RFY - Chapter 5 - Try, Try Again

Amelia's living room rematerialized around her. She looked around her and didn't see any of the signs of searching from the police. Had she actually traveled back to before her family was torn apart?

A noise from beside her feet said otherwise. She froze and slowly looked towards the ground. Her crippled brother slowly came into view.

And he was laughing at her.

His eyes were open, but they were a deep purple. Amelia collapsed down beside him and held him tightly. The laughter grew in intensity until it was the only thing she could hear. This hadn't happened before.

Amelia began to cry again, her sobs mixing with the maniacal laughter of her brother. She swears she could hear the Priestess' laughter mixed in, too. This was so fucked up.

The trip to the hospital was similar to the last one, but she remembered her phone this time. Ina called her soon after she arrived at the hospital. It took a few rings for Amelia to make herself answer. Ina was in a small panic.

"Ame, are you ok?" Amelia tried her best to not sound ungrateful for her friend's concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My parents are missing and my brother is hurt," she replied stiffly.

"Oh my god, that's horrible. Where are you?" Ina was shocked by the news.

"I'm headed to the hospital. You can come by if you want. I'll be with my brother," she said before quickly hanging up. Amelia tried to keep her sentences short to keep her real emotions from showing themselves. She knew she shouldn't hate this Ina, as she'd done nothing wrong yet.

Yet. That was why Amelia was feeling this way. She needed to change things so that Ina wouldn't hurt her again. Maybe then she would go back with a healthier mindset…

Her resolve to stay in this timeline was already falling apart. It just felt so wrong. She wasn't even able to go back to before her family was torn apart. Did the watch run out of charge or something? Checking she confirmed it was true. The watch's indicator light was flashing red instead of its normal green. She remembered her parents mentioning something like that, but it had seemed so insignificant. It shouldn't have been an issue at all.

Had she just been so unlucky that she couldn't go back far enough now? Had she not been in an ambulance with other medical personnel, she would be swearing up a storm right now. Damn her luck. Fuck this whole timeline. Should she just leave now? The watch would need to charge a bit before she could, so maybe she would try and feel better about everything here before she left.

That was going to be an ordeal. Amelia fought back and forth in her mind. She didn't even know where to start if she wanted to make things better. The reality of the situation began to fully settle into her soul.

She had just run away from another one of her problems.

The ambulance slowed to a stop and the medical personnel hopped out. They carried her brother into the hospital room that Amelia was all too familiar with. She sat in the chair she'd broken down in the first time she'd been here. Ina had rescued her from her own thoughts back then…

Amelia wanted to cry again. How had her and Ina gone from best friends who'd do anything for each other, to a fighting mess over the course of one night? The answer was obvious, but Amelia felt like there was more to the story.

Her emotional decisions, Ina's own emotional decisions, their lack of proper communication throughout the last week of Amelia's impromptu break…

And especially them both having feelings for Gura.

The last thought made Amelia sick. She'd just fucked with time over a crush. How low could she sink?

There was a knock on the door. Amelia looked up at the clock in the room. She knew the doctor wasn't supposed to come in for at least another thirty minutes according to her last trip through here. That's when a familiar voice called out behind the door.

"Ame, are you in there?" It was Ina. Of course it was, Amelia had invited her here and at this point in time, they're best friends. Amelia felt her stomach churn as the seconds ticked on.

"Is it ok if I come in, or would you rather me wait out here for a bit?" her voice was so sincere and kind. It contrasted hard with the last time she'd "spoken" to Ina. Amelia picked herself up off of the chair and made her way to the door.

Ina looked slightly surprised when it swung open. Their eyes met and the mood immediately lightened. Even though Amelia felt awkward, to say the least, she couldn't help but smile when she saw Ina's sweet face.

"Oh my god, Ame are you ok?" her concern was as real as ever. Amelia held back a chuckle that definitely wouldn't have been appropriate in this situation.

"I'm fine, Ina," she said almost dismissively. Ina's eyes narrowed.

