————— 20 days remaining —————Thursday, January 11th, 3:27 pm
Status 1: stage 5 - Watermelon
Status 2: stage 5 - Azure
~~~
-Zak's POV-
The messages wouldn't stop coming. Bad would send me one every hour, and every time I'd feel worse. The messages would get progressively worse too, each message getting more and more desperate.
'Skeppy are you ok?' Progressed to 'Please call me, I'm so worried...' In a matter of about 5 messages.
That's only the start of the hourly messages, after he realised spamming wasn't helping. He sent messages like crazy for the first few hours, trying to call me maybe 30 times.
My heart would flare with pain each time my teamspeak would go off. I knew I shouldn't look, but I couldn't help myself.
Eventually I payed the price. I passed out completely after a wave of pain so sharp I couldn't stay conscious. Then proceeded to cry for an hour when I woke up a few minutes later.
I miss Bad. I miss Darryl.
Darryl. He sounded so mad at me yesterday. Understandably, I wore his hoodie out in front of his friends, and ex-roommate!
What was I thinking?!
I hate to admit I'm still wearing that hoodie now. It still vaguely smells of Darryl, which makes it all the more comforting.
The worst part is that I wasn't thinking. It didn't cross my mind once that it'd be weird. It just felt...
Normal.
Like I was meant to. It's crazy. Completely crazy. We're not a thing, we're not together. He doesn't even like me, and I shouldn't like him.
Shouldn't, but I do.
That's probably why the spirit thing is so mad with me. Hanahaki doesn't work like that. Their words keep returning to my thoughts. The told me I fucked up the system, and that they made the books.
Apparently that apparition made the notebooks to help people. Something along the lines of helping them to confess their love for one another. They said they've been doing it for centuries, and I'm the one to mess it up.
The first one to mess it up. That means there's been more before me. Other people have owned the notebooks, had their names on the front.
What happened to them?
Sadly, I think I can answer that question. They're dead. Either because they passed away after confessing their love, or from not confessing it in the first place.
So there's probably two ways I get rid of the notebooks. Either I fail and die, and the notebook gets passed on to the next victim, or I confess my love, and the notebook disappears.
They're both guesses, as of course, I don't know that for sure. There's no evidence, nobody I can ask to confirm it. For all I know, everyone has failed.
That's probably not true considering the ghost's words, which gives me hope, but I don't know if what they're saying is even true.
So either way, the notebooks get passed onto someone else. The thought of that fills me with guilt, knowing that people after me will suffer.
A thought I had a while ago resurfaces. I wondered before if I could destroy the notebooks, and the answer is no. They're affected by nothing, can't be damaged. Invincible. Which brings me to my second thought.
Is there a way to win?
Maybe the books can be destroyed by another form. Maybe there's a way to beat this system and destroy them. Maybe there is hope after all. To leave the cycle as is would haunt me.
Even if I confess to Bad and get rid of the books peacefully, I'm just placing the burden on someone else.
I'm not sure I can live with myself if I do that. Just incase the books stop once someone dies. Maybe someone has to fail for the cycle to end.
I'm not willing to test that theory.
So if I die and my notebook is passed on, what happens to Darryl's?
My eyes widen in horror. The worst thing I possibly could've thought of. I hadn't even considered it could happen.
What if Darryl dies too?
I scramble to my desk, logging in to my computer and opening google. I google the disease, tons of results coming up. There's no certain answer, but some of the examples I read are horrifying.
'Sometimes the lover of the person who dies to the disease coughs up black flowers'
Black Roses.
What if that's what they meant...
I need to talk to them.
The only way I'm able to talk to the spirits is when I'm unconscious. When I passed out, they came. Just to reiterate their past message. I need to pass out again.
Easy.
Teamspeak is still open in a separate tab, so I click on it. Surprise is the only thing I feel for a few seconds when I realise there's only one new message. It's been a few hours since I last checked, there'd normally be more.
But there's just one, and I don't get a chance to read it before I'm overwhelmed with that familiar stabbing pain and pass out.
