Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

His gaze remained fixed on her toes, dandling from his couch.

His grandmother's couch.

He had never bothered to change anything after moving into the house. The furniture had stayed where she left it. The decorations remained untouched. It had never really felt like his place to alter.

And now he was leaving it.

Slowly. Painfully.

His body no longer belonged to him. He couldn't move an arm. Couldn't move a leg. Couldn't even blink.

Yet his eyes had never felt more open.

The world around him was fading, darkening at the edges, while every remaining second stretched into an eternity.

And through it all, he could still hear her.

Her screams.

Her cries.

Cries for help. Cries of agony. Of loss.

Confusion.

He couldn't see her completely, but he knew she was still there. He knew she hadn't managed to force herself to stand, to run, to escape the nightmare their lives had become.

Every scream made him wish for death to come faster.

He didn't want to hear them anymore.

Didn't want to imagine what would happen to her next.

She was back. And now she would have to pay the price.

A price she never deserved. A price she never asked for.

He knew that.

And still, he wanted to leave.

He couldn't help it.

He couldn't endure this any longer.

Just moments ago, he had wanted to take it all back.

The willow. The bathroom. The pills.

The certainty that there was no future left for him.

For them.

For a brief moment, he had hoped things could still somehow work out.

Then everything went wrong.

Everything.

The darkness. The loss of control.

The realization that he hadn't left that bathroom on his own.

He hadn't smiled at her. He hadn't walked toward her. He hadn't kissed her one last time.

It wasn't him.

And now, lying helpless on the floor while death slowly closed in around him, he was finally in control again.

It wasn't fair.

He was supposed to live.

To live with her.

Now that future was gone.

Maybe, in some distant corner of his mind, he could admit that it was for the best.

At least Nikki was back.

His best friend.

The person who trusted him. The person who had called him once her confidant.

The one person who had never looked at him like he was strange or unwanted.

Yet despite that, anger still lingered.

Anger that everything had ended.

Anger that he was dying on the floor of a house that wasn't truly his.

Anger that the love of his life was only a few feet away, crying louder with every passing second.

Ian lay motionless near the doorway, a gunshot wound in his head.

Sarah was in the other room, broken beyond recognition.

Everything had fallen apart.

Everything.

At least he wouldn't have to face what came after.

His only regret was that he hadn't been given more time.

More time with her.

His vision was disappearing now.

The screams were becoming distant.

Muffled.

Like sounds heard underwater.

This was it. The moment. The final step.

The point where he would leave this world and discover whatever waited beyond it.

Then, from the corner of his fading vision, he saw movement.

Her.

Nikki.

She had leaned forward slightly from the couch.

Just enough to see him. Just enough for him to see her.

Her feet still refused to touch the floor.

As if stepping down would somehow make everything real. As if the nightmare would swallow her whole the moment she stood.

But it wasn't her fear that caught his attention.

It wasn't the panic.

It wasn't the horror.

It was her eyes.

Tears streamed endlessly down her face.

Those familiar eyes.

The eyes of the girl he had met so many years ago.

The eyes that had always made his heart stumble whenever he caught them looking his way.

At school. At work.

Sometimes during trivia nights.

Every memory seemed to live inside them.

And in that moment, he saw everything.

Fear. Grief. Shock. Anger. Despair.

Every emotion that would once have shattered him to witness. Every emotion he had spent years trying to protect her from.

There was only one thing missing.

Joy.

The truth became painfully clear.

She wasn't looking at him to say goodbye.

And somehow, that hurt more than death itself.

Then everything went white.

Not dark.

White.

The screams vanished.

The smell of blood disappeared.

The scent of gunpowder faded away.

Even her eyes were gone.

There was only endless white stretching in every direction.

And then he began to burn.

_____________________________________

He woke up.

Screaming.

The pain hit him instantly.

It felt as though every nerve in his body had been set on fire. A violent, unbearable agony surged from head to toe, forcing a cry from his throat before he could even understand where he was.

Then, just as suddenly as it came, it was gone.

Bear gasped for air and frantically patted himself down.

His chest. His arms. His stomach. His neck.

Nothing.

No wounds. No blood. No scars.

He was whole.

For a moment, he simply sat there, breathing heavily.

Confused.

The last thing he remembered was dying.

The floor beneath him.

Nikki's screams.

The darkness creeping into his vision.

And then...

White. Endless white.

But this wasn't white.

This was darkness.

Pure darkness.

The kind that swallowed everything.

Bear looked around wildly, but saw nothing.

Not walls. Not a floor.

Not even his own hands until he brought them inches from his face.

His heartbeat quickened.

Where was he?

He couldn't tell if he was sitting on concrete, dirt, grass, or nothing at all.

For all he knew, he could have been floating in the middle of a lake.

Or suspended in empty space.

The darkness revealed nothing.

"Hello?" His voice came out weak and uncertain.

More question than greeting.

He swallowed.

"Hello?!" This time he shouted. The darkness answered with silence.

No echo. No movement. No distant sound.

Nothing.

The realization made his stomach twist.

Suddenly a violent wave of nausea struck him.

Bear doubled over. A sharp pain clenched his abdomen as he fell onto his hands and knees.

He retched.

Again. And again.

His body shook uncontrollably. Fear settled deep inside him.

Only moments ago, or what felt like moments ago, he had been burning.

He remembered it clearly.

The sensation of falling.

The unbearable heat.

For a terrifying instant, he had believed that was eternity.

That the burning would never stop. That this was what awaited him after death.

But it had stopped.

And now he was here.

Somewhere.

The nausea slowly faded, though the unease remained.

Bear wiped his mouth and forced himself back to his feet.

The darkness was still there.

Endless. Unmoving. Watching.

For a brief moment, he found himself missing the white void from before.

At least it felt like there had been something there.

This felt like standing inside a closed eye.

Then he noticed it. Something ahead.

Bear froze.

At first, he thought he was imagining it.

His eyes trying desperately to create shapes where none existed.

But the object remained.

A shape.

Faint. Distant.

Slowly emerging from the darkness.

As though the darkness itself was allowing him to see it.

A sign. Or maybe a board.

He couldn't tell.

It looked green. At least he thought it did.

The color was so faint it was difficult to be certain.

But it was there.

The first thing he had seen since waking up.

And somehow, that frightened him more than the darkness.

The sound of a door slamming shut echoed somewhere behind him.

Bear yelped and nearly stumbled over his own feet.

He spun around.

Nothing.

Only darkness. Endless and absolute.

His chest rose and fell rapidly as he stared into the void.

He didn't dare blink. Every instinct screamed at him that the moment he looked away, something would be there.

Waiting. Watching.

He remained frozen for what felt like an eternity.

One second. Ten seconds.

A minute. Maybe more.

Time felt different here.

Eventually, his fear of the darkness behind him became weaker than his curiosity about what stood ahead.

Slowly, he turned back toward the shape.

The moment his eyes found it again, his stomach dropped.

The object was clearer now.

Close enough to recognize.

A couch.

A green couch.

Its back faced him diagonally, positioned at an angle as though someone had deliberately placed it there.

The sight sent a chill through him.

He didn't know why.

It was just a couch. Just furniture.

Yet every part of him wanted to run.

Bear stood motionless.

Unsure. Confused. Terrified.

Was this heaven? Hell?

Some nightmare trapped between the two?

The thought crossed his mind for only a second.

Moments later, he would wish he had never asked the question.

His eyes remained fixed on the couch.

Something could be sitting on the other side. Something could be waiting for him.

The urge to walk around it and look was overwhelming.

Instead, he took a cautious step backward.

Then another. And another.

Never taking his eyes off it.

The darkness behind him felt safer than whatever was in front of him.

At least the darkness was honest.

The couch wasn't.

After several steps, he finally turned and began walking deeper into the black void.

Fast. Not quite running. Not yet.

Then he heard it.

Creak.

Bear froze.

The sound was faint.

Soft. Like old furniture shifting beneath someone's weight.

His entire body went rigid.

He didn't need to turn around.

Somehow, he already knew where it came from.

Slowly, he glanced over his shoulder.

His breath caught in his throat.

The couch was much closer.

Only a few steps away.

That wasn't possible.

He was certain he had left it behind. But that wasn't what terrified him most.

Something was peeking around the side of it.

A face. Watching him. Its features were hidden by darkness. Only the outline was visible.

Still. Silent. Unmoving.

Looking directly at him.

Bear's mind broke.

He turned and ran.

The darkness swallowed him instantly.

His feet pounded against a floor he couldn't see.

He had no destination. No direction.

Only the desperate need to get away.

Away from the couch. Away from the face. Away from whatever this place was.

After what felt like several minutes, he risked a glance behind him.

The scream died in his throat.

The couch was still there.

Standing exactly where he had first seen it.

As if it had never moved at all.

But now something stood in front of it.

A figure.

Tall. Far too tall.

Its skeletal frame stretched unnaturally upward.

Long arms hung almost to the floor.

Its body was thin enough to resemble a corpse wrapped in skin.

The creature stood perfectly still.

Watching him. Waiting.

Bear couldn't make out its face.

Couldn't make out its eyes.

Yet he knew it was looking directly at him.

Then something else caught his attention.

Something familiar.

The clothing.

The faded cardigan. The floral skirt. The slippers.

Recognition hit him like a punch to the stomach.

The creature wasn't wearing random clothes.

It was wearing his grandmother's clothes.

He was on the verge of screaming again when the ground suddenly vanished beneath him.

Bear stumbled. Then fell.

Panic exploded through him.