"You're not fine. You look like a mess," Ina's hand came up to Amelia's cheek. She instinctively backed away from the touch. "Oh, sorry…" Ina said quietly.

"Yeah, I just need some space right now," Amelia stepped away from the doorway. Her shoulders slumped heavily.

"I understand, Ame. Just tell me if you need anything," Ina's caring voice now began to irritate Amelia. The kindness that seemed too sweet.

"Thanks," she replied quickly before closing the door a little too fast. Ina's footsteps slowly made their way down the hall away from the door. There was a lot of hesitation in each step. Amelia felt horrible for pushing her friend away, but it was true that she needed space. Otherwise, she might explode at Ina again.

Her friend didn't deserve something like that again. Amelia didn't even know if she could stop herself if she got started down that dark path. Her mental state was in an even worse state then it had been the first time she'd been here. The chair looked very comfortable for now.

Amelia noticed very few differences for the next few hours. The police still asked the same questions she barely had sane answers to. The doctors were completely puzzled by her brother's current condition. It was like watching a replay of a show you'd already seen. At least the emotional bits hit a little less hard since she knew they were coming.

It was late in the afternoon when Amelia finally decided to face the one thing she didn't know how to deal with yet.

Talking to Ina.

What should she say? What could she say without going haywire. What would she say?

This Ina had no memory of the future obviously, so she could try her best to act like nothing happened between them. She highly doubted that Ina wouldn't see through that, though.

And what about Gura? That could wait.

She knew Ina would still be waiting in the hospital's reception area. She wouldn't leave Amelia alone like this. At least not yet.

"Stop it, that wasn't her," Amelia mumbled under her breath. She needed to keep reminding herself of that as she walked towards the front of the hospital. It was kind of sad in a way.

"Ame!" Ina immediately noticed her when she entered the fairly large reception area. Amelia wasn't surprised.

"Hey Ina," she said plainly.

"Oh my god, are you ok? Sorry, I already asked that before. D-do you need a place to stay?" Ina was very quick to the point this time around. Amelia flinched as she realized that she hadn't really prepared herself to answer that question.

"U-uh, I need to think about it," she stuttered. Ina frowned.

"I mean, my place is open. I think it would be good for you," Ina offered. Amelia gritted her teeth in response.

"Stop thinking you know what's best for me," she said very quietly. Ina looked at her confused.

"What was that?"

"N-nothing." She hadn't really meant to say that out loud, but it looked like she had gotten away with it. Ina went back to looking concerned.

"Here, let's go out to my car and I'll just drive you to wherever you want to go." Ina grabbed Amelia's hand and tugged on it slightly. She knew it was a trap for Ina to get her to live with her, but she couldn't not go along with it.

If she truly wanted to fix everything here, she would need to reconcile with Ina sooner or later. She sighed as she was led out the doors towards Ina's car.

"Hey Ame, I invited someone over for a little. I hope you don't mind," Ina called out. Amelia knew it was coming, of course. Her memory of past, or future, events was pretty good still, even after a few days in the new timeline.

Amelia sat on her bed deciding how to react. How would she even approach Gura in the state she was in. She'd barely left her room whenever Ina was around, conversations between the two scarce at best. Her friend was nice enough to provide her with food and respect her privacy. But at some point, she was bound to ask Amelia why she was avoiding her.

"That's fine," she replied just loud enough so Ina could hear her. Should she even bother coming out to see Gura? Well that was barely a question. Gura was going to drag her out no matter what. She sighed and got off of the bed.

Ina looked like she'd seen a ghost when Amelia emerged from her room at long last. Amelia looked at her with indifference and sat down at the counter.

"So you've finally decided to come out?" Ina threw a double meaning joke out there.

"Not in the mood, Ina," Amelia snapped back. Ina let her expression fall.

"Oh, sorry. Do you need anything?" she asked hesitantly. Amelia shook her head.

"No." A very short and concise answer. Ina turned back to her phone with a sigh.

"It's Gura you know," she said, not looking back at Amelia. Amelia obviously already knew that, but tried to seem surprised.

