Rolling tears ran down his cheeks.
Wiping them away, he looked back and forth.
'Was it all just a bad dream?'
Kaiden, pondering longer, asked himself again, but a stabbing pain overcame him.
Holding his head, he wondered, 'What did I dream about again?'
"Come on, Kai!"
Looking at Leon, bewildered, he turned once more to his brother, who handed him something.
"In the bag is bread and sausage, now go already."
Looking back at Leon, he took the bag and went to him.
Hands in hands, followed by a shoulder and chest contact, with his brother grimacing dimly in the darkness of the room.
"Hop on already, only 10 minutes left," Leon said as Kaiden got on the bike.
"You know how strict Mrs. Stuardt is."
Smiling, Kaiden said, "Yeah..."
The wind grew stronger as they raced down the hill. Almost dropping the bag, the wheels clattered as the two smiled into the distance.
The two boys looked at their school.
"Too late?"
Leon looked at his wrist.
"Not yet!"
Kaiden, eating his bread, and Leon, pedaling harder.
'Why does the bread taste salty?'
But Kaiden only had eyes for the school and the students coming and going.
"What do we have in the first lessons?"
Kaiden asked as the two approached the entrance.
Opening the door, Leon said, "I think math or physics."
****
"All of you, open your math books and solve the first 4 exercises!"
Mrs. Stuardt screamed as usual.
In her mid-40s, she wasn't the youngest anymore, but she managed to irritate everyone every day.
"The date is January. 12th, 2063," Max scribbled on Kaiden's paper.
"You idiot, we're in 2063, not 2065. You live in the future or what?"
Chuckling a bit, which also infected Kaiden.
'But we're in 2065, aren't we?'
Again, he looked outside, distracted by nature. His posture was uncomfortable, and a shiver ran down his spine.
'Why does everything look so familiar but at the same time not?'
Headaches returned, causing him to feel better and able to complete his tasks.
The bell rang, the lesson was over.
"Kai, let's go to the cafeteria," Leon said, bumping into them.
"I'm coming too!"
A simple large room with many tables pushed together, the three sat down.
Max had simple noodles with tomato sauce, while Kaiden and Leon had plain cocoa.
Smiling, Leon looked at Kaiden.
"Are you copying me or what?"
Kaiden, finding no words, just took a sip.
"I don't really know why..."
'Why indeed?'
Questions upon questions overwhelmed Kaiden, but all were erased with renewed stabbing pains in his head.
The hours passed, physics, sports, history, and chemistry followed, then their paths diverged.
Max went in the other direction, while Leon and Kaiden went the same way but split up again, Leon to the gym and Kaiden home.
****
The apartment was empty, could it even be called one?
It was simply a one-room apartment. One that Kaiden and his brother Arthur shared, an extremely small bathroom with only a shower and a very small side room where the kitchen was.
Compared to other countries, still good, but compared to the average American citizen, still poor.
"Argh," groaned Kaiden in pain again.
'What is all this?'
he thought as he started to wash the dishes.
Plates, glasses, albeit not many, as well as cutlery and a pan.
Grabbing a broom, he pushed the dirt around until it left the open apartment.
'The door is still messed up...'
"But we had it repaired, didn't we?"
With a puzzled expression, he examined it again.
But once again, something stabbed him in the head.
Continuing to work on household chores, he eventually wondered what time it was.
[7:27 PM]
Eyes wide open, unable to comprehend, he looked at this bluish object.
'What is this?'
Reaching out with his hand, he was hit again with a stabbing pain in his head, but this time, he didn't forget things; instead, a brainstorm hit his memory.
"Arghhh!"
he screamed, this time loudly.
Information upon information.
'I was just in that storm!'
"Dammit," he screamed again, a shiver running down his spine.
A hand, as pure as snow, on his shoulder.
"Where are you going, Kai?"
The familiar voice suddenly sounded grim and scratchy.
Another hand on the other shoulder.
"Exactly, where are you going?"
"Don't touch me, you're not real!"
Kaiden yelled angrily, leaping backwards.
Tears flowing as he saw Leon.
The voice again, scratchy, this time from someone else, Max, touching him from behind and whispering in his ear, "Why did you abandon me..."
Kaiden jumped to the side again, grabbing his head.
Like a child cowering in the corner when scolded by his mother or father.
"Leave me... go!"
"You're not real!"
The voices growing louder, full of tears that flowed continuously.
The grim voice again, this time from Leon, who approached him.
"Why... You should have just stayed quiet and forgotten everything."
The slow steps getting faster.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST BEEN ABLE TO FORGET EVERYTHING!!!"
Swinging his fist at Kaiden, he groaned, but with pain.
Bloody cough ensued, with several splashes on Kaiden, a trembling friend in front of him, on his gold-gleaming shinogi, which extended long.
"No... No," Kaiden's eyes turning redder, the tears not stopping.
"I-I didn't want this..."
The grim voice becoming louder and more croaky.
The other two also rushing at Kaiden.
"How dare you!"
The once-golden shinogi now soaked in crimson red.
Before Kaiden, 3 dead bodies.
Kaiden, with his eyes closed, weeping on his knees.
"N-no!"
Croaking, his voice full of sorrow.
"W-why!"
But as he opened his reddened eyes again, he saw himself back in the classroom.
Leon screaming at him, "You can come down now!"
and Max lying on the floor, a pool of blood around his body, surrounding him.
The room completely collapsed, a pipe stuck in his stomach.
"G-Go already!"
Kaiden walked to Max in tears.
"Th-thank you for still helping me..."
But the only image was his shinogi at his throat, slicing it.
Kaiden's view blurred with tears and despair once again, he saw only the rain and a door full of debris.
Blood surrounding a person, but this time another, Leon.
"D-drink a c-cocoa for me... please."
Tears merging with the rain, Kaiden, once again slicing Leon.
Again and again...
"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"
Kaiden ruffled through his already disheveled hair. Threw his shinogi against the wall.
Again and again...
"I DON'T WANT THIS ANYMORE!!!"
Again and again...
His voice no longer croaky but just bitter and without any energy.
"I can't anymore..."
And so, with the time loop of killing his friends and family, he ended the cycle with the death of his own body and soul.
The days-long murderer of his friends and family jumped from the once skyscraper, which he barely survived.
He flew and flew in search of forgiveness, without knowing what reality and surrealness were.
He flew and flew in hope of escaping suffering.
He flew and flew until eventually, the death of the soul approached ever closer.
He flew and flew, the soul captured and taken away after a long time...
