Days went by one by one. During this time, Rachel made sure to talk with Amelia on a daily basis as Cassidy’s worrisome words replayed constantly in her head. Still, Rachel found it difficult to accept them wholeheartedly and tried her best to give Amelia the benefit of the doubt.
However, the more Rachel interacted with Amelia, the harder it became to continue extending that benefit, as she began to notice a distinct shift in Amelia’s words and tone.
At first, Amelia seemed to be a shell of her former self. She appeared to have descended into a self-made pit of despair. Her words carried no cheerfulness, not even a trace of it, despite Jack’s situation having stabilized.
Not only that, she seemed to be getting worse by the hour. Her former ideas and views were constantly being challenged and shattered by the current situation. The beliefs she had clung to for more than a decade were proving to be false, and reality struck her like a freight train, uncaring of her fragile state.
Rachel was so worried about Amelia that she dropped her matters and began visiting her at least three times a day. Despite her efforts, however, within the span of just a few days, Amelia’s mood seemed to have flipped entirely.
It was four days after Jack had slipped into unconsciousness.
Usually, even while grappling with her inner turmoil, Amelia would still take care of Jack, ensuring his bandages were changed and that he was kept clean. That night, however, she stood a few meters away from the bed she had moved Jack onto and stared blankly at him.
Amelia’s eyes were unfocused, devoid of emotion, as if she weren’t truly looking at him at all, but rather at a bundle of memories that no longer felt like her own.
It was as if she were looking at a stranger rather than her partner, the one she had spent her life with since the beginning of the apocalypse.
The change was so sudden that when Rachel came to visit the next day, she was shocked to find an entirely different Amelia waiting for her, one who seemed to have woken from a lucid dream and had no idea that the friendships she had there were real.
It was so unsettling that Rachel found herself tiptoeing toward Amelia before gently wrapping an arm around hers and softly asking, “How do you feel today?”
Rachel could tell that her friend was colder than usual, but she still did her best to act naturally, as if to remind Amelia that she was still her friend and was there to help her overcome whatever hardships she was facing within her mind.
“Why are you acting so intimate with me?” Amelia asked matter-of-factly as she pulled her arm away from Rachel. “You’re here for him, right? There’s no need to act friendly with me just because I’m here.”
Those words stunned Rachel so deeply that she remained frozen in the same hugging position, her arms now embracing nothing but empty air.
What… is she saying? Rachel could hardly believe what she had heard. For a moment, she thought she might have misheard, but when she looked at Amelia standing coldly to the side, she knew she hadn’t.
Rachel forced down her unease and, in the gentlest voice she could muster, said, “I’m here for him, but I’m also here for you. I’m worried about you, and I want to help you overcome the dark feelings you’ve been having lately.”
She tried to grab Amelia’s hand, but the latter swiftly dodged, making Rachel let out a sigh filled with bitterness.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Can we sit down and talk? I’d like to hear what happened to you last night after I left.”
Amelia was unperturbed by Rachel’s attempts. She looked at her with empty eyes and said coldly, “Do you not understand when I speak? I said, don’t act all friendly with me when I don’t even know you. Close the door on your way out after you’re done here.”
She didn’t spare Rachel another glance before turning around and walking out of the room-like apartment.
“…” Rachel was at a loss for words. She wanted to chase after her, but Amelia’s warning didn’t seem like an empty threat, and if she could avoid any kind of conflict with her friend, she would.
Her eyes, filled with complicated emotions, darted toward Jack, who lay asleep and blissfully unaware of what was happening around him.
“How would you have reacted in this situation… and how will you react when you wake up?”
/////
It was nighttime, and the lights in the bedroom were off. If not for the moonlight shining through the window, the place would have been plunged into darkness.
Rachel had long since left, and Amelia, who now stood alone in the room with Jack, had returned only hours later.
“Are you the person I’ve been dreaming of?” she muttered to herself as she slowly neared Jack.
Her hand made its way toward his neck, and once there, she tightened her grip as she whispered, “But… why are you so… weak?”
Cough, cough
Amelia had held Jack’s neck long enough that he began coughing and struggling to breathe. Only then did she snap out of it, released her grip, and pulled her hand away.
She straightened her back and silently stared at him as his coughing gradually subsided and his breathing evened out once more.
Have you always been like this? How did I never notice it? And now that I have, can I even return to that dream? Can I convince myself to see him the same way I did before? Would that bring me happiness, or would it only prolong my pain? She thought, questions swirling relentlessly in her mind.
Her gaze seemed to bore holes into him as if the answer lay deep within his body. She stared so intently that her look would have unsettled anyone who saw it, if there had been anyone else present to begin with.
Amelia unconsciously sank deeper into her thoughts, and soon a memory surfaced.
The first time they had met.
Back then, she had entered a white portal out of curiosity, after seeing others excitedly doing the same. She had wanted to know what was so captivating about it and what the other side looked like.
What she hadn’t expected was an empty white space awaiting her, shrouded in a dense, swirling fog.
Even after more than a decade, and a memory that seemed not to be hers, she could vividly remember it.
/////
“Hello? Is there anyone here?” Amelia said tentatively, turning in every direction in search of someone, or anything, but all that existed was the endless white fog.
Alone in this blank space, panic soon rose in her chest.
Am I going to be trapped here until I die?
Amelia had no idea what was happening, what her fate might be, or whether she was being treated like a test subject, with unseen observers watching her every move from the other side of the fog. At this point, anything seemed possible.
She had only been there for a handful of seconds, yet those seconds, suspended in the unknown, felt like an eternity.
With each passing second, she could feel her panic rising, along with the adrenaline surging through her veins. Her mind flooded with the instinct to flee or fight, but she could do neither.
There was nowhere to run, and nothing to fight.
She couldn’t have felt more trapped than this. The most ironic part was that this place held no apparent danger. In fact, it seemed almost peaceful compared to the outside, where the world appeared to be on the verge of ending. Yet her thoughts, fueled by the intense fight-or-flight response, grew darker and darker.
“Eh? There’s someone else here?”
It was then that Amelia heard a male voice ring out in the empty space. Her head snapped toward the source, and when she saw a young man standing just a few meters away, she blurted, “You! Who are you?!”
In her mind, she thought she had spoken calmly and collectedly, even feeling a flicker of pride for keeping her nerves in check despite the situation. What she didn’t realize was that, in reality, her voice had shot up several octaves, resembling the startled cry of someone on the verge of wetting their pants.
“There’s no need to shout, I’m not even that far away,” he said calmly, raising his empty hands to show he carried nothing. Then he continued, “I’m Jack. What’s your name?”
Hearing him speak calmly in such a desperate situation, and sensing that he wasn’t a threat, seemed to have a calming effect on her. She paused her erratic movements and took a few moments to draw deep, steady breaths.
Jack waited patiently, saying nothing, having already seen the stressed state she was in and didn’t want to disturb her.
When she had calmed slightly, she mumbled, “I’m Amelia.”
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