An alarm started beeping and woke him up. He looked at the ceiling for a moment and got out of bed. The silent ticking in his room still bothered him, but he still wouldn't do anything about it.

He walked over to his dresser and grabbed the same outfit he wore every day. For a moment, he looked at the empty wall, but there was still nothing there; so, with nothing else to do, he left his room.

Once he was done going through his morning routine, he walked out of the front door and quickly hopped down the stairs. They creaked loudly with each step he took; it sounded like they were about to fall off.

The world around him is dark and he can't move his body.

It only lasted for a moment, as the world almost instantly got brighter, and he could see again.

He stood up in front of the school's gate, with a nauseating headache, and walked in with the other students. It didn't matter whether they were actually there or not; everyone else could disappear again and nothing would have changed. He ignored everything around him unless it suits his own convenience to notice it.

He got to class and walked through the already open door; he noted a few people who were in the room but Louise wasn't there yet and, in his mind, that was all that mattered.

He walked over to his seat and sat down at his desk without looking at anyone else in the room. There was no reason for him to look at anyone else, even if he knew some of them. For a moment, he looked back at the empty chair behind him but quickly turned away.

Lucky break hu-...

He took out his phone and went to his messages. His most recent one was to the girl that should have been behind him; of course it was. There was clearly something he didn't want me to see, but I have no power to make him show me. For a moment, he considered opening it, but he turned his phone off and put it away instead; he seemed uneasy.

He closed his eyes and emptied his mind; doing that helped him relax sometimes, but it also put him on edge at others. There was nothing stopping him from controlling his own emotions too, but he's never once tried to.

His empty mind slowly slipped away from him, as he fell asleep on his desk. This was the first time he'd ever done something like that, but he seemed used to it.

|◇|

They ran up the hill that separated them from the estate and reached a small hut nestled on the outskirts of where they were allowed to go. The girl opened the door and turned around to face him with a bright smile.

"Welcome back!" She enthusiastically jumped forward as she said that and hugged him. They had been separated for nearly a year and it'd been nearly two since they'd been alone together.

"Yeah, I'm back." He was happy to finally be able to say that, as he looked around at the dusty walls, the poorly placed—and uncomfortable to sit on—couch, and the shoddily put-together dining table. Even though every moment they spent together was ingrained in his mind, he couldn't remember how he felt back then.

"Promise that you won't leave me again." She said that, as she started crying in his ear. His heart shivered, hearing her sobbing so vehemently, and he wrapped his arms around her back. For a moment, he considered making that empty promise to her, even if it would have been a lie.

"You know I can't promise that." As he tried to calmly say that to her, tears started rolling down his face. It wasn't what he wanted to say, but he didn't know what else he could've said.

"I don't know! How could I? We haven't talked in years! All I know is that one day you just left without a word and I couldn't do anything about it! So why...why can't you promise me at least that much...?" He felt sick hearing her frantically screaming at him because he knew it was partially his own fault. They both fell to the ground, still hugging each other, and he gently patted her head.

"I'm sorry, Sene...I..."

|□|

He opened his eyes, waking up from the dream he was having, and wiped the tears that were starting to come. Even though he felt disoriented from waking up, he still noticed Louise's adorable face in front of him. He sat up straight and took a moment to clear his mind, but it didn't seem to help.

"Good morning sleepyhead." She looked like she was about to laugh as she said that. His face was getting warmer, looking at her smiling so endearingly; he tried a second time to clear his mind, but he couldn't get her out of his head.

"Hey. Good morning." He said that while looking away from her. She got up and walked behind him, but he was too distracted to notice. She pulled up a chair next to him and sat down, but he still hadn't noticed.

A soft air blew on his ear and he immediately jumped up with both his hands covering it. He looked at Louise smiling smugly in a chair next to his and put the pieces together in his head. After standing there awkwardly for a while, he sat back down and tried to calm himself down again.

