Today, Tomorrow, Everyday

| 14 | Tomorrow | 14 |

“I think... I remembered something.”

The words rang in my head over and over again. It bothered me -- just as the newest transfer student of Monteforde high. He was a boy who almost looked like Connor. The only difference was he was taller and looked far more sophisticated than Connor Brown ever could. That didn't make me come to like him in any way though.

“Have you seen the new student Mary?” Mary's good friend, Gemma, grinned. It almost looked like she could fall from swooning so much. Mary just looked at her. No words came out of her mouth. Maybe she didn't think the transferee would cause any good either. Well at least we had one thing in common.

“Mary?” Gemma called her attention when she figured her friend wasn't going to speak up anytime soon.

“Ye-yeah? Um. No. No, not yet. But I heard he's quite the charm.”

“Yeah. He is. An unlucky charm,” I said, randomly butting in. Gemma's expression transitioned. She moved a few steps behind Mary. She looked like she had just seen a ghost.

“Oh please Zachary,” she spoke a little, “you're just jealous.”

I scoffed. “I'd never be jealous at some guy who thinks he's cool in bad boy clothes. What's up with girls and bad boys anyway?”

“I honestly try to ask myself that question, but could never truly get away with it.”

I turned around to see who had spoke. It was the new student, showing off what looked like a signature grin.

“How are you? The name's Calum.” The transferee reached out his hand to me, most probably supposing I would take it, but I just looked at it. There was something in me telling me I shouldn't trust him.

“Well? Don't you know how to shake hands? Mulligans.”

Was I going crazy? I could have sworn that at the moment he had said my name, a red color flashed in his eyes. Was this a dream? What was he? Most probably, I'd think I was insane, but now that I know K there's a possibility that he too could not be human. So maybe he isn't a lost soul just like K, but a ghost is supernatural. With a ghost in my life, he must be part of the supernatural. But what could he be? And most of all, how did he know my name already? It's like he knew me from somewhere some time before. It's like... I knew him from somewhere some time before.

“Yeah. Zachary isn't that friendly,” Gemma said as if disgusted with my social behavior.

“Yeah, I can see that. But hey, Mulligans. How about we eat together later at the cafeteria? Maybe even hangout after school, yeah?”

***

“You ok?”

After a ton of incidents where she faints and loses energy, I knew I couldn't afford to just leave her alone at school where she used to live. I know she's already dead and that she couldn't ever possibly be in danger, but I can't calm my nerves down. I still want to be completely sure that she'll be a hundred percent ok and I don't know why, but really, I don't exactly mind anymore. Thinking too much just stresses me out even more.

“Yeah I am. I guess I just couldn't take the pressure of the...”

“Memories?”

K slowly turned her head towards me. She was hesitating at first, but just went on to admit it anyway. “Ye-yeah... The memories...”

I wanted to ask her what exactly those memories could be, but at the same time I didn't want her to feel bad. God knows what she must have seen.

“Hey, Zac. Can I tell you something?”

Or maybe, I didn't need to after all.

“Sure. What is it?”

“Who I was, what I've done, and where I've been. I'm not sure I want to know anymore.”

I didn't know what to say. I was shocked and confused, but I just stood there speechless. K had been begging me for almost a month to help her remember who she was. She was desperate and hopeless. She was willing to do anything and everything yet now here she was, looking down and giving up for reasons I didn't know. Could it be what she had seen?

“What did you remember K?”

“I saw a lot of things Zac, but what really stuck through was this image... Of a gun being pointed at me by a man whose face I couldn't make out, but I could hear his voice ever so clearly. He was shouting. Telling me how his life has all gone to pieces, because of me. He just kept going on and on how I was such a bitch... And how everything is my fault. Zac... What if I was such a horrible person before? What if I was meant to die? What if I wasn't supposed to be in heaven after all? What if I was meant to be this way? Everything... The truth... I feel like... I can't take any of it any longer... Oh Zac... I feel like I hate myself already.”

She broke into a fit of tears, crying loudly. From her lips, out came shouts of sadness and despair. K was truly going so much more compared to me. She had to stick through everything for a good two decades. She had to keep smiling. She had to keep optimistic. She had to keep being a shining sun just to keep herself sane. K wasn't dead, but she was still dying. She was feeling tortured. And just looking back at those times before when we had just met. I kept on pushing her away. I judged people with pride, yet I had so much of it myself. I was full of it. I was disgusted by her when in reality, I should be disgusted by myself.

I couldn't believe that K was a bad person in her past life. If I had to pick one horrid person between her and me, I'd pick me. I was the one who didn't deserve to be in this world. She was someone who deserved a second chance at living, but she still managed to save me in every single way a person can be saved. I didn't deserve any of it, but she kept on serving as my light anyway.

That; however, will all have to change. Forget about the wish and forget about everything else I had said. I don't care anymore about making my life better. K has been doing nothing, but fight for her place in heaven while trying to make me feel like I belong when she should be focusing on just herself. She has always been a friend. It's time I be one too.

Merely through impulse, I walked towards her and hugged her tightly. K doesn't deserve to be this way.

“K. You have been nothing, but a great person or ghost rather... In my life. You weren't meant to die, ok? Someone took that life from you. We need to know the whole story before we jump into conclusions, ok? So suck things up, because I think many lost souls want to go to heaven. Fight. For. Your. Place. Please.”

K sat there, stiff and not crying anymore. The hug was probably too sudden and awkward for her, but I didn't think about it too much. What was important right now was that I was being a friend for her. From now on, K and I? We will face tomorrow forever. I won't leave her alone. I won't use her. No more of that. No more.