"Oh really?" Ina now looked back over to her.

"Yeah, when I said you'd be here, she was very excited to see you again," Ina said with a bit more happiness in her voice than before. Amelia remembered how she had spoken to Gura before all of this had happened.

"We talked once and it was more of her just looking at me while I stumbled over my words…" Amelia tried to distract herself with her own phone. Ina smiled.

"Mhm, I can imagine having a hard time talking to her. She's just so cute!" Amelia shot up out of her seat and began to walk back to her room. Ina called out to her, but it fell of deaf ears. She still couldn't deal with that. She told herself that she would eventually, though. Eventually.

A soft knock emanated from her door soon after she had entered and closed it. Amelia really hoped this wasn't going to be an apology from Ina. Thankfully for her, it wasn't.

"You know, that was the longest conversation we've had since you got here," Ina's kind voice floated under and around the door.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Amelia replied.

"I'm glad you're feeling better now." That statement also ticked Amelia off. Ina was assuming how she felt based on her actions again. She wasn't feeling better, just more tolerant. "Hopefully, you'll come out and see Gura. She was really looking forward to that."

"She's just looking forward to seeing you," Amelia whispered to herself. Ina stayed for a moment longer at the door before leaving. The apartment got quiet again and Amelia was left alone with her thoughts.

Gura was going to try to drag her out no matter what, but would she let her? Any mention of her current situation would probably make Gura leave her alone. Maybe that was best.

There was a knock on the apartment door 45 minutes later. Gura had finally shown up. Amelia made doubly sure her door was locked. There was some chatter between the two outside before footsteps approached her door. She expected Gura's voice, but it was Ina's instead.

"Ame, Gura would like to see you again." Amelia shrank in on herself. Was she really going to avoid the girl she liked? It might even speed up her and Ina's eventual secret relationship.

"I'm not... feeling well," Amelia said depressingly. After a moment, Ina spoke back to Gura just loud enough for Amelia to hear.

"She's probably not going to come out. She hasn't been feeling well, so it's probably best to leave her- Hey Gura!" Footsteps moved at a very quick pace outside the door.

"Hey! It's me, Gura! How are you doing there?" Gura's hyper voice finally got a smile on Amelia's face. However, that smile quickly disappeared.

"Gura, she's had some difficult problems to deal with recently. She's not ready for a social event," Ina pleaded with Gura. Amelia didn't have a problem with social events right now, only ones that involved Ina. If it was only Gura…

"Just give me your phone number, Gura," she asked. She could tell Ina was surprised by Amelia's boldness. Gura didn't care.

"One second," she called back to Amelia. There was a bit of movement and some mumbling between Ina and Gura before something slid under the door. It was a note card. Amelia got up and picked it up.

The front was blank. She turned it over. Also blank. Was this some kind of sick joke? She tried to calm her nerves.

"Gura, there's nothing written on this."

"Huh," Gura responded, "What do you mean?"

"I mean-" Amelia started as she turned the card one more time. Except now there was a phone number and a heart written on it. "Oh sorry, I must have missed it…" she mumbled out an apology.

"Heh, I guess you really aren't feeling well. I'll try my best not to bother you. Feel better soon!" Gura's footsteps moved away from the door slightly.

"Wait," Amelia called out. Gura's footsteps stopped. "What compelled you to write it on a note card instead of just saying it?" Gura giggled outside of the room.

"It's more fun that way!" Gura's usual enthusiasm adorned her statement, making Amelia smile again. What a massive idiot. Amelia put the phone number into her phone and put the note card into her phone case. She wanted to keep this.

Amelia didn't come out of her room after all. She never even saw Gura's face that night. Many times throughout the night she wanted to, but every time she chickened out. The thought of confrontation with Ina, especially in front of Gura, kept her contained in her bubble.

Waking up the next day was far worse than her first time around. Gura was going to invite her and Ina out to bowl later on. She would need to ask first, otherwise she wouldn't be able to go.

She sent an early morning text to Gura, asking if she wanted to hang out later. It went unanswered for a few minutes before she got a response.

