Chapter 21

My brain rummaged through the oldest records it could provide on the topics of survival instinct and demons. All of the information that was provided was absolutely insistent that the two situations did not mix. Sandra reached for the rest of her thread, "Will you run, girl?"

My hands were shaking, images passing through my head, and my nightmare deciding to throw itself on repeat. Running would be the smart decision to make, it would likely be the smartest decision I had made all year. To turn out that door and dart as far away as I could.

I recollected Youko's face as he considered the fact that I might've been scared of him. He hadn't given me any reason to be afraid of him, yet it felt as though my senses were awakening. I tightened my hand around the doorknob. "Only to him" I said before shutting the door again. There was a lot I wanted to talk about with him.

I glanced towards the lights illuminating out of the next alley. Sandra was insistent that I don't go near that area. Natural instinct would whisper the opposite that it'd be the best to go there. The area was likely to be packed with people.

The likelihood of Youko being over there was increasing by the minute as the crowd roared with no signs of decreasing the party. I glanced over towards the party remembering Sandra's words lingering on the edge that I wouldn't understand their world. How was I supposed to understand something that I was never allowed to see?

My feet pivoted away from the darkened alleys I had wandered down from. I was waiting for Sandra to throw her fabrics down, run out here, and yell at me for attempting to get spirited away. She didn't. She had been focused in her work for nearly half-an-hour now. She hadn't turned to me once through the conversation once she began to sew.

The street glowed with lights while the residences rejoiced in their celebrations, drunkards danced throughout the streets. It didn't look any different from any normal festival other than the time. I glanced towards the clock, stuck at three o'clock.

My foot brushed the edge of the sidewalk, "Girl, I wouldn't go there. Time has stopped for those people."

I glanced towards the drunkard that seemed to be asleep at the edge of the sidewalk. "I need to, "I'm searching for someone" I mustered up my courage, I would have to talk to several people if I were to even find a smidgen of a clue of where Youko was.

The man laughed shuffling in his seat, but not getting up, he opened his eyes enough to offer a sadden glance towards the festivities. "If you go in there not even the best trackers can find you. Humans don't come back out of there since the explosion."

I scrutinized the area, "Why is that?" I asked looking for the closest place to hide if he followed me when I darted into the crowd. For time being stopped for the festival attendees the town and its attractions seemed recent. There was no dust, cars lined the streets, and people held out cell phones excitedly moving about. It didn't look like a place that time would be stopped compared to the rest of the world,

"If you had a demon with you they might be able to move around within the barrier, but humans always lose their minds in there." He explained shuffling again. I gave him a glance, he must've been homeless for a while. And pushed to the brink where he lost his mind. He paused his complaining at my insistence on entering the area, lighting a cigar before continuing, "It's laughable but a lot of people assume that this is done by a human. Accidentally awakened psychics are dangerous. Look at what they did." He grumbled slipping the pack back into his pocket.

I decided to humor him, "What would've caused this?"

"I told you an explosion. The stress built up in someone in there to the point they activated psychic abilities they should've never had and destroyed the whole block. Those people have been wandering around in a consistent pattern for over ten years now." He sighed rustling in his pocket as the light dimmed on his cigar. He threw several packets of papers on the ground, "I've been investigating this area for years, that's Janelle she's was reported missing immediately after the event," He moved his hand pointing to the boy at the station setting her up for a game, "That's Crane, he used to be part of a local gang, his family was struggling to get by, figured he was fine. Getting into the usual stuff that he couldn't come home with. His funeral was two years ago. Surprising that family members of a gang member would wait so long to decide he's dead." The man turned the page, "That's because at the corner here is Janelle's older brother, well, his twin brother was close to Crane. Since the three of them went missing at the same time that man's twin brother masqueraded as Crane for several years scraping together what he could for Crane's family." The man turned the page, "Well, that kid was buried six-feet deep still kicking."

I glanced towards the stand, the excited smiles on each of their faces, "Shouldn't we save them?"

"If we could, would it be right? These people are dead on the world outside of here, these people are reliving moments before half the block exploded. Who's to say that if this situation is allowed to continue that this block won't explode?"

