Chapter 1:

Aiphobia

Aiphobia


This childish question puzzles me,

"Are mistakes really irreversible? Can't we do anything about it? At all?"

"Yep, this could work." as I looked towards my colleague, the bright white lights almost blinded my eyes. "You write excellent straightforward reports."

"Thanks." her mild blush might be the only colour in this room. She avoided my eyes, looking away and playing with her silver-white hair. Her eyes were as lively, warm, and liquid as the rain. My optic nerves suddenly noticed the ring she was wearing on her ring finger, bringing me back to reality.

I gazed upon my hands. I was wearing the same ring.

I smiled.

"In about a week, huh?" she giggled, looking at the big dark-matter-producing machine we made together. "Why are we here writing reports? Most engaged couples go shopping these times..."

"What can we do? We are scientists."

"But we are in our twenties! Don't you think we should enjoy our lives a bit?" she argued lightly.

"Do you want to go shopping today then?"

Her eyes glittered. "Can we? Can we?"

"We have completed our reports, and it's just eight at night. So I think we can."

"Yipee!!" she exited the lab happily, holding the door open for me. I am amazed at the contrast between the outside world and the inside laboratory. Suddenly, the office looks gloomy compared to the bright lights of the lab.

I turned off the lights. The dark-matter producer, DMP-00 stood menacingly at the center as I closed the door.

She pulled my hands like an excited child. "This is our only free time! We have to give speeches and get a medical checkup tomorrow! Hurry!"

Tomorrow came fast.

"Everything looks good! There are no side effects!" Physician Richard told us, looking at our health reviews.

"That's great." I shook his hand. "Thanks"

"Have a great day!" he wished as we walked out.

"Shall we go there? Our first meeting place?" she leaned into my view sight.

"Sure."

We were going to the 30th floor, the roof of the hospital via a lift, but I felt a weird sense of anxiety. Claustrophobia? I don't recall having it. She looked fine. Maybe it's just the weather.

The cold wind of the late autumn and early winter blew at our faces. "Never gets old."

She giggled. "I still don't believe you came here for a tiny bruise."

"I still don't believe you came here for a subtle cold."

"It wasn't an ordinary cold."

"It wasn't an ordinary cut."

We laughed. "But thats the reason we met-" she leaned on the railing, but she suddenly stopped. I looked at her eyes. It looked... afraid. The pupils were contracted, and she was showing signs of dizziness. Phobias? But none of us had them.

We went to a psychiatrist. We somehow had developed phobias.

"As the lead scientists of the DMP Project, Dr Damian and Dr Catharine, please tell us something about its progress."

"Is it true that you are taking Dr Catharine as your wife?", the reporters asked.

We both looked at each other and smiled. It was a bit embarrassing. "Yes, and both are progressing smoothly."

The meeting that we had was in the afternoon of the same day, and it stretched until nighttime. It is tiring for me to talk such long hours at a stretch. I leaned over the desk, resting my head as I looked at her while she spoke.

"I think... there might be a relationship between phobias and dark matter."

"Hm?"

"Like how Marie Curie suffered from leukaemia. They didn't know about radioactivity back then. Maybe it's the same?"

"***"

I didn't know when I fell asleep. It was unusual for me to sleep without a schedule like this. When I woke up, I found her shaking me violently. Her face was filled with worry. It was like she was almost about to cry.

I hugged her on instinct, comforting her, I didn't know why. My eyes were wet. Maybe a bad dream?

"I thought you were dead. You were so dead asleep..."

She cheered up quickly. "Imma do your one round of the lab before we leave, okay? You are tired so stay here until I arrive!"

As she left the room, I looked at my hands and body. It felt... weird. But maybe it was because of the random sleep.

I almost fell asleep again, when I heard a scream coming from the lab. Rushing there, I saw my nightmare...

She lay down on the floor face down, with a broken glass container beside her. It contained dark matter. I helplessly saw as the dark matter got absorbed into her body.

What the heck was happening...

I picked her up on my hands. Her livid eyes were gone. It was now filled with terror. Her silver hair turned black, and she screeched loudly before falling towards unconsciousness...

She fell into a coma, never waking up. It was all my fault...

I dedicated the rest of my life to studying her last thoughts and finding a relationship between dark matter and phobias. Turns out she was right. There was a relation.

Dark matter is everywhere, and the human body has a high affinity for it. The more dark matter one's body consumes, the more dangerous the phobia gets. The first level was claustrophobia, the second level was acrophobia, and the last level was... Aiphobia, the phobia of love...

Thats why she screeched when she saw me.

I got a Nobel prize for this. But I wanted one thing, for her to wake up... and I found out one way for that.

Black holes are the consumer of dark matter. If I can get her close to one, the dark matter will be absorbed by it. And I found an easy way. A little pressure to a few grams of dark matter could make one.

And I did just that, blinded by the hopes of waking her up, without thinking of the consequences...

I made a minuscule black hole and got to her bed with it. At first, it worked perfectly, and she seemed to be waking up. The hopes were high.

But the black hole went out of control, it became gigantic, eating more mass around it.

By the time she woke up, it already had consumed a lot of the surroundings. And I didn't know how to stop it.

"It cannot be stopped." was the first thing she uttered. "You must save yourself!"

She hugged me deeply as I saw her black hair return to that beautiful silver colour. I closed my eyes and hugged her back, till I felt a slight push.

She pushed me inside the black hole.

If one goes inside a black hole, one can time travel back into the past.

She was trying to save me. I could feel that she had given me the dark matter inside her body to survive inside the black hole...

She sacrificed herself for me...

I cried my eyeballs out in the abyss, awaiting my fate...

I woke up and found her shaking me violently. I was in that meeting room, and her face was filled with worry. It was like she was almost about to cry.

I hugged her on instinct. Tears came to my eyes. I did time travel back.

And that was the last time I was able to control my body. I couldn't do anything anymore. I, my future self was not the wielder of my past body, and my past body was again controlling itself.

If only I could tell him to make her stop...

I learned this thing too late. Mistakes are truly irreversible. We can't do anything about them. The only thing we can do is to move on, how hard that might be...

Aiphobia

Aiphobia


ReadKey
badge-small-bronze
Author:
MyAnimeList iconMyAnimeList icon