Days 132-147: Leo

When I woke up the next morning, there was a note on the nightstand. I called out for Ava, hoping last night was just a bad dream—but it wasn’t. I opened the note. It read:

Dear Leo,

I’m sorry I have to do this but I think it’ll be best for us to spend time apart. I know this might hurt at first but I hope you’re able to stop forcing yourself to kill. Especially now that I’m gone. Please go out and have fun. Don’t just wait on me. I won’t be gone forever so please, let’s meet back here in 2 months.

Love Ava

But our bet…

I didn’t know what to do after reading the letter so I just laid in bed. I laid there all day, even for the next couple of days I just rotted in my bed. Hoping that she would come back sooner than the note said. But as I wanted day after day, no one showed up. One day, I woke up to a shadow leaning over me. My body was too weak to move, and my vision blurred at the edges. For a moment, I thought I was dreaming—or dying.

“Can’t believe you were the one giving advice on how to live not too long ago…”

Ava? My heart jumped, but my eyes couldn’t focus. I blinked, once, twice. The voice wasn’t right. I struggled to sit up. My arms shook under my weight. As the blur sharpened, I realized—it wasn’t Ava. But she looked familiar.

Was it someone I’d shot? Someone out for revenge?

I didn’t care anymore. I collapsed back into the bed, eyes closed.

“Here, eat this," the voice said. “You look like you’re about to die at any moment.”

Not here to kill me. That’s... surprising.

I ate what that person was feeding me. They were feeding me soup, it tasted similar to the one Ava was feeding me when I was sick. As my eyes focused on the person I could kind of see their face.

“I’m not normally this charitable, you know.”

She looks so familiar. Where have I seen her before?

“You—You’re that Walmart girl. The one that I found crying.”

“Geez that’s how you remember me?”

“Well that’s the only memory I have of you.”

“I guess that’s true. Anyways, what're you doing here?”

“Oh, me? My girlfriend just left me and said she would be back in two months…”

“No wonder you looked miserable,” she joked.

“Ha ha very funny,” I said with my tone flat, “Why are you helping me?”

“Oh well I owe you, that’s all.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know—after we talked, I quit that Walmart and decided to live a more fulfilling life. And believe it or not, the very next day, that Walmart was attacked by a whole group of people.”

“You don’t have to owe me for that. It was just a lucky coincidence.”

“Maybe, but I’m alive now. Living my life to the fullest, all because of the words of some old guy I met while working.”

“Hold up, I’m not that old.”

“If you’re older than me then you’re old.”

I couldn’t argue back with her. Talking to her reminded me of Ava, I just hope these two months can pass by quickly.

“Oh yeah, if it’s not too personal for me to ask, why did she leave you?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Just curious, that’s all…”

“Well it's just that—” a flash of blood. Faces. Eyes that didn’t close. My chest tightened. My stomach turned. I rolled to the side and vomited.

For a moment, there was silence. I thought she’d left. Then: “Gross… So it’s because of that?”

I wiped my mouth, still shaking. “Still making jokes huh?” I said while coughing.

She handed me a water bottle, her face unreadable. “Gotta keep the mood light. You looked like death.” She grabbed a water bottle from her backpack and handed it to me. “Here, this should help.”

“Thanks…” I took a few sips, maybe a little too quickly so I started coughing again.

“Easy there, don’t want you throwing up again. It’s kind of gross, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“So this was the reason? You throw up all the time?”

“Well kind of.”

“Wow, I didn’t expect to be right.”

I shot her a look, “Just read the note that’s on the table.”

After she read the note she sighed then said, “So you’re a murderer.”

“I guess so,” I couldn’t really argue against that but it felt shameful admitting it.

“In the world we live in today, I guess killing isn’t as bad as it used to be. So that was it? You’d killed too many people?”

“Well it’s deeper than that.”

“Give me the short version, please. I’m not in the mood for a sob story.”

My eyes twitch at her for a moment.

Is she serious right now? This must be the feeling Ava felt when I asked her out at the cafe.

“If you wanted a short version then here: I can’t kill people first because of bad side effects. But then when I started to date Ava I killed people for us. Maybe too many which caused a lot of bad side effects. She recognized this and told me to stop. I didn’t. She left. And how we’re here.”

“Nice recap. So where did she run off to?”

“I don’t know. The note just said to meet back here in two months.”

“You know, you probably weren’t going to make it right?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Hm, you don’t seem sad about dying…”

“Well I just thought that she was going to come back after a few days. So I waited. But I couldn’t find the strength to do anything while I waited.”

“Dude, that’s kind of sad.”

“Yeah I know. She would be worried sick about me if she saw me in a state like this.”

“You do know that the note told you not to wait on her right…”

“Yeah but it felt unreal when I read the note. So I wanted to wait just in case I was dreaming or something like that.”

“That’s dumb…”

“You don’t have to be so harsh about it.”

“Yeah sorry. But it’s hard to believe you were the guy who told me to live my life when you’re here just rotting. Basically waiting to die.”

“Yeah…”

She stood up and said, “How about this, you come with me? The note told you to go out and not wait on her right? So let's go out and have some fun.”

“Why do you want to help me out though?”

“Because you helped me out before. And wandering around by myself has gotten a bit lonely. Also, my car ran out of gas.”

“That makes more sense…”

“And I do want to help out. Purely out of the kindness of my heart.”

I squint my eyes while staring at her.

“So what do you say? Want to tag along?”

I let out a small sigh and stared at the note on the table.

“Sure, I guess.”

“You guess? Sound a little more excited.”

“I’m totally like so ready for this,” I said in a flat tone.

“Better I guess. Oh by the way, I never got your name.”

“It’s Leo. And yours?”

“I’m May. Nice to meet you Leo.” She said with her hand out. She quickly pulls it back though, “Actually never mind don’t touch me. I don’t want you to throw up your hands on mine.”

“Very funny…”

“Hurry up and get ready. I have a spot in mind to go. Time doesn’t wait on nobody so get your ass up.”

“Give me a few more hours.”

“You know, if Ava sees you in this miserable state she might just end up leaving you.”

I immediately get up, “Alright I’ll get ready.”

“That’s what I like to hear.”

I quickly washed up and got a change of clothes. I told her to drop off all her stuff in the van and we got on the road. She told me that she was planning on going to this hiking spot with a few waterfalls. Only problem is that it was a far drive. Might take us a few days to get there but I didn’t want to rot in the motel anymore.

“Alright let’s go then!”

On the drive, May and I caught up on everything about each other. She told me she used to travel with a couple of friends, but when it came time to leave the city, they got scared. She left all by herself. She tried to act like it didn’t bother her, cracking jokes even as she told the story. That’s kind of her thing—deflecting with sarcasm, usually at my expense. Still, there’s something steady about her. I tried to focus on our conversations, but my mind kept drifting back to Ava. I was worried. She left the van with me, most of the supplies too. I knew she could take care of herself—she’s strong—but still... I couldn’t stop thinking about where she might be, or what she might be facing out there, alone.