"Those people are alive! Someone is waiting for their family and friends to return. Their holding that hope buried deep in their hearts that these people are still alive." I shouted ready to argue with him.

"These people haven't aged in ten years. How do you expect them to understand that time that has been ripped away from them? How do you expect society to accept they are who they are?"

I bit my lip. It wasn't right to leave them there. "It's not-"

"It might be. There are some people that aren't capable of waiting for them anymore. They have family members and friends that are long since past. They have worlds that would collapse around them once they realize they have absolutely nothing left. No home or family to come back to. Is it fair to rip them out of this recycling world where they each contain a smile to throw them into our world of injustice?"

My heart pulsed as I glanced at these people, I knew I was being too passionate for humoring him. It felt as though he wasn't lying, that he really believed the words he was saying.

"My job is to guard this place to make sure no other humans accidentally wander in. Even if you weren't part of that night if you wander in you can never leave. If you come back here tomorrow Janelle and Crane will be in the same exact positions they are now right before her older brother and Crane get into a pity fight. One that if this cycle wasn't in constant motion would kill the older brother."

I glared at the man. He was testing me to see if I believed him. "How could a human possibly be capable of this?"

He smiled, "Humans are capable of more than you realize."

I crossed my arms glaring at him, "Then how come no demons have gone in to stop the cycle from repeating?"

The alley man laughed-or coughed, a mixture of both, "We have our own abilities and majority of us are smart enough not to mess with this situation. Or a moral compass. These people would die."

My hands tightened, eternity repeating a night or death. I bit my lip. My own moral compass was spinning. These people were still alive it wasn't up to us to keep them confined there. Yet it was. With no outside force these people would repeat that night at the festival without the knowledge that they were.

I wanted to run inside there, pull Janelle and Crane apart as though that one action would change their incessant repeating of the night. I pushed my foot forwards, these people were alive and being forced to repeat this situation over and over.

The alleyman turned another page, "Crane's mother is long since dead, his reason for joining a gang, he needed funds and fast. The gang he joined will likely kill him off the minute they find out he's alive. The person that found this area attempted killing him."

I glanced down at the alleyman awaiting the rest of the story. "He caused absolute chaos in the streets, but when the cycle reset again the next day he vanished. Unlike him the one's that wander in and don't cause chaos don't vanish they walk around on cue depending on where they decided to go and what they planned to do the next day." He explained.

"What would happen if this cycle was broken?"

The alleyman shrugged, "He'd probably show up dead somewhere. It wouldn't cause too much commotion, you have to remember he was part of a gang. People would recognize that and would be relieved. No matter how much of a decent person he could've been, he joined a gang therefore he must be bad." The alleyman flicked his eyes towards Crane.

"But-"

"Don't you think it'd be good to have them off of the streets?" Sandra was standing behind me, her hair dripping wet, "I'd figured you'd be here. I told you not to go." She whispered, the alleyman nodded at her.

I glanced at her, "But-he's-their people."

"You only say that because you understand this is how they are now. If you were to meet a real member of a gang I know that you would flee in terror."

I opened my mouth ready to contradict her, insist that I would see them as people and not run. I clamped my jaw shut. She nodded, approaching to my side. "We can go back to my place." She whispered glancing at the clock, still around three.

"But if we leave these people-"

"Society says good riddance, so should we" She slapped my hand away before trudging back to her shop.

I took swift look at Crane, Janelle, and her brother. "Don't mind her too much, she was engaged to Crane at some point." The alleyman sighed puffing out his lungs.

"Really?" I whispered, unsure if I should believe either of them.

Sandra glanced back, red lighting her face in the darkness, "Don't listen to his nonsense!" She shouted before continuing her walk back to her shop.

I needed to find Youko, and that was the only place I knew I could look. I darted into the crowd ignoring the protests of the alleyman and Sandra. Neither of them bothering to dart after me once I stepped off of the sidewalk. "Get out of there now!" The alleyman shouted, I glanced towards him heading deeper into the crowd. I didn't know them, even if I did, I had no reason to trust their nonsense. They had both been nonsensical since I met them. The crowd partied on, people were tipsy beyond comparison, some taking another drink in hand while others played games at the stands.

