Once was enough

A valley...the first sight I see as I fall asleep. I could have sworn I was in my apartment. Why am I standing in some unknown valley? Must be a dream. Nonetheless, a dream would never feel so real, it feels so lucid. I bent down to touch the grass and I could feel the lush green from it. Then suddenly as I blink my eyes. Everything became dead.

"Wh-what the hell? why is it so barren-", as I say that I looked behind me. I saw bodies. Mounts and mounts of dead bodies. All piling up to make a hill. A liquid flows underneath it. A scarlet liquid. Blood. I felt like puking, nausea was coming over me, like a wave. I got down on the floor and vomited. But nothing came out. I'm still in the dream. "This is so messed up. Why the hell am I here?!", I cried out. I was scared. Scared of not waking up, scared to witness this horrible thing right before my eyes. Then I saw someone in the valley. A woman. 

Then she started approaching me but as she did I kept on hearing a series of voices. Save. Save. Protect. Protect. Must not suffer. Must not die. Must keep on moving on. Protect her. Protect them. You must use this power. Power. Power. Power. You must save all of them, for you couldn't save her. 

"AAAAH PLEASE STOP NO, NO, NO", I screamed out these words as my mind was screaming. However, all that soon ended as I woke up. "Gogh!", I grunted. Cold sweat, that's what I woke up to. "Save them? save who? why. why. why, why!?", I was confused, dazed, unable to make what's real and what's not. "I need to calm down. I'm gonna take a walk around town to calm myself down"

I headed out. The town was bustling as usual today. It's Saturday so you can see many people walking into markets hoping to get a certain bargain, see children playing in the playgrounds, see cars filling the streets and people walking to and fro. I eventually arrived at Ava's house. I rang the doorbell to check whether if she is inside or if she went out. The door eventually opened to an old woman, her mother. "Oh hi Davie, you here to see Ava today?", asked the kind woman. "Yeah, is she not here?"

"Yes, she said she was going for a jog at the park. She is training for her race"

"Ah I see, thank you, Mrs Relish"

"Anytime dear", I politely said my goodbyes to her and headed to the park. Mulberry Park, a unique name. Nearly everyone in this town has visited this specific park at least once in their childhood. It had lots of memories. Everywhere you go, you see trees carved with different names of people in our town...but that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to check up on her.

Ever since yesterday I have been on high alert, that dream or vision I had was weird. It showed a boy and a girl walking in the street, strangely enough, it was what Ava and I were doing. It showed the girl tripping and ultimately being run over by a truck. A series of events which led up to something catastrophic...it was an effect. I remember Ava talking to me about this a long time ago...something about a butterfly...butterfly path? divergence or-

'The butterfly effect', Ava's words rang through my head as I recalled the conversation. 'what's that?' 

'You never heard of it? Hmm, let me explain it to you real quick. Imagine a flap of a butterflies wing in the west. Now, what if I tell you that this small flap can cause a cyclone in the west, that's what the butterfly effect is. Something so small and insignificant can cause something catastrophic in the future if it is not cared for', explained the all-knowing Ava.

"Hehe, I can even remember the face she pulled when she explained something like that", I muttered to myself. Oppidum is certainly a big city, you get nice locals in these areas, a good school and the food here is splendid. People even like to flock to this town just to see all the city lights at night. As I was walking aimlessly just minding my own business, I accidentally bumped into a certain someone. "Oh, sorry I wasn't looking where I was going- wait Mia?", as I looked to see who I bumped into, there was Mia. "Oh hi Danny, didn't expect to see you here, hehe", I greeted her back. "So what's up? You seem a little distressed", Mia was very concerned. "Oh it's nothing I was looking for Ava around town but I can't seem to find her, have you seen her?"

"Not really, you want me to help?"

"You don't have anywhere else to be?"

"No, I'm free, I'm just walking aimlessly around time"

"Oh if that's so then, thanks! I appreciate your help"

"I'd be glad to help!", Mia beamed a smile to show her enthusiasm. We walked around the park for a few minutes before going back to the streets of the town. We decided to cross the zebra crossing. As the traffic lights turned red for the pedestrians, I and Mia waited. "Hey, umm I haven't apologised for bumping into you and making you fall on the floor like that"

"Oh no, it's fine. I have always been a very clumsy person-"

