Chapter Text
“Dude, I think you tuned your guitar wrong.”
Seven pointed at Ten’s electric guitar, looking personally offended for absolutely no reason.
God. It’s my guitar. Mind your own business.
“Hey, stop that, Ten! Why are you tuning your guitar like that? High E is supposed to be on the first string, not the last! Don’t tell me you put Low E on string one?!”
Seven snatched the guitar from Ten’s hands and started aggressively twisting the tuning pegs.
“Jeez, Seven, you don’t have to make such a big fuss over it. It’s just some stupid tuning mistake. Low E, high E… same thing. They probably sound the same anyway.”
Ten watched Seven retune the guitar properly.
...
Seven was very…
confident.
And attention-seeking.
Their music taste was kind of mid… and their fashion sense seriously needed help…
…but hey.
I didn’t mind having extra speakers around.
...
“Hey!”
“HEY, TEN!!”
“Look at thissss!!”
Huh?
Oh.
Right.
January 1st, 2008.
New Year’s.
The fireworks were so clear from up here.
Somehow, Seven had found the perfect spot to watch the glowing man-made shooting stars.
explode beneath giant glowing letters that read:
HAPPY NEW YEAR
“Woahhh!! These are beautiful, Seven!!”
Ten’s eyes lit up with excitement as she grabbed Seven’s arm.
“We gotta take a picture of this!! C’mon, hurry! Take out your camera before it stops!!”
Laughter filled the air.
FLASH.
May 30th, 2008.
“TENNN!! HELP MEEE!!”
Seven screamed from somewhere above.
“What- where? Seven?! What the hell are you doing up there?!”
“I tried to save a cat, okay?! Embarrassing! Shut up and help meee!!”
“Okay, okay!! Hang in there, Seven!!”
FLASH.
That was the last conversation I ever had with Seven.
…I didn’t mean that literally.
Now Seven is gone.
I couldn’t get him down this time.
Seven was always “up somewhere.”
On a tree.
On rooftops.
Finding high places to watch fireworks.
Loud.
Noticeable.
Trying to be seen.
And I was always the one trying to bring him safely back down.
Until the final time.
What do I do now?
I don’t understand.
…
Ten picked up an instant photo printer from the floor of Seven’s room.
A photograph slowly slid out.
It was the New Year’s picture.
Written across it in pink gel pen were the words:
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! TO YOUUU ❤️❤️❤️"
Ten stared at it for a long time.
“…Are there more of these?”
She was supposed to be packing Seven’s belongings today.
Maybe… not right now.
Ten started digging through every drawer Seven owned, turning the room into even more of a mess than it already was.
Seven had always been messy.
…
“EWW, SEVEN!! Is that expired milk in your cabinet?!”
“Relaxxx, it’s still drinkable! See-”
Before Seven could grab it, Ten snatched the bottle away.
“NOOO!! EW EW EW!! I’m throwing this away!! That’s SO gross, I’m gonna throw up!!”
…
Now the only thing making me nauseous is how the room is slowly rotting.
And so is Seven.
Ten sat quietly on the floor, surrounded by half open drawers and scattered junk.
Receipts. Guitar picks. Dead batteries. Candy wrappers. Papers covered in horrible drawings.
“…God, Seven.”
“Were you physically incapable of cleaning anything?”
Silence.
Ten swallowed hard.
She hated this.
She hated how normal the room still looked.
Like Seven would suddenly walk back in and complain about her touching their stuff.
Her hands shook a little.
Why did everything still feel alive?
Why was there still unfinished food on the desk?
Ten rubbed her eyes hard.
“Stupid…”
Something slipped out from under a pile of notebooks and smacked directly into her forehead.
“OUGH!”
Ten grabbed the object and squinted at it.
“…A calculator?”
It was one of those cheap old scientific calculators schools always forced students to buy.
Half the buttons were crooked.
The plastic was scratched up badly.
And someone had stuck glow-in-the-dark stars all over the back.
Written in pink marker were the words:
"PROPERTY OF THE COOLEST PERSON EVER!!!!"
Underneath it, in much smaller handwriting:
(Seven)
“…Yeah. Sure.”
Of course Seven would label their calculator.
She pressed the ON button.
Nothing.
“Wow. It's fucking broken.”
Ten tossed it carelessly onto the floor beside her and continued searching through drawers.
More junk.
More papers.
A moldy sandwich.
“…EWWWW.”
BEEP.
Ten looked over.
The calculator screen was on now.
3
“…Huh?”
She crawled over and picked it back up.
“Did I step on the button or something?”
3
That was it.
Just a three.
Ten pressed CLEAR.
The number disappeared.
“…Okay, How did this turn on again?"
BEEP.
3
“…What.”
Ten stared at it.
Then pressed random buttons.
8+3÷9×7
ERROR
“??? That's an actual equation!”
BEEP.
3
Ten frowned.
“Okay, what does three even mean?”
Three days?
Three dollars?
Three people?
She sighed and flopped backward onto Seven’s carpet.
The calculator rested on her stomach.
“…You have horrible taste in electronics too.”
...
Ten stared at the ceiling.
“…I still don’t get why you did it.”
The words slipped out quietly.
“I was literally just talking to you-"
The calculator beeped again.
BEEP.
Ten looked down.
3
“…Seriously?”
She poked the screen.
“Okay then, genius calculator. What am I supposed to do? Add more numbers?
BEEP.
Ten slowly lowered her arm.
4/6/2008
“…Huh?”
That was today's date.
That definitely wasn’t there before.
Right?
A weird nervous feeling crawled up her spine.
"Uhhhmmm..."
She immediately threw the calculator across the room.
It smacked against Seven’s desk and fell onto the carpet.
The screen flickered slightly.
Then went dark.
…
Ten stared at it for a long time.
Then buried her face into her knees.
“…I’m tired.”
I used to believe every problem could be fixed by God.
If we prayed hard enough… if we did enough good things…
then the impossible would somehow fix itself.
I know now that isn’t true.
God never listened.
I was pathetic.
Dead people don’t come back, no matter how much you beg.