Glancing at the clock I ask myself how I got here. I know how I got here; why I wanted to be here. I need to stop pretending like I don't.
Its called revival and against my better judgement I find myself revisiting it. If a bad situation happens, I'm sometimes able to go back and change the outcome. Don't let the above fool you, I'm not your ideal hero. I'm just a manga artist who happens to be in the right place at the right time. Sometimes I think it's an elaborate karma damning me for a past life. Noted; I'll try not to piss off the universe again.
Chapter 1: Re-Giving
It was an average Tuesday morning and I wanted to grab a bite at the local coffee shop. I've really grown tired of the patterns of the everyday citizen here. A hurried businessman bumping into you as they rush to catch their train. A street vendor hustling their way to make a dollar. A child scolded for breaking a pot that shouldn't have been placed there in the first place. I try to take the scenic route; I have no desire to get caught up in their world I just exist in.
As I approach the stoned path leading through the park, it looks too flooded for me to walk through. It's been raining a lot recently in Japan. While I'm not upset, I'm still disappointed. I've always been indifferent to rain but understood it's impetus. I collect my thoughts and remember there's a path by my old University that will lead directly to the coffee shop, the morning may not be lost after all.
Walking past the University I think fondly about the memories I had there. I was never the brightest student, but my classmates seemed to really appreciate the writings and drawings I did; and that was enough for me. I find a lot of my life consisting of things just being enough. It's been years since I've seen them, I do hope they're doing well.
I pause as a dark haired woman passes by me, smiling.
A white light hits me and I become disorientated. I'm back at the beginning of the University path. Why here. Why now. Why ever. I frantically try to determine the outlier in the scene in front of me:
A bird searching for its nest. Wind blowing carelessly through trees. Two women talking about dinner plans.
Clouds creating shadows.
Shadows hiding in other shadows.
Wilting flowers.
Glazing eyes.
Buzzing insets.
Still air.
Paths leading to other paths.
Buildings filled with empty rooms.
Buildings.
I look up at the building and see movement in the windows. Without hesitation I rush into the entrance; my feet seeming to move for me. I want to be right, I want to help people; but at the same time I wouldn't mind being wrong for once for my own sake. I've never taken the time to wonder if I should feel guilty about these feelings, but Revival has never given me time to take. I've saved everyone so far and feel as if it's an entrenched purpose; but a purpose altering my grasp on reality.
I quicken my pace and dart towards the classroom I regarded in the window. Busting open the door, I survey the room around me. I freeze. A young woman stands terrified with a knife held against her neck. The sharpness of the blade pressing unapologetically against her. A man grimaces as he sees me enter the room. Behind us are students waiting despairingly for what's to come next.
"What...What is this?" I stammer.
I wearily look into the woman's eyes and can hardly register what I see. Fear. Regret. Sadness. I wonder why she's in this situation to begin with. Could she be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Does the universe deem me in the right one? How does it choose? In a typical Revival I'm saving a child from an oncoming car, or stopping a kidnapping in broad daylight. This was different. Those were different. My emotions are different.
My feet don't move.
The knife slides effortlessly across the woman's neck. Red cascades from her body coating the floor with no remorse. I stare into the woman's eyes again; but this time there's nothing to register. Echoing screams fill my ears as I try to comprehend the terror filling the room. Her body begrudgingly hitting the floor.
A second becoming another second.
A minute returning to that same second.
A knife that cuts what it's meant to cut.
Scaling blood.
Feathering Blood.
Blood existing for someone else.
Puzzles where other pieces fit, or don't.
Pieces detesting other pieces.
Revival has never given me time to take.