True or False.

Chapter 9

Suddenly, I am thrust onto my bed. A soft mattress hits my back while I literally bounce on it to stop my momentum. What the hell? Didn't I pass out on my front porch?

Funny thing is I do not remember fainting so much in my entire life, but now that is all I seem to do. Oh, and not remember half the things. But hey everything is either messed up or are super confusing and hazy.

Literal seconds pass. I blink and now I am leaning onto the wall opposite of my bed, with my bedroom destroyed. I guess I should specify, my childhood bedroom at my parents' place. But then again, in this timeline I do not remember having my own house, so do I even have one? I do not remember anything I did in this timeline. Everything is a blur. All I remember is meeting Cloe, finding out she remembers me and then the damn Vortex. The Vortex which took my Cloe from me yet again. And yet again, I was helpless. I left her there to die. But at least I remember hearing the sirens. So, she must have gotten help and is not dead. Yet I do feel a hollow. A weird numbness is there. And I feel helpless, a slave to my missing memory.

Neither can I recall, how I go to my bedroom. Nor can I remember destroying this room. I mean, it is somewhat a repeat of last lifetime. Exactly how my bedroom was destroyed, everything was displaced. And even the mirror is shattered at almost the exact same angles. How is that even possible? Why did I even do it? Last timeline, I was feeling like a murderer, a criminal who let her best friend die. This time I know I called 911, I heard the sirens. I know I should have stayed with Cloe and waited for the ambulance, but she pushed me away. Almost as if she wanted me to be far, far away. Leaving her there to die all over again. Why do I keep losing her? I just cannot.

Hanging my head low, I run my hand through my hair. Frustrated with losing Cloe, twice. Frustrated with myself over running away yet again. Frustrated with losing my memory yet again. Rather never remembering what happened. Argh! Sighing, I slowly bring my knees closer to me, resting my chin on my left knee, I gaze at the direction of my bed with tear-stained blurry eyes. All my memories with Cloe start to play in my brain. I remember all the good times, all the memories I shared with Cloe growing up. Granted they are from a different lifetime than this one, but they are very true, very real at least to me. They feel so different to me now though. Almost as if we are not the same two girls as the ones in my memory, laughing, smiling, teasing each other. No. Now we are two clueless, frustrated angry souls. And lost. Definitely lost. And this thought or realization makes me cry harder. How could I have lost sight of my best friend who helped me so much, how could I have lost myself to achieve what? What did I gain? No trophy, no certificate, nothing. Death of my best friend, holes in my memory, and apparently, I created another timeline. Only I cannot tell anyone that. Because for that I need to understand what the hell happened. What did I do? More importantly did I even do something? I must have, otherwise how am I here? How did Cloe get here though?

Voices and sound of laughter float to my ears. I rub my eyes and try to focus on what I am hearing. Again, the voices float to my ears. This time I am sure, the voices belong to my mom, dad and... no it cannot be. I do not even bother to wash my face. I am sure my eyes are bloodshot, and my face looks like I feel. A mess. Yet, I rush downstairs only to be met with a sight. An exactly similar sight to last time. Except there are no red noodles on their plates this time. Instead, there is Arroz con Gandules, my favorite dish and even Cloe's.

I come to a screeching halt at this sight. The familiarity is speaking volumes and is scaring the living daylights out of me. But the smell of the food overpowers all my other senses, and almost instantly I find myself perched on a chair beside Cloe, with a plate of my own. Cloe smirks at me and moans at the food. I roll my eyes at her behavior. Odd. Very, very odd. And confusing. But they all can wait till I finish my food. The smell itself is making my mouth water, I cannot even begin to imagine how it tastes. I missed my mom's cooking. This proves it.

No idea if we made any small talks or not during dinner. But soon, I find myself with Cloe, walking towards a house. I assume my house. Aren't we repeating the events from the last timeline? If so, then aren't we rushing? I mean I clearly remember provoking Cloe in my childhood bedroom, before she screamed, alerting my mom and then we took off. But this time, I am being pulled by Cloe, who has an extremely tight hold of my wrist. That will surely leave a bruise. Not that it matters.

Just as I predicted. This time too, we did not talk. Or maybe we did, I removed it from my memory yet again. I am just tired, to even question how is everything possible? Why can I not remember some events, yet I have perfect memory of some others. How? Just... this is becoming increasingly frustrating not able to make heads or tails of this situation.

One thing is common. Me destroying both my bedrooms. My childhood one and my adulthood one. Apparently, my inner frustrations are being portrayed on these destroyed bedrooms. I mean that is one explanation, isn't it? After all I have no recollection of destroying this room ever, not in the previous timeline and certainly not in this one.

Just like clockwork, I find myself with a sledgehammer, crushing that Thing to pieces. This time though Cloe shouts something at me. Only it is inaudible. I cannot hear what she is saying yet I am acutely aware of the fact that she is indeed saying something. Why is she not walking towards me to say it then? Why am I so hell bent on destroying stuff? And where the hell is that ticking sound of a clock coming from.

With one last frustrated almost growl, I lift the hammer and smash it onto the Thing for one last time, destroying a little, yet crucial piece in the Thing. I should have never agreed to work on it. I should have walked away when I realized it was pulling me away from Cloe, and my parents. Yet I continued to work on it. And look where it got me now. Standing on rubble, sweating, crying, and maybe even bleeding a little, panting and most importantly... waiting.

Waiting for the darkness to consume me once again.

But this time, I am not sure if it will come.

After all, once is a coincidence, twice means something is definitely wrong.

Guessing something might just be very wrong as I drop to the ground beside the sledgehammer as the darkness start to consume me.

With the last words leaving my mouth, "Oh Shit!"

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Word Count - 13432