Fated Love (BWWM)

present day - 19

Jackson looked between the picture Aaliyah handed him and her face. He looked as freaked out as she expected him he would be, as his eyes flickered back and forth between the picture of her grandpa and her face. Finally he spoke.

"What the fu-"

"Shhhh!" Aaliyah hushed as she reached across the kitchen counter to cover his mouth. "Don't! Say anything!" She warned him. "I'm still processing this myself." She pulled her hand back and sat down in her chair again with a sigh. "Listen, there's only one person we can talk to about this," she tells him.

Jackson looks up from the photo once again. "Then let's go," he says.

Aaliyah and Jackson made it to the front steps of her grandmother's house when she rang the doorbell for her to answer. Her grandmother opened the door a few seconds later and smiled at her granddaughter. "Aaliyah! What-" Her grandmother stopped when she noticed Jackson standing next to her, and screamed.

"Grandma, please calm down-"

Her grandmother slammed the door shut in their faces, making her jump back in shock. Both teens looked at each other, confused. Aaliyah knocked on the door again, pressing her face slightly against it so she could talk clearly through the door. "Grandma? It's okay, he's just...my friend," she says hesitantly, looking back up at him before continuing, "his name's Jackson. We're doing a project together about our family history and...we need your help."

Silence.

Aaliyah took a step back and waited a couple more minutes in silence next to Jackson. She looked up at him a couple times and wondered what he was thinking. Despite his initial reaction, he seemed to have been taking this well. But that was just all on the outside.

On the inside, Jackson was freaking out as bad as her grandmother was. He had no idea what the hell was going on and he wanted to get to the bottom on it. There was some sort of legend or myth that there was about seven people in the world that looked like you. He didn't know how much of that applied to the past and/or present but he was almost hoping that was the case and that nothing weird was going on.

"Maybe we should just go," Jackson suggested, making her look up at him.

"What? No!" She objected. "We have to find out what happened! And figure out what's going on!" She protested.

Jackson turned to face her. "Aaliyah, honestly even I️ don't want to know what's going on," he tells her. "Let's just, forget this whole thing happened and just write on your report that your grandfather died during Vietnam."

That was when the door flew opened, catching both of their attention. Her grandmother stood there, and look between them both with sad longing. She doesn't say anything but instead steps aside and gestures for them to come in. They both walk in and take a seat on the couch while she disappears for a moment. Both took a seat on her loveseat while they waited for her grandma to return.

"What do you think she's doing?" Jackson whispered to her.

"I'm not sure..." she shakes her head.

Finally they catch sight of her grandma as she came back with a couple of things in her hands, mostly flat envelopes and things that looked like pictures. Her grandma sat on the couch across from them both and leaned over and placed everything on the coffee table for them to see. Jackson nervously looked over at Aaliyah as she picked up the first couple of photos. The resemblance was crazy uncanny.

"You look so much like him," her grandma finally spoke, catching their attention. "Shorter hair but same eyes, same face," she adds.

Now it was Jackson's turn to speak. "What happened to him?" He curiously asked.