into the distance.

The road was empty, as I knew it would be. The journey I was about to take, I'd have to take alone... at least for now. I twirled the diamond ring in my pocket, wondering just how long I would be waiting.

Waiting for forgiveness.

Waiting for redemption.

Waiting for Tomorrow to come.

END OF BOOK TWO

****

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I can't believe Yesterworld reached 50,000 views before it was even completed!!!

I want to thank everyone who read this book and took the time to give me amazing feedback in your votes, comments, and messages throughout. I especially want to thank those who felt inclined to recommend the book to friends! I really feel so blessed as an author to have found such a supportive and loving community.

EVERWORLD, the third book in the Down World series, is posting now, every Friday, on my site! Marina's story is not done yet, and I can promise that the third book resolves A LOT of unanswered questions.

DON'T FORGET TO FOLLOW ME IF YOU HAVEN'T YET OR YOU'LL MISS THE UPDATES!

AND GET YOUR COPY OF DOWN WORLD HERE:  https://books.wattpad.com/shop/p/down-world

You can also support Down World for FREE by leaving a positive review on my GoodReads page! https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/53138002-down-world THANK YOU!

Oh, and after a two-year break, I'm dipping my toes back into social media. If you like the books and want to tag me, here's my info:

Instagram: @geminirosey

Twitter: @DownWorldNovel

* FYI: While Marina and Adam's hometown is fictional, it is heavily inspired by Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where a secret town sprang up in the early 1940s to develop the enriched uranium needed for the atomic bombs. I highly encourage everyone to check out Denise Kiernan's fantastic biography The Girls of Atomic City to learn more about this wild event in history.

Stay safe and happy reading!! XO – Rebecca

*6-26-21 UPDATE: Yesterworld will be published by Wattpad Books in the spring of '22!!!! Thank you so much for supporting this book series. I can't wait to see book 2 of Marina's story on the bookshelves next year!!

*7-22-20 UPDATE: Scroll on to read the prologue to EVERWORLD! It's on the next page. XO

I'll leave with this song that I imagine Marina listening to as she travels east:

https://youtu.be/Tj4RRliPTpA