that raffle thing [ WINNERS ANNOUNCED COME CLAIM ]

A Day Without Blinking

Katio was not particularly pleased that his dreams were full of the Paradox House. He hadn’t been there for over a month now and his head was working overtime to make up for it. He’d never gone more than a week without seeing Ciel, Ammy, or Arlo. It was killing him.
He sighed and clambered out of bed. After brushing his hair and teeth he stared into the mirror for a couple of minutes.
“Huh, no heists, no school, no House,” he said. “I’m starting to die of boredom.” His head rested lightly against the mirror until his breath misted up the refection.
He could work on his notebook again, remember more doors for the House’s hallways. Try and figure out a pattern. But he’d been doing that for the last three days and his head hurt with trying to remember details.
“I wonder if any of the blinkers are in history books?” he asked out loud. He’d looked up British History before so he could better disguise himself as Ciel Phantomhive, but that had been almost a year ago, now.
Turning away from the mirror he slipped on a pair of shoes and headed downstairs. He could have looked them up online, but he really need to move, so going to the library would be more interesting.
“Hey! Kaaatioo!” called a voice.
“Uhhh,” groaned the thief. “What is it? And can’t you knock?”
His classmate and friend, Aoko Nakamori, stood in the doorway. In her hands, she carried a covered pot.
“Gee Katio, I come over to give you lunch and you don’t even say thank you?” Aoko frowned at him, face flushed in annoyance. “I’ll give it to as stray cat next time.”
“Fine, fine,” said Katio, taking the pot from her hand and setting it on the kitchen counter. “Now.” He held out a hand. “Next time, leave the stray cat outside.”
“Huh?” said Aoko, looking at Katio’s outstretched hand with a confused face.
Katio turned his hand over and a small plastic cat was balanced on the back of it. Aoko looked surprised, but wasn’t overly impressed. This was Katio, after all.
“Anyway,” said Katio. “I was thinking of going to the library. So I’ll have to leave the pot here.”
Aoko looked surprised. “You? At the library?”
“I can read you know,” said Kid. He was starting to get annoyed.
“I just can’t imagine you sitting quietly at a table, looking through a book,” said his classmate with a little laugh.
Kid glared. “What?” asked Aoko.
Katio grabbed her hand and dragged her out the door. “Where are we going?” she asked as she was pulled along.
“Doing research,” said Katio, with a serious face for once.
“On what?” asked Aoko.
Kid thought about that for a second. “Um, I’m looking up someone named Arlo Crimson.” It was the first name that came to mind.
Aoko’s eyes narrowed. “Who’s that?” she asked. He voice was full of suspicion. “You aren’t a stalker are you, Katio.”
Kid just looked at her. “Um, no? Why would you think that?”
And yet, he kind of was. But wanting to find out more about the characters in the House couldn’t be wrong, could it?
Aoko blushed, but didn’t apologize.
Finally, they reach the large building that functioned at the nearest library. Kid took the steps two at a time and Aoko was dragged along. “Slow down,” she complained.
“You should speed up!” said Kid. A librarian looked up and glared at him as he trotted in threw the door. He said, “No running inside.” To which Aoko gave Katio an ‘I told you so’ face.
“Sorry,” whispered Kid, cringing a little. He didn’t like being singled out. “Uh,” he raised a tentative hand. The librarian raised a corresponding eyebrow. “Yes?”
“Can you tell me if you have any information on someone?” asked the thief.
“Like who?” asked the man.
“I’m supposed to do a study about woman in other countries,” Katio invented fast. “It’s for a Summer class. Well, you get given a name of someone random. Then you have to find out what the person did by yourself.” He walked up to the desk. The librarian looked a little suspicious, but didn’t say anything.
“Um, can you tell me if you know about anyone called Arlo Crimson?” the thief asked, sweating.
The librarian clicked a couple of keys on his computer then looked up with emotionless eyes. “Nothing. Sorry.” He didn’t sound like he was. Kid was to embarrassed to ask anything else. He just turned around and walked back out of the library.
Aoko trotted after him, uncharacteristically quiet. Then, “What in the world was that about!”
“Nothing!” said Katio back. He was to embarrassed that he hadn’t thought of a plan past the library door. And that even if any information could be found about the blinker it would be harder to locate than just asking a librarian.

