Ride

When Mila woke up, she found herself in her bedroom. Her ears still ringing, and her heart beating out of her chest. Another terrible nightmare… Oh, wait for a second! Mila turned towards the window and locked eyes again with the ghost. Those angelic purple eyes. It’s now that Mila started to make sense of the situation. This must be some kind of time loop. I keep repeating the same morning over and over again.

Mila heard the ghost’s voice echoing through her head.

“Please listen to me, my dear”

“*Sight* Alright... Let’s get it over with”

“Let me break the news to you without any…”

Mila rudely interrupted the ghost.

“I am death I know”

The ghost looked a bit confused.

“Excuse me, my darling. I guess I must have told you all of this before”

“Just tell me what I have to do”

The ghost now looked a bit aggregated.

“Oh, darling… no wonder why you always get yourself in trouble with such a fowl mouth. It is not often that a mere human like you gets the opportunity to speak with a guardian like me. So please show some respect, my dear”

Mila rolled her eyes.

“Hurry yourself to the east-side park and grab that apple for me”

“Four hours is all you have!”

Before Mila could answer the guardian disappeared in a flash. As she disappeared, Mila could just make up the word Hopeless entering her brain. So encouraging…

Mila looked up the alarm and it read 4:36. That meant more than an hour before the first bus would arrive. I could go back into bed and catch some more sleep. Mila grabbed her blanket and closed her eyes and instantly got a flashback of her dying. She felt all the pain going through her body again.

No! no! no! I don’t want to experience that again!

Mila stood up, yawned, and rubbed her eyes. Let’s go!

She stepped into her slippers and grabbed her clip-on cassette player. She walked up to the window and pulled it open. Carefully, she stepped outside and maneuvered herself along the ride that ran alongside the side of her house. She grabbed the drain pipe and held on to it with her hands. Luckily it hadn’t rained that day so the ledge wasn’t too slippery. At the end of the ledge, Mila put her feet on the boarding fence that divided their little garden from the neighbors. She swung herself over it and climbed down on the neighbor's side. Luckily there were no lights left burning, the neighbors must all still be asleep.

Mila walked along the fence to the front of the property. There stood a brightly red bike underneath a little overhang. Without any hesitation, Mila grabbed the bike and brought it with her through the garden gate. Better have your dad buy you a lock, little brat!

She jumped up and attempted to ride the bike. She struggled to keep her balance and almost drove into a street planter. It had been a while since she last rode one. That must have been when mom and dad were still together. The residual alcohol still in her blood from her night didn’t help her out either. After some practice on the desolate suburban street, she quickly got the hang of it and picked up the pace. She’d better hurry since she had about a 40-minute bike trip ahead of her, all the way to the other side of the city. Mila rode through desolate suburban streets full of family homes just like hers. Some of which belonged to her former elementary school friends she used to play with. All those perfect tidy gardens, spec-clean driveways, and precisely sculpted hedge statues. Mila thought about her own house and sighed. Who knows what they are genuinely hiding behind their lawns?

X

“Gasp… Gasp”

Mila had been biking through the city for about half an hour. I could really use a break... She complained to herself. Her trip had now landed her in the desolate city center. At this hour, the only people still around were some drunks who missed the last bus and were forced to stay up till dawn. The full moon reflected a weird atmosphere onto the autumn city. A hue that couldn’t be easily described by using words.

A vending machine was standing next to a closed-up shop front. When Mila saw the red-neon glow of a well-known cola brand, she couldn’t help herself and decided to stop. She threw the bike against the machine’s side and walked up to the front. Mila reached for her wallet but discovered she didn’t take it with her. As Mila looked at the reflective glass on the front of the machine, she realized that she had been wearing her pajamas all this time. Suddenly Mila had a realization. What the hell am I doing here? If someone were to see me like this, they would call the cops. I look like an escapee that broke out of some mental clinic. The world is ending in a couple of hours? I am getting insane. I should head home…

When Mila turned around, she was suddenly greeted by a now-familiar pair of purple eyes.

“Mila dear, I can’t deny I am a little disappointed in you…”

Mila shrugged off the guardian and continued her walk toward the bike.

The guardian wasn’t having it and jumped in front of Mila. She put her ghostly hand on Mila’s head, and a flickering of light followed. Mila fell to her knees, and she struggled to keep herself from screaming.

“Please sit down there on that bench sweety. Let me get you something to drink”

The ghost walked up to the vending machine and magically, a can of soda rolled out.

Mila grabbed the can and sat down.

“Listen to me closely. What I just showed is you dying again tomorrow morning at exactly 8:30 AM”

The ghost took a short break while Mila was greedily drinking her soda.

“Please continue your journey to the park and follow the trail. There is no time to waste”

Even though her head was still spinning from the horrific experience the ghost shared, Mila decided there was no other option than to continue her journey. I don’t really care about what others think of me anyway. Sneaking around in the dark is kind of cool, isn’t it?

Mila jumped on the bike and got back on her course toward the park.

About ten minutes later, Mila saw the big iron park gate appearing on the horizon. She sped up her tempo and rushed herself through the street.

Exhausted, Mila arrived at the gate. She grab the gate and pushed it with both hands. No sign of movement. Of course, it would be locked at night. Mila had to find another way to get in. The park was surrounded by a tall iron fence with sharp points on top. There was no way Mila was going to climb over it. She hid the bike under some shrubbery and followed the fence work trying to find a more suitable spot to get in. After walking for a bit, Mila found a better location at the back of the park. A tree with a lot of branches was positioned next to the fence. Mila grabbed a big branch and pulled herself up on it. She carefully balanced herself onto another branch that hung over the other side of the fence. And then Mila jumped…