"What's up?" She asked him that while he was still recovering from her surprise attack. This time, he felt annoyed by her nonchalant attitude and looked her in the eye with determination, for some reason.

"You know, the usual." He didn't look cool at all while saying that, but it was too late for him to realize that now. She looked like she was about to laugh again, which I wouldn't blame her for.

"No, I don't know. And don't be an ass. I was serious. You looked like you were about to cry just now." She said that and leaned her head against his shoulder, which actually irritated him. He gave her a cold look, but she didn't seem to mind it, and she smiled back at him.

"It was just a dream I had." He felt defeated while saying that and he didn't want her to ask anything else about it. A chill ran down his back when he realized he couldn't make her do that anymore. It's as if he's been subtly making her act the way he wanted her to this entire time; but now, he can't.

"What kind of dream was it? If you don't mind me asking." She seemed genuinely interested in knowing what it was about, but she asked him rather sincerely. It was a choice for him to make: whether to tell her about it or not.

"Just so you know, it's not that interesting." He said that and leaned his head against hers. There was nothing for him to lose from it, so he resigned himself to tell her. For a moment, something like black smoke started rising above him, but it quickly went away.

I've been forced to watch everything he's done in this world; I know how he thinks. He absolutely would do something like this if it meant having less problems to deal with later. But just now, that smoke was him, wasn't it. Why is he not doing something about it?

To begin with, why did he suddenly start caring about Louise again? It doesn't make any sense; after everything he's done, he wouldn't go through all this trouble for nothing. There has to be a reason for it. But what reason could he possibly have? Does it have something to do with her?

There are too many gaps in my memories to get a clear picture of it all, but if she really is a part of this, then she might have the answers I'm looking for. But there's an even bigger problem I need to worry about: is it even possible to do that without him finding out?

"And that's about it." He finished telling her about it and looked over to see her wiping tears on her sleeve. Seeing her getting so emotional about it put a smile on him, but he felt a little bad for making her cry so early in the morning.

"Are you okay?" He asked her that and took out some tissues to give her. Some students noticed what was going on, but they couldn't do anything about it and ignored it. It's so obvious, now that I think about it, but that's only because I'm able to think about it now. He's really been doing it this whole time.

"Of course I'm not okay. There's no way I could be after hearing something like that." She said that while doing her best to wipe the tears and snot off her face. For some reason, I wasn't able to hear what he told her; going by her reaction, there's a chance he told the truth, but why would he do that?

It's not enough to know that he's doing something if I don't know what he's going to do. I can't figure it out by thinking rationally, I need to think like him. There's no way he'd be dumb enough to give me a chance like this on accident. He must have done it on purpose.

When I realized something was up, my first instinct was to find a way to reach out to her. Why? I've never once spoken to her myself, so why would I try to now? How would she even know anything about this? She's been reset, just like everyone else.

You said you wanted answers, right?

It should have been obvious.

Good luck finding them.

He planned this all from the start, didn't he-...

|□○○□|

She sat down at a table in the cafeteria and took out her phone. Her reflection showed on the glass, but it disappeared once the screen turned on. She opened up a notes app and started typing something on it: "Hello"

Is she talking to me?

She started typing again: "Yeah I can hear you"

"What're you doing here?"

How should I know?

"well ur useless"

It's not like I'm not trying here. It must have been Mena.

"no shit. who else could it have been?"

Okay, first, rude. Second, there actually is someone else it could be, but let's just hope it's not him.

"yeah, ur right. I never even considered it. oh god. what if it is 'him'. oh no. this is ter-"

Could you BE more annoying?

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"its ur fault for saying it like I should know who tf ur talkin bout"

Like hell it's my fault.

"so, who is this mysterious 'him' that the legends foretold eons ago would bring darkness to our wor-"

Okay, I'll tell you! So just shut up alright?

"kay"

Do you want the long version or the short version?

"does the short version come with pictures?"

This isn't some fuckin slideshow. I'm going to explain it to you, in words.