Gura - 'How did you know I wanted to hang out tonight again?!'

Amelia - 'Lucky guess. I'm feeling better now and wanted to hang out.'

Gura - 'I was thinking we could go bowling!'

The 'we' in that sentence caused Amelia to hesitate. She didn't want to tell Gura to not invite Ina, but she also definitely didn't want Ina there. Maybe she could subtly suggest it…

Amelia - 'Yeah, that sounds good. I was hoping it could just be us though.'

She slammed her phone into her forehead. Way to be subtle Amelia.

Gura - 'Why not be with Ina too?'

Amelia - 'She got you all of last night, now it's my turn.'

Nice save!

Gura - 'I guess she did. Oh well, we can all go out later then!'

Amelia - 'So what time and place?'

It worked out brilliantly. Amelia made an excuse to Ina about needing to go to the police station and denied having Ina drive her. She enjoyed being able to stretch her legs for the first time in a few days.

Gura stood at the front of the bowling alley entrance. She waved to Amelia when she saw her approaching.

"Amelia!" The cheerful tone made her feel incredibly at ease.

"Hey Gura!" she responded just and happily. "By the way, just call me Ame."

"Just like how Ina calls you. That's so cute!" Amelia's heart skipped a beat.

They walked into the building and got a lane to play in. Since Ina wasn't here, it might actually be a competition once Gura figured out how to bowl. Amelia saw Gura struggling to lift one of the balls from the rack.

"They're different weights," she called out, "You should probably use one that's a lot lighter."

"Maybe," Gura said as she tried once last time to pull the heavy ball up. Amelia laughed at her struggling. With a huff she finally gave up and took a lighter, blue colored ball. Amelia grabbed a golden ball at a weight she knew she could handle.

They bowled a few frames before Gura threw something that wasn't a gutter ball. Amelia applauded her as she took an exaggerated bow.

"You see, I told you I didn't need bumpers!" she said with a cocky grin. Amelia chuckled.

"Maybe, but you have to do that more than once to convince me." Gura tilted her head in thought.

"I still have another throw, right?"

"Yes, you get two per frame," Amelia answered. Gura smiled wide again.

"Then you're gonna watch me do that again!" She skipped back over to the lane and grabbed the ball. Amelia watched as Gura then proceeded to throw the ball straight into the gutter. The now very angry girl stomped back and slammed herself to her seat. Amelia tried her best not to laugh.

She went up and grabbed her own ball and threw it before she burst out laughing. It looked like a pretty good throw. Nice and straight, aimed at the space in between the first two rows of pins.

But then the ball changed directions. It rolled off to the left and crashed into the pins, creating a split. That was not what she wanted. Gura mocked her from behind.

"At least I can hit the pins," she shrugged. Gura pouted.

The rest of the night went fairly smoothly. Gura ended up getting two strikes in the second game again, getting close to Amelia's score. However, she still didn't beat her. They both wanted to go one more time, but it was getting late and Amelia had to walk back. She didn't want it to be pitch black out when she did, so they called it quits early.

Unfortunately, Gura's parents wouldn't be back for a while because of work. So Amelia just decided to walk back.

"I would've won that last game you know," Gura complained lightly.

"Sure, sure, but I still would be up 2-1," Amelia teased. Gura groaned.

"That's better than 2-0…" Amelia chuckled at Gura's expense.

Amelia and Gura said their goodbye's and Amelia started her walk back. It wasn't all that far, but now it was cold. She broke into a jog to warm herself up. Having on nonathletic clothes made it slightly uncomfortable, but it was better than being bone-cold the whole time. She got back to the apartment faster than when she had left because of the running as well.

She opened the door and was greeted by Ina with her arms crossed. It was a position she'd only even seen Ina in when she was incredibly pissed off. This wasn't good.

"So how was it?" What kind of question was that? Was she still mad about how Amelia denied getting a ride from her?

"It was boring. They just said they'll try and find them and a bunch of other crap." Ina looked at her with suspicion.