Toxic Karma

“You can’t think that the border will hold, do you?” asked Ashall. “Gloria’s troops will raze it.”
“Do you doubt my strategy, deputy?” asked the WindClan leader. She looked down the hill. It had been years since WindClan had seen their old territory and she was smiling as she saw how Rattlesnake had run it into the ground. The moor was empty of prey and even the wild dogs no longer entered the area. The paranormals had destroyed their own food source by over hunting and had scared the dogs away, clearing out almost every chance to thin their overpopulation.
To the WindClan leader this was karma catching up to the paranormal’s leader.
“All we have to do is use his own plan against him. Our warriors in their midst will kill as many of the occupiers as possible. And then we will strike.”
She turned away from her old territory. She had only been a young warrior when Rattlesnake had taken over the lake territory. She had watched him kill a leader on their last life. Watched his own medicine cat use his StarClan cursed powers on her brother.
She closed her eyes and hissed. “This will be for my brother and my mother. We have to eradicate every paranormal from the face of this earth, before they can use whatever powers they have to destroy what is left of us.”
Ashall, who had renounced his warrior name, like so many of them, looked doubtful. “But Gloria…”
“That cat may be the leader of Rattlesnake’s army, but she is still WindClan!” yelled the leader, her eyes back. She didn’t look at Ashall. “She will die in her place just like the rest of the cursed. But for now, she will not attack her old clanmates.”
Ashall’s ears were laid back now as well. He was a little doubtful about following this leader. She clearly was a little…crazy. But he had to agree that Rattlesnake needed to be defeated. He was dangerous and the warrior could still remember when he had killed the old leader.
“I’ll…just go tell the rest of the clan then,” he said, hoping to get away from his insane leader.
“Do that,” snapped the leader. Ashall slunk away, trying to make sure she didn’t notice him again.
Maybe we can get through this without her, but the clan is very loyal. Even if she dies in battle they might not follow me.
The wind gusted down the hill as Ashall walked down to the small tunnel entrance. He was glad they hadn’t made camp on this gusty hill. The clan hardly fit in the old tunnels, but at least they were out of view from any paranormals that were hunting out here.
“Hey,” said the guard, Matchstick. His red fur was bright against the green, but Ashall just nodded to him. He had clearly taken his mate’s place as a guard, even though his pelt color was to easily seen.
Ashall wasn’t in the mood to reprimand him.
He looked down into the main room of the tunnel and sighed. “Windclan, we attack today.”
















Agruparse 1 (To form a group)
la pandilla 1 (A group of Friends)
agrupar 1 (To bring together)

el solitario 1 (male loner)
la solitaria 2 (female loner)

enemigo 1 (enemy)
la libertad 1 (freedom)

Life and Freedom and Our Greatest Enemy:

Waking up in Sable’s Museum was like waking from sleep. It would be the only rest I would truly get throughout my whole stay here. I’d wandered around the hallways for a little, trying to make sense of the note that had been by my bed. That’s when I ran into the others.

We had nothing in common and very few of us where even from the same world. But here, we shared everything. We wanted out. We wanted our lives back or to move on.

But all the note said was that we were trapped here. We had no escape.

The smartest, or possibly the most reckless, hit the glass that divided us from others who were also trapped here. Glass fell everywhere as her robot hand flew through.

And that’s when our captor appeared. He glared out at use from the glass, the hole that Charm had punched right where his eye would be.

His face was dark, not in skin color, but like he was made of shade. He seemed a little annoyed to find his monitor cracked. ‘So, you’ve taken to destroying my museum in anger?’ he asked. His eyes didn’t meet any of ours.

‘Well,’ said Charm. ‘If you insist on not giving us a way out of this blasted place, I’ll just punch another hole in your head!’

Sable’s eyes swiveled in her general direction. ‘Is it my fault that my invention shifted you here upon your death?’

‘Yes!’ said a boy who I had yet to learn the name of. Later it would be revealed that he called Diggery Hodgekin.

Sable frowned down at us. By now, the other side of the mirror was also full of people. One stared daggers at Helena Drake, like she was somehow to blame for his being here.

