These things at the top, though they sometimes have other purposes, are usually only here to keep the title below centered. Because otherwise, the chapter select dropdown would push it to the left.

Window to the Past

Chapter 5: More Than Four

Toby silently followed the Mayor up the wooden steps to the gallows. He couldn't hang, could he? He didn't have a neck.

The Mayor pulled out a syringe. Toby began to cry.

"P-please...don't make me go through this..." he begged to anyone who was listening. "I'm innocent...I don't want to die, please...anyone...help me..."

The Mayor advanced on him, taking slow measured steps. "It will be quick; I do not enjoy making others suffer. The pain should last around three and a half seconds. That's how long the others had writhed for before becoming still. It's an estimate, but fairly accurate."

"H-how many have you killed?" Toby asked lowly, refusing to look the Mayor in the eye.

The Mayor raised an eyebrow, not that Toby could see it. "I do not kill them. The town does. They choose who to kill, they choose who is innocent and who is guilty. I simply carry out their orders. The only murder I've ever committed on my own accord," he raised the syringe, the metal tip glinting in the sunlight, "...is this one. Hold still."

"Please, just wait!" Toby cried. "Can't I have a last request?"

The Mayor lowered the syringe carefully. "I hope you know I will not grant something such as 'let me go free'."

"I, uh...I want a phone call," Toby said.

The Mayor nodded and stepped down from the gallows. He motioned for Toby to follow, and they stepped into City Hall behind the Bell Tower.

A phone call? Toby thought in confusion. Why did I want a phone call? It's...it's just to stall for time, isn't it?

"Okay, guys," he whispered harshly. "I don't have a lot of time left, and I'm scared. Really scared. I don't know if you can hear me, but I really hope one of you has a way out of this...Please, just...somebody help me..."

...ring ring ring...

The Mayor opened a door to reveal an empty room with only a table and a phone. The Mayor, seemingly ignoring the ringing, gestured to the phone. "You have five minutes."

Toby carefully walked up to the phone.

...ring ring ring...

He climbed up onto the table and took the phone off the hook. He put it to the side of his head, and somehow, he heard the voice of...of...

"Hey, kid, are you okay? Can we talk?"

Suddenly the five minutes he had been given didn't matter. All of Toby's thoughts of his imminent doom were forced from his mind. His eyes widened in recognition. That voice was someone he had talked to before. Someone he had spoken to about problems. That voice was a source of comfort. A shelter.

"...Dad?" he whispered.

"You know we love you, your mother and I. And we care about you. And I know you care about us, too. But I can't help thinking that you think the world's against you. And...it is. It's against all of us."

Toby tried to interrupt. "Dad, wait! I'm going to be killed! Please, just-"

"The world isn't fair to anyone. But what matters is what you do with it. Life is going to give you lemons. Not only that, it's going to cut them into slices and squirt the juice into your eyes. But if you wipe that juice off, get back up and keep going...Sorry. I know you don't like it when I get preachy. I'll talk to you later."

"Wait! Dad, no! There isn't going to be a later! I'm going to be-"

click

Toby slowly removed the receiver from his head. He looked at the phone through tears that had suddenly formed at the corner of his eyes. He stood there, on the table, motionless. The Mayor snapped him out of his stupor.

"The call is over, Alice. It is time. Follow me to the Bell Tower, please."

Somebody...anybody...help me, please...

"Alice the Miller. Do you realize and recognize the crimes of which you have been accused?"

Tears flowed freely down Toby's face. This was it.

Somebody, please help me!

"...Yes," he forced out.

"Do you deny these crimes?"

Toby felt the overwhelming urge to do just that, but it would have been pointless. Although he himself had not committed the crimes, and he was not aware they were crimes in the first place, for all intents and purposes, he had resisted.

Anyone, PLEASE! I don't want to die!

"...No."

Toby watched in fear as the Mayor raised the syringe, filled with a sickly liquid, and began to lower it.

"It is decided, then. Goodbye, Alice the Miller."

"Who's Alice?"

David blinked in surprise, the sudden sight that filled his vision throwing him off guard. He had just heard something about Alice and blurted it out. He saw a man in front of him, in very dark clothes. He was holding a syringe in his hand, and had a very shocked look on his face. David's eyes focused on the syringe.

"What's that for?" he asked.

The man seemed to regain his composure. "You," he said.

"Me?" David asked. "Why would I want a shot?"

"It is of no choice of your own," the man said.

"Oh," David said, nodding. "What's your name?"

The man once again stopped. "I do not give out my name to anyone."

"Really?" David asked again. "Well, uh...what do people call you? 'Guy? Or 'Buddy'? Or...uh...'dude'?"

"Many refer to me as the Mayor," he said.

"Oh," David said again. "Well, my name's David. I think."

"David?" he asked, confusion creeping into his voice. "I believe I had heard your name was Alice."

"Yeah, you said that, didn't you? Where'd you get Alice? I'm a boy!...At least, I think I am," David said doubtfully.

"Is this a joke?" the Mayor asked.

David stared blankly at him. "...No. But if you want, I could tell you one. Uh...okay. Why didn't the chicken cross the road?"

The Mayor simply stared at him.

