Everyday - By David Levithan (My Extra Chapter)

Day 6034

I wake up two hours away, in the body of a girl named Katie. Katie doesn’t know it, but today she’s going far away from here. It will be a total disruption to her routine, a complete twist in the way her life is supposed to go. But she has the luxury of time to smooth it out. Over the course of her life, this day will be a slight, barely noticeable aberration. But for me, it is the change of the tide, for me, it is the start of a present that has both a past and a future. For the first time in my life, I run.

After 10 minutes of sprinting to the train station. I’m puffing so much, I access Katie’s memories to find out that she isn’t the athletic type, the last time she had to run like this was when she was 12 during her grade six cross country.

I have made it two minutes early before the next train, I quickly gulp down a bottle of water from the café. I hop onto the train and sit down in an area that isn’t crowded. Today I am going to see the Reverend and sort this out, once and for all. I need answers and I want to find out exactly how to stay in the same body for longer than a day. I look out the window, distracted from my constant thinking. I realise I’m in Rhiannon’s town. I quickly turn my head away from the window, I feel sick. I miss her so much, but I try to push these thoughts aside. I have to keep my mind focused. I don’t know if the Reverend has any evil tricks up his sleeve, I know he is expecting me.

I arrive about a kilometre away from the church where the Reverend will be and I try my best to get there as quickly as possible. When I reach the church, everything seems different. The coloured windows seem dimmer, the door looks worn out and the bricks are growing an ugly coloured moss. When I turn the door handle and step inside, I almost pass out, the smell is so bad, I can barely stand it. The light isn’t on but I can sense that the Reverend is in here. I look around, chairs have been thrown around, tables are broken and the whole place is covered in thick dust. This is disgusting, I think to myself. What could’ve possibly happened? I’m very frightened at this moment, but I force myself to keep walking. Every step I make, I’m cautious that I barely make any sound. It’s not very helpful though, and the floorboards underneath my feet are creaking. I reach the back of the church to find the Reverend facing out the window on a chair, his white hair is just showing, with the help of the light coming through the stained glass windows.

“Hello. I knew you were going to be here today, I could just feel it.” The Reverend spins around on the chair, his creepy eyes looking straight into mine.

“Hi.” That’s all that I can say, I find his stare too intense, I feel really intimidated.

Something about the Reverend looked older and weaker, which only made him look scarier.

“So let me guess, you came to me to find out how you can stay in the same body, right? The answer is simple, my friend.”

I gulped and looked down at my feet, I felt like I was going to faint any minute, “Y-yes, I want to know.”

The Reverend stood up from the chair and relied on an old walking stick to walk over to me. I don’t remember him having a walking stick last time we met. He slowly took one, fragile step at a time.

 I backed up a bit when he got too close, causing him to walk faster. Out of nowhere, he pushed me into the wall holding the cane against my body so I couldn’t move, I tried to fight it, but Katie wasn’t that strong.

The Reverend pulled out a knife and held it to my neck. I scream louder than I have ever screamed in my life.

“Time is running out you know,” The Reverend said in a raspy singsong voice.