Run XII

Rune busted into May's room.

"Get UP!" She angrily pulled May's blanket off. "We are LATE!!! AGAIN!"

May flicked her eyes open to see an angry Rune. "What?" She asked as she slowly rose up from the bed. "Late for what?" She blinked several times at Rune in confusion.

"Our graduation! We were late for our high school graduation, so you said you wanted to be there early this time! But nooo, you just had to oversleep and make everyone else late! We came to wake you up since 6 am! It's now 9! The ceremony starts in an hour! We're supposed to be leaving now, not waking up!" She sounded more and more angry as she moved her arms around.

May's eyes began to close again at the mention of graduation. She yawned and stretched her arms out. "Rune, what graduation? I haven't been in school since I graduated about three years ago."

A girl with bright red hair popped out from the door. "What are you talking about, May?"

May fully opened her eyes when she saw her and looked around. "Wait… you're alive?" She said in an almost whispery voice, but loud enough for the girls to hear her.

"Alive?" Both girls questioned.

May slowly looked around the room again. Her heart thumped. 'What the… this is my old room when we were college dorm mates!' She quickly got to her feet and looked out the window. 'That's the college gates! And it is spring?? What is going on?'

The red-haired girl and Rune watched her in confusion. Rune's puffs of anger had waned.

"What year is it?" May asked.

"2014. Why? Are you okay?" The red-haired girl answered. She looked at Rune for answers. Rune just shrugged.

"That can't be. It-it's 2018. Fall of 2018." She walked up to them and started stuttering, moving her hands frantically. "We- you, you died, Ari! Three years ago!" May's heart dropped. The two girls scowled in confusion. "I-I moved out of here with Rune and I got two jobs and Rune's friend and my friend moved in with us later. Earlier this year, I-I got chased by some dudes in black suits and, and then I got kidnapped yesterday, or the day before, and transported to, to another, another-" she paused for a moment, as if she was lost in thought, "-world..."

Rune interrupted May, "Whoa, whoa, slow down, May. What are you talking about? How did Ari die when she's still here? How did you even get kidnapped when you were in bed all night long?"

May looked at her and then at Ari in disbelief. "This isn't real." She pinched her cheeks hard but felt the burn on her cheek. "No, no, no. This isn't happening." May walked around the room again, rubbing her cheek. "I-I-I don't believe this. I mean, if I came back in time and don't have to deal with the chasing and kidnapping and Ari is alive, then great! But that means I left the magic world behind. And, and none of that happened. I-I sound like a crazy person!" She looked at her roommates. "You guys think I'm crazy don't you?"

"Uh… right now, yeah. You're actually scaring me. Saying I died and all that... What are you even talking about?" Ari shook her head and took a deep breath. "We graduate in an hour! You need to get ready!" Ari threw May the baby blue graduation gown that was on the chair.

May looked at her sadly. "Ari, you can't go to the graduation. I-I don't know why I know this." She paused, thinking hard of what to say next. "But you can't go. Trust me, you can't go." May started to tear up. She walked over to Ari and hugged her tightly. "You can't go, Ari. Someone is going to kill a lot of people today and you're one of them." Tears flowed down May's face.

Ari and Rune were flabbergasted. They didn't know what to make of this situation. May, the girl who never cries unless she was reading or watching something, is crying and acting crazy as if she just came back from the future. Ari patted May's back. "There, there, I'm here and I'm fine! And there are guards everywhere! How could I get killed?" She smiled wearily.

Rune just watched silently, unable to grasp what was happening.

May continued to cry silently for a few more moments, hugging her friend tightly. Suddenly she felt wet. May opened her eyes and looked at her hands. They were covered in blood. She pushed herself off Ari. A heavy weight fell over May. She looked at Ari's face that was now covered in blood. Several holes appeared on the baby blue graduation, and blood seeped heavily out of them, quickly turning red. Her skin slowly dried up as she spoke. "See? I'm still alive, May." Ari said in a croaked voice before blood spewed out of her mouth. Several drops splattered onto May.

May gasped and backed away from Ari. Rune was nowhere in sight. The room turned to the graduation stage. May was at her seat, center of all of the students. Screams and explosions filled the air. Heavy smoke covered the skies and burned her nostrils. She looked around, students bled here and there. Some already dead, many covering their heads or each other, screaming and crying. Some try to run away before getting shot. Families, watching their loved ones on stage, all scrambled to leave the bleachers either to get away from the scene or go into the mess to grab their loved ones out.

May felt like she was in a real dream. Bullets flew towards her and she braced herself for the pain. But nothing happened, as if time stopped. She opened her eyes and saw the bullet that was headed straight for her head going in the opposite direction. Everything was now moving very slow. More bullets came in her direction but would suddenly bounce somewhere else within a foot of her, as if a force field shielded her. She was shocked by what she saw from the bullets.

'This is why I didn't get hurt. The bullets never did hit me.' May recalled.

May looked back at the stage. 'Ari!' Most of the administration staff on stage had already fallen over, dead. Ari was still alive, covering her ears, closing her eyes, screaming at the sudden deaths, just standing there waiting to be hit. May took advantage of the slow motion around her and ran as fast as she could to the stage. Using her hands, she pushed all the bullets within reach heading towards Ari like snowballs. Within a few feet of reach, as if she triggered a bomb, time resumed to normal. The few remaining bullets just barely out of reach shot straight into Ari's body. Ari was knocked back a step before her body laid on the bloody stage. Her lifeless eyes dropping its last tears as she looked at May.

May didn't know what to do. She climbed onto the stage and swooped down to Ari's bloody body. "No, no, no, no. Ari. Ari! Wake up! You can't die! Ari, please!" Tears flowed heavily down her face. May tried her best to stop the bleeding to no avail. May looked at Ari's lifeless eyes. Pain struck her chest. She closed her eyes and clenched her chest, crying over her friend.

"If only you didn't come here, I would still be alive!" Ari's voice echoed into May's ears. She quickly opened her eyes to see that she was no longer at the graduation and Ari's body had disappeared. It was pitch black. Ari's voice repeated the words in anger. May kept turning her head in search of her but couldn't see anything in the darkness. Suddenly a white glow caught the corner of her eyes. She turned to see a ghostly hollow Ari. She didn't have any eyes and her skin was dried to her bones. Her graduation gown, dyed in dry blood, showed how she died. Her mouth opened again. "You killed me! I died because of you!"

"No, no, no Ari. Ari, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" May shouted back. She reached for Ari but Ari only continued to haunt her with the same words as she floated away from May and disappeared into the darkness. "Ari! Ari! I'm sorry! I didn't know! I didn't know!" She gave chase but couldn't ever reach her. Finally she gave up and dropped to all fours in sadness, confusion, and anger. The tears didn't stop.