Dead Twin

9

Thinking about the Other and its Devils began to stress me out to the point where sleeping was merely a thought. To train myself to be brave -- to stop being afraid -- was a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. Despite having seen and experienced an excessive amount of paranormal... events, I was still afraid; too scared to sleep, but just as scared to stay awake. The only coping mechanism I had seemed to adopt ever since my first 'vision' was concealing myself under the covers of my bed, hoping I'd be shielded from reality.

But that didn't stop anything. I had thought that if I couldn't see, then there would be nothing to be afraid of. But I realized that being unable to see it just made me unguided. My sight would be unguided. Unarmed. The two ingredients that were perfect for an unexpected attack. To be unguided and unarmed by willingly blinding yourself from reality was more cowardly than brave.

With apprehension eating away at my mind, I continued to "shield" myself under the covers from the entities. Vengeful entities. Who, because of me, were out to get revenge and fulfil their dead dream of resurrecting, but only through the body of another.

And my mind too -- the never-ending cascade of negative thoughts that streamed through my mind like an overflowing stream, causing only damage to the surrounding environment.

But I shouldn't have been afraid. The same reason that I thought saved me from the entity in the bathroom should have been the same reason to save me then: I was alive, and they were not.

Therefore, that made me stronger than they are. I was capable of doing whatever they did. But more than them. Because I was alive. And they were not. The competence of them killing me in my sleep was the same as someone who alive killing me in my sleep. The capability of them walking through walls to get easier access was the same as someone who was alive. They were not superior because they were dead. But being alive did not make me superior either. It didn't really make a difference between the only difference: we were alive and they were not.

Those seven words were looped in my head like a ring. It was all that kept me calm, and finally let me sleep.

* * *

Mom walked into my room to wake me up, but I mumbled and told her that I didn't want to go to school. The only thing that occupied my mind was to stop everything. To stop it from beginning. To stop them from taking over this world because they had made a mess of theirs. To stop it from ending.

School would only just get in the way, when I had needed the whole day to plan: how to get into the Other, how to put the Devils to rest, watch the Other fall apart, watch the trapped entities rest in peace -- watch my twin rest in peace -- then figure out how to get back into the normal world.

Explaining how useless it would have been to go to school at a time like this to my mother didn't work since she was already distressed over the situation so she had forced me to go.

* * *

From the bus ride to the homeroom, I had noticed Yuki's absence. My mind was swirling with worry and questions began to become my only thoughts. Where was he?

After sending frantic texts and receiving none in return, my best option concluded to be to skip school and go to his house. Normally, people would be infuriated if their date didn't text them back afterwards, or even show up to school the next day. However, in mind of my situation, there was no room for anger, only fear and anxiety.

Since I didn't know the way to his house, I had to up my game and face the "boss level".

"Hey, Yuno!" I exclaimed cheerfully, tapping her on her shoulder.

She turns around slowly and looks at me up and down.

"What the hell do you want?" She replied, her voice low and brimmed with sarcasm.