True or False.

Chapter 7

"You do remember me?" I ask my so called once best friend.

The sky now has a pinkish slash purplish hue to it, reminding me the day is coming to an end. Sunset has already happened, evident from the little back porch light dimly lit at a slight distance from us. Wait a second, we are at my parents' backyard. Why? How?

I mean why did they let a stranger in, much less walk to their backyard, talk to their daughter with the doors closed. But as always, I forgot the little things. The trivial details, as I refer to them now. I mean last, I recall, I fainted while kissing my now boyfriend and previous bully. And now I am here, talking or confronting Cloe, in my backyard. What is going on? Should I even continue to question it anymore?

The sound of a menacing laughter cuts through my train of thoughts. "You didn't think I would forget, did you?" I stood there, staring at her. Just blinking.

I did think she forgot. In fact, I thought she was a different person. I mean this is a redo of my life, so then why the hell would she remember her previous life. But this laughter, this evil sound triggered a memory in my brain. A memory, which is a little hazy, but I can still recall Cloe telling me that she will see that I get punished. The promise she made that she would make me suffer. But I also recall she had no intention of handing me over to the police. Then again, how could she? There was no crime. Not anymore. I mean she was alive, standing in front of me, while spewing out death threats, like an evil maniac and not at all like my best friend. I do recall her saying something like she will never forget, this. My betrayal and apparently that I 'tried' to kill her. I am putting that in quote because I am a little confused on the concept of death now. You see I saw her die in my previous lifetime, but then she was standing in front of me, threatening to make my life a living hell. And then everything is blurry. And now I am here getting a redo of my life, but Cloe is here as well, and apparently, she remembers. So, everything is confusing. It is big mess. Yes, that's exactly what it is. A mess.

"Oh, you poor soul. You actually thought I would forget you killing me? Wow. The ego you have." Cloe's sudden words bring me back to the reality where she is again standing in front of me and threatening me. Wow. The similarity between these scenarios is making my head spin.

"I mean, you didn't actually kill me, but you wanted to. You had every intention to. And then you even threatened to kill me when you realized you failed the first time." Cloe laughs yet again. I am still blinking at her. "Oh, look at you. With your big glasses, and goofy eyes, you are not fooling anyone dear. I know how evil you actually are. You are not the innocent; nerdy girl everyone thinks you are. No, you are a murderer, who literally changed time to get away with it. You didn't think you brought me with you, did you? Or did you imagine that I would forget everything and let you get away with it?" Cloe scoffs. She looks around, clicking her tongue to the roof of her mouth. I am busy noticing every little thing she is doing because I still cannot wrap my head around, as to what the hell is this? "Say, something you creep. Or are you busy plotting to kill me again?"

"Neither. I am...I have no idea what this is?"

"Oh, but you do, Alison. After all you brought us here. You created this. You did this. It's because of you everything is happening. It's your fault."

"But I thought this was my way to fix it. If you and I never met, you wouldn't have been there that night and you wouldn't have 'died'."

"Oh Ali. Ali. Ali. If only it was that simple."

"What do you mean?" I ask, folding my hands over my chest.

"You see. I didn't just die that night. You killed me. But you seem to omit out that little detail."

"But you jumped to save me? I didn't kill you." I am starting to shake for some reason.

"No. You pushed me. When you saw that it was about to fail, you pushed me in front and you yourself dove out of its way. Thereby killing me. And then you literally left me there, bleeding on the ground. So, yes, you killed me."

"But...but...but you dove. I...I... didn't. I didn't push you. You died. You laid there... all lifeless. You bled out."

"Alison, Alison. My dear sweet murderer Alison. When will you realize you killed your best friend? You killed me."

"But then how did you come back?"

"That is a mystery, isn't it? One for you to find out. Tick tock."

"What?"

"The clock's ticking, Ali." Cloe replies rolling her eyes.

My shaking intensifies and soon everything starts to shake. The whole scenery, the house, the land, everything. Only Cloe's menacing laughter rings in the air. There is a sudden gust of wind and now everything is blowing, rushing towards what seems to be a tornado, which has formed out of nowhere. But it is sucking everything in.

One hand suddenly grips my wrist. I look at the violet-colored eyes, and lips curled inward almost in a snarl. "You are not getting away that easily. Not this time." What? What does she mean by this?

Before I could conjure, what she means, we both start to lift off the ground, same as my parents' house and we are all moving towards the whirlwind or tornado that sprouted out of nowhere in my parents' backyard. Funny how I am awake this time, instead of fainting as usual.

Something tells me, things will not be the same when I wake up from this. Even if my eyes are open this time, I do not really feel they are actually open. I hear a faint tick tock of a clock somewhere in the background just before I get sucked into the vortex, holding onto Cloe as tightly as possible. 

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Word Count - 9733