Dream

Did it work? Was this a weird vision before my death? I couldn’t make out anybody else floating on the surface, at least.

Just as I had thought I was all alone, a faint cry for help reached my ears, followed by the sound of being submerged in water.

They sounded incredibly desperate, as if it had been their last ever attempt at survival. Before I could properly make out the direction the voice had come from, something held onto my legs, trying to pull me down with it.

I barely managed to keep myself above ground for long enough to hear the reemergence of the voice. It seemed she had not yet given up hope completely.

Now, I could roughly make out from which direction the voice came. Struggling to free my legs from the danger below me, the current slowly pacing up, I could only yell back at her.

“Stay there, I’ll come to you somehow. Just try to stay afloat!”

“For what? I can’t even find them around anywhere. There’s no point!” I could hear her yelping and whimpering somewhere not too far away to reach. With the constant pull of water, though, there was nothing I could do.

“I’d say that everything will be fine, but I’m sure you know that’s not true, and lying to children isn’t quite my style.” The water around me kept briefly flowing into my mouth, but I just kept talking.

“Just, please, stay there. Don’t give up yet. I’ll help you somehow. Try to stay calm, and above the water. Is there anything you can grab onto around?”

“Y… Yes there is.”

“Alright, I need you to hold on to it as hard as you can. Can you do that for me? What’s your name?”

“I’m Ai. I… I guess I can try. But what’s the point, really? There’s no one left.”

“Please, Ai…” the water flooded into my mouth again. “You… shouldn’t think about that right now. There’ll be someone for you after this, just waiting eagerly to meet you. Just hold on tightly, and don’t let go for now, that’s all you need to think about right now. You’re not alone in this, either. I’m with you.”

“But… I don’t even know you. And my parents, my friends, they’re all… down there.”

I felt the grip around my legs tightening, pulling me just a bit further down, no matter my struggle. I couldn’t speak anymore.

The irony of me of all people pleading for another person’s life a second time wasn’t lost on me, either. But that girl doesn’t know that. All she needs to know right now is that she’s not alone, just like Takako.

If I could just plead with her enough, or even just touch her, she would surely understand.

All I could do was watch as she plummeted down the endless depths around her, ultimately reaching the dozens of bodies bound to the ground below.

In a disturbing parallel, she mirrored my own action from my last dreams, embracing the bodies of who I assumed to be her parents. But there was no warmth or love to be found from that. We both knew, yet she held on tightly. Only a miniscule sensation from achieving what couldn’t actually be done.

The ultimate act of escaping one’s own reality for even a brief moment of relief.

Finally, after getting pushed down to the seabed, I could move again, even if just barely. My breath slowly ran out, yet all I could think of was saving her.

Slowly, dragging myself across the ground, I made my way over to her. If I could just help her, we’d both be fine. I knew it.

As I crawled on the ground, I could already see the last bubbles of air leaving her body. Not long now, and she was actually gone for good.

Will I drown, too? That’s what I get for imposing my moral high ground on others, I guess. I just had to go help people I saw struggle. Even though I myself am struggling, too. Why am I like this? Does this even help me in any way? I can’t leave her be like this. I know I can help, even if just barely. Any relief can help.

I didn’t have any air left in my body, but I was kind of adjusted to that by now. As my vision began blurring even more than it already was from the pressure around me, the sharp edges on the ground tearing across my forearms with every move, I pushed on regardless.

Finally, I managed to pull myself up on her parents’ legs fused to the ground, and wrestled her out of their cold grasp. There was still a chance, otherwise I was sure that I’d have died or woken up by now.

I wrapped her arms around me tightly, as we slowly ascended back to the surface. Once there, I desperately searched for anything to lay her on, barely making out a still intact roof floating with the current.

I threw her on the surface as well as I could, before getting dragged into the water again, the current trying to pull me further away.

Clinging onto the rapidly moving roof, I managed to climb onto it after struggling for a few seconds.

She wasn’t breathing, but there was still some pulse left. With no other choice, I began resuscitative measures to get her conscious.

A few minutes passed, with no real visual reaction coming from her body. I couldn’t let somebody die while I was around to save them. Furiously drumming on her chest, she suddenly let out a burst of water from her mouth. Immediately after opening her eyes, I woke up back in what used to be the forest, my right hand firmly grabbing onto hers.

Takako had laid my head on her lap for a more stable position, or something else entirely. That wasn’t important right now, though.

Ai’s eyes had opened, and a never-ending flow of tears began flowing out of them.

“Why? Can’t you just let me die? Everyone is gone. Every last one. There’s simply no point anymore. I tried, so hard. For YEARS! And now, when I finally decide to let go of it all, and leave it all behind, this shit happens? Why is it always me? The last thing I remember was the water closing in around me in the tub, and now I’m here.

I just wanted this to finally end. But you. YOU! You ruined it. The very last decision I made, and you invalidated it completely. I would kill you, but that amazing feeling I had up until now is just gone. I can’t grasp the water around me anymore.”

“You there, girl,” Ohara said, barely hanging on to life with blood flowing out all over his body.

“You’re fucking amazing. Terrific. That power is just way too much for me. I think this is it.”

With that, he just collapsed on the ground.

“Don’t bother, Laura. He decided to go out this way, so we should respect it.”

Takako, of all people, said to me, while brushing through my hair.

“Really? When he does it it’s fine?” I jumped up from her lap.