OMEGA (Under Rewrite)

Chapter 24 - What's that supposed to mean?

"Yeah, I guess you do," he murmurs.

We sit in silence for a while, neither of us seeming to know what else to say.

"Do you ever wish that you could just... start over?" Justin then asks after a few more minutes of silence.

"Start what over?" I ask, confused.

"Everything."

Glancing over at him, I notice the small crease forming between his eyebrows as he frowns slightly.

"I don't know," I sigh. "I guess but, well, life doesn't work like that, Justin. You only have one shot at it. You have to roll with the punches otherwise you'll just drown."

"I guess..." he replies, before becoming a little more light-hearted. "Hey, since when did you become so wise?"

I grin and shrug. "What're you talking about? I've always been full of wisdom."

"Sure..." he says, dragging out the word and rolling his eyes.

Another silence falls over us and I look out over the lake, watching as the water ripples under the force of the breeze.

"Come on," Justin says suddenly, climbing to his feet and holding out a hand to help me up as well.

"Where?" I ask, confused once again.

"Let's go check out the cabin," he explains. "I'm bored and we didn't go inside last time."

Shrugging, I take his hand and he swiftly pulls me to my feet. Taking a look inside the cabin sounds like a much more interesting idea that just sitting outside for another hour.

We head over towards the small wooden cabin, walking up the steps and pushing open the door. Just like everything else about this place, the inside of the cabin looks exactly how I remember it. There's a small single bed over to the right side of the room, covered by a red and black patterned blanket and pillow. The matching rug on the floor looks old and worn, but still helps make the place look cosy. The small square window to the left of the room remains uncovered as there are not curtains hung up to hide it, and the small table and chairs sit just in front of it, looking out at the trees beyond. All in all, the place doesn't look too bad. Sure, it could use some new furniture and possibly a lick of paint here and there, but I like the fact that it's pretty much the same as it was before.

"This is insane," Justin murmurs, seemingly being hit with the same sense of déjà vu as me.

"I know, right?" I reply, walking over to the bed and taking a seat as I don't trust the chairs not to break under my weight.

"Hey, do you remember that night when I decided it would be a good idea to tell you that ghost story?" he asks, coming over to sit next to me.

"You mean the one where you scared me shitless and I refused to fall asleep?" I ask with a roll of my eyes. "How the hell could I forget?"

It must've been about the sixth time coming here and it was getting dark out, but our parents still wanted to stay for a bit longer. Of course, Justin and I weren't allowed to stay up with them as it was way past both our bedtimes and so mum brought us in here and told us she'd wake us up when it was time to leave. Justin then decided to tell me this weird ghost story about a girl who'd died and was now haunting these woods looking for revenge. Of course I, being the gullible little child I was back then, believed every single word.

I refused to sleep on the outside of the bed and got Justin to swap places with me so I could have the wall side, simply because I thought she would be hiding under the bed waiting to grab me in my sleep.