"Say why."

"...Why?"

"Because he was hit by a truck!" David finished, trying to hold back his laughter. When he noticed the Mayor wasn't laughing, he stopped. "Boy, mister, you need to be happy."

Again, the Mayor was silent. Suddenly, he pointed at a book next to David. "Is that yours?"

"This book?" he verified as he picked it up. David turned it around in his grip, examining it. "I don't remember it. What is it? 'Dear Diary'...AAGH!"

David sharply dropped the book as if it was suddenly on fire.

"It's a diary! Why would I have a diary?!" he yelled.

"This diary is yours. You were seen with it on numerous occasions."

"Seen with it? The first thing I remember is you pointing that shot at me!" David protested.

The Mayor said nothing. Instead, he sighed. "You...somehow, you aren't Alice, are you?"

"Somehow?" David repeated.

"I cannot execute a child. I only made that mistake once, and...her screams haunt me to this day. You may go."

"Wait, that shot was going to kill me?" David emphasized, horrified.

The Mayor didn't answer. Instead, he continued. "You must leave this town, and tell no one of your departure. And you must never tell anyone on the outside of this town, or what happens here."

"Okay," David nodded. "But where do I go? I mean, I haven't eaten for a while-"

"I am showing you mercy," the Mayor growled. "I advise you do not push your luck."

Fear crept into David's eyes as he stared at the man one more time. "Okay," he whispered. Slowly, David bent down and picked up the diary. David stepped down from the Bell Tower and kept walking until he felt grass instead of cobblestone under his feet. He looked back, but he saw nothing except meadow.

Weird, he thought. Sitting down on the grass, David sighed sadly. He was hungry. He had no place to go. And his only belonging was that diary.

He opened it again and began to read out of curiosity.

"Who are these people? Were they in this town, too?" he asked himself aloud. "Maybe...I wonder if I should..."

David picked up the pen and began to write.

"Uh...who are you guys?"

"Wait, I'm not dead!? How am I not dead? That guy was gonna give me a lethal injection, and I blacked out!" Toby wrote.

"Lethal injection? I thought you were gonna be hanged," Adrian replied.

"How would you even hang a body like this?" Alice asked. "Do I even have a neck?...This is weird."

"Whoa, there's more! The diary writes in itself! My name is David! What's your name, magic diary?"

"...David?" Adrian wrote. "Who the heck is David? Anyone here know a David?"

"No, Adrian. I'm sorry. I don't know anyone called David," Daphne answered. "Maybe he's new."

"Can there be new ones? How many of us are there, anyways? And I hope he knows not to dirty up this body!" Alice wrote angrily.

"What do you mean 'this body'?" David asked. "Am I near you? Where are you guys?"

"How old are you? I mean, I can't really tell. Wait, shoot, that's offensive, isn't it?" Toby wrote hastily. "I hate using a pen!"

"I'm ten!" David answered happily. "How old are you, Toby?"

"Man, I can barely read this guy's handwriting! What is he, ten?" Adrian scoffed.

"Yes, Adrian, I think that's what he just told us," Daphne affirmed.

"Come to think of it," Alice wrote, "How old are we, anyways? I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm, like, sixteen or something."

"I've gotta be twenty-two," Adrian wrote. "So that'd make me the leader."

"Dude, you aren't a day over fifteen with that jerk face way of speaking," Alice retorted.

"Shut the hell up!"

"Adrian, control yourself. David is only ten years old," Daphne chided.

"You remind me of that shot guy," David remarked.

"You mean the Mayor?" Alice asked. "Daphne reminds you of the Mayor?"

"Yeah. He didn't laugh at my joke, but he let me go because he didn't want to kill a kid."

"...You got away from that dude killing you?" Adrian wrote slowly. "I'm...actually impressed."

"Oh! Guys, I forgot to mention something!" Toby wrote. "Here's an update. We're doing these now, right?

I got a last request, and for some reason I chose phone call. When I got there, the phone was already ringing. And when I picked up, I heard my dad! I don't know how I know, but I do! It was him! He was saying...something about my mom, and that life was unfair, but we had to keep going, or something. I'm sorry I can't do it word for word, but I heard dad! It was him!"

"This is going to sound weird, but I think I remember that, too," Alice agreed. "Now that you say it, I actually remember that. The phone call."

"So we have a father," Daphne remarked. "Wow. That's surprising."

"What, you thought we use binary fission or something?" Adrian retorted.

"Hey, guys...I'm kind of hungry," David butted in. "Where do we go now?"

"I have no idea. Toby, you see anything?" Adrian wrote.

Toby looked up from the journal after seeing Adrian's request. He frowned; he couldn't see anything except meadow. He told them so, and that he'd start walking, hoping to come across something.

As he walked across the grass, Toby thought about David, the new one. So there's more than just us four, huh? And he saved us from being killed...I wonder how many of us there are...

And he continued along the meadow as the sun beamed down high above him, hoping to find some kind of comfort from the expansive meadow.

Little did he know that he wouldn't be getting any sort of comfort for a long, long time.

Sorry this one took so long; I was about to upload it, and then it deleted three quarters of the chapter. But it's up now, so...yay.