𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 | 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐎𝐧𝐞 | 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚂𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 | 𝙸𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚎𝚡𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚜

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POV Five Hargreeves

Eight set two cups of steaming coffee on the table in the living room. Still in a towel, with an ice pack to her nose, she sat down on the couch across from me. I grabbed the mug in both hands, took a sip of coffee, and started talking.

"It was night when I slipped out of the house. There weren't too many people outside, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to test myself."

I swallowed my saliva. The lie that almost naturally flowed out of my mouth sounded more believable than the actual version of events. But I couldn't tell her the truth. She wasn't ready for it.

Eight nodded, signaling me to continue.

"When I made my first jump, I timed myself to the summer of 2002. I was too excited to stop so I made another jump. For literally a few seconds I was admiring the winter that was just about to come."

I stopped. The girl placed her hand on my arm. I lasted a full four seconds before gently pulling her hand off.

"I always knew the number three was unlucky. Just look at Allison" I chuckled but immediately got serious. "In the calculations, I always figured out that the third or fourth jump would end up exhausting me so much that I wouldn't be able to jump again. Nevertheless, I took a risk."

(Y/N) sighed.

"You always liked to take risks," she murmured.

"That's true," I replied and continued, "I got to the future 17 years away from then. It was April 1st, 2019. What I saw was like a nightmare come true. Everything in sight was burnt, smashed, and incinerated. There were bodies on the ground and only the foundations of buildings remained. In some places they were still burning. And the worst was what I saw when I got home."

Her face contorted in horror. With a quivering lip, she asked the one hard question that I was so reluctant to give her an answer to.

"W—were we dead?"

I looked down at my hand clutching the cup.

"Yes. All of you."

Eight dropped her cup. The fragile dish shattered into several pieces, and the rest of the coffee spilled onto the carpet. The girl, however, did not pay any attention to it.

"H—How did you manage to survive there...?"

"I survived on scraps. Canned food, cockroaches, anything I could find."

(Y/N)'s lips pressed into a thin line. I saw compassion mixed with disgust in her eyes. A vision of her look flashed through my mind if she knew what I'd done to her.

"F—five... I'm so sorry," she stammered, her eyes glazed over.

"You do everything it takes to survive. Or you die."

(Y/N)'s look was blank and her face expressionless. I wanted to say something, to reassure her that I wouldn't disappear again. Apologize to her for what I did.

But there was nothing I could do.

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