One moment he had been running through the darkness. The next, he was plunging through it.

The void swallowed him whole.

He couldn't see anything.

Couldn't grab onto anything.

Couldn't even tell which direction was up anymore.

The darkness seemed endless.

This time his scream echoed around him as he fell through the same black emptiness he had been running across moments before.

Then everything changed.

The darkness fractured.

Not shattered. Not disappeared.

Fractured.

Like cracks spreading across a sheet of glass.

Something emerged beyond it.

Shapes. Colors. Memories.

And then-

Impact.

_____________________________________

Pain shot through his body as he slammed into solid ground.

He groaned. For a few moments, he remained curled on the floor, waiting for the pain to reveal broken bones.

Nothing. Everything hurt. But nothing seemed broken.

His eyes remained shut.

Part of him refused to open them. Part of him still hoped he would wake up back in his grandmother's house.

Back on the floor. Back where he thought he had died.

Anything would be better than this.

He didn't know what to think anymore.

Was he dreaming? Dead? Alive?

Had he imagined everything?

Was this heaven? Hell?

Or something in between?

Slowly, he opened his eyes.

A soft orange glow greeted him.

Bear immediately recoiled.

The color seemed almost painful after so much darkness.

For a brief moment, he thought someone was shining a light directly into his face.

Then his vision adjusted.

Leaves. Orange leaves. Sunlit leaves.

He blinked. Confused.

The sight felt impossible.

Color. Actual color.

After the endless black void, the orange leaves seemed almost overwhelming.

"Are you going to lay there all day?" The voice came from nearby.

A girl's voice.

Familiar. Painfully familiar.

He froze.

His eyes darted around.

The darkness was still there. He could see it beyond the edges of whatever place this was.

A black wall surrounding reality itself. But inside that darkness sat a small pocket of existence.

A park. Or something resembling one.

Metal playground equipment stood nearby. Trees swayed gently overhead. Leaves covered the ground.

Yet something felt wrong.

The colors seemed faded. The air felt still. Like a memory trying desperately to imitate life.

Bear turned toward the voice. Or at least, he tried to.

His body didn't respond. His stomach dropped. He tried again.

Nothing.

His panic immediately returned.

He attempted to raise a hand. Nothing.

To touch his face. Nothing.

To run. Nothing.

And yet...

His body was moving.

Without him.

His legs pushed him upright. His arms adjusted naturally at his sides. His feet began carrying him across the park.

Bear's heart pounded. Or rather, the heart inside this body pounded.

He was trapped. Watching through someone else's eyes.

He tried to scream. Only muffled sounds echoed somewhere deep inside him.

As though he had been buried alive within his own skull.

The realization terrified him. He wasn't controlling this body. He couldn't control anything.

Then another detail caught his attention.

The hands. He looked down.

The fingers were smaller. Thinner. Younger.

His breathing hitched.

The arms were shorter too.

The entire body felt different.

Smaller. Much smaller.

But before he could process what that meant, his eyes drifted upward.

Toward a nearby tree.

And the moment he saw her, everything else stopped mattering.

A girl sat casually among the branches. Balanced effortlessly with one hand while her legs dangled below.

Bear instantly recognized the short hair she had back then. The way she always brushed part of it to one side, held in place by a small hair tie.

He recognized the oversized brown jacket too.

The one she had stolen from him.

A jacket he never asked to have returned. Never complained about.

Because secretly, he had liked seeing her wear it.

The reddish-brown pants she always bragged could never get dirty. And the black boots decorated with tiny flowers near the tops.
The girl looked down at him with an amused grin.

Smug. Playful.

Completely unaware of the years that awaited her.

"Thanks for ignoring me," she said.

Bear wanted to answer.

Wanted to tell her he wasn't ignoring her.

Wanted to ask what was happening.

Wanted to ask why she was here.

But his thoughts were interrupted as his mouth suddenly moved on its own.

"I... I wasn't ignoring you. I just didn't hear you from there." The voice wasn't his. Or rather, it was. Just not the one he remembered.

Younger. Softer.

The words left his mouth without his permission. A cold wave of panic surged through him.

Bear looked down again.

The hands. The smaller frame. The unfamiliar lightness in his body.

The realization finally struck him.

He wasn't trapped inside someone else.

He was trapped inside himself.

His younger self.

Years in the past.

His breathing quickened. Or at least, the boy's breathing did.

He had no control over it. No control over anything.

He was nothing more than a passenger. A prisoner behind his own eyes.

Slowly, he looked back toward the tree.

Toward the girl sitting comfortably among the branches.

The short hair. The oversized jacket. The boots decorated with tiny flowers.

Every detail was exactly as he remembered.

Nikki.

Young Nikki.

Looking down at him with the same teasing smile she always wore whenever she knew she was right and would tease him for it.

And for the first time since waking in the darkness, Bear felt something worse than fear.

Recognition.

"Come up here. It's impossible for those two to find us here." The girl swung her feet idly from the branch as she scanned the park below.

Bear tried to speak.

Tried to ask where he was. Tried to ask why she was here. Tried to ask if she was real.

Nothing happened.

"How are you so sure?" his younger voice asked.

The sound still unsettled him.

It was his voice. Just years younger. Softer. Less certain.

Nikki glanced down at him and smirked.

"Nobody ever looks up."

He had questions. Too many questions.

He was terrified of the prison he had found himself trapped inside. Terrified of the darkness that still lingered beyond the edges of this memory. Terrified of whatever creature had worn his grandmother's clothes.

And yet...

Seeing Nikki brought an unexpected sense of comfort. For the first time since waking in this place, he wasn't alone.

He couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Couldn't do anything. All he could do was watch. A spectator inside his own past.

He wanted to climb the tree. Wanted to grab her shoulders. Wanted to hug her. Ask if she was okay. Ask if he was okay. Ask what was happening.

But none of those things came.

"I don't know, Nikki. I don't want to break a leg." His younger self merely scratched the back of his head nervously.

Just go, you idiot.

The thought came instantly.

The fear that had consumed him moments ago was slowly giving way to frustration.

Nikki rolled her eyes. The smile on her face faded slightly as she adjusted her grip on the branch. Bear caught the expression immediately.

A tiny flicker of disappointment. It hurt more than it should have.

After making sure she was balanced, Nikki glanced around once more before checking something on her phone.

"Well, if they don't find us in five minutes, Ian is buying the shots."

Ian? Is he here too?

"You know, I don't dri—"

"You don't drink," Nikki interrupted before he could finish.

She carefully shifted her weight, preparing to jump from the branch.

"Don't worry, Mr. Baron. I'm sure the bar has some of their most exquisite piña coladas waiting just for you." She lowered her voice dramatically, doing a terrible imitation of some distinguished gentleman.

Before jumping, she looked down at him once more.

"Catch me?" A grin spread across her face.

Bear froze.

For a moment, everything around him seemed distant.

He could have sworn he didn't remember this. Yet with every word spoken, every expression, every movement, the memory became clearer. Like a photograph slowly developing.

The details returned one by one. The tree. The park. The jacket. The joke about the drinks.

He remembered this day. Not perfectly. Not at first. But he remembered.

The realization settled over him like a wave.

This wasn't a random memory.

This had happened.

Just one week after he met Nikki for the first time.

"Umm... Bear?" Nikki's voice carried a hint of uncertainty now. She was still sitting on the branch, looking down at him.

Bear snapped out of his thoughts. Not that there was anywhere else for his mind to go.

Right. Help her down. Catch her.

Do something.

But he couldn't.

He couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Couldn't even blink unless his younger self did it first.

So why was his younger self just standing there?

Move, idiot. Why aren't you moving?

The thought echoed uselessly inside his head.

No words left his mouth. Neither his own nor the younger version trapped in this memory.

This time Nikki didn't roll her eyes. Instead, her expression shifted into something else.

Confusion. Mild annoyance. Maybe even a little disappointment again.

"Don't worry about it," she said. With that, she pushed herself off the branch.

Bear's panic spiked.

He could feel his younger body hesitate. A split second too long.

Then-

A shoulder bumped lightly into his back. The unexpected contact startled him.

"Whoops. Careful." The voice hit him even harder.

Ian.

Bear turned instinctively. Or rather, his younger self did.

Ian rushed forward beneath the tree at the last possible second, stretching out his arms just as Nikki dropped from the branch.

He caught her effortlessly. Her boots never touched the ground.

Nikki let out a surprised laugh.

For a moment she looked genuinely caught off guard by Ian's sudden appearance.

Then she smiled. A simple smile.

The kind people exchanged every day without thinking. Yet somehow it felt strange to witness it again.

"There you two lovebirds are," Ian said.

He lowered Nikki back onto the ground before stepping away. Bear's attention immediately drifted to Ian's hands. The hands that had been resting on Nikki's shoulders.

A rush of emotions hit him all at once.

Jealousy. Insecurity. Resentment.

And beneath all of them...

Sadness.

A sadness so deep it almost hurt.

The feeling lingered.

And for the first time, Bear found himself wondering something.

Were those emotions actually his? Or did they belong to the boy whose eyes he was looking through?

The question unsettled him.

"You know we made the rules specifically so nobody would go farther than two streets away," Ian continued.

He looked slightly annoyed. His hair was messier than usual, and dirt stained one of his pant legs.

The sight felt strangely familiar. Like seeing a photograph come to life once again.

"And miss the chance of making you pay for everything tonight?" Nikki shot back. She brushed dirt from her pants with both hands.

"No way." Ian said.

"Besides, Bear and I were counting on your wallet." A grin spread across her face.

