The girl kept on running and running, crying her heart out, the voice just confirmed that she was the cause of his pain, she couldn't bear it, it was all her fault, she thought "I shouldn't have ever time leapt, he wouldn't have been in so much pain!!"
She kept running and running, paying no mind to what was in front of her or where she was going, further away was a seemingly bottomless cliff, I tried to scream out to watch out but again, I was merely just an observer... The painful feeling of not being able to help...
As she got closer to the cliff, she realized that she was going to fall so she stopped right in time. As she contemplated at her near death experience, the voice echoed once more in her head
"Why are you denying the truth so much? Have you forgotten what you've brought?"
The girl was puzzled, she didn't know what it meant by those words...
"Here... Let me help you young maiden. Consider this a unique gift."
As the voice spouted those words, a mysterious force pushed her off the cliff, where she fell. She didn't know what just happened, she was scared, she was too afraid to open her eyes. And suddenly, she felt like she was floating and noticed that she was going through a time leap.
When it ended, she noticed that she was in a room, she noticed the familiar plushes, the familiar bed, everything was familiar, she realized this was her room. She was puzzled but instead of asking herself so many questions that would be unanswered, she pulled out her cellphone and noticed the date, she was back a few days from where she started. The day after she has last seen her love.
The voice gave her some directions, where to go, what to do, she didn't have anything else to do since she didn't to come to this time period, so she obeyed it. The voice had told her to go to the shopping district, precisely at a gift shop. It didn't take her long to get there, she looked around and there she saw, the boy she loved so much. She got near him and tried to embrace him, but her touch just went through him... She tried to scream out to him but he couldn't hear her...
"You have become an observer, you can't do anything right now, sit back and remember."
The voice explained to her the situation with a rather cold voice, pained, she couldn't do anything more than obey him. The boy was shopping for a special gift, he asked the clerk for help, he asked for something that would please a very specific girl. The heroine was kind of puzzled until she saw what the boy had bought... It was the very gift that she had received on the day after today... A beautiful, shining necklace with the pendant shaped like a feather.
Her chest felt tight, she was pained. The boy left the shop with a radiant smile, happy of his purchase and muttering to himself "Hehe, I'm sure _____ will love this, I'll give it to her at the usual park we go to and then confess to her, mhm!!" Hearing her name and hearing him sharing the same feelings as made a fierce impact to her already pained heart... She started crying, she wanted to embrace him so much but she couldn't do anything...
The boy took out his cellphone, the girl remembered that she received a call right at that very moment, he was calling her so they could meet up. She remembered she agreed, nothing would make her more happy than spend with him. The boy happily walked towards the park after having a positive answer from her. Right at that moment, my chest suddenly felt tight, like it was telling me a premonition...
The heroine followed him, feeling like she forgot something, feeling like she should remember something, it wasn't a good feeling, but a very bad one...
When they finally arrived at the park, the heroine of the past wasn't there yet, so the boy had to wait a bit. A few minutes of waiting, he heard the girl calling him happily, he answered her back with a smile, walked towards her and while she was crossing the road, he noticed a car rapidly coming down the road, drifting left and right, honking like a mad man, the driver was clearly drunk.
The boy screamed at her to get out of the way all the while running towards her, the girl of the past was paralyzed by fear, she couldn't move at all, as the car approached closer and closer, she was even more afraid to move. She wanted to, but she couldn't, her legs didn't allow her to. The present heroine started to have a really heavy headache, feeling like this scene was familiar... As she regained her composure, she watched in shock, the boy she loved saving her, like back in her first time leap... She saw the boy get hit, she saw the boy fly meters away, she saw the very same scene as her first time leap... But the feeling was different...
"You must feel like you have already experienced this haven't you? Think hard. I know that you feel like this is different from the one from your first time leap. Think hard young maiden."
Time stopped, everything was silent, everyone was standing still. The heroine paid no mind to the sudden change and slowly walked to the boy's still body, and saw the gift, neatly wrapped, with a paper attached to the ribbon... She saw the tag, it had her name written on it, she took out the letter and read it, as she was reading it, her heart felt so tight, she felt like it was going to get crushed...
