I run faster and faster with each passing second. The son of a bitch was getting slower, thankfully. When I skidded to a stop, the atmosphere had changed completely. I found myself in the dark woods rather than the warm house filled with light and hope.

I took in the surroundings, a sense of peace washing over me as I no longer had heard him. Was he truly gone?

“Krish!” I heard in the distance. I turned around, my heavy hoodie letting in the chilly breeze. He was right there, a fearful flicker sparking in his icy blue eyes.

“What was that?!” he yelled. “I…didn’t know you could do that…I need…I need answers..Krish, are you listening??”

“I’m sorry…” my vision slowly blurred. “I…just wanted you to be safe….I’m not actually…”

He looked at me with fear and impatience, but still waited for me to finish.

“I’m not actually Level 10…I can’t….talk to her”

There, he stayed frozen in place. Like a twig of the hope he lost for the millionth time had snapped, he stayed there. His eyes were apathetic, his gaze pierced by breath…there were no tears, just his heart quietly shattering.

He finally started with a whisper, “so what you’ve been telling me about her…”

I quickly started to rush my thoughts into words. “No! She meant all of that! She said all that before the crash! She asked me to-“

“WHO ARE YOU??” he yelled.

My voice quivered as I spoke softly “I….was hired by her. She told me..to take care of you after her passing”

He stood there completely still, the shadows of the trees reflecting his internal screams.

“I’m not level 10, Kade..”

Silence rang between us as I readied myself.

“I’m level 20…your girlfriend and I…we were close friends”

He catched his breath and said a little more calmly, “you don’t speak to the dead…you see when people die?”

I nodded slowly, expecting the question I always get.

“When am I gonna die?”

But instead, like a dog running to a car, he bolted to me and threw his skinny arms around my heavy brown hood.

“Thank you…for taking care of me…even if it was just for her-“

I immediately hugged him back in an attempt to interrupt him.

“It was for her at first, but I swear-“

My heart and throat flooded as if filling up a truck with gasoline.

“I cared about you more than you realized…I started to care about you very much…you’re the only one who stuck around this long, Kade”

I felt his smile as the dark forest was lit up with hope

The hope that soon shut off like a light switch with the whoosh of an arrow.

Suddenly, there was blood more than tears, my hands went weak. Kade stood there above me, shock spinning in the air as the arrow stuck out of my chest.

He was back…

Before I could tell Kade to run, I heard nothing, I spoke and saw nothing.

Everything and everyone turned into nothing.