There was a knock on Link's door.
"Yes?"
"I have an update on the situation."
His mom.
"Come in."
She opened the door and walked in, sitting down on the bed. He spun his chair around to face her.
"So, what is it?"
"Well, I've learned the name of the girl who died. I wanted to know if you knew her."
He nodded. "So what was her name?"
"Mipha."
........
Surely this was a different Mipha.
"What's her last name?"
"Zore."
Coincidence. Pure coincidence. Lots of people share last names.
This couldn't be true.
It couldn't.
Here was no way.
"You must have the wrong name. There's now way-"
"No. This is definitely the right name. And yes, they're sure that she's dead."
"Then this has to just be a bad dream."
She shook her head.
"No, this is real."
To prove her point, she reached over and pinched his arm. It hurt.
So this wasn't a dream.
There had to be another way to disprove this. Maybe she was lying. Yes, she had to be lying.
"I-I don't believe this." He pointed at her with a trembling hand. "You're lying, aren't you? This is just a mean joke. There's no way this is real."
"I'm not lying."
"You have to be. This can't be true."
"It's definitely true. I'm sorry, Link, but your friend is dead."
"Prove it."
"Trust me, you wouldn't want to see the pictures."
She stood up and kissed the top of his head, leaving him alone in his room.
To think that the last thing he said to her was about Zelda. He had known that Mipha liked him. So why did he have to say something that definitely upset her? He didn't even say "see you at school" or anything.
Maybe that was why she hadn't been going to school. She had probably left early, too. Why else would she be in a car with her dad at this time?
Oh, if only he hadn't said that. If only he had kept it to himself. If only he had just...
No. This wasn't his fault. It was his dad's fault.
Or... maybe... maybe the story was wrong. Maybe she wasn't actually dead.
Yeah. They had just wrongly assumed that she was dead.
She'd wake up, and his mom would come in and tell him that she was alive.
...
No, that would never happen.
He buried his face in his hands. What was going on? This was so much to process.
His dad had probably gotten arrested and Mipha was... she was dead.
How? How could this happen to him? Why would this happen to him?
He shut his eyes tight and pressed his lips together.
He couldn't believe this. It wasn't real, it couldn't be real. There was no way. It wasn't possible. This wasn't happening. It was just a dream. A nightmare. That's all it was. He was imagining all of this.
He had been having such a good time the past few days, and Mipha had probably had a terrible weekend.
If only he had said something nice to her before... before all of this.
Something that didn't have to do with Zelda.
If only.....