"You seem surprisingly happy to have just come back from a police station talking about your missing parents." This put Amelia on the back foot. Did Ina know something? Had Gura told her something?

"So? I'm just happy they're putting so much effort into looking for them."

"Seemed like you were disregarding what they were talking about when you said, 'and a bunch of other crap'."

Shit. Ina was figuring something out or having something confirmed.

"That's uncalled for Ina. Don't bother me like that."

"Fine, I'll just tell you. I know you didn't go to the police station tonight."

Fuck. She did know something.

"W-what are you talking-" Ina interrupted her.

"You were out bowling with Gura. She asked me when we should hang out all together." Ina held up her phone with her recent texts with Gura pulled up. There were multiple pictures of Amelia that she was unaware Gura had taken. Obviously Gura didn't have any malicious intent, but it made this situation a lot harder now.

"Ok, fine. I lied, I'm sorry. Can I leave now?" Ina didn't budge.

"That's not what you're here to apologize for." Amelia was confused.

"Then what?"

"Why are you avoiding me?" Ina glared daggers into her. She was very, very angry.

"I'm not avoiding you." Amelia's replies continued to be short on purpose.

"Don't lie to me. Ame you have barely come out of your room over the past few days, but the instant Gura gets involved you just run off to her. You even went behind my back and told Gura to not invite me."

Ina knew everything.

"Ina, just leave me alone. Go and do something else."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Should I go and get more food and shit for you? How much more do I have to do for you while you act like I exist?!" Ina screamed at her. Amelia felt the emotions she'd been stuffing down rising back up.

"Ina, I'm not feeling well right now. Can we not do this?" she pleaded and tried to push past her friend to get to her room. Ina moved into her path, blocking it.

"You didn't sound unwell just a bit ago or when you hung out with Gura. Just say you're avoiding me!" Amelia couldn't do this for much longer.

"I said before that I'm not avoiding you, Ina," she said, straining her voice to sound neutral. It was taking every ounce of the willpower she had left to not explode. Ina either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Bullshit! Stop lying and running away! Just admit it and let me help you!"

Snap.

"Fuck off Ina! Get out of my face!" she screamed back. Ina recoiled from Amelia in surprise.

"What has happened to you?" she said quietly. Amelia's anger didn't subside.

"What's happened to me?! My parents are fucking dead! Don't you think that would make someone a little bit emotionally unstable?!" Amelia raged.

"But why do you only act this way with me? What makes Gura any different?" Tears clung to the corners of Ina's eyes. Amelia simply stared at her as her mind raced to get an answer.

But the answer she wanted never arrived. Both Gura and Ina had gone behind her back. Why was Gura any different?

"Be-because…" Amelia's anger faded as the true answer dawned on her.

It was only because she liked Gura.

She hated Ina because she couldn't hate Gura. She was placing all of her negative emotions on Ina and both times one of them had broken because of it.

Ina slowly shrank into herself. Amelia took this opportunity to push past her and got into the room without Ina following her. She sat on the bed and put her head in her hands.

Are they destined to fight and fall apart?

"Why does time hate me?" she asked herself. Sobs began to rack her body and tears poured from her eyes soon after. Even though the door was still unlocked at this point, Ina made no attempt to enter.

Amelia cried hysterically for what felt like hours, but was probably only half an hour. When the tears finally began to recede, she thought about what she should do next. A weird, but familiar sensation sprung from her arm. She knew what it was without even looking down.

Her third arm was holding out the time watch again. It was a repeat of what had happened last time. Was she really going to do this all again? Amelia looked down and stared at her blurry arm.

'Why not?' she asked herself. Tears filled her eyes again.

"Because I'm not strong enough to fix all of this."

'Maybe I don't need to fix it, just avoid it.' It was a terrible thought. Completely avoiding her best friend, especially when she was in a time of need. Ina couldn't stop looking for her until she found her alive or dead.

'But does that matter?' She had a time watch. She was a time traveler. Her parents had run from the Priestess, not tried to fight it. She could do the same.