"damn that sounds boring as hell"

You're the one who asked me to!

"fine, just tell me the short version then"

No, don't just say it like I'm forcing you to listen to me now. If you don't want to hear it, I don't have to tell you.

"you gonna start explaining shit or do you like complaining?"

Hahhhhhhh...

Once upon a ti-

"ok nvm, you reallllly don't have to tell me"

Huh? What? What the hell?! I haven't even started yet!

"I could tell it was gonna get boring. just give me a one-sentence summary of what you were about to say"

I swear, if you say one more thing, I'm just not going to tell you.

"ok fine"

All you need to know is: don't bring up his family to him.

"what happened to his family?"

Do you really want to know? Cause if you're just asking out of curiosity, don't pretend that you care.

"forget I asked"

Thank you.

"don't mention it"

Do you get a kick out of talking like that?

"no comment"

Why did I have to get stuck with you of all people?

"whats that supposed to mean?"

Exactly what it sounds like.

God, I always knew you were annoying, but this is even worse than I could have ever imagined.

"how kind of you"

Like you can talk.

"Hey Louise, did hear about Mr. Rhamonmsky?" Suddenly, a girlish voice asked her that and she looked up from her phone to see Julliette sit down next to her. That name sounded like a joke, but she seemed serious.

"Let me guess, he's not here today?" She sarcastically said that to her and put her phone away. Thank god this girl showed up, now I won't have to deal with her anymore.

You didn't think this through that far, did you?

"Okay, so you didn't hear this from me, but word is that he got caught doing it with a student last night, and that's why he's not here today." She whispered that in her ear and she had a disgusted look on her face just thinking about it. That does sound horrible, but that's not the kind of chit-chat you should have before eating.

Shut up.

"Does anyone know who it was?" She asked her what anyone would ask after hearing a story like this, but it was insensitive, to say the least. Though, I doubt she even knew what that word meant.

Okay, I know I was being a little mean, but aren't you taking it a little too personally?

"She skipped today so no one knows if it's really her, but some girls say they saw them meeting up after school a while back. If it really was her, I don't blame her for not coming." After saying that, she went silent. It seemed she didn't want to say anymore, but it was obvious that she was hiding something.

"D-" You shouldn't ask her.

Why?

Just don't. Nothing good will come out of it.

Are you stupid or something?

"Is it someone I know?" She asked her that even though she had no way of knowing about it. Juli looked surprised by her question, but not nearly as much as she should've been.

"It was...Lily." She hesitated at first, but still went through with telling her. The moment she heard that name, her mind went blank.

"You...You're joking, right?" She nervously asked her that with a crack in her voice, but she seemed to already know what her answer would be.

She got up and took a few steps back, nearly bumping into someone walking behind her. After taking some time to cool down, she sat back down.

"Louise, I-"

"Is it my fault this happened?" She asked her that while wearing a painful expression. Juli looked at her, not knowing what to do, and gave her a pat on the shoulder.

"Of course it's not! How could you say tha-"

"We used to talk almost every day. We'd walk home after school and fall asleep watching movies. I remember one time we stayed up so late we didn't even realize school had started. Our parents were so mad, they made us go to school in the afternoon and apologize to the whole class. It was so embarrassing. She was even the reason I got so into baking; our parents would always get mad at us for making a mess, but we'd always clean it up together. And then there was tha-" As she reminisced to Juli about this and that, she started crying more and more.

"Louise!" Juli yelled out her name and hugged her but she still felt terrible. She lifted up her hands and put them on her back.

"Why did I stop talking to her?" She asked her that, but she knew Juli wouldn't know what to say. That wasn't something someone else could answer for her.

I don't want to be that guy, but I-

I thought I told you to shut up.

|○|

"You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened." I know Juli is saying that cause she's worried about me, but I don't know what to say to that. I know she's right. I know that. There was nothing I could do to stop this.