"Youko!" I shouted heading deeper into the crowd wandering where he would wander if he were to come within this area. I glanced towards the people wandering the city, if I could remove the cause of the explosion I might have been able to destroy the psychic-time loop that covered the block. I blinked, a realization coming to mind. The time loop was probably the radius of the explosion. Or the psychic was in the center.

I felt my feet pounded the ground, it wasn't a moral compass that was preventing the residence of this town from fixing this situation, it was the fact that this area was a major party area.

The glow of Youko's eyes when we had visited and the excitement that filled my chest caught its way into my web of memories. I pushed down the guilt at destroying this time loop.

There would be other festivals ones that would continue and people would continue to live their lives without having everything ripped away from them.

In the center of the city stood a kid likely elementary in age when the time loop began. Young enough to develop psychic abilities under stress but not old enough to control them. I was going to take a gamble.

I approached the child watching as they counted their coins attempting to decide if they had enough for another round. I squatted placing my feet at the edge of their vision and meeting his eye attention diverted to me, "Hey" I smiled waiting for the child to dart at a stranger talking to them.

The boy blinked turning his head slightly, he stayed. I took a breath, I needed to start with a simple question. If the bombs were what activated their abilities then he wouldn't know anything about it yet. "How old are you?" I smiled.

They blinked again a pause, the boy dumped all of his money into one hand, held up the other. His hand clenched into a fist as he turned his thumb from left to right before returning to counting his money.

My eyebrows moved together. The boy glanced at me again, this time he was squinting at me, he stuffed his money in his pockets before holding his hands out, shaking them.

"Isabell!"

I glanced over my shoulder watching as a blob of white hair ran through the crowd, my conscious yelling at me to run as though I had done something wrong with the way he moved through the crowd. My feet pushed themselves up beginning to move on their own as Youko wrapped his hand around my wrist, I wasn't to talk to him. I hadn't collected all of my answers.

"I can't leave them like this."

Youko sighed, his eyebrows coming together, "If these people are released from here they will die. They've been like this for so long they'll only live a day at best." He explained.

I nodded, the child tugged on Youko's pants. I glanced down towards him. "That's Youko." I explained, the child didn't offer me a glance.

Instead he crossed his arms, his first two fingers placed together, he moved his fingers a few time, tilting his head at Youko. A quizzical look on his face.

Youko shook his head, he pointed at himself, turned his hand into a fist with his thumb sticking out drawing it from his chin and repeated what the boy did. He pointed at himself again, then brought his hand up to his face his pointer finger and thumb pressed together all of his other fingers sticking out.

The boy smiled before rapidly moving his hands and darting into a random direction.

"Isabell, that's Yamil. The most powerful psychic I've met in ages. He was ten, is still ten, due to activating his ability in the radius of the bomb." Youko explained.

I nodded glancing back towards where the boy waved money at the person at the stand instead of shouting for their attention. "What did you tell him?"

Youko let a laugh escape, "The boy wanted to know if I was a rabbit. I told him I'm not, that i'm a fox."

I glanced at his tail. It made sense, his tail did look like it belonged to a rabbit instead of a fox. Youko glanced at me, "Sandra told you repeatedly not to come here." He growled.

"I had a multitude of reasons." I whispered, how was he supposed to understand when he was from a world where they had all already decided the fates of the people here.

Youko reached for my arm, drawing his hand back.

"I'm not afraid of you, don't just decide that for yourself." I snapped, "I have my questions and situations that I'd rather not talk about too, but i'm not afraid of you."

I watched as his stiffened shoulders lowered, a flash of recognition going through his eyes as he attempted to hide it.

"How did you find me?" I whispered.

"Sandra saw that I was walking around near here. She was beyond irritated that you dismissed her warnings." He explained, I nodded in reply watching as Yamil approached another vendor waving his money at them.

Youko followed my gaze, "Yamil is Deaf. The people who are running the stand just believe that the kid is being rude, you'll notice a lot of us who recognize which psychic is keeping this area from exploding will already have learned how to communicate." Youko gestured for me to glance near the corner of the stand. Another person came around the stand smiling and signing at the boy.

