FULL ECLIPSE (Book #2)

𝕿𝖊𝖓

I jump. One single blink, one single second, one breath of air – that's all it took and I'm back here.

"Dean, you alright to go now?" Dad takes off one fingerless tactical glove and softly presses the back of his hand onto my sweaty forehead. "You've seemed to have cooled down a little. Time ran out faster than we thought, Son," he takes a quick glance at his watch, "down to the last hour."

"How long was I out for, Dad."

"Few minutes, 8 minutes to be exact."

8 minutes? I spent days back there. Three days to be exact. And here, it was just a few minutes. That's crazy. Back when I first jumped, the safe dimension played out normally, i.e. the sirens never went off, the lockdown never happened, etc. But now, I'm days ahead in that world. Not to mention, the actual process of me 'jumping' has gotten faster. Very fast. Easier, too.

What does all this mean? That I'm getting used to it or it's getting more dangerous? Then, as if that revelation wasn't enough, I remember the last thought I had before I jumped back here. The last person I was looking at at both times when I jumped back and forth.

Carmen Valentina.

'Let bygones be bygones', these were the same words she said back at Moonlight's Diner when we were on our way to the city from the herd. I could never forget those words, it was the first time we all laughed together in the middle of a crisis. We felt safe in a safeless world. Everyone picks up the pace again with my dad at the front as usual. I recede to the back of the line where Carmen and Amber are walking together.

"Carmen," that's all I need to say but she's already looking at me before that.

I want to ask her 'why?'. Why fucking making me go through it alone? Why watch me act like a fool in front of the whole class when she, herself, knew exactly what I was raving on about? Why just keep quiet, why just watch, why act clueless? I can't bear to look at her anymore, all I feel is betrayal. It's like I was drowning this whole time in this mess and she was refusing to lend me a hand.

I accepted her. I took her in. The countless times she would act righteous at school and even bully my sister, I still took her in. I listened to her and consoled her with all that Jace and Jensen crap. Amber was right, I shoulda just kicked her outta the group when I had the chance. All Carmen ever cared about and cares about is herself.

"Yeah, what, Dean?" my sister answers for her.

"I need to speak with Carmen alone," I tell her. "Please."

When Amber hears me say 'please', especially in the tone where I'm begging for her not to ask me why but to just obey me, she nods and leaves us alone with slight concern playing on her expression. As soon as Amber joins up with Bray and Jace who have paired up behind my dad, I speak up.

"How long?" I clench my jaw, trying immensely hard to keep my cool because god knows I'm burning.

"Dean, I-"

"And please don't fucking lie to me," I blink hard.

She sighs, regretful, "around the same time as you."

"How could you have let me think I was crazy this whole time when you, yourself, knew I wasn't?"

She tries to answer but can't seem to find the words.

"I got up in class saying all that shit.." I can't help but raise my voice a lil, "in front of everyone man..!"

She keeps quiet.

"Say something..!"

"I-I-I-I thought it was just dreams, you know? It was impossible to assume-"

"But that's the thing, Carmen, it wasn't 'impossible to assume' when you were also experiencing the exact same shit."

"I'm sorry..." her eyes water up a tad. "I really am. I just didn't know how or when to tell you. I wanted it all to just stay as dreams. Being here is like a nightmare."

"Can't fucking believe this right now," I scoff, running my hands through my brown dishevelled hair.

"I was happy there and I didn't want it to get complicated with the way you were acting-"

"'Complicated'? 'Acting'?" It just gets worse the more she speaks. "You can't be fucking serious right now? I lost Ella, my mum, I lost- Fuck, Carmen, you're delusional. I'm a kid, I needed answers. You left me alone in it all. You just watched."

"That's not true," she murmurs. "I was confused too. For a while, I thought it was all just a coincidence the stuff you were saying in my dreams about some other dimension."

"One big fucking coincidence, don't you think?"

"...But the dreams, they kept continuing, like on a timeline," she explains. "And then your fight with Ella today, that's when I knew for sure, or at least, wasn't in denial anymore."

I shake my head, how could she be this dumb? Her reasoning seems futile and subpar.

"I can see how much you loved/love her..." she brings up and it's like she knows the soft spot to calm me down by changing the subject to Ella. "First, you think the worst is a broken heart, what's actually going to break you is the second part."

"The 'second part'?"

"Seeing them out with someone else," she glances over at Jace and Amber and I catch her doing it but she doesn't realise. "Anyways, I get.. I get these.." she holds her forehead.

"Headaches?" I finish off for her.

"Well, used to, they've eased up in intensity now, but how'd you..?"

"'Cause I get them too, right before I jump. Mine's also eased up."

"That's what you call it?" she questions. "'Jump'?"

"Well, that is what happens, isn't it?"

"True," she nods like 'duh'. "When was your first jump?"

"..Right when we all left school during the lockdown, when I saw.. saw my mum."

"Sorry, Dean."

"But it just doesn't make sense," I frown. "How come I never saw you pass out or anything like that?"

"Did you ever care about me?"

"What?"

"I mean, if you did, you'd've noticed how I receded from the group at times, how I kept to myself... When you 'blacked out', all eyes were on you. Sure, I passed out at different times from you but I wasn't that person. I wasn't 'Dean', I was just me – Carmen."

I don't know if she's guilt tri-

"Not tryna guilt trip you," she answers my thoughts, "but yeah, that night when you, you know, kissed me, I also couldn't sleep, couldn't 'jump', I was going to tell you right then but you, again, didn't see me but Ella."

"I'm sorry."

So every time she needed us, we just didn't see her. And as for me, I saw someone else. At least now I've found another one like me. Can we really get to the bottom of this together now?