"So this was a conspiracy." Ian raised an eyebrow and looked at the two.

"A very successful conspiracy," Nikki replied.

Bear watched them exchange smiles. Watched how natural it all seemed.

How easy. How normal.

For a brief moment, he forgot about the darkness. Forgot about the creature. Forgot about where he was.

The moment was interrupted once again by Ian.

"Sara's already waiting for us. Didn't want to... interrupt anything between the two of you." He punctuated the sentence in a certain peculiar manner.

Nikki immediately made a face and punched him in the chest.

"Why do you say it like that?" She shot a quick glance toward Bear.

Waiting. Expecting a reaction.

Bear noticed it instantly. His younger self did not.

Or rather, he noticed it and immediately froze. As always.

His younger self simply stood there.

Silent.

"I was just saying" Ian said, rubbing his chest.

"You left her there alone?" Young Bear suddenly blurted out.

Bear recognized the maneuver immediately.

Change the subject.

"What? It's not like something's going to happen to her." Ian shrugged. He looked around briefly, checking the street as if making sure they hadn't forgotten anything. "Besides, her dad's been bothering her all day about the music store. She wanted some time alone."

Nikki's attention shifted immediately.

"Is she okay?" The teasing disappeared from her face.

Young Bear started walking beside them. Ian moved ahead while Nikki fell into step at his left.

The memory hit Bear harder than he expected. He remembered this day. He remembered every word.

And for reasons he couldn't explain, it hurt.

Not because of the conversation. Not because he was trapped. But because he suddenly remembered what his younger self had been paying attention to.

Or rather...

What he hadn't.

Ian's voice dropped slightly. Something unusual for him. Until recently, Bear noticed he spoke as though the entire world needed to hear his opinion.

Now he sounded genuinely concerned.

"...wants some space," Ian was saying. "We're graduating, and the guy's putting enough pressure on her to crush a tank. He's obsessed with getting her to work at that stupid music store."

Bear wanted to listen. Wanted to hear every word. His younger self did not.

Instead of moving closer to Ian, he drifted toward Nikki.

Close enough to smell her perfume. Close enough to watch her expressions. Close enough to miss half the conversation.

"You know Ian doesn't bite, right?" Nikki's teasing voice snapped him out of it. She was smiling. Barely. The kind of smile reserved for inside jokes.

"Ye-yeah. I know. I just..."

"...and then they started arguing," Ian continued somewhere to the side. "The idiot actually told her she could end up homeless if she doesn't get a job soon."

"Hey, don't call him that."Nikki immediately turned back toward him.

"What?" Ian blinked.

"Her dad." She folded her arms. "He's not the greatest, sure. But he's worried."

"Yeah," Young Bear added.

The single word felt pathetic now. Bear wanted to cringe. That was all he contributed.

One word. While everyone else was actually listening.

"Besides," Nikki continued, "he beats mine” raising her eyebrows and blew air through her lips.

Ian snorted. "I don't know. We're graduating. That's supposed to be exciting." He kicked a pebble off the sidewalk. "Sure, we all need jobs eventually. But come on. The guy's already stressing her out enough."

Silence settled over the group.

For them, it was just another walk through town.

For Bear, it felt different.

The streets faded at their edges. Beyond them lay the same darkness he had awakened in.

An endless void surrounding a memory. The sight was unsettling.

And beautiful.

Because despite everything, he remembered this day.

The four of them were heading towards Barker’s Pub, where they would eventually spend countless trivia nights. Where routines would form. Where memories would be made.

If he had control over his body, he knew he would be crying.

Sara.

The thought alone made his chest ache.

He remembered the promise. The promise they made that day. Or more specifically...

The promise Nikki made.

As if summoned by the memory itself, Nikki suddenly stopped walking.

"Okay," she announced. "I have an idea."

Ian and Young Bear stopped and turned toward her.

The expression on her face was instantly familiar. The look she always had when she had already made up her mind. The look that meant there was no stopping her.

"What?" Young Bear asked.

"If Sara doesn't want to work there..." A confident smile spread across Nikki's face. "...then we'll give her a reason to."

"What are you talking about?" Ian exchanged a confused glance with Bear.

Nikki started walking again. Passing both of them.

A few steps later she turned around and continued walking backwards.

Grinning.

"Let's all work there."

For a moment neither of them spoke. Bear remembered exactly what happened next.

But for one brief second, standing inside the memory, he found himself wishing he didn't.

Because this was one of those moments.

One of the moments where everything still felt possible.

He tried to close his eyes. For just a second. To escape.

To pull himself away from the memory.

But the moment his eyelids moved, pain shot through them.

A sharp burning sensation.

Bear recoiled instantly. The pain vanished as soon as he stopped trying.

As if something was preventing him from looking away. As if this place wanted him to watch.

Every second. Every detail. Nothing skipped. Nothing forgotten.

Then he realized he was alone again.

The street was gone. The trees were gone. Ian and Nikki had vanished.

Only darkness remained. Endless darkness.

And yet he still couldn't move. Still couldn't control his body.

The realization terrified him more than the void itself. The darkness felt different now.

Closer. Heavier.

Like enormous jaws slowly closing around him.

Waiting. Patient. Hungry.

Then he heard it.

Creak.

His stomach dropped. The same creak.

The same sound that had followed him through the darkness.

It came from behind him.

Slow. Deliberate.

Getting closer. And closer.

Bear couldn't run. Couldn't turn. Couldn't scream.

He was trapped. A helpless animal waiting for the predator to arrive.

The muffled sounds trapped inside his throat became frantic. Then a hand touched his shoulder.

Bear spun around. And froze.

The sight hit him harder than any horror the darkness could have shown him.

There she was.

The girl he had forgotten. The girl he rarely listened to.

The girl whose kindness he accepted without ever questioning how much of herself she gave away.

Sara.

_____________________________________

A younger Sara.

The Sara from years ago.

The Sara from that first trivia night.

Her hair was longer back then. The black makeup around her eyes was newer. Less practiced.

She still had the fresh tattoo covered beneath protective wrap.

Black-painted nails rested against the table, tiny white stars decorating each fingertip.

She looked beautiful. Back then. And always.

And somehow he had never truly noticed.

Not once. Not even enough to compliment her as a friend.

The realization hurt. Far more than he expected.

Then he noticed the rest of the scene.

The bar. Their table.

The one Nikki would eventually declare their lucky table. The one they would return to week after week.

The bar itself stretched behind Sara. But everything looked wrong.

Faded. Colorless. As though the memory couldn't fully reconstruct the world.

Only the people. Only the ones who mattered.

The other customers sat around them, but they weren't really people anymore.

Just silhouettes. Dark shapes wrapped in shadow.

Featureless. Silent. Watching.

Bear hated looking at them.

They made his skin crawl.

Yet despite everything...

He still couldn't move.

Couldn't speak. Couldn't change anything.

"Are you alright?" Sara's voice pulled him back. There was genuine concern in it.

The kind that expected nothing in return. The kind he had spent years overlooking.

"Yeah," his younger self replied.

"I think they're just taking their time." He wasn't even looking at her.

Still searching for Nikki. Still searching for Ian. Still waiting for somebody else.

"They'll be back." Sara laughed softly.

Young Bear nodded. The conversation should have ended there.

But Adult Bear couldn't stop watching her. The nervous way she played with her bracelet.

The bouncing leg beneath the table. The brief glances she stole toward him.

Checking his mood. Checking his reactions. Checking if he was okay.

It was obvious now. Painfully obvious.

She cared about him. Even back then. And he never noticed.

Or maybe he noticed and chose not to think about it.

Which felt worse. Because he never addressed it.

Never gave her an answer. Never drew a line. Never acknowledged it.

It simply wasn't important to him.

At the time. Now it felt impossible to ignore.

"Everything okay with your dad?" Young Bear finally asked.

His voice was quiet. Nervous. The first real thing he had said since sitting down.

Sara smiled sadly.

"Ian told you." Not a question. A statement.

Young Bear immediately panicked at the silence.

"I'm sorry."

Adult Bear physically cringed. It wasn't a great response.

But it was something.

"Don't be." Sara shook her head. Her fingers resumed playing with the bracelet.

"We argue. It's inevitable." She paused. Then looked up.

"Sometimes I just wish time would stop, you know?" The expression on her face nearly broke him.

Because now he remembered. He remembered the fights. The pressure. Her dreams. Art school. Tattooing. Everything she wanted. Everything she was afraid of losing.

"You know..." Young Bear suddenly said.

"When I feel down, there's something that always helps me"

Sara raised an eyebrow.

Waiting.

"Coke?" she guessed.

Adult Bear smiled. Young Bear didn't.

The memory continued exactly as it had years ago.

"I talk to my cat."

Sara stared. Completely expressionless.

Young Bear immediately looked like he regretted every decision that had led him to this moment.

Then Sara burst out laughing. A real laugh. Not polite. Not forced. Not awkward.

A genuine laugh. And what hurt most was realizing something. He hadn't noticed it back then.

"Don't laugh." Young Bear chuckled awkwardly, hoping he had managed to lighten the mood.

"I'm sorry," Sara replied between laughs. "I just... wasn't expecting that."

Even in the dimness of the memory, her eyes seemed brighter than everything around them.

Bear found himself staring.

His younger self smiled softly. For once, he was actually paying attention to the person sitting in front of him.

The realization felt strange.

Comforting. And somehow sad.

The laughter slowly faded.

Sara's expression softened. Then grew more serious.