The person at the stand reddened at their mistake before clumsily trying to remedy the situation. Yamil let out a laugh likely enjoying the atmosphere of the parade.

"Let's go, we're closest to where the bomb will explode." Youko drew an arm around my shoulder leading us back in the direction of Sandra's shop.

My eyebrows drew together, "It'll explode? But-"

"We're in a time loop, meaning that it will all lead up to the situation that activated the time loop. We've destroyed the bomb before but it keeps coming back." He explained.

I nodded. Taking a quick glance at Yamil. "Shouldn't we bring him?" I asked as Youko shook his head.

"It must be silly, but each day the people able to come and go spoil him more and more. You'd imagine he'd be overly spoiled ten years later. But here we go on spoiling the kid. But even if we take the kid, he'll always reappear before the bomb before it explodes." Youko shook his head. Youko paused, "These people already died, ten years ago."

I took a glance at Yamil, "He's only ten."

"He should've been twenty, how well do you think the people here would adapt to this world that everything has changed in a matter of seconds if the psychic-time loop were to shatter."

I glanced towards a couple clinging to each other's arm, chattering, while others darted up and down the street. "He's spoiled beyond comparison for children his age" Youko nudged me as I glanced towards the child, someone slipping more change into his back pocket before hurrying off unnoticed.

I nodded taking Youko's arm, my own tightening around his as he led us out of the area likely back towards my aunt's house. "You do know that spoiled by demons doesn't fit the textbook definition right?" I asked receiving a faint laugh from Youko.

"You're one to talk about that definition." He laughed. I brushed my hand along the hairstick, my eyes darting back to Youko as his arm muscle tightened. "What's the matter?" I whispered, glancing around for whatever was the danger.

He relaxed his muscle sending me a look I didn't quite understand. "It's nothing" He smiled, we stopped in the alleyway where Youko gave a quick apology to the guard and a rough explanation.

Which prompted the man in the alleyway to both laugh and retrieve another cigarette. "You're insane." He sighed before lighting another.

Youko drew us away. My mind drew its way back towards the night I met Youko. "Why were you in my yard that night?" I whispered glancing at Youko. "You had no reason to stay and you had no reason to be there." I whispered my mind buzzing attempting to create reasonings on why he was still there. Or why he had bothered coming into the yard. Mr. Centaur had switched his names from Kurama to Youko. "Youko, who's Kurama?" I asked receiving a small smile from him.

"I thought you knew. I'm also called Kurama." He explained.

I nodded. That made sense, people usually had two names they went by. "Why were you in the there then?" I whispered. My mind recollected the photo of Shuichi glaring over his shoulder. "How do you know Shuichi?" I whispered receiving another laugh.

He ran a hand through his hair, his eyes searching in the distance, "Maybe I should leave it up to Shuichi for that one."

I sent a glare his way, I didn't want to wait for Shuichi, I wanted answers. It felt as though I was being left out of the loop. "We met because of his mother, if you want anymore details you'll have to get the answer out of him."

I found my hand reaching for my phone, a glance at the clock making my hand recede leaving the phone within my pocket. It was going to be four-thirty soon. It was too early to call anyone. I tightened my arm around his hold, "When the time comes will you give me answers?" I asked.

Youko picked me up moving us to the porch. I glanced towards the edge of the door inside, lights were out. He sat on the balcony railing, casting a glance over the yard before returning his gaze towards me, "This might be the best view in the city." He smiled.

I puffed my cheeks waiting for my answers. He placed a finger against my lips, "I think that's enough questions for tonight. Pester Shuichi with the questions later." He smiled.

"You're right here." I muttered receiving another smile.

"Next time we meet try not to go somewhere dangerous." Youko laughed, leaning back flipping over the edge of the railing.

I ran to the railing glancing through the garden, he wasn't there. I felt my shoulders relax slightly.

The moral compass was still spinning, I wanted to rescue all of those people trapped in the time loop their time far gone out of their hands. Those people weren't my problem, they were being taken care of by the passersby. I remembered the person slipping money into Yamil's pocket before scurrying away unnoticed. They were just having the time of their lives, every night. And I was getting my answers. I slid the balcony door open to be met with the image of Elizabeth sitting on my bed bawling her eyes out.