Refugere Mortem, Unus Annus

Chapter 2: November 14, 2020

     The audio from the phone was what alerted them to stir. Auto-playing a video right as the previous video cut to black. Unus and Annus opened their eyes, utter shock etched on their faces. Wordlessly scrambling over to the phone, the two looked to the clock on the screen. 

     12:01 a.m., November 14, 2020.

     "A-Annus? H-how is this possible? Are we-" Unus managed to say in his awe, his hands running over his chest to feel he was indeed there and feeling.

     Annus was at a loss for what had occurred. This was impossible. Them being alive right now as the clock ticked on was impossible! It wasn't supposed to be like this. This was wrong. Yes... It was wrong. Their fate was still the same. It couldn't have changed. 

     "No... It will happen as we've always known it to, Unus. This clock must just be too soon," Annus uttered.

     Unus nodded slowly, the two sitting against the tree bark and waiting, watching the phone.

     Five minutes. 

     Ten minutes. 

     Thirty minutes. 

     A whole hour passed. 1:03 a.m. on the clock. 

     And they were still here.

     "What are we to do now?" Annus breaks the silence, his voice void of anything, a hopelessness to it.

     "We can't go back... can we?" Unus asked.

     Truthfully, a life with Mark and Ethan wasn't bad. They were kind to them and took care of their needs. The dogs, Chica, Henry, Spencer and Bodhi liked them enough. Amy, Evan and the others didn't mind them. They had a place there. They had developed a somewhat manageable  lifestyle in the homes of their creators, remaining hidden from the eyes of the fans, despite little accidents occurring once in a while for them to take notice of.

     Unus knew the answer though before Annus said it, "No. They have lives with no room in it for us. We were supposed to disappear. They believe we've disappeared. As kind as they were, there's no going back there now..."

     Annus took Unus' hands in his own, gazing into his brothers eyes and saying it straightly, "We no longer exist, Unus. Not to them. We can never see them again, for their benefit."

     "So where can we go?" Unus asked.

     Annus wasn't sure. The world had no place for the likes of them. But he would find a place. A place he and Unus could be themselves. A place they'd belong for however long they had left. Truthfully, Annus felt this was a cruel joke. That they'd drop dead within any moment. But for the time being, they needed somewhere to go instead of staying here in the wilderness. 

     "Don't worry. I'll figure something out. For now, rest. We will discuss plans in..." Annus stopped.

     Unus placed his hand onto Annus' and smiled reassuringly, finishing the sentence, "In the morning."

     Annus nodded, and the two fell asleep, huddled close together in the forest with nothing but themselves and the phone, left droning on at low volume, a small but much needed confirmation that time continued on.

     The birds chirps and calls woke Annus before the morning sun even had a chance to. The phone was now dead, as they'd foolishly left it on all night. But they had needed it's eerily comforting drone of video after video. Unus and Annus' last meal had been over ten or more hours ago, and Annus was aware of his hunger, knowing Unus would be hungry as well when he woke. He took it upon himself to venture into the forest and find some food. He happened upon a berry bush. He was about to touch them when a thought occurred to him that had his hand stopping mid reach. 

     He and Unus had died many a time, coming back like it was no big deal. They knew that was so because the end of their time had not yet come. So as Annus stared at the potentially poisonous berries, he wondered. Would death finally claim them now, if given the chance? Would one mistake be what it took to end their existence? Annus didn't want to take any such risk and left the berry bush. He'd find something else, something he was certain was safe to ingest. 

     Instead, he spent much longer searching till he found eggs in a nest above him. Three little eggs and the mother away. He knew Unus wouldn't appreciate knowing he'd stolen unborn birds eggs from their mothers nest and sighed, walking away. He hoped Unus hadn't woken up yet and thought he'd been abandoned. Perhaps it was better to just return to Unus. 

     Annus trekked back to where he and Unus had rested that night and indeed, the other garbed in black was awake and anxiously pacing about.

     "Annus! There you are buddy. I thought you'd left me," Unus laughed.

     "My apologies. I'd meant to find us breakfast," Annus apologized.

     "Oh, well no need for that! Look what I found while you were away," Unus smiled and showed his pockets full of berries.

     Frightened at seeing Unus had discovered the berries, he quickly asked, "Unus! Did you eat any of those?"

     Unus grinned and said, "Of course. I ate my fill at the bushes before getting all these for you."

     Annus' worry was evident on his face and Unus reassured him, saying, "These ones aren't poison. Don't worry, I'm sure of it."

     He then handed Annus a heaping handful of the berries and said, "Eat those and then we can think of what we'll do next, kay?"

     Trusting Unus' judgement and also the fact that Unus didn't look like he'd been poisoned, Annus ate the surprisingly delicious berries, his stomach content for now. They also helped wake him up some more.

     "Unus, as much as I trust you, I want you to confer with me before you do anything like that again. I... I'm not sure, but I believe just one simple mistake can be the last step we need to dropping dead, even as little as a poisonous berry," Annus said.

     "We aren't the same as we used to be," Annus added seriously.

     "I understand. I'll be more careful next time," Unus agreed.

     With that, the two walked side by side through the forest they'd trekked deep into, trying to find the way back to civilization once more and starting again from there. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Author's Note: Chapter 2 complete! Hope you enjoyed it and as always, if you have any questions, comments, critiques, and more, leave a comment! I'm always happy to see those! Have an awesome day!