"Hey... can I ask you something?" Her fingers played with one of the bracelets around her wrist. She didn't look him in the eye immediately. Not until she had already asked.

Bear felt his chest tighten.

Was this the moment? Were you trying to tell me something? We barely knew each other back then. Yet somehow you still liked me. You probably knew about Nikki.
Ian certainly knew. Maybe he had already told you.

Maybe everyone knew.

And still...

You never asked me to choose.

Never demanded answers. Never made me feel guilty.

"Sure," Young Bear replied.

"Do you-" Sara hesitated.

The question was interrupted by the loud clatter of glass hitting the table.

Ian appeared carrying several drinks and looking thoroughly annoyed. A few drops had already splashed onto his shirt.

"Just perfect." He set the glasses down. "Next time, you're all paying for your own drinks."

Nikki appeared beside him carrying a basket of snacks. She slid into the seat next to Sara.

This time she wasn't wearing his jacket.

Bear immediately noticed. His younger self did too. Far too quickly.

Nikki let out a dramatic sigh before leaning sideways and resting her head on Sara's shoulder.

"Better yet," Sara said, "next time we just watch a movie at somebody's house."

"Don't be like that, darling. This'll be fun." Nikki's voice was already half-asleep. Her eyes remained closed.

"Says the one who's already crashing." Ian laughed and took a drink.

"We shouldn't have gone that far just to win the bet," Young Bear said.

He tried very hard not to stare at Nikki. Adult Bear knew he failed.

"You were the ones playing hide-and-seek," Sara pointed out. "Why hide-and-seek anyway? We're basically adults."

"It was a bet," Young Bear replied.

"What bet?" Sara asked. "Didn't Ian just go looking for you two?"

"That was the original plan." Ian pointed accusingly toward Nikki and Bear.

"Then these two assholes decided that if nobody found them within an hour, I'd be paying for everything tonight."

"And yet here we are." Nikki didn't even bother opening her eyes.

"Because you lost."

"You cheated."

"I did not."

"You absolutely did."

"I love hide-and-seek." Nikki pointed lazily at him without lifting her head. "Fight me."

Ian didn’t bother.

Young Bear couldn't help smiling.

"Besides," Nikki continued, opening one eye just enough to glare at them, "Bear insisted on coming with me." She grabbed one of the glasses and sniffed it suspiciously. The smell alone made her wince. "I didn't drag him."

"That part I believe." Ian muttered it quietly. Almost under his breath.

But Adult Bear heard it. Young Bear heard it too.

His immediate reaction was to glance toward Nikki.

Checking. Worrying. Wondering if she had heard.

To his surprise, she seemed completely oblivious.

Still focused on her sleep. Still comfortably leaning against Sara.

Then Bear noticed something else.

The brief shift in her expression gave her away.

Sara had heard it. Just for a second.

Then she deliberately looked elsewhere. Toward the snacks. Toward the trivia stage.

Toward literally anything except the awkward implication hanging in the air.

And suddenly Bear understood. Even back then.

She knew.

The air grew tense but still some comfort was perceived in the air.

It made him nostalgic; it made him miss everything.

He wanted to curse himself for not remembering well the colors or the smell of the place. Something that would make him forget the darkness where he was trapped in now.

He wanted to remember everything. The colors. The music. The smell of cheap alcohol and fried food.

Anything. Anything that wasn't the darkness waiting beyond the edges of the memory.

"Well, fuck it." Ian pushed his chair back. "This isn't starting anytime soon."

"Where are you going?" Sara asked.

"What do you think?" He said, looking at the bar. "More shots, we're playing Never Have I Ever."

Both Nikki and Sara groaned immediately.

Nikki sat up from Sara's shoulder.

"Do we really have to?" She looked genuinely annoyed. "Can't we just wait for trivia to start?"

"Nope."

Ian was already walking away.

"Besides, it'll help Baron here loosen up." His hand landed briefly on Bear's shoulder before continuing towards the counter.

"Bear doesn't drink." The protest came simultaneously from both women.

Ian kept walking.

A series of loud thuds echoed across the room.

The sound cut through the overlapping conversations filling the bar. Young Bear instinctively looked toward the source.

Adult Bear followed his gaze. Across the room, a figure stood on a small, raised platform. Or at least what looked like a figure. Like every stranger inside the memory, the person appeared as a dark silhouette, their features swallowed by shadow.

Only their movements were visible.

The figure tapped something positioned at mouth level. A microphone. The dull thuds echoed once more through the speakers.

"Oh! About time." Nikki immediately sat straighter.

The sudden burst of energy made Adult Bear smile.

A moment ago, she had looked ready to fall asleep. Now she was practically vibrating with excitement.

She wrapped an arm around Sara's shoulders and gave her a small shake.

"Wonderful” Sara groaned.

"Gotta respect his impeccable timing." She pointed across the room with her head.

Bear followed her gaze.

Ian was just reaching the bar. A few seconds too late.

Young Bear smiled. Adult Bear felt his chest tighten.

I remember this. Not clearly. But I remember it.

This was the beginning. The beginning of all those stupid Thursday nights.

Of years that somehow disappeared far too quickly.

He wanted to remember more. How the night ended. Who won. What they talked about afterward.

Anything.

But the memory refused to move ahead. It only gave him what he was currently living.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

"Bear." Nikki's voice pulled him back.

She tapped the table lightly. Once. Twice. Three times.

Instantly both versions of him looked at her.

Young Bear because she had spoken. Adult Bear because he always had.

She was looking directly at him. Not through him. At him.

And somehow that felt strange now. Stranger than the darkness. Stranger than a monster waiting beyond the memories.

Adult Bear suddenly found himself grateful they couldn't see him. Because he knew exactly what he would look like.

A ghost.

Standing helplessly on the outside of a life that no longer belonged to him. The thought made him pause.

Had his younger self looked like that too? Had they seen him sitting here all those years and thought he was somewhere else entirely?

"We need your brain." Nikki said to him. "We are leaving this place with at least one prize."

Young Bear blinked. Adult Bear almost laughed.

The confidence in her voice suggested she was recruiting a world-renowned expert. Not a nervous teenager who barely knew how to hold a conversation.

"I'm serious." She said dramatically and narrowed her eyes.

Something about her expression felt familiar.

Not annoyed. Not angry.

Just determined.

As if she genuinely expected him to participate. As if she genuinely wanted him there.

The realization landed harder than he expected. Because looking back, Adult Bear couldn't remember a single time Nikki had tried to exclude him.

Not one.

"Welcome, everybody, to Thursday Trivia Night." The host's voice suddenly boomed through the speakers.

It made Bear jump a little inside his own body; he didn’t expect to hear anything outside from his friend’s voices.

Cheers erupted throughout the bar.

Nikki immediately joined them and Sara followed. Ian was still somewhere near the bar arguing with the bartender.

"We appreciate you all joining us here at Barker's tonight, and a special thanks to our wonderful staff for keeping everyone fed, hydrated, and ready for a great evening."

For his surprise, Bear could see Ian returning with far too many glasses for one person to reasonably carry, which made him want to see Nikki and Sara's reaction when they noticed him.

"As you know, every Thursday night we host our little trivia competition, where the winners can take home one of three prizes depending on where they place."

Nikki leaned forward slightly, resting an elbow on the table and her chin in her hand while listening attentively to the host. Bear didn't even have to look in her direction. His younger self was already doing it from the corner of his eye.

He could feel all the emotions of the past colliding with his death-bound present.

Both were mesmerized. Even now, surrounded by the quiet loneliness of the penumbra that made up his world, he was still captivated by her.

And he couldn't help but feel guilty about it.

"The prizes you can take home tonight are three in total, beginning with..."

"Jesus Christ." Sara said visibly concerned. Just in time, Ian returned carrying the glasses.

"The team that finishes in first place will receive a ninety percent discount on any drinks from the bar and a forty percent discount on any food ordered for the next three trivia nights." Distorted cheers rose from the shadowy audience.

"And you were complaining about your wallet..." Nikki said, momentarily forgetting the host as she stared at the number of glasses Ian placed on the table.

"You're welcome, by the way," Ian replied as he sat back down beside Bear. "Sorry, buddy. They didn't have juice tonight."

"That's fine," Young Bear said with a nervous laugh. "I think I might gi-"

"The team that finishes in second place will receive a forty percent discount on drinks for one night." The host paused, clearly expecting a more enthusiastic reaction than he received.

"I was expecting a car," Ian said before immediately downing one of the shots.

"Because you definitely need another one." Nikki gave him a look.

"Two is better than one," Ian replied, shifting in his chair. "Besides, we could always use a little traveling here and there."

"I'd rather be the one behind the wheel, thank you very much," Sara said, accepting one of the glasses Nikki offered her. She touched Nikki's shoulder briefly in thanks.

"Um, excuse me?" Ian said, coughing slightly as the alcohol burned his throat.

"We've seen you drive, Ian. I think we'd all rather trust more capable hands with our lives." Nikki laughed. Sara joined in.

"The third and final prize for the team that comes in last place will be..." the host continued, reading from what appeared to be a card.

"Like either of you could do any better." Ian raised his eyebrows at them.

"I beg your pardon? We are clearly the best drivers here." Nikki and Sara exchanged dramatic gasps.

"You don't even have a license." Ian looked at them before turning toward Young Bear, waiting for support.

It made Bear want to answer. To contribute. To say something clever.

But he quickly remembered that he could only sit and watch.

Which made him angry at his younger self for not joining the conversation.

"So...?" Nikki and Sara said simultaneously, maintaining eye contact with Ian after realizing Bear wasn't helping either side.