"______,
Thank you so much for all the great days of friendship we had since the day we met, I can't be more happy than the moments we spend together, it's really sad how time flows so slowly when we're apart, it's really sad how time flows so fast when we're together. I really wish we could have control over it, so we can be together for a lot longer... I've really thought of it, about the hardships we went, about the good times we had, I really love everything about you... I love you, I really love you, I love you so much. Nothing would make me happier than being able to be with you and witness your smile everyday. Would you give me the honor of being my girlfriend?
_______"
The names were blurred out, I couldn't see them... The heroine cried her heart out as she read the letter and unwrapped the gift... She remembered everything, how he tried to save her, how he died, how she got the gift. Time started moving again, the past heroine rushed to the boy, crying, shaking him, screaming his name, but the boy couldn't answer, he was dead. After a few minutes that felt like an eternity, painfully watching her go through what she went through, she saw her past self brought back home, where she cried all day.
The next morning, her parents knocked at her door and went in, left her the present and tried to cheer her up, but to no avail... Right at the moment, as her past self opened the gift and read the same letter she read, she saw her panicking, denying his death... She was denying so much she erased it from her memories... It was later that night, that the voice contacted her for the first time, to tell her that she could time leap.
".... I remember .... Yet again.... I was the reason for why he died... For why he disappeared from my life... I am... horrible..."
She muttered to herself. The voice was silent, giving her time to recover and finally decided to say :
"You can change the past, but you've seen his condition, one more time leap and his mind will collapse."
"...."
"I can return you to your time, but as you know, he will not be alive."
"..."
"There's a way to bring him back, but, there's a huge drawback."
The girl, up until now, silent, screamed at the voice how it could bring him back.
"A parallel world, where you'll forget everything about him and where he will forget everything about you. Both of you will become strangers, we don't even know if you'll still live in the same city, let alone, country. What is your answer young maiden?"
At that point, the girl thought "I keep hurting him, I am the one who brings him so much misfortune... It would be better this way, I want him to live, I want him to live a happy life"
After gathering her thoughts, she answered the voice with a determined tone "Yes".
"Very well"
As the voice acknowledged her answer, she was thrust into another time leap, different this time, she felt a huge headache, but before everything disappeared from her mind, she felt a warm embrace and the voice of a young boy telling her "I love you". Tears rolled down her cheeks as her memories was wiped away... "I love you too..." Were the last words she said before both of them would forget everything.
-------
When the heroine woke up, she was crying, she didn't know why, but she didn't have time to think, her mom called her, she was about to be late for school.
She left her house and ran as fast as she could, she ran and ran, she had to hurry. Suddenly, a boy was about to run into her but she managed to dodge him, they both turned towards each other and argued, but both of them were about to be late, so they just turned around and kept running. The girl's chest suddenly felt tight and she tears started to come out of her eyes... She didn't know why, but she had to stop at the park, that very same park that the tragic incident happened, so she can rest and wipe away her tears. The tears kept coming out and coming out, she couldn't hold it in, she ended up crying, for a reason she didn't know... As she washed her face, she noticed the feather shaped necklace she had, she tried to remember where she got it, she couldn't recall, but she felt it was from someone important. As she hold the necklace dearly within her hands, she cheered up, smiled and hurried herself to school.
----
As the boy almost bumped into the girl, he yelled at her as she yelled at him too, but he was late, he couldn't care less about a girl he wouldn't meet anymore, but, as he thought of it, his chest felt really tight and like the girl, tears started rolling down his cheeks. He wiped away his tears with his sleeves and kept on running, wondering why he was crying for something so trivial. The tears kept coming out, he kept wiping them away, but he couldn't stop them... So he just stopped, took in some air, and kept on running, until he arrived to school, where he was greeted by his friends and he forced a smile, so not to worry them. As he waved at them, he noticed the feather-shaped bracelet on his right wrist. His friends ran towards him and asked him where he got it. He couldn't remember well, but held his wrist and proudly claimed
"Someone dear to me gifted this to me... I wish I could remember who, but I felt like they were really important to me... We may be separated right now, but... No matter where they are, no matter what happens, I'll hold them dearly."
