Missing Pages

Chapter 34: Nostalgic

There was a constant ringing to be heard. Every time I tried to move, nothing happened. I was internally panicking because my nightmare was now a reality. I was stuck in the middle of nowhere.

All of it was nothing; nothing was anything. 

I was having a mental breakdown if that was even possible. My only request was to go back to the real world, it didn't matter how or where, I just wanted to be back home.

I didn't care about my powers. I didn't care about the Internet. I didn't care about my chores. I didn't care about school work. I didn't care about utter humiliation. I didn't care anymore, I couldn't care anymore!

I just wanted to live; breathe in the polluted air we've created, and socialize with other living beings.

Why couldn't I exist just a little bit longer, knowing that I'd face death sooner or later?

Anything was better than this.

In the midst of my obvious distress I could hear a soft echo in this darkness. As it progressed, I could barely make out the sound, as it was just above a whisper.

Although I wasn't attached to a physical body, I began to panic. Had Nina come back for a final round? Was I being tormented by lonesome spirits? Was this some hallucination I was having?

"Don't give up on me now! We've got too much to lose..."

I opened my mouth to speak only to remember that I didn't have one.

'If this is what we would call an afterlife, then I don't like it!' I thought.

"Listen, sweetie. You're not dead. If we don't stop Damian and his minion then you might be, though," the voice replied.

'M-Maya? Is it really you? How can you--' my thoughts were interrupted (quite literally).

"Look. We don't have much time. You gotta use the time machine to altar the past. I know I told you it's risky, but it's our only shot at redemption."

'How do you expect me to do that?'

"You've gotta lure her away from the time machine and press this button... I've forgotten how it looked, but you should be able to find it, by process of elimination, of course."

'I'm not too keen on this idea... How much will I be risking?'

"Well, your life and many others if Damian plans to become an autocrat. Just don't get stuck into another void like this one while the machine proceeds to reset time."

'And to where will we be going?' I thought back.

"I set it to the approximate time of my death... About what you said earlier--"

'No. Now it's my turn to interrupt.
I didn't mean any of that stuff back there. I was being an emotional teenager who was too blind to realize there were more important matters than magic or popularity,' I finished.

"But it was never okay for me to leave you like that and come back expecting open arms. I was the one who got you into this mess, so the least I could do is get you out of it. I wasn't prepared to face the fact that my life had ended, and I just yearned to live for a little longer."