"So, I don't want to get myself into trouble," Ian replied with a scoff.

"Besides, Sara I believe. But you, Ms., are absolutely not getting anywhere near any of my future cars." He narrowed his eyes at Nikki.

"Thank you. I'll take that as a promise." Nikki smiled broadly at him. Then, for a brief moment, she glanced at Bear. The quiet one. The one who always seemed to be somewhere else.

"You're awfully quiet today," Ian said, noticing Nikki's gaze. "What do you think, dude? You think Nikki could drive us all the way to Colorado without getting arrested?"

The attention shifted toward him.

Even though Adult Bear wasn't the one in control, he still felt everything he had felt back then.

The pressure. The anxiety. The desperate need to come up with the right answer.

The group looked at him, waiting.

For a moment, his younger self wondered why the host was taking so long to start the competition.

"I think she could..." That was all his younger self could muster.

Then he paused. Bear knew that pause.

The brief moment where his younger self immediately regretted speaking at all.

"...if she could reach the pedals."

Silence.

Young Bear instantly looked down. Already regretting the attempt at humor.

The group remained quiet for several seconds before he finally found the courage to look up.

Sara was staring at him attentively. Ian had raised his eyebrows and was holding his third drink of the night. Nikki looked the most surprised. Not offended. Not annoyed. Just genuinely caught off guard.

"...for their participation and willingness to try, the third-place team will receive a round of applause." The host's words were immediately drowned out by a chorus of groans and playful boos from the crowd. The distorted sounds echoed strangely through the somber landscape surrounding the memory.

Then the group laughed.

Sara laughed first, taking a sip from her drink. Ian chuckled and shot Bear an approving look before glancing toward Nikki. Nikki joined in a moment later.

She was still looking at Bear with a puzzled expression.

"So, you do have a sense of humor after all." She glanced toward Sara, who was still laughing.

Ian took advantage of both girls being distracted. He reached over and gave Bear a light pat on the back.

Then he nodded. Just once.

A silent gesture of approval before turning his attention back to the conversation.

Adult Bear hated how much that gesture still meant to him. Even now. Even after everything he learned. Even after everything that happened.

Part of him still missed his best friend. He realized then that Ian had spent years doing little things like that.

Supporting him. Encouraging him.

Trying, in his own clumsy way, to help.

Bear tried to remember whether Ian already knew he liked Nikki back then. But he couldn't. The memory wouldn't give him that answer.

It only allowed him to witness. To process. To remember.

And that realization left him feeling strangely conflicted.

Because he knew there had been moments when Ian genuinely helped him. Or at least tried to.

Yet the revelation he learned much later in life, the truth Sara told him that horrible night in her car, came crashing back all over again.

What was it? Two years?

Two years his best friend and the girl he loved had been sleeping together before he made that wish.

The thought settled heavily inside him. Because he genuinely didn't know how to feel.

He missed his best friend. And at the same time...

Part of him hated him.

"Remember the rules: you can only write your answers on a piece of paper," the host continued. "Any screaming, insults, or cheating will result in ten points being deducted from your team." The shadowy figure looked attentively toward one of the dark groups sitting at another table, which Bear presumed was another team. "Now that the prizes and rules are out of the way, let's begin. Our first category will be: Movies. I trust all of you have your team names chosen already."

"Shit!" Nikki said loudly, looking at the three of them and waving her hands to encourage ideas.

"Okay, this first one is a two-parter. You have to answer both. Here we go." The shadowy figure said.

"What are we calling ourselves? We have to write it down." She said.

The four of them found themselves staring at the table, thinking. Sara and Ian looked like they were struggling to focus on both the question and the team’s name at the same time.

"The Great Four?" Ian suggested, shrugging as he looked around for approval.

Bear was surprised that, for the first time that evening, both girls shared the same reaction as his younger self.

Silence.

Nikki slowly raised her eyebrows. She waited a few seconds to see if Ian was joking. When it became clear he wasn't, she finally replied.

"No."

"The Mad Dogs?" Sara offered, though she didn't sound very convinced herself.

"Isn't that from the Ninja Turtles?" Ian asked with genuine curiosity, earning a nod from Young Bear.

"This animated film stars a blue genie capable of granting three wishes. What is the name of the movie, and what year was it released?" The host's voice echoed through the room.

The table remained silent.

From Bear's perspective, it looked like Nikki and his younger self immediately knew the answer, while Ian and Sara were still trying to remember the question.

"Wait, what was it again?" Sara asked.

"What is the na-"

"Los El Cuatro!" Ian suddenly shouted, pointing dramatically at the table.

Everyone froze.

"The team with the loud guy, I see you, Ian. Minus ten points." The host slowly reached for the microphone. "Remember the rules, people."

A few scattered laughs came from the crowd.

Nikki raised her arms in disbelief. Sara groaned. Young Bear joined them.

“Okay, the other question. What classic movie features a famous landmark in New York City that’s often associated with making wishes by throwing coins into its fountain?”

"What the hell was that, dude?" Nikki asked, genuinely annoyed.

"Sorry..." Ian replied with a half-embarrassed expression. "I came up with a name though."

"A really bad one again," Sara added.

"Shut up." Ian brushed her off before noticing movement beside him.

"What are you doing?" he asked Bear.

Young Bear had grabbed a napkin from the table and was writing something down.

The others turned their attention toward him.

"Alright, that's enough time. Someone will be coming around to collect your answers," the host announced. "Please choose the person with the best handwriting, please."

"Bear, we've already lost this round," Nikki said, while slowly touching her head and wincing a little.

The feeling was strange for Adult Bear. Up until now he had mostly sat inside the memory, watching. But seeing his own handwriting appear on a piece of paper without any control over it felt unsettling.

He really hadn't missed that feeling.

His younger self finished writing and slid the napkin toward the center of the table. The group leaned in.

"Our name," he said quietly.

The group leaned in toward the napkin, squinting at it in an almost comical way.

"I approve," Sara said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I think it works," Nikki agreed, leaning back in her chair and grabbing the napkin, ready for the next question.

Bear remembered how he had felt back then.

Getting Nikki's approval over something so small had filled him with far more happiness than it probably should have.

A shadowy figure moved from table to table, collecting answer sheets from the other teams.

"Shit! Almost forgot. So... first question on me?" Ian said, grabbing one of the glasses and raising an eyebrow at them.

"What are you talking about?" Sara asked, glancing back toward the host to make sure they didn't miss the next question.

"Never Have I Ever," Ian said. "Never have I ever lied to get out of something." He looked at each of them with a teasing grin.

"Is it okay if I don't drink?" Young Bear asked.

"No. You, especially, are getting wasted tonight," Ian declared, pointing at the glass in front of him.

"Ian, don't be a-"

"Leave him alone, Ian," Nikki interrupted. "He can play without drinking." She waved a hand dismissively. "Don't listen to him, babe." Then she looked around the table. "Does anyone have another pen?"

Bear could hear his own thoughts. But he could also hear his younger self's.

His younger version immediately latched onto that single word.

Babe.

The word echoed in his mind over and over again.

Trying not to react. Failing miserably.

Sara began searching through her purse, briefly glancing at Nikki and then at Bear.

Back then, he had been completely oblivious. Now every little detail felt impossible to ignore.

"Here," Ian said, handing her a pen he had borrowed from a nearby table. Then he pointed toward the drinks again. "So? I'm waiting."

"You just want an excuse to drink more," Sara replied, rolling her eyes before taking a sip.

"That's the spirit." Ian immediately downed his own shot, already accustomed to the burn.

Young Bear was still stuck on what Nikki had called him.

Babe.

If he hadn't known exactly what he was thinking in that moment, he would have been surprised by how obvious it all looked.

He was practically frozen. Replaying the word again and again inside his head.

Adult Bear couldn't help feeling sorry for him. Not because the word meant nothing.

But because his younger self didn't yet understand that Nikki called almost everyone things like that.

Babe. Honey. Sweetheart.

It was simply who she was. Who she had always been.

But for him, those words only mattered when they were directed at him.

And nobody else.

He wondered what she was doing now. If she would ever call anyone those names again.

Because he was here. And she was there.

Alive. Far away.

And broken.

"Okay, we have all the answers here," the host announced as he sorted through the pile of papers in front of him. "And the winners of Round One are..." He squinted at one of the sheets.

"The Ragtags!"

A burst of cheers erupted from another table. At least, Bear assumed they were cheers. To him, they sounded distorted and distant.

Like voices trying to force their way through water. The darkness beyond the edges of the memory seemed to stir again.

"What kind of name is even that?" Nikki asked, looking toward the celebrating table.

"Told you "Los El Cuatro" sounds better," Ian said smugly. Then he immediately pointed at her drink. "Oh, and I'm not forgetting. Drink."

"DrInK," Nikki mocked in a ridiculous voice, pulling a face at him and taking a sip from her glass.

"Okay, I think we can move on to our next round," the host said, grabbing another card. "This time, the topic will be: Music."

Sara visibly brightened. They couldn't have picked a more perfect category for her.

"This round is ours," Ian declared, pointing at her while grabbing a handful of fries from the table.

"You got this, babe." Nikki patted Sara's shoulder and smiled.

There you go.

Bear felt his younger self's emotions immediately shift from excitement to embarrassment and disappointment.

He noticed Sara glance toward him too, as if waiting to see whether he had something encouraging to say as well.

Young Bear offered her an awkward smile and a small nod.

"Good luck." Simple. Vague.

And yet Sara still smiled before grabbing the pen and napkin from the table.