Images flash before my eyes. Blood and more blood smears my eyelids...am I covered in blood? why is this happening? A gory image is plastered across my face. As I lifted my hands, they are covered in blood. Why couldn't I save her. ï̷̖̖͛ ̴͔̋͠ř̴̡͊̇ě̶̲̳̝p̶̨̖̀̒͋ȅ̷̲͙͊a̵̧͚̱͑̈t̶̺̂̇̕e̷̝͗͝ḑ̵̈́̚ ̴̼̾̂t̷̤̱̀͠͠ͅh̴̬̥̿̐͝ỉ̴̱͔́̄s̷̲͘ ̶̟͌o̸̟͖̿́v̷̬̐̐͐ë̵̗́͑̽r̴͚͉̱͋̈́̀ ̶̜̜̎͋ā̶͉n̵̙̲͚͆̄͠d̵̬̋͘ ̴̩̃o̸̬̞̜͐̽v̷̢̀̒́ẹ̵̢̈́̀͗r̴̥̹͇̅ ̵͉͎̀͑͠b̷͖̼͖̀u̷̘͌̏ť̸͓͔͠ ̵̥͑̅̋Ỉ̴͎͍̦̅ ̵̨̇̒c̸͙͎̘͗ọ̶̝̓ư̸̤̜ͅl̵̳̅͋͐d̶̪̓̔͐n̷̗͇̼̎'̴̜̞́͗͊ẗ̸̰́̈́͊͜ ̵͖̜͌ş̶̩̣̄a̶͕͗̐͝v̷̝̒ë̷̻ ̵̦̤̀͗͋h̸͍̑͛̇e̸̦̘̍̊͜͠r̸̟̖̈́̽

"Davis! Davis!", I snapped back to reality as I heard Mia's voice. "You okay?", concerned Mia

"Y-yeah I'm okay"

"You spaced out when we crossing, you in the middle of the zebra crossing as well. You will get run over if you don't come quickly"

"Oh, sorry", I immediately walked to the other side. "Oh hey! Davy!", I heard a distant shout. It was Ava's voice. "Oh hey Ava I was looking for you! where have you been?"

"Oh, I was just exploring the town. Got bored, why were you looking for me?"

"I was wondering if we can hang out or something", As I say this Ava's face turned red, I wonder why. "Oh-oh-oh you wanted to hang out huh? hehehe", Ava started fiddling with her hair. 'wait what? She's embarrassed, did I say something weird?!', I panicked in my head. Then after that statement, I felt a lingering menacing aura to my side. "Uhh, Mia what's with you?", I realized Mia was glaring at me and then turned away. "It's nothing", pouted Mia. "Okay then...I was also thinking of inviting you if you don't have anything else to do at this instance"

"hmm, sure I'll also hang out with you guys"

"Yay! oh wait Davy you haven't introduced me to this person yet"

"Oh I'm so sorry, Mia this is Ava and Ava this is Mia", I gestured towards both of them and they shared their greetings. "So you're the school beauty, it's nice to meet you Ava", Mia greeted. "Nice to meet you too Mia", as we finished our greetings and got to know each other we started to go walk aimlessly through town, finding something to do.

                                                                         To be continued

How many people do I have to save?

4 people

I see, but this...is...so hard. I never thought I would experience my childhood's friends death more than ţ̵̥̰̳͎͔̈́͛̆͋ͅḙ̴̢̖̝̽̎̌̏̌n̵͖͔͐̅̍͌̿͠ times. Won't I be broken after this finishes? 

No Davis, I will prevent your mental stability from shattering. Please I beg of you, don't you ever give up. 

Thanks, I will definitely s̷̖̗̉͂̈́͐̊͂̈͗̎̇̏͑̔͋̆̆̅̏͂̏̎̾́̔̂̒̕͝a̷̬̩̙͉̦̝̞̤̩̺̤̹͖̭̋̆́͊̾̋̆͝v̵̧̧̳̪͕̭̞͇̯̹̙͓͋̏̽̑̈́́̈́̈́̏͂͋̄͛̉̃̑̅̕̚͘͜͜͠͠͝͠e̶͙͉̯̣̣̹̭̹͖͎̦͕̰̟͇̠̮̽̇͗̌̕͝ͅ ̶̨̢̢͉̠̥̟̹̻̫̙͉͇̪̠̫͍͖̱͚̩͍͍̥̭͉̦́̇̽̍͂̎̔̈y̴̨̳̠̐͒̽̉͛͐̄̓́̓́̾̿̑̂̌̀̅͘͘̚͜͠o̵̧͚̹̯͕͍͖̱͓͔̞̟̩͍̥͓̹̰̥͍̘̖̰̳̮͔̹̱̍̈̏́̇́̍̈́͛̅̋̄̀̅͛̀̈́̽̓̋̾̕̚͝͝u̷̧͈͉̞̦̻͗̈̈̇̏͛̏̈́͋̈́̑̇̐͛̏̉̔̅̈́́͊̈́͘̕͘͝ , .̵̄̌͗ͅ-̴̯̳̞̐̂ ̵̱̃̔͝-̵̻̂͆.̶̺̔́̕ ̴̳̬͂-̸̖̂͆̀.̴̢̝̅̚ ̸̠͚̉́̅.̸̣̻̓̽͋-̸̹̦̅͝