Quod Fatum Desideriis (BrOhm)

Chapter 7

(Ohm's POV)

Bryce nodded, moving forward in his seat a little.

"So how are we going to do this?" Bryce asked, glancing at me.

"Well, I guess the easiest thing to do is have you ask me questions and I'll answer them as best as I can," I answered, my hands playing nervously with the strings on my jacket. Bryce gave a sort of laugh.

"We're going to play some form of 20 questions then?" My face fell as soon as he said that. The first time we really hung out together, just the two of us, that's what we did. Bryce seemed to notice my change in mood, because he leaned forward, a small frown on his face.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked, concern written in his voice. He was still the same old Bryce on the inside, caring more about others than himself. I nodded my head, forcing a smile back onto my lips.

"Of course, just thinking about something. Anyways, back to the matter at hand: yes, I suppose it is some form of twenty questions. Ask away," I said. Bryce seemed to think about it for a second before replying.

"Ok, how do you all know me? Clearly we all knew each other, but I can't remember why or how." At least this one would be easy enough.

"Well, Nogla and Lui are new, so you wouldn't have known them anymore than us. As for everyone else, we were students at a nearby school. You were the new kid, and the others quickly took you under their wing. I didn't really know any of them, but I ended up meeting you because we bumped into each other in the hallway- literally." I smiled with a small laugh, looking back on the memory fondly. Bryce started off as a nervous, stuttering kid that I found adorable. Bryce thought about it for a moment.

"And so Mini was my roommate?" I nodded.

"Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not quite sure how you know Luke and Marcel. Neither of them went to the school, but you never actually told us how you met them. You may want to ask them about that later."

"Ok. What did we used to do? Like, to hang out?" Bryce asked.

"Well, it took a while, but eventually we would hang out around the lake, but that was only a few times. Other than that, we would just hang around the school." Bryce looked confused for a moment.

"You mean, the lake that I found the others at?" I nodded, "why did a take a while for us to hang around the lake?" he asked, curiosity in his eyes. I bit my lip nervously.

"Oh, no reason really. We kind of just, started off around the school and then gradually went to the lake," I claimed. I didn't want to remind Bryce of his fear, especially if there was a way that he was over now. I didn't want to be the one to bring back those horrible experiences for him. Bryce narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Thankfully though he didn't elaborate on it.

"I remembered another memory today," Bryce said, standing up to move around the room. I followed him with my eyes, giving a small hum to signal for him to continue.

"It was how I got Ellie, where she came from," he said, quickly forming Ellie in his hand so he could pet her. I raised my eyebrow. Truth be told, I didn't even know how he got Ellie.

"There was someone in front of me, but I can't remember his name. He had brown hair cut close to his head and brown eyes. Do you know him?" Bryce asked, turning to look me in the eye. Er, well, cloth.

"That sounds like Adam," I said, more so to myself than Bryce, though Bryce seemed to inhale slightly at the sound of the name.

"That sounds so familiar, and yet I can't seem to remember why. Where is he? Maybe he could also help me remember something," Bryce inquired. I could feel myself tense at the mention of him, but I forced myself to hold it down.

"I don't know where he is. After what happened two years ago, Adam disappeared, and none of us could find him." I didn't realize my mistake until after Bryce turned sharply coming to a stop in front of me.

"What happened two years ago? I keep hearing all of you talk about it, and I saw how you all reacted to me showing up. It was like you saw a ghost. Why?" Bryce demanded, now inches from my face. My breathing hitched and I bit my lip nervously once more. His lips near mine were almost enough to distract me from what he asked. Almost.

I turned my head away and took a deep breath, refusing to look back at him. I was not going to do this now. Bryce couldn't even remember me, let alone any feelings he had for me, and I wasn't about to try and do anything now. It was better to just let Bryce figure things out on his own, even if that meant it didn't include me.

"I..." I almost told him, told him everything, but then I stopped myself. How would he react to the fact that he should be dead right now? That we all were around him, next to him, as we saw him die. That I was part of the reason it happened. It would scare him off I know it would, and I didn't want to risk that, not with how confused he already was.

"I don't know what happened to you. There was a...a fight kind of, that we were all involved in. After everything was said and done, we went to get you but you were gone. You've been missing ever since." There, that was partially the truth. There was enough wiggle room for him to figure the fuller extent of it, and he wouldn't know that he had died. Crisis averted. Except for the fact that Bryce didn't seem to buy it. I would just have to hope that he would believe enough of it for now.

"I have one final question." Bryce's voice startled me. I looked back over and noticed that he was now back in his own seat, Ellie put away. With a breath of relief, I fixed my position and nodded for him to continue.

"Why do you wear the cloth?" and there went my breath again. Would showing him be problematic? Could there be a chance that it would trigger another memory? I wanted to try it, because just maybe it would help, but then I thought about it again. What if seeing my eyes caused him to remember his death? Last I could recall, I was the last thing he saw before he...

I wasn't going to risk it. So I just looked at him and with a small, sad smile before getting up and moving to the door.

"That's a story for another time, Brycey," I said and opened the door.