"Okay, pens ready," announced the host. "Which band released the album Dark Side of the Moon?"

Bear was impressed by how quickly Sara wrote down the answer. Nikki laughed and tapped excitedly on the table while watching her.

Ian leaned toward Bear and motioned toward Sara with his head.

"We're winning this shit." He grabbed another glass.

He really loved to drink, Bear thought.

"Alright, pens down. This was only one question, people. You should have your answers ready."

Sara folded the napkin and rested comfortably in her chair while they waited for someone to collect it.

The shadowy silhouette moved through the room, gathering papers from each table before returning to the stage.

"Alright," the host said into the microphone while sorting through the answers. "I see a lot of confidence on this one." His attention landed on their napkin. "These guys were in a hurry, huh?"

The group looked toward Bear and laughed. To his surprise, both versions of himself laughed with them.

After the host finished reading the answers, everyone waited quietly for the results.

"Alright, this round goes to..." The announcer paused dramatically.

"The Four-gettables!"

The table erupted.

For the first time all evening, Bear watched his friends celebrate together. Nikki grabbed Sara by the shoulders and shook her excitedly. Ian smacked the table a little too hard and raised a finger toward the Ragtags' table. Young Bear smiled at Sara and gave her a thumbs-up.

And for a moment, just a moment, everything felt exactly the way he wished it had stayed.

"What did I tell you? “We own this tonight," Ian said toward Sara, patting Bear on the back.

"Wait, what was the answer again?" he asked her with genuine curiosity.

"Pink Floyd. Excuse you." Sara looked at him as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"We should put Sara's face on the team's logo," Nikki added.

"We're still a few points behind, though," Young Bear said, glancing toward the Ragtags' table.

"Who cares? There'll be plenty more questions and chances to win," Ian replied, clasping his hands together. The alcohol was clearly starting to take effect.

"Okay, prepare yourselves, people. The last question of the night will be given shortly," the host announced while grabbing a drink from a nearby table.

Everyone slowly turned to look at Ian.

"I think you jinxed us," Young Bear said.

Even Adult Bear could feel it. His younger self was becoming more comfortable.

More confident. At least compared to earlier.

"This question will be worth triple points, so give it everything you've got!" the host continued.

"There we go," Ian said, clasping his hands together in prayer and looking upward while silently mouthing something.

"Okay, my turn," Sara announced. Her mood had shifted noticeably. She seemed more playful now.

"Never have I ever had a crush on someone in school." She grabbed one of the glasses and raised it.

Instantly, Ian drank. No hesitation.

Nikki grabbed one of the remaining glasses and emptied it in a single gulp.

Sara drank hers as well.

"And you were telling me I'm the one looking for excuses," Ian laughed, looking at Sara's empty glass.

"Wait..." Nikki looked around the table."We all drank?"

"Not everyone," Ian replied, tilting his head toward Bear in accusation.

"Just imagine I did," Young Bear muttered, focusing intently on the snacks instead of anyone's face.

"No way. Now everyone has to reveal theirs." Ian said.

"Says who?" Nikki asked in an exaggeratedly serious voice, resting an elbow on Sara's shoulder while holding a fry between her lips.

"Umm... the rules?" Ian replied uncertainly before laughing at himself.

"Funny. I don't remember any rules like that," Sara said. She and Nikki exchanged a glance and shook their heads.

"Come on! Let's make this night more interesting," Ian insisted.

"Besides, we're basically out of school already. It's not like it matters if they ever find out." Then he looked toward Bear, raising his eyebrows as if waiting for backup.

"I don't know if that's the best idea," Young Bear said with a nervous chuckle.

"Okay, people! Prepare your papers and pens! We are ready for our final question of the night and the ultimate prize that comes with it!" the host announced.

The audience responded with exaggerated groans.

Nikki and Ian joined in immediately.

Bear could tell Nikki was starting to get a little drunk.

Strangely, he found himself relieved that Sara and his younger self seemed to be the only ones still mostly sober.

"I see none of you want this to end, and I apologize," the host continued. "But next week we'll have even more questions and games to die for, I guarantee it."

"Prepare your papers and pens!"

"Come on, guys. Before the next question," Ian insisted.

This time he didn't reach for another drink. It was oddly comforting to know he at least understood his limits.

"You really are stubborn, you know that?" Sara said before finishing what looked like her final glass. The way she casually pushed the remaining drinks away from herself made it obvious she was done for the night.

"I can say it." Nikki spoke in a completely normal tone.

Calm. Confident.

Bear immediately felt a pang in his chest.

It wasn't his. It belonged to the boy whose eyes he was looking through.

But that didn't make it hurt any less. Because he remembered exactly what his younger self was feeling.

Hope. Fear. And Curiosity.

And the desperate wish that her answer would be the one he wanted to hear. Even though part of him already knew it wouldn't be.

“That's what I'm talking about,” Ian said, taking a glass of water for the first time that night.

“You don't have to do it if you don't want to,” Sara told her. There was a hint of uncertainty in her expression, as if she was trying to figure out whether Nikki was serious or not.

“No, I actually want to,” Nikki said, smiling at her, laughing at Ian's expression and then, lastly, looking at Bear for a brief second.

She couldn't see him. And still, Bear felt as though she could. As if those eyes could somehow look past his younger self and straight at the real him.

Even if only for a moment.

His younger self didn't know whether Nikki had been looking at him before revealing her answer, but Adult Bear felt like a nervous high-school freshman all over again.

Maybe it was the emotions of both versions of himself sharing the same body.

Maybe what he had felt in life had simply followed him into this place, surviving death itself.

Or maybe loneliness had a way of making old feelings louder.

Whatever it was, it made his chest ache.

“Wait! Let me go first,” Ian interrupted, patting himself on the chest and waiting for the water to settle his stomach.

“Oh, if you insist,” Nikki said, adjusting her hair and giving him a challenging look. “Shoot.”

The group fell silent.

Bear could feel his younger self caught between gratitude and annoyance at Ian's interruption.

“Actually... I can't believe I'm gonna say this...” Ian laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.

It was strange seeing him nervous. When he finally gathered the courage, he looked around the table before stopping on the girl giving him that expectant stare.

“You, actually.”

Silence.

For a moment, even Bear thought the others might hear the distant muffled sounds that haunted the edges of every memory in this place.

Sara sat frozen beside Nikki. Ian looked embarrassed but oddly proud of himself for saying it. Nikki was the hardest to read.

She stared at him with a completely blank expression, one eyebrow slightly raised.

Bear found himself surprised. He had lived this moment.

Yet somehow it felt like hearing it for the first time.

Like this memory had been buried somewhere deep inside him and only now was being forced back to the surface.

He could feel every unpleasant emotion his younger self experienced the instant he heard his best friend admit he once liked the girl he loved.

“…What?” was all Nikki managed to say.

“You heard me.” Ian pointed at her with his glass. “Now hold your horses. It was elementary school, so it barely counts. But I figured I'd put it out there.”

He took another drink of water before looking toward Sara and Bear, waiting for their reactions.

“You’re kidding, right?” Nikki asked.

She looked at Bear and Sara as though expecting one of them to confirm this was some elaborate joke.

“Nope. Scout's honor.” Ian raised his hand. “It only lasted for a little while. I just thought you were cool.” He shrugged. “I only see you as a friend now, so don't get too excited.”

Bear didn't know how everything had seemed so invisible back then. Because now, looking at it from the outside, it felt painfully obvious.

His younger self was quietly falling apart. Trying desperately to hide jealousy behind a blank expression. Trying to convince himself that none of it mattered. Trying not to imagine Nikki ever liking someone else.

And failing miserably.

His younger self didn't notice. He was too busy creating the worst possible scenarios in his head, sinking deeper and deeper into his own misery.

But Sara noticed.

Every now and then, she glanced at him as if she were trying to read something hidden behind his blank stare.

“Bear?” Ian asked, turning the attention elsewhere. “You did drink,” he said, as though what he'd confessed a few seconds ago was completely insignificant.

As though Bear wasn't sitting right there.

His younger self couldn't believe it.

Ian knew. He knew he liked Nikki.

He knew it back then and he knew it before his death.

And yet, sitting across from him, he'd just casually admitted he once had feelings for her.

A small, selfish part of him felt relieved that Nikki hadn't reciprocated those feelings.

But Adult Bear knew the rest of the story.

The part that hadn't happened yet. The part that would happen anyway.

“Cooper,” Sara blurted out suddenly.

The tension around the table broke instantly. Everyone turned toward her.

“Really?” Nikki asked. Bear wondered if she genuinely thought the others had planned some kind of joke beforehand.

“Yeah, I mean...” Sara shrugged. “He didn't have that ugly haircut he has now, but... yeah.” A shy smile appeared on her face.

Again, she glanced toward Bear.

His chest tightened. His younger self was too busy drowning in jealousy to notice what she'd just done.

She'd thrown herself into the conversation to pull the attention away from him. To give him room to breathe.

“Who would've guessed?” Ian laughed. “Hey, no judgment here. You're safe.”

“Nikki?” Sara asked softly. The attention shifted once more.

“Want to tell us before this idiot interrupts you again?” She nodded toward Ian.

“Hey!”

“Right...” Nikki said. She wasn't looking at any of them now.

Instead, she fidgeted with one of the silver necklaces around her neck.

Young Bear felt like he was dying. Adult Bear couldn't help cringing at the desperate prayers running through his younger mind.

Please don't say someone.

Please don't say someone.

Please.

