Aaron decided that he had earned Alice’s trust. As the pair walked through the school she held onto his arm. With her hand at his elbow walking was somewhat awkward, though not as awkward as it might have been if she had latched onto him.

The difference in their heights made her seem vulnerable. “It took me a month in the white space to get over this. You know what to expect and have me here to help you through it. You will be fine.”

“Get off your white horse, it needs bleaching.”

“There you go ignore the eldritch disaster and call me a stupid boy, I’m here for you.”

“If you can loop through time is it possible that it is some sort of Lovecraftian horror?”

“Sure, it might be aliens, demons, or little old ladies from hell too. I wouldn’t take any offers of sweets, myself.”

“I don't know about old ladies. Wouldn’t they be more likely to feed us to death on milk and cookies?”

“They might have the most delicious Soylent Green casserole recipe.”

“Soylent Green?”

“From an old sci-fi story, spoiler alert, it's people.”

“Ah. I don't want to make a witty remark on that one.”

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Aaron wasn’t expecting to learn much from this trip. He was fairly certain that the cause of the incident was no longer in effect at the school. Some of the students returning safely seemed to confirm this. His active presence seemed to affect the response time but had no obvious effect on the death toll. His lack of participation seemed to make it more sever. While Aaron wasn’t yet sure it did seem that removing Alice from the system had acted as some sort of insulation against the thing that was happening.

By dawn they had both decided the search was fruitless and returned to the dormitory. “I think we should check all of the rooms, make sure everyone is alive.”

Alice nodded at his suggestion. She wasn’t happy when he broke into the Dorm Mother’s room to get her master keys but she didn’t say anything about it. They had found the woman’s favorite purse in one of the school’s bathrooms with a bloody mess.

Walking through the mostly empty dormitory wasn’t pleasant. Aaron was glad he didn’t know who lived in most of the rooms, some of the things they saw would have been disturbing if it weren't for the bloody mess in the school.

In total only about a tenth of the dormitory students were alive. Between the school and the night that had just passed 90% of the students were dead. “Alice, I think it would be best for me to get some sleep. I don’t know what will happen if it press my luck and die.”

“What do you think about me?”

“Hm?”

“When you loop back I mean. I already know the next time you meet Alice she won't remember today. Without those memories I can’t think of her as me. So what happens to me?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.”

“How long do you think you can live the same day over?”

“As long as I need. Why?”

“No, I mean how long can you stand being alone.”

“Hm.”