The bell rang, marking the end of another sunny day but for 18 year old Alex, it was just another day to die. His uniform was as usual, a grey hoodie and a blue jean. His laces were partially untied and his hands bore the tally marks of how many times he painfully took arrows to the flesh.
“It’s gonna be a great weekend, isn’t it?”, the fair skinned girl said to him.
It was the same thing she said the day before, and the day before that. A constant reminder that no matter how he tried, he would always be stuck in the loop.
“Bye!” The teachers waved them all. His smile was rather broad than the previous, suggesting a little flaw in whatever simulation that operated.
“Alex”, the poor teenager took out his pencil. “You can’t die today.”
Could it be that there’s another in the entire school stuck as he is?
“Let’s walk home”, the bold Bella takes his hand.
She was fond of this in all his nightmares, a mere magnet to the dark archer’s plans. Besides that, Alex knew a walk home was impossible. The minute he attempts to leave the main door, the familiar streets start to warp back into the school surroundings.
“No”, he shook her away. “I’ll rather stay in school today.”
The audacious Bella now grew surprised. She hoped that her boyfriend wasn’t intent on ending things with her, not on her birthday.
“Come on”, she ran after him. “There’s no way you’re leaving me to go alone.”
“I am”, Alex shook her again, this time with a forceful grip on her wrist. In most nightmares, he slaps the hell out of her pretentious glare or worse punch her hard. Nonetheless, no matter what he did, some sort of sadness happens.
On the twenty-first night, it was a dark gloom that gave way to his hunter. Bella started to cry uncontrollably which led to her collapse on the school floor. Other nights were filled with her worrisome plans for her birthday cake.
“When will you ever be satisfied?”, Alex yelled. “Why does it always have to be you? I can’t escape Bella now matter how hard I tried.”
“Really?” she paused.
This was another glitch. It was mostly whenever she was starting to feel pity for him, whenever she tried to understand his plight.
“No! Not again”, the former broke down. He strongly believed that if he tried so hard, he could win her over.
But suddenly, his ears picked up the unmistakable twang of a bowstring. He spun around but had no time to dodge. It was like a hopeless hunt although it vanished just before it could pierce his hoodie.
“You really are fed up”, a strange woman appeared from nothingness. Her dark robes were supported with a belt, one that read “Eternity.”
“Just have your go”, Alex shut his eyes without remorse. “Either way, you always win.”
“Yes…”, she giggled, a mixture of dark and white teeth.
Her fingers were as eagle talons,sharp enough to draw blood from the boy’s chin but she hesitated this time, some daring boldness in his composure.
“Not fun killing you like this”, she said, sizing him up. “There’s a way out.”
The boy chuckled immediately like he was deranged. Does she take him for a fool?
“No games here, Alex. Believe me when I say you have one of the luckiest nightmares.”
“No jokes”, the boy got up and approached her. “Shoot me right in the chest. You’ve done it before, what makes you think I really care about getting out of this loop?”
“Oh come off it”, she retreated into smokes.
Her voice reverberated through the school hallway in guffaws and growls. “You are either going to race to the roof Alex and jump off it or be stuck with me and all my delicious arrows.”
“I choose the latter”, he rebounded. “Fate can’t really be changed.”
“Come on”, the dark archer crept closer as her phalanges cracked and twirl. “Don’t you want to see what’s outside?”
“Yes and No”, Alex grabbed her cloak. “Just kill me already.”
“No”, the woman started to thrive in his imagination. “It’s best I let you in this loop or worse refrain from arrows.”
“Whatever”, Alex sat by her.
Turns out her convincing was malevolent. If she indeed wanted a chase, what better than to nurture his hope. To feed it with an even strategy.
“Alex”, she squatted before him. “No sob stories and no twisty turns. If I’m able to implant five arrows straight in you before you reach the roof, then you lose.”
“Five?”, the eighteen year old thought it through. “Is that all?”
“Yes”, a heave came from the woman whose face now stood etched with disappointment.
He would have to accept it though due to his previous experiences, it might be difficult to get all five on him.
“Race you then”, Alex sped up the first set of stairs.
Normally there stood the janitor who always had a way of tossing his mop in every nightmare. This was for his advantage now as the man would then cower in screamings.
“Thank you sir”, Alex snatched the mop making sure he uses it to block the door to the laboratory. The dark archer shot through and as always it tore through his shoulder.
“One”, she said walking majestically. Her footsteps echoed commanding tranquility from the injured boy. He was bleeding profusely and a shriek was in order.
“Two more set of stairs”, he encouraged himself. However she was by the window, another shot to his right leg.
“Two”, she hung there watching him limp away.
It was a drive, an instinct by most men to believe that they could achieve the impossible.
“This is my dream!”, He roared. “Mum, I’m coming.”
He shouldn’t have but he did uttered those words climbing the second set of stairs without her interruption.
“Third”, the dark archer mocked causing him to halt and check his back.
A giggle followed by the ceiling, a kind of scorn that probably killed his steel determination.
“Oh! Poor Alex”, she remained upside down with her claws on her face.
Standing by the last set of stairs, he decided to take a swing at his survival.
“A fool’s dream” he nodded.
“Keep going”, the archer carefully landed without a sound but he turned back on one leg to stare her down.
“You can shoot your last three”, he said. “The game had certainly become a big bore.”
“Nonsense”, the woman’s eyes bred irritation. “I gave you a way to escape yet you played me.”
“Not really” he backfired. “I really love spending time with you, Eternity. Loneliness had never made you this happy.”
“What?”, her scowl melted. “What…kind of ploy is this?”
“No ploy”, he ran to her with a hug but she stuck an arrow in him.
“Get off me”, she cried.
“I’m not stuck with you”, Alex squeezed her tight. “You are stuck with me.”
“Get off”, she snarled, sticking another arrow right in his spine. The warmness of his blood flowed through her arm yet his hands still wrapped around tightly.
“You…” Black tears fell from her in duo drops.
In that moment, Alex realised that the dark archer wasn’t a monster. She was a manifestation of his doubts and insecurities. He felt sudden peace that now washed over him, a tranquil that conjoined both their hands.
“I do not hate you”, he bled steadily. “And neither am I afraid of you.”
“You should be”, the woman now displayed her teeth.
“No I’m not”, Alex slowly fell on his knees. “You are Eternity and I’m Change. We would always be stuck in a nightmare together. It’s the cycle of time.”
