Libitina

Self Encounter

The clerk that handed me the knife stopped moving, as well as Libitina and everyone else in the mall. The mall was filled with complete silence.

The silence was soon broken by some quick but somewhat distant footsteps. Like someone was running... but who? No seemed to be able to move at the moment, so who could possibly be emitting the noise?

I soon saw him... me. He stopped and stood a couple of feet away from me with my butterfly knife in his hand. He simply stared at me as soon as he saw me. His stare soon started to change, it looked like he was ready to attack me.

I took a glimpse at the pearl white switchblade in my hand. It suddenly glitched and turned into an exact replica of my butterfly knife. The only thing separating our appearances now was our clothing. He had black long sleeve with khakis and I had a blue button up with jeans.

"What are you doing," he asked him.

"I'm just here to shop. What are you doing."

"You shouldn't be here. You shouldn't even exist."

"See, no. I belong here. You don't even exist, you're just part of my imagi-"

I suddenly felt a part of my head ache harshly. It served as painful reminder that helped me remember that I can't tell these people that they don't exist.

"Agh, fuck!" I grabbed my hand on my head due to the pain.

He simply gave me a confused look as I somewhat lost balance. The pain quickly went away, allowing me to retain my balance again. He flinched all of a sudden as I did so and took a step back.

"What are you doing," he asked.

"It's none of your concern. I just came to a realization... and part of it has to do with you."

"What?"

I got into a fighting position.

"You don't belong here. There can't be two of us. I need to get rid of you."

He got into a fighting position of his own, which was similar to mine.

"I belong here. Now keep your distance or I'll be forced to fight back."

"Good luck with that."

I immediately charged at him and got ready to give slash at him, but he suddenly disappeared along with my knife.

"Daniel," Suddenly shouted the familiar voice of Ms. Jasmine.

"What," I asked in a somewhat concerned and annoyed tone.

"You were supposed to stop being hostile."

"I know, but I need to defend myself. He would've attacked me first if I hadn't reacted!"

I mean, I would know...

She sighed. "I saw that, but you need to find alternative solutions. And you need to be careful when handling weapons. I fear it may be a trigger for the hostile parts of your memory."

"Alright whatever, I'll stay away from them. But if I get put in danger, I will fight."

"I'll do what I can to keep you from it. Just try not to bring danger upon yourself."

"Yeah I got it."

"Alright, then let me see if I can fix this. Your heart rate didn't raise very much, so there shouldn't be too many issues."

I heard some things clicking from Jasmine's side before seeing some of the people in the mall reappear. It was soon filled with the people it had a couple of minutes ago.

I suddenly felt myself standing at the stand. It seemed to happen as quick as a blink. The man was holding the switchblade in front of me, waiting for me to take it. I shook my head.

"On second thought, I don't really think I want it... but thanks."

"Aww come on, you sure?" He closed the blade and opened it again. "It's a very well built knife, and the opening mechanism is just lovely."

"It's fine. I already have one just like it at home."

"Then would you maybe want something bigger? Take a look at these."

He showed me the glass container filled with various knives of various sizes. Most of them were longer than a foot and they were all bigger than the switchblade he showed me.

"I ain't interested. Thanks."

"Alright sir, well have a good day then."

I walked away from the stand with Libitina. We just continued to walk through the mall for a bit before heading back to my car. Libitina didn't seem to be interested in any of the other stores... even though Yuri liked the clothing of a certain store.

I guess Libitina was somewhat of her own person I guess.

I took Libitina and I back home. It wasn't nighttime yet, so the day was still good. Maybe I could relax at home for a bit before doing something. Maybe watch a movie or something...

I mean, that's what I was supposed to do, right? Spend time with Libitina.

When we got home, I sat on the couch and Libitina sat next to me. I grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned on the TV. An episode of My Name is Earl was playing.

Eh, this is better than a movie anyway.

Libitina just watched the show with me. I was pretty sure she didn't really understand it, but she seemed to enjoy it nonetheless.

I suddenly saw the show freeze. I rolled my eyes as I knew I was gonna talk to Jasmine again.

As soon as I heard the voice however, I was surprised to hear McKinley's voice instead of Jasmine's.

"Thirty Six," he said.

"Yeah...?"

"How are you?"

"I'm fine I guess."

"Good, good. Now, I'd like to inform you that Ms. Jasmine will no longer be supervising you."

"What? Why?"

"I feel she has different intentions. Ones that could be harmful to you. I cannot talk about it now as I must be going. Farewell, Thirty Six."

"Wait, hold on a sec..."

I suddenly saw the TV screen moving again, telling me that he left already. I was a little surprised to hear him say that Jasmine had harmful intentions. He was the one who tried to keep me hostile, and according to Jasmine, that's harmful.

Who am I supposed to trust?

Good thing I got myself.