She barely even registered that her real arm now held the time watch as she clicked it. The world turned to a hazy purple around Amelia once again.

This time, her brother did not laugh when she arrived back in the past. There was an improvement at least. She called the police and soon she was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital again.

Her phone started to buzz incessantly. She knew it was Ina just like the last two times. But instead of answering or even just ignoring it, Amelia pulled up Ina's contact and blocked it. She did not want to deal with her again. They just weren't meant to be friends any more.

She tried her best to speed up the process at the hospital, so Ina couldn't catch her there either. The emotions were unsettlingly easy to deal with this time around. Was she becoming desensitized to her own problems?

The same police officer from the first time around offered to take her to a hotel. She accepted this time. The ride there was deafeningly quiet. Alone with her thoughts, Amelia thought about how she would probably never see Gura. Was that a good thing?

Ina and Gura were meant to be together apparently, much to Amelia's displeasure. Avoiding both of them might let her come to terms with that easier than being in the middle of it all. That was her hope at least.

The hotel room wasn't bad, just lonely. At least when she'd shut herself in with Ina, someone was still in the apartment with her most of the time. She would need to get food and hygiene products sooner or later. Probably not tonight though.

Sleep washed over her soon after she laid down on the bed. The police would bring her some clothes and other things from her house tomorrow. For now, she just needed sleep. Just sleep.

"buuuuut this wiiiiiiiill be!" A tentacle dropped from above Johnny aimed at his chest.

Amelia woke up with a start. A cold sweat drenched every inch of her body. It was so much more vivid than any other nightmare she'd had before. The feeling of terror still gripped her soul. Tears began to run down her cheeks.

It took a couple minutes for her to calm down. When she did, she saw what truly woke her from her sleep. There was an incessant buzzing from the nightstand next to her. She turned to see what her phone was doing.

For a moment, though, there were two phones plugged into two different chargers on the table. Amelia rubbed her eyes and the second phone disappeared. The sleepiness hadn't fully worn off yet apparently.

Displayed on her phone was a number she recognized. She took off her phone case and compared the note card in the back with the number on her phone. Sure enough, they matched perfectly.

Gura was calling her at 6am constantly. Ina must have gone to her after Amelia hadn't responded. So she was speeding up their eventual relationship. Amazing, incredible even. Hopefully they could be happy without Amelia in their lives.

She laid back onto the bed. Tiredness still grabbed at her body, but she didn't think she could go back to sleep any time soon. Especially with her phone still buzzing in her hand. If she hung up, then they would know she had access to it.

Was she trying to make it look like she had disappeared? No, not really. She just wanted to get away from them. Amelia pulled up Gura's number and held her finger above the block button.

But it felt nearly impossible to press. Once again, her feelings towards Gura made it harder to hate her than Ina. But she needed to cut both of them off. If she didn't, then there was just going to be another fight.

In the end, she couldn't get herself to do it. She instead just waited until Gura apparently got tired of calling. This took nearly half an hour, along with hundreds of texts. She refused to read any of them.

Instead, she decided to do some of that shopping she had thought about the night prior. She needed food especially, her stomach definitely agreed. Still wearing the same clothes as the previous day, she headed out into town.

She stopped by an actual place she could eat at first and stuffed herself. With her stomach no longer an immediate problem she could go shopping now. Never go food shopping on an empty stomach.

Just after she put the first item into her shopping cart, her phone rang. Initially, she thought it was Gura again. But after checking, she saw it was the police. She answered and told them what to bring to her hotel room and to give it to the front desk since she might be out. They said they would be delivered later that day.

Amelia finished packing her cart full of food and checked out. She made her way back to the hotel and dropped the bags onto the small counter. Now she just needed to wait for her clothes. It wasn't very pleasant walking around in the same clothes she'd been in since the incident.

Her stomach turned. Normally, she could've just talked to someone to help her with those thoughts, but now there was no one to talk to. It was for the best, though. At least that's what she told herself.

