Maybe they don't (die at the end)

Part 1

September 5th, 2017

Mateo Torrez

8:41 p.m.

I wake up feeling invincible. I don't check the time because I don't want anything to shatter my survivor spirit. In my head, I'm already in another day. I have beat Death-Cast's prediction, the first person in history to do so.

I want to get up, do something nice for Rufus. I kiss his forehead and start looking for my glasses, but they're nowhere to be found. Exhaustion hits me, the weight of the last day and it's as if my body needs more sleep to take everything in properly. I flop down next to Rufus again and my body sinks comfortably into the mattress while the pleasant warmth of the body next to me surrounds my own. I sink back into Rufus' arms and feel my heavy eyes shutting. I decide not to leave our little island, just like I promised.

September 6th, 2017

Rufus Emeterio

3:28 a.m.

Death Cast does not call Rufus Emeterio tonight because he was supposed to die yesterday.

I wake up feeling exhausted. My eyelids are heavy and almost like I shouldn't open them, like I'm not supposed to. I rub my eyes and slowly open them up. Mateo's body lays peacefully in my arms, and I can't help but run my fingers through his hair softly, trying not to wake him up but I can't resist the urge of touching his hair. After all, It's all going to be the last time I get to do this. The last time. Wait. We aren't dead, are we? Did we live? Yo, Did we beat Death-Cast?

I sit up abruptly and look around the room. Doesn't look like the afterlife at all. Also, why would two totally healthy guys just die in their sleep. This doesn't make sense. Maybe it's not midnight yet, maybe someone's gonna shoot through the window or blow this apartment up. Maybe Mateo's already- No, it can't be. I hold my breath as my gaze quickly shifts to his relaxed body and- Oh, thank god, he's breathing. His chest is slowly rising up and down. So what if we actually did it? Nah, it wouldn't make sense.

Honestly, I don't want to think about that crap at all today anymore. If I die, so be it, I don't care. I've spent this whole day worrying about it that I just don't want to waste these last moments just waiting. I look around the room one more time when my eyes land on the phone on the bedside table. I've got my hopes up already, should I.. Should I even face the disappointment of finding out that the day isn't over yet? My thoughts ponder for a moment. Fuck it, I'm just gonna look. I pick up the phone and press the on button.

The bright light hurts my eyes and I can't really read the clock because of my squinting. When I look again, my breath hitches and I legit feel like my heart just stopped. The clock reads 3:34 am. This has got to be some bullshit, maybe the clocks got changed or- or maybe my Phone just stopped working or some shit. But no, 3:34 am, September 6th, it reads clearly and as I go to open up the phone, my Instagram opens. The little activity icon is overflowing and as I press on it, I see hundreds of comments left by the Plutos, remembering me and leaving sweet words. I don't know what this is.

A sick joke?

Maybe this is the afterlife. Death-Cast has never been wrong, this- it can't be real. I close Instagram and open my messages, also filled with multiple messages from Aimee, Tagoe and Malcolm. I look at the clock again, maybe I just read it wrong.

But no, 3:35 now. I feel this overwhelming heat go through my body, but my hands feel terribly cold. I sit up properly now and look in Mateo's direction again. If this is real, I have to wake him up. Right now.