"Even if it's not my fault, even if there was nothing I could have done to stop it; I could've been there for her." As I said that, with snot drooling out my nose, I noticed my phone vibrating in my pocket. The screen turns on and I jump out of my seat, unable to look away from the name: "Lily".

「could you come over after school?」

I can see the last message she sent me, nearly three years ago, but I push it into the back of my mind.

「I'll be right there」

"Hey Juli, could you cover for my next period? Something just came up." I tell that to her while picking up my lunch which I nearly forgot about. I can tell she's worried about me, but I need to leave now. "I'll call you later okay."

I walk out the cafeteria and head to the parking lot at the back of the school. Luckily, the gate was still left open, for some reason, and I was able to leave without anyone noticing me.

'It's convenient that no one was there when I left.'

As if I could believe that.

|○□|

She got out of her car and ran to the front door. Her nervously shaking hand reached the door and knocked on it. As she waited, she realized she didn't know where to look; her eyes wandered around and she couldn't keep still.

Sorry about earlier, I was upset.

It's fine, but why are you at Lily's?

How do you-?

The door opened and Lily was standing there, terrified.

"Louise? What are you doing here already?" She asked her that, but Louise couldn't look away from her bloody hands, tangled hair, and wet clothes all swaying as her chest rose up and down.

"What...what were you doing just now?" There was an obvious shake in her voice as she asked her that. It couldn't have been more obvious, what she was doing; she just didn't want to accept it.

"For now, do you want to come in?" She moved aside and Louise walked in. Before she could gather her thoughts, a trail of blood across the floor came into view. It was a good thing that she managed to not eat lunch today.

She turned around at the sound of the door closing and noticed the dead look in her eyes—it was gone now.

Suddenly, Lily started shivering and gasping for air, but she didn't know what to do. She hugged her cold arms and-

"AHHHHHHH...!!!!" She screamed so terrifyingly loudly that it almost knocked her off her feet. Even though she had just opened the door for her, she looked at Louise with horror. She swept her off her feet and picked her up, which startled her enough to calm her down.

"Is the couch fine? Or do you wanna go to your room?" She asked her that in as calm of a tone as she could, as water started dripping down her arms. Lily had calmed down, but it was too unnatural to be a coincidence.

"Whatever you want is fine." She smiled sadistically hearing her say that. I can tell she's about to do something stupid as she walks over to the couch and puts her down.

I'm taking her to my house.

Huh? Why would you do that? Aren't you worried about her? This isn't the time to go off and do whatever you want.

Of course I'm worried. That's why I'm taking her away from here.

She walked over to a closet that was nearby and took out a blanket. It was all the way in the back; she knew it would be there. She wrapped Lily in the blanket and picked her up again. When she noticed she was asleep, she got angry for a moment but she managed to calm herself down.

Your dad is there, isn't he? What are you going to do if he finds out? And what if someone sees you carrying her?

She carried her over to the front door and looked down at the puddle of water she almost stepped on. That was where Lily was standing when she opened the door.

Please, just, stay out of this for now.

I know it's not your fault, but I don't want either of you to have anything to do with this.

You understand?

She managed to get the door open, while still holding on to Lily, and walked outside. The hot sun was staring down at them, as she closed the door behind her; she had no way to lock the door, so she left feeling a little guilty.

There was no one else outside, which shouldn't have been possible. She walked across the street and arrived at her house in almost no time. The key to the door was in her pocket still, so how was she going to-

Ding-Dong

She rang the doorbell with no hesitation. After waiting a while, someone opened the door.

"Hey dad, don't mind me, just bringing Lily over to my room. Oh, and bring me a towel, some drinks, and something to eat, would you?" She walked past her dad, said all of that, and staggered up the stairs with Lily in tow. Once she was in her room, she set her down on the bed and took the wet blanket off of her.

A knock came at the door, but she didn't get up to open it. She could hear the faint footsteps and once they were gone, she got up and opened the door. There was a towel, some snacks and drinks, and a set of unopened pajamas lying on the floor; she brought them all in and closed the door.