Finally, Sable spoke again. ‘Fine. It’s not like I like having you around. I leave you notes explaining why you are here and you ask for more. Fine. You will be here until you can do one of three things. Find my invention and use it to get home, back to the living. Fight your greatest enemy and I’ll use the invention on the survivor. Or accept the hand Fate has dealt you and find one item in my museum which will let you move on. Those are my options.’

‘Why are you playing these games,’ I ask. Once again, his eyes didn’t meet mine, but he seemed to look in my direction. Was he blind?

‘Because,’ he answered. ‘I am trying to keep my world going. My invention allows that. You seem to be what it needs to survive. Leave, and you are free. But the invention will simply bring in more people to furnish its needs.’

Charm looked disturbed at this. Most of us did. ‘So, as simple as that?’ asked a boy on the other side of the wall.

‘Yes,’ said Sable. His image disappeared from the glass. Someone shouted at him and Charm even punched the glass again. But Sable would not return until the first battle.

Until then, we just chose our paths. It was the only options. Some of us wanted to work in groups, others alone. And others, whether they had made friends here or not, couldn’t set aside their hate for each other.

That’s when the first battle took place.


---
I don’t remember how long we had been exploring the museum. Any people had started out picking up any and every item that they could get their hands on. That didn’t last long.


‘AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!’ Something exploded. Someone, Helena, was shot backwards over a Japanese dividing screen. Her hands sparked like they held lightning. She didn’t stop moving until she fell into a pile of dragon statues. Luckily, they seemed to be normal and unmagical.


‘What happened?’ asked Charm. She didn’t seem to worried, but she did walk over.


Helena’s hand sparked again. ‘I…I just put on a pair of shoes!’ she said, trying to get up.


That’s when we noticed she was wearing a pair of fancy white shoes, which now had interesting smoke, pail cream in color, coming out around the corners.


‘You should probably take them off,’ said Charm.


‘I…don’t think I can,’ said Helena as she tugged at the edges.


That’s when we all learned the most valuable lesson in Sable’s Museum. Don’t touch anything unless you had to. Though Helena learned to use her new power, it was at a cost.


‘Ohhh,’ crackled the voice of Sable one day. ‘Miss Helena Drake and Feltre Grimard have chosen my second option, it would seem.’


Lightning arched down the left-wing hallway. A soon as it hit what remained of the glass wall (we had taken it down after we learned others could help us on that side) it crackled and spat like it was trying to eat at the glass.


Feltre could just be seen ducking into the museum. Helena charged down the hall and shouts rose from a room every now and again that she was making a mistake.


But she didn’t listen.


Me, Charm, and may others followed in her wake as fast as we could. Helena shot off another bolt and it nearly hit Feltre in the head. He ducked down behind some of the junk we had pulled into the hallway and grabbed something at random.


Someone gasped. We all knew how dangerous that was. Helena wasn’t the only one who had gained new abilities. Not all of them had been good. Jasper, who was supposed to be a mage, had ended up losing an eye and an ear to a flute that played, not music, but fire. The werewolf, Angua von Überwald, had nearly died when a clock had turned out to be a timebomb. Someone was also wondering around, invisible and unable to speak. We just hoped he was still around somewhere.


But Feltre seemed to have grabbed a normal item. He cursed and tossed it at Helena. She sent a bolt at it and it fried mid-air.


Feltre picked something else up, a small stone, and this time water spread around him, slowly. The puddle grew and seemed harmless enough. Only it was the wrong item at the wrong time. Feltre knew it too. Helena aimed her arm at him and an electric current flew from her hand, striking Feltre in the chest.


The sound of clapping echoed over the loudspeaker and I stared upward in disgust at the invisible Sable.


‘Well done, Helena. You have won your freedom.’ Helena didn’t look very happy about this, her face a grimace. But she nodded.


We turned our heads back to her as she simply vanished. It was the first time we had seen someone get out of here. That didn’t encourage me or Charm, but others started looking to each other and whispering.


It was possibly to escape the museum.


