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Avery's body went ice cold, though his blood was suddenly warm with fear as he stared at the death screen on the computer. He couldn't move, wouldn't move, as sudden cracks of sound shot through the night sky. The sky was covered in a sea of color and joy, but all that was the opposite of the boy in his chair. Avery's irises were now small dots in the mist of the hazel orbit of his eyes. The clock on the wall of his dorm room ticking like a bomb that never exploded.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
His hands were slowly placed back on the keyboard as his right reached for his mouse and the left on WASD, he clicked the respawn as the game loading. 404Error, world not found. As it took him to the title screen and the soft melody of music played. He let the tears fall now, not heavy sobbing, but light ghostly tears rolling down his hot cheeks and gathering at his chin below; before finally dropping onto his space bar as the cycle repeated.
Tick.
Drip.
Tick.
Derek. What a gorgeous name, Avery thought as he stayed as still a statue and cruel mocking smile arose on his face. So, so subtle that you'd miss it if you weren't him. Oh how Avery was never good with emotion situations, also trying to make humor in the darkest of times to protect himself from the truth. Only this time, he knew Derek was gone, laying coldly against his desk as his lips turned blue and his body started decomposing.
He wondered how long it'd take someone to find him. Maybe a family member walking to check on him, only to find the rotting corpse of someone as special and important to them as he is Avery. Or if Derek was alone in the world, his body would stay and rot til maybe he stopped paying rent, or showing up to work. Having a stranger find him and having to take the burden of his soul on their shoulders.
Why not himself? Derek didn't deserve that, Avery did. If Avery were never born then Derek would still he alive, or if he would've been smart enough to get through to Derek maybe they would've been killed or alive together. Derek was never meant to be hurt, because Avery was meant to be used as a vessel. Avery was ment to die.
His phone that had been placed on the side and left with the notes app open with various comments he made along his journey in a world he didn't belong. When his brain caught up enough, he registered the buzzes and vibrations coming from the object as the home screen lit up with brightness. Texts from relatives popped and slid at the top of his screen with, "Happy New Years," almost like it was copy and pasted over and over to mock him.
You know it's weird writing a final letter. Almost as if I have to come to terms with... whatever this is. Which something I find quite this displeasurable. But here I am. Why did I even record all this? I don't know. Well I do know. I just don't want to be forgotten. My head hurts like hell. I can feel myself slipping as we become one. And my mind becomes a prison. What a true shame it is. All the knowledge in the world and no way to use it. That's how it should be I suppose.
We stumbled into a world we have no business in. This is just the cost.
Please don't think you failed, Avery. When you read this, don't think you let me down. You didn't. It's thanks to you, and all that you did, that millions live to see another day.
And thanks to you, got to see all the beauty of the universe. Things I never even you were in the world. Or could be. A chance no human will ever get again. I'm grateful that I saw it all. Even if it was just for a little.
You're capable of great things. You'll do great things. So believe in yourself. And I don't just say that because I saw it. It doesn't take a god for me to figure that out. I know it because I know you. Goodbye my friend.
Whatever you do at the crossroads. Keep going forward.
Or something like that
(I was never really good with ending)
It took 3 days for that video to appear on Avery's 'for you' page as he opened YouTube. During that time, he laid on his bed staring up at the ceiling as the weight of the thought that he had practically made another person die, that guilt drove him into the ground. He didn't go to his college classes those last days, even going as far as to forget about personal hygiene. So he smelled funky, like a swamp, where the frogs and slime lived...
He watched that video as soon as it appeared on his page, clicking fasting than any PVP match he'd competed in. He listened as the sounds of slowed and reaping breathing filled his headphones and the sound a thuds followed. He read as a fresh wave of tears clouded his vision and the text went blurry, but they never fell. When the message ended and his screen came to a pause, Avery took a mental note of the username.
@dhutchins333
Derek Hutchins.
Avery had a full name, he could dig deep in the internet to find out more about him. When Derek...passed, Avery was left only with the knowledge if his first name, and he punished his mind for not taking the chance to learn more about the man. He wasn't religious by any means, but the thought that Derek had put "333," in his username and it is an angel number warmed his heart just a bit. Avery quickly bookmarked the page, before following Derek's account and moving to open a new tab; he'd find Derek.
He did.
And the prize was standing in front of a grave, looking at a solid gravestone. Avery wore a sweater and sweatpants, despite the freezing temperatures, he was still a broke college student outside of Minecraft. He looked broken as he stared at the tomb, the words 'Derek Hutchins, 20** - 2026' were engraved into it, as a small bundle of white roses lay under the words, just atop the soft new snow.
Avery held his own flowers in his right hand, a medium sized bundle of light blue forget-me-not's blossomed, adding color to the depressing atmosphere. He gently bent his knees to place the flowers just next to the previous ones, but his knees collapsed in emotion as they slammed onto the snow and tears were let go for the god knows the amount of times since New Years.
"I'm sorry Derek.." Avery choked out, his hands gripping his pants. "This shouldn't have gone this way. You should've lived, and we could've met, we could tell each other about ourselves!" His voice was watery, and raspy. His eyes that he didn't even realize were being squeezed shut softly opened as he stared at the gravestone. "I miss you, and I'm sorry that your life was ripped from you, Derek."
He almost could feel a warm breeze wisping around him, but it was as gone as it came.
Both Avery and Derek Hutchins were dead, but only Derek stopped breathing, far too soon.