Amelia messed with her phone for the next few hours, trying her best to distract herself. However, it was hard to be entertained when she'd already seen all of these tweets and videos twice before. She still tried, otherwise she would start to think too hard again. Gura made no more attempts to contact her.

The police dropped off her stuff later like they said and Amelia picked it up right away. After she put them down, she felt the need to leave again. She didn't want to be on her phone in this cramped hotel room anymore. It felt like the walls were closing in.

She decided to go get more food. Why shouldn't she? The more food she has now, the less she would need in the future. She went back to the same store she'd been at only a few hours earlier.

Another cart and handful of bags later, she was on her way back. This time, the bags were mostly filled with candy and other sugary food. Maybe these would make her feel better. Honestly though, she was doubtful.

Along the walk back that felt way too long, a glint of purple in her peripheral vision caught her attention. She turned and sure enough, it was Ina. Thankfully, Amelia hadn't been noticed yet, but something was off.

Ina looked incredibly disheveled. It was almost as if she'd been up all night. The look in her eyes told a similar story. They were sunken in with massive bags. You would think she was a zombie if you didn't know any better.

Amelia's body wanted to run over to her, but her mind told her otherwise. She couldn't see her. It wasn't right. A terrible guilt filled her.

With a heavy heart, she turned and walked away before she was noticed. Arriving back at the hotel, it felt even emptier. She set the bags of food she'd gotten, not caring when one of them spilled its contents everywhere.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and finally opened the texts she'd been getting spammed with.

Gura - Hey where are you

Gura - We're really worried

Gura - Are you ok?

Gura - Ina misses you a lot

Gura - Please answer Amelia

After only a few, she had to put her phone down. Tears streamed down her face. Even though she hated the both of them so much, they still cared in this timeline. She'd hurt two innocent people.

Why was it so hard for her to understand that these weren't the same people? This wasn't even her own god damn timeline. Maybe she should just go back now. She pulled out her time watch and held it out in front of her.

Her finger hovered over the return button. A thick wall of guilt stood in between her and the switch. She couldn't get herself to push it. No matter how much she wanted to.

Her finger moved over. Well, it wasn't her finger. It was a destabilized finger sprouting from her hand. It hovered over the time travel switch. Another version of herself was wanting to go back one more time.

Why would she want to do that? This timeline was nothing but pain and she'd already messed around enough in the past. Was she missing something?

"Why…?" she asked in a weak voice. She knew the finger couldn't talk to her or even hear her, but it made her feel a little better.

'I deserve to be here. I hurt my friends, so I should be hurt, too.' The thought gathered itself inside her head. A nasty, self deprecating thought meant to put her down. 'Why do I try to feel better when I deserve to feel bad?"

"Because I don't want to feel bad."

'But I deserve it.'

"I'm wrong, I'm wrong…" Amelia slowly sat down and pulled her knees into her chest, "I don't deserve this."

'But I hurt them.'

"I know I did, but if I hurt myself too much I can't make things better."

'Does it have to be me that makes everything better?'

"Yes."

She had said when she originally went back in time, that she would try and feel better about everything here before she left. She hadn't even seen her brother once after the first hospital trip during the last loop.

Even though this was selfish, she had to do it. Hopefully then, she could fix what she'd done in her original timeline. Her real finger slid over to meet the destabilized one and pressed down on the switch.

Amelia Watson returned to the past once more.

Author's Note: This was one of the most challenging chapters for me to right on an emotional level. I wasn't crying or having panic attacks because it reminded me of my own life, don't worry about that. It was just so easy to start writing something depressing and then just keep going and going and going, until there was seemingly no way for Amelia to fix her problems. My mindset would not be strong enough to handle situation she is in right now, that's for sure.

Some clarification, whenever Amelia is talking to herself it is written like she's having a conversation. However, she isn't talking to a split personality or anything like that. It is simply her thinking out loud. I do this a lot actually, helps me think as well.

Now that Amelia has gotten through this slight depressive spiral, can she truly start her friendship with Ina and Gura again?
Also, what was that weird duplication thing?

Next Chapter: Let's be Friends Again

Any feedback/criticism is appreciated!