"Umm, Louise, why am I in your room?" She turned around to see Lily looking around the room. There was no telling how much she remembered before passing out, but, before she could another word in, she tossed the pajamas at her.

"Why don't you put those on first? Oh, and use this." She said that and threw the towel at her as well.

"Thanks." She looked down at the pajamas and mumbled her thanks to her. Once she started unbuttoning her shirt, Louise got up and opened her closet. She pulled out pajamas that were practically the same as the ones she had given to her except in a different color.

She started getting undressed and looked over at Lily, who was drying her hair off with the towel.

"If you need anything just let me know, okay?" She looked away from her as she said that, after noticing the red marks on her chest. They must have hurt a lot.

"Yeah, I will." She felt terrible, hearing her say that, but she didn't know what to do. She got the pajamas and stepped out of the closet, closing it. After hesitating a bit, she looked over at her, wearing the pajamas as well, and felt relieved.

They both looked at each other, but neither spoke. Louise walked over to the bed and sat down next to her.

"I'm glad those fit you. They were supposed to be mom's but...she never wore them." Even though she finally managed to say something to her, there was still an overwhelming air of tension between them.

"I know pink is more your style, but you look great in red too." She said whatever was on her mind, but she didn't know how to bring up what she should've been talking about.

"Aren't you gonna ask me about it?" She froze, hearing her ask that, and looked away from her. Of course she knew that she needed to bring it up at some point, but she almost didn't want to.

"Come on, just say it. 'Why'd you try to kill yourself?'. See, it isn't that hard." Her sarcastic tone as she said that to her was clearly forced, but she wasn't wrong.

"Please, say something." Her lips wouldn't move, no matter how much she wanted them to. She finally looked back at Lily again; she was forcing a smile on her face. Seeing that look she had, made all of the anxiety she was feeling crumble away.

"You feeling hungry?" She asked her that with genuine sincerity, but it felt like she was joking.

"Wha-...no I'm not-"

"Dad brought us some snacks. I didn't get a chance to see what they were, but want me to go check?" Her voice was disturbingly calm as she said that, but she was doing it on purpose. There's no way she was actually feeling calm about any of this.

"Why aren't you saying anything about it?" She looked like she was about to fall apart as she said that.

"I don't know." The moment she said that she finally felt calm again, but Lily just looked confused.

"What do you mean, you don't know? You're supposed to tell me what I did was wrong, right? You're supposed to tell me I could've died, right? You're supposed to tell me I should never do something like that again, RIGHT?!" She had grabbed onto Louise's sleeve and started crying on it. Louise looked at the state she was in and gently hugged her.

"If you want to tell me why you did what you did, you can; I'm not going to stop you; I'll listen for as long as you want me to, no matter how long that takes. If you want me to reprimand you for what you did then I'm sorry, but I can't do that. I can't say I understand why you'd want me to, but I'm not gonna do something that'll just make both of us feel worse. I'm not going to ask you anything, but you can ask me whatever you want. I'll do my best to make it happen." As she said that, she could feel Lily's hand gripping harder and harder, but she didn't say anything at first. She felt content with staying like this with her.

"Could you please tell me...to never do something like that again?" Her quiet voice mumbled those words into her ear.

"Is that really what you want?" She asked her that with a quaint voice and she could feel her head nodding.

"Yeah." Somehow, she could tell she felt content saying that. She could tell?

"Do you want to do it again?" Instead of giving her what she wanted, like she said she would, she instead asked her that, rather rudely.

"...no." She hesitated before saying that, but she could tell she wasn't lying.

"Then isn't that good enough?" She asked her that as if it were a genuine question.

"But tha-"

"I can't be the one who tells you what to do." She said that as if there were another person those words were meant for, someone who wasn't even there.

"I don't know what I should do though..." She said that meekly, as her body became heavier on her.

"Then, you wanna stick with me tonight?"