Episode 4

A voice was calling to Tarisha.

A man. No...people...not just one, but many.

Her eyes opened, she saw a light room, it was dark at the corners, and the darkness slowly seeped closer.

When she turned around she saw herself, but also not.

It was the same appearance she had, but she looked younger, so much younger, still the slightly chubby cheeks of her youth, the clear, shining eyes and the bold mouth of hers.

"Are you happy?"

Tarisha, who stood in front of her younger self, was startled and confused by the sudden action.

"What?" she asked back.

"Are you happy now? Like Naviel wanted?"

Tarisha misjudged, those weren't happy eyes anymore, they slowly turned into something colder, something more...lonely.

"I don't know." Tarisha simply said.

"Are you lonely as well?" the younger self asked another question.

"Hmm..." Tarisha thought about something for a while, her gaze pointing at the ground.

"I don't know..." her answer was the same, again.

"Do you want to die?"

"Maybe."

"Do you wish to live?"

"Maybe."

The answers were vague. The darkness got closer.

"We don't have time."

"I know."

"Are you...strong?"

"Yes..."

"Stronger than me?"

"Yes."

"Stronger than Arlechino?"

"Yes..."

"Stronger than the God of time?"

"Yes..."

"Did you...kill him?"

"I did." the younger one spoke faster and faster, she wanted to know as many questions as possible.

"Did we loose him?"

"Yes..."

We did...

The answers was left hanging.

The silence was unbearable, it felt suffocating.

"Do we have friends there?"

"I guess." Tarisha smiled slightly thinking about the people, that made her happy.

"Are we known?"

"No..."

"Why?"

"I hate it."

"Figures."

Tarisha's eyes got darker, they changed colours, from clear red to deep red, from deep red to almost nonexistent red, to brown.

"I hate it..."

"I do too..."

"I want to go back..."

"So do I."

"I want to see him again."

"As well as me."

"I don't want to loose anymore..."

"Me neither."

"Do we...s...v..v...e?"

"No."

"Why, are we too weak?"

"No, that's not it."

The darkness was so close Tarisha could feel it on her back and legs.

The cold was also close.

"I have to go." the younger self said.

"I know..." Tarisha sounded weird. Her voice was cold but soft at the same time.

It carried a sense of kinship and loss.

"We'll meet again, so I want you to answer me truthfully, when that time comes, can you?"

"I will."

Tarisha would answer truthfully, but it'd be for the last time they'd ever meet.

"Okay, thank you." the younger Tarisha smiled, it didn't reach her eyes like before, she knew something she couldn't forget.

Something that changed her life forever, but so did the older self.

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Goodbye isn't a farewell, it means they'll see each other again.

But what if next time, it's not a goodbye anymore, what if it's a farewell?

To be continued...

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