As if fate itself heard those thoughts and decided to mock him for them, the announcer's voice suddenly echoed through the room.

“The next question is…”

Bear instinctively tried to close his eyes. Tried to remember what Nikki's answer had been. But the familiar burning sensation immediately shot through his eyelids.

He opened them again. And the voice continued.

“What did you do, Baron?”

The words echoed through the room.

Then echoed again. And again.

Not through the speakers. Through the darkness.

Bear froze. A violent jolt ran through his entire body.

His eyes darted around the room.

Around his friends. Around the tables. Around the bar.

Everyone had stopped moving.

Frozen. Perfectly still.

As though time itself had been ripped apart. The realization struck him immediately.

He could move. His hands trembled. His chest rose and fell.

He wasn't trapped inside the memory anymore.

He was back.

Back inside his own body. Back inside the thing wearing the shape of his world.

Slowly, he stood from his chair.

The silence felt unbearable. Then he noticed something worse. Much worse.

Every shadow in the room was looking at him.

The people sitting at the tables. The bartender. The figures near the entrance. Even the announcer standing on the platform.

None of them moved. None of them blinked.

They simply stared.

And despite having no visible faces...

Bear knew.

Every single one of them was looking directly at him.

He could run now. He could hide. He could escape. He could do something.

And yet he didn't.

He stood frozen, turning slowly as panic spread through every part of him.

A moment ago, he would've given anything to move.

Now he almost missed being trapped inside someone else's eyes. At least then, he hadn't been alone.

He looked toward the bar. More shadowy figures stared back at him.

Some stood motionless. Others remained seated.

None of them spoke. None of them moved. They only watched.

When he turned toward the table, hoping to find the familiar faces of his friends, the scream tore itself from his throat before he could stop it.

He stumbled backward. The chair crashed onto the floor behind him.

Ian and Sara were staring directly at him.

Sara's face was ruined. What should have been familiar had become something impossible to look at and impossible to ignore. Yet the place where eyes should have been remained fixed on him.

Watching.

Ian sat beside her. A shot marked the center of his forehead.

His skin was pale. His eyes were lifeless. His mouth hung slightly open.

Neither of them moved. Neither of them blinked.

And still Bear could feel their attention locked onto him.

His stomach twisted.

He wanted to look away. He couldn't.

It felt as though the floor itself had wrapped around his feet.

Trapping him. Forcing him to witness them. Forcing him to remember.

Slowly, his gaze drifted toward Nikki.

But Nikki wasn't there. Or at least, not really.

Her silhouette remained in the chair.

A dark shape wrapped in shadows deeper than the rest. As if the darkness itself were hiding her.

Bear started backing away. Then pleading. Then begging.

For what, he didn't even know. For the room to disappear. For the memory to continue. For someone to wake him up.

A few moments ago, everything had been normal.

Now death had walked into the room. And it had brought evidence with it.

The silence stretched endlessly. Then something warm brushed against his ear.

Close enough to make his skin crawl.

“Darkness is just a color, silly.”

Bear's breath caught. The words felt wrong.

Not because of what they said. Because of how comforting they sounded.

The world lurched. Pain shot through his body.

Every muscle tightened. The room twisted.

And suddenly.

“Thank you again for driving us home,” Nikki said beside him.

Bear didn’t know how he was no longer on the floor, or at the table, or even in the bar.

Instead, he couldn’t move any muscle again. He felt the leather seat beneath him and his gaze remained fixed ahead, watching his hands gripping the steering wheel of a car.

_____________________________________

If he had any control over his body right now, he would have crashed from the sudden change.

“No one... is touching my car,” Ian said from the backseat. His voice was barely audible and sounded exhausted.

“Shut up, idiot. We’re lucky Bear has a license,” Sara replied. She was sitting beside Ian, trying to keep his head upright whenever it threatened to fall. It looked like she was the only reason he hadn’t thrown up yet.

“Bear, dude... no sudden turns. I just changed these seats,” Ian muttered, attempting to open his eyes and failing miserably while trying to keep himself upright.

“Oh no...” Nikki exclaimed dramatically, turning toward him. Then she looked at Bear and touched his shoulder.

“Bear, please don’t make any sudden turns. The poor angel just spent his allowance on these seats,” she said in an exaggerated voice, barely containing her laughter.

Young Bear laughed with her while trying to ignore the fact that Nikki had touched his shoulder. Adult Bear realized that not even back then, without a ghost trapped inside him, he could have crashed the car after that.

“Fuck... you,” Ian muttered from behind, trying his hardest to sound serious.

“Don’t worry, nothing will ever happen to your baby,” Sara said, looking at Nikki as both of them struggled not to laugh.

Nikki exhaled dramatically, eyes wide as she looked between Bear and Sara.

“That actually gives me a great idea.”

Young Bear smiled nervously, already wondering what she meant. Throughout the entire drive from Barker’s, he felt as though he didn’t need to say much for this memory to carve itself into his mind forever.

“I swear to God, you guys...” Ian muttered, trying to sit up straighter.

Nikki suddenly glanced at Bear and mouthed something without making a sound.

“What?” Young Bear asked, laughing as he kept his eyes on the road.

“...et... me... dri...” she whispered.

“I don’t understand you.”

She frowned.

“Let... me... dri—”

“What?”

Nikki finally lost patience.

“LET ME DRIVE!” she almost shouted before immediately covering her mouth with both hands.

“Who has a drive?” Ian asked, half asleep, attempting once more to lift himself.

Sara instantly pushed him back down.

“No one, Ian. No one.” Then she shot an accusatory look toward Nikki and Bear. “Forget that.”

“Come on! It’ll be fun,” Nikki insisted in a conspiratorial whisper. “We’re practically home already.”

“Nikki, you don’t have a license,” Young Bear replied.

“So?” she said. “We’re in the neighborhood. It’s not like I’m gonna hit the speed limit.”

“Bear, don’t do it,” Sara warned from behind. “She’ll get us killed if she does reach the pedals.”

“Fuck you, bitch,” Nikki replied, laughing and placing a hand over her chest. “I will not.”

“Who’ll get us killed?” Ian asked loudly before giving up completely and letting his head drop into Sara’s lap with a heavy thud.

“Bro!” Sara nearly jumped. “How much does your head weigh?” She struggled to move him enough to keep him from sliding onto the floor.

Nikki and Young Bear burst into laughter.

“See?” Nikki said, pointing at Ian. “He’s completely gone. Come on, Bear. Just around the corner. I’ll park it.”

Young Bear briefly looked away from the road and toward her. Adult Bear watched through his own eyes.

Even back then, it was unusual seeing Nikki insist this much on something.

It made him wonder how comfortable she must have felt around him.

Around all of them.

Maybe the alcohol helped. Maybe she simply felt safe.

“Nikki...” Young Bear said carefully. “It’s not my car.”

The words came out awkwardly. Not because they were wrong.

Because refusing her was hard.

He glanced at her again.

For a moment, she looked as though reality had finally caught up to her.

Her smile faded slightly.

Not completely. Just enough.

She adjusted herself in the passenger seat and looked back toward the road.

“You’re right,” she said quietly. There was a hint of disappointment in her voice. “Sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“Thank God,” Sara sighed dramatically. She rested her elbow against the window and leaned her head into her hand.

“That’s a little offensive,” Nikki muttered.

“It’s supposed to be.”

Young Bear laughed softly.

Nikki glanced at him.

He glanced back.

And for a brief second, nobody said anything. Just the sound of the engine and the quiet hum of the road beneath them.

Adult Bear hated how much that silence hurt. Because back then, it had meant absolutely nothing.

And now it did.

As they started passing the first houses of the neighborhood, along with the trees and neatly trimmed bushes in their yards, Bear recognized the decision his younger self was about to make.

Because he could feel his emotions. And because, after all these years, he knew himself.

Neither version of him could actually refuse her.

As he slowed the car to a crawl, he eventually brought it to a stop and looked at Nikki.

“Fine...”

It took her a second to realize they had stopped.

She looked at him. Then at the steering wheel.

“What?” Nikki and Sara asked at the same time.

“Drive,” Young Bear said nervously.

For a moment, Nikki simply stared at him.

Then the realization hit. The hesitation vanished from her face, replaced by a grin so wide it nearly split her cheeks.

Adult Bear immediately regretted the decision.

Even years later.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Nikki practically launched herself out of the passenger seat.

“YES!” She hurried around the front of the car toward the driver's side.

“Bear...” Sara groaned from the backseat, pinching the bridge of her nose and leaning against the window.

“It’s okay. Ian’s house is just around the corner, right? We’ll be fine,” Young Bear replied.

He didn’t look back at her. He was too busy watching Nikki's excited expression.

“Muchas gracias,” Nikki said with a huge smile as they crossed paths beside the car.

Then she stopped.

Young Bear had opened his arms.

Adult Bear immediately understood why he had forgotten this memory. His soul tried to leave his body from embarrassment.

Nikki looked at his outstretched arms.

Then at him. One eyebrow slowly rose.

“Umm... what are you doing?”

Young Bear froze.

His arms remained open for a painful second.

“Oh. I... I just...” He had absolutely no idea how to recover.

“Oh my God! Guys!”

Sara's scream cut through the night.

Both Nikki and Young Bear turned toward the car.

And immediately realized the problem.

The vehicle was slowly rolling downhill.

Because Young Bear had been too distracted staring at Nikki. And because apparently remembering to put the car in park had been beyond his capabilities.

“Oh God! Bear!” Nikki shouted.

She immediately sprinted toward the driver's seat.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Young Bear ran after her.