~~~
"So you're here for some answers Zakary..." the apparition picks at their figurative nails, glancing over to me as I return to consciousness.
My head spins, but I'm able to take in that I'm back in the familiar dreamscape where the ghost resides.
The willow tree looks more dead, it's been deteriorating with each visit I make here. The tree is withering at an alarming rate, probably going to die in a few weeks.
Well that's longer than I've got...
Five days. That's all I've got left.
I pick myself up to face the ghost, brushing the dirt and leaves from my jeans. "Yes. I have a few questions for you." The apparition smirks at my feet, trailing their gaze upwards until our eyes lock.
"Some newfound confidence? I'm impressed. So, what is it you so desperately wish to know that you knocked yourself out to ask?"
I squint at the knowing glint in their eyes. "You know how I pass out?" They reach over a ghostly hand, patting my head despite me feeling nothing. "Oh honey I see everything. Got to keep an eye on you."
The new information sparks new questions. "Can you see Darryl too?" I attempt to brush their hand away, my hand drifting through it like it's not there.
"Yep. He's worried about you, you know. Your crush probably is too."
"So you can't see my crush?"
"Nope."
Interesting...
"But I'll let you in on something Zakary." I cringe at the name. "Things are... difficult for you. You're supposed to be in love with the other notebook holder. But you're not."
Im supposed to be in love with Darryl?!
"You see, there's something even I can't work out. You haven't fallen in love with the wrong person, the other notebook is in the possession of the wrong person.
The notebooks were intended for you." They send a glare in my direction before looking out across the water in front of us and continuing.
"The notebook is only able to be opened by your lover. Only their name should be on the front. But this 'Darryl' person has intruded, and the book likes him too."
"So this isn't my fault."
The ghost turns to me, eyes flaring with ghostly embers. "No, this IS your fault. I don't control the notebooks, I only made them. They're controlled by YOUR feelings, Zakary. YOU have confused the notebooks because you love TWO people. You loved Darryl even before those notebooks appeared, and couldn't make up your mind. So the notebook latched onto him, not your other crush."
So I've loved Darryl this whole time, without even knowing it. "So what happens next? Do I die in five days?"
The apparition sighs. "No. The deadline was there to make you confess your feelings earlier so I could get rid of you and move on. But you've permanently damaged the books. I can detach it from you with ease normally, but now I can't. You've fucked it up. There's no five days deadline, so you can forget about it."
I sigh deeply in relief, a small smile creeping across my face. It quickly fades when I remember why I'm here in the frost place. "So how do I win here?" The ghost glares at me. "Why should I help you?"
"If I win, I detach from the notebooks right?"
They nod, but pinch the bridge of their metaphorical nose in frustration. "Yes, and no. That thing may be stuck to you now."
They glance back at me, taking a seat on the grass. I sit beside them, watching them intently. "It has given you that heart pain as a curse. It's a sign by the books, probably representing your conflicted love. It hurts when you love the wrong person, which appears to be your into fail crush." My stomach drops.
"It was intended to get the notebooks off of you, and to kill you quicker. Im left believing you can't win. So here's my proposal..." they stand once more, eyes never moving from me.
"Either you confess to Bad, or Darryl dies. I can't kill this 'Bad' person, as I can't see where they are, but you best believe me when I say I can kill Darryl. I'll leave you to make your decision."
The ghost summons the ghastly blade, identical to the one they cut me with last time. "Wait!" I yell, backing up from the knife. "One last thing! It's why I came here in the first place!"
The smoke from the apparitions eyes makes me cough, spluttering my words weakly. "Out with it then" they spit.
"If I die, what happens to Darryl?"
The ghost rolls their eyes. "And that's where the notebooks come into play." A wicked smile creeps across their face as they lunge forwards, holding the blade to my neck. "You don't confess your love, your crush dies too. You're soulmates after all."
The blade makes a cut through my chest, and the blackness starts to overtake me. I hear the ghost say their final words before I disappear.
"So in your case, I'd presume that means
both of them."