Thankfully, both doors were still open. Otherwise, they would have been completely fucked.

Sara started screaming from the backseat.

“Shhhh...” Ian mumbled, half asleep. He lazily waved a hand.

“I GOT IT!” Nikki yelled. She reached the driver's seat first and grabbed the steering wheel.

Watching the memory now, Bear was genuinely impressed.

She moved absurdly fast.

“NIKKI!” Sara shouted.

“I SAID I GOT IT!” Nikki practically threw herself into the seat and slammed her foot onto the brake pedal.

At the same time, she shoved the gear lever into park.

The timing couldn't have been better.

The car jerked to a violent stop.

At that exact moment, Young Bear launched himself through the open passenger door, convinced he wasn't going to make it.

He did. Technically.

The only sound that followed was the loud crack of his forehead hitting the glove compartment.

Half his body was inside the car. The other half remained hanging out the passenger door.

His legs dangled helplessly outside.

For several seconds nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

They simply sat there processing how close they had come to disaster.

Ian's snoring immediately broke the silence.

Young Bear groaned from somewhere inside the vehicle.

Sara looked at Nikki. Nikki looked at Sara.

Then both looked at the pair of legs sticking out of the passenger side.

“I do reach the pedals” Nikki said quietly.

Only the neighborhood cats, a few irritated neighbors, and one unconscious Ian were there to witness it.

On how the entire street echoed with laughter.

Even with his forehead pressed against the glove compartment after hitting it, he could almost believe he was really there.

Back in his neighborhood. Driving home after a trivia night with his friends.

Young. Alive.

The position he was stuck in didn't help. Literally or metaphorically.

Part of him wanted to laugh with them. Part of him wanted to scream.

If this place only intended to show him the happiest moments of his life, then maybe being trapped here wasn't so bad. Maybe he could live forever inside those fragments of light scattered through the darkness surrounding his soul.

But why? Why these moments?

Was he living inside nostalgia, or was this place slowly taking it away from him?

The thought made him shudder.

As if the limbo had heard him, the laughter stopped.

The car died.

Everything went dark.

He couldn't turn his head, but he didn't hear Sara anymore.

Or Nikki. Or Ian's snoring.

He was alone again.

Somehow he was back in his adult body, still folded halfway into the passenger seat, his face pressed against the glove compartment.

He tried to move an arm. Nothing.

He tried to lift himself. Nothing.

His body refused him.

"Help," he whispered. The word escaped as little more than a breath. Panic crawled through him.

He was finally himself again, yet he had less control than before.

Trapped inside a car that wasn't his. Inside a world that clearly didn't want him.

Then he heard it.

Creak.

The sound came from somewhere in the darkness.

Far away. That somehow made it worse.

It was there. And it was coming.

Bear tried to scream again.

Nothing. Only silence answered him.

His legs still dangled outside the vehicle.

He suddenly felt like a child again, lying in bed with his feet uncovered, convinced something beneath the darkness would grab him if he wasn't careful. Only now it wasn't imagination.

Creak.

Closer.

A violent chill ran through him.

Every time the sound returned, it felt less like a noise and more like an announcement.

Something was approaching. Something wanted him to know.

He thought of Ian. Of Sara. Of Nikki.

Especially Nikki.

Why couldn't they be here?

He didn't care about everything that happened afterward. He couldn't. Not right now.

He needed them. Needed someone.

Anything but this. Anything but being alone.

Creak.

This time it came from beside the car. Close enough that he knew whatever made it was standing right outside the driver's door.

Waiting. Then he heard a hand grasp the handle.

The door opened. Bear's entire body locked.

The vehicle shifted slightly as someone climbed inside. The seat dipped under the weight.

He wanted to close his eyes. He wanted to disappear.

Instead he started cursing under his breath.

Begging. Demanding.

Asking why this place kept stealing every good thing it showed him.

Then the door shut.

Silence.

It sat beside him.

He couldn't see it. But he could feel it.

Watching.

The silence became unbearable.

No attack came. No movement.

Only the certainty that something was sitting inches away from him.

Then he heard the faintest movement. Like a slow breath of wind.

A moment later he felt fingertips brush through his hair.

Soft. Gentle.

The touch terrified him more than any scream could have.

He didn't move. Couldn't move. Didn't want to move.

For one desperate moment he prayed. Not to God. Not to salvation. To her.

Please.

Please let it be Nikki.

Even if this place was mocking him. Even if it was cruel. Even if it wasn't real.

Just let it be her.

Then he saw them.

Long. Thin. Rotten fingers sliding into view from the corner of his eye.

The skin hung from them in dark strips. The nails stretched unnaturally long. They slowly traced the side of his head.

Bear screamed. But no sound left his mouth.

The smell hit him a second later.

His entire body froze. He knew that smell.

He remembered it from childhood.

From every visit. From every afternoon spent in her house.

It lingered in the walls even after she was gone.

The scent of his grandmother. Or whatever was wearing her.

The touch changed. The fingers no longer felt gentle.

They dragged against his skin like dry sandpaper.

Slow. Deliberate. Mocking.

The same comfort she once gave him had become something else entirely.

Something wrong.

Then the hand withdrew. The fingers disappeared.

A soft breeze passed through his hair.

For one impossible second, he thought it was over. Then he heard the keys turn in the ignition.

The engine roared to life. Fear found him all over again.

The pedal slammed down. The tires screamed against the darkness. And the car surged forward.

Downhill. Faster. Faster.

The force shoved his rigid body deeper into the seat.

His legs still hung outside the vehicle. He imagined them striking something in the void. Imagined flesh and bone tearing apart.

The engine screamed. The tires screamed.

And somewhere beneath it all, the darkness seemed to scream with them.

Bear squeezed his eyes shut.

Waiting for the impact. Waiting for the end. Waiting for something to finally break.

It never came.

_____________________________________

The rushing wind stopped. The inertia vanished.

Suddenly, his feet were touching solid ground.

Bear opened his eyes, relief washing over him for a single fleeting moment.

He could stand. He could breathe. He could move.

Then he looked around.

The couch stood before him, exactly where it had been when he first arrived in this purgatory of darkness.

But something was different. A few feet beyond the couch, pieces of a floor stretched into the void. Two walls rose from it, incomplete and uneven, disappearing into the blackness around them. Paintings hung crookedly from their surfaces. Vases rested on small tables. Familiar objects occupied the space where moments ago there had only been darkness.

Bear recognized them immediately.

Under different circumstances, seeing something familiar might have comforted him.

Instead, it terrified him.

It looked as though someone had decided to rebuild his house inside the void, starting with the couch and working outward piece by piece. His gaze wandered over the strange reconstruction. Parts of his house had returned: fragments of walls, sections of floor, scattered pieces of furniture.

Yet everything looked wrong.

The wood appeared swollen and rotten. The wallpaper peeled away in long strips. Dark stains spread across the surfaces like bruises. The colors had faded into sickly shades that barely resembled the home he remembered.

Still, there was no mistaking it. Some of the furniture sat exactly where it had been when he inherited the house. Exactly where his grandmother had left it. The realization sent another chill through him.

Then his eyes drifted back toward the couch. And he froze.

A dark silhouette sat upon it.

Bear stumbled backward, barely stopping a yelp from escaping his throat.

The figure resembled the shadowy shapes he had seen in the bar.

Humanoid. Unrecognizable. Wrong.

But unlike the others, this one was incomplete. Only its legs existed.

The darkness gave shape to thighs, knees, and feet resting naturally on the floor.

Everything above the waist was missing.

No torso.

No arms.

No head.

Just empty darkness. As if something had been torn away. Or had never been there to begin with.

Bear stared. His stomach twisted. He didn't understand any of it.

The couch. The house. The creature resembling his grandmother. The memories. The darkness.

Every time he thought he understood one piece of this place, it tore it away and replaced it with something worse.

He pressed both hands against his head. For the first time since arriving here, he genuinely wondered if he was losing his mind.

"What do you want from me?!" he screamed into the void. His voice echoed through the darkness.

Then silence returned. Nothing answered.

The incomplete living room remained still. The rotting walls stood motionless. The silhouette sat quietly on the couch.

Bear's breathing slowly became louder than everything around him.

Then-

Tap.

One foot of the silhouette struck the floor.

Only once. A small movement.

Barely enough to make a sound. But enough.

Enough to tell him it had heard him.

Enough to tell him he was not alone.

And somehow, that felt worse than the darkness.

Bear couldn’t be more grateful for the silhouette to be incomplete. Now that he had confirmation it was sentient, he imagined it could actually jump at him.

Then he heard something brushing softly against the floor.

It was quiet. Almost inaudible.

Next to the couch, in the middle of the room, a folded piece of paper made its appearance. It looked insignificant, almost nonexistent, and yet it was there.

He wouldn’t have noticed it if it weren’t for the sound.

The light shining directly above it helped too.

Bear looked up. There was only darkness.

He wondered where the paper had come from. He wondered how a mysterious light could illuminate it when there wasn't a single visible source in this entire reality, or whatever plane of existence this was.

He hesitated for a moment. His eyes drifted toward the incomplete silhouette, still sitting on the couch.

Half of its body was missing, and yet it somehow looked like it was waiting for him to pick the paper up.

Bear took a few careful steps forward.

At first, he didn't recognize what was written on it.

He bent down and picked it up.

The moment he did, a sob escaped him.

Then another.

And another.

Slow. Painful. Uncontrollable.

His cries were the only sound that could be heard beyond the void.

It was an admission letter for Sara Harper.