We worked harder after that. Small groups became large groups to cover more ground and some split to cover wider areas. Some of us started camping out in the museum, which seemed endless, and didn’t return to the hallways for long periods of time. One question our minds where what Sable would allow. Would groups be allowed to leave or only a single person. There were fights and arguments.


Then someone found the item later called Freedom. It was death in a box. She was a single player and disappeared off the main paths for a long time. Then she returned holding a box with intricate marking on it and opened it in front of all of us. Then she disappeared just like Helena.


‘She found what she was looking for,’ said Sable. ‘She found death.’ We stared at the box in surprised. A man tried to reach for it only for it to disappear.


‘Nope,’ said Sable. ‘She chose to be a single player. You must find it again to win your freedom.’


And the search continued. Freedom was found twice more. Once by another single player and again by a group player. The group player, Jasper, who looked like he was very tired, took every other group player who was looking for it with him.


That left one single player, looking for Freedom, a bunch of group players looking for their own lives back, and five single players looking to return to life.


‘We’ve looked for so long,’ grumbled Diggery.


‘Stop griping,’ growled Charm.


But we had been searching for a very long time. Many of us were getting discouraged. We didn’t even know what we were looking for, unlike our counterparts looking for Freedom. ‘We have to be missing something,’ said Miss von Überwald. ‘Some item that we’ve overlooked.’


The museum was huge, but at least the items we found didn’t seem to move around. We had search the museum from both ends. We had searched until Diggery had found the connecting pathway between the two wings.


‘Well, what can we do?’ I asked. ‘We don’t even know how to work half the things we find. If they do anything to begin with.’


I turned my head to look at the small group. We were in one of the furniture rooms, which was here we’d dragged a couple of the chairs from the bedrooms and had found a few other non-magical house items that could be used in a sort of war room. Our war against Sable and his museum.


‘Should we risk just grabbing anything new we find?’ ask Ryogo Nagitsuji.


‘Ill-advised,’ said von Überwald. ‘Even though we are dead, we can risk getting injured. You know how dampened magic we had in our world is. If Sable is to be believed, it took me three of my world’s weeks to heal from that clock. We’ll just lose time if someone is badly, or even deathly, injured.’


Ryogo couldn’t seem to fault her logic. ‘Then we continue as usual? We still have to find Freedom for Diggery and make sure that Aleksander Spasky, Heart Fellowship, Toichi Kuroba, and Fleture get their hands on the very item we still haven’t found.’


Toichi, who rarely inputted anything in these meetings, played with a pen in the corner. But, to everyone’s surprise, he did speak this time. ‘Freedom should be easy enough to find. We should probably find it first. Then we track down our lives, giving the item to the single players, as it will be harder for them to find it if all the group players disappear.’


This made sense, but we still need to find the items. Charm and I exchanged a look.


‘Hum, maybe if we all started relooking through everything for Freedom. Nobody ever said that it reappeared in a part of the museum we haven’t been in yet.’ This was another statement inputted by Toichi. I was rather surprised. How hard had he been listening these past few meetings? He never really seemed to be paying attention.


Yusaku, another person who always seemed to rarely input ideas, spoke up. ‘I agree. We should also assume that the item that will return us to life won’t be as easy to use as that death box.’


Many of us wondered if Toichi and Yusaku knew each other after that, but we did start looking better in the places we had already looked.


Then Toichi went missing. We almost didn’t notice.


Yusaku noticed the box first. Freedom was just inside the hallway. A place it hadn’t been yesterday. When me and Charm found him, he was holding, eyeing it sadly. ‘I think I know what happened to Toichi,’ he said.


‘What?’ asked Charm.


‘Well,’ said the author and he held the box. ‘I can hold this because I’ve chosen to return to life. Also, unlike Toichi, I chose to work in a group.’


‘Get to the point!’ Charm snapped.


‘Toichi lied about that path he chose,’ said Yusaku. ‘He chose Single Player search for Freedom. This meant that as soon as he touched the box he disappeared. The person who first found it probably chose Group, but left by herself. Toichi had no chose but to use his own ‘life’ to let use find Freedom for Diggery.’


Charm didn’t seem to understand but my eyes grew wide as it slowly started to sink in. You couldn’t change your path, so Toichi had chosen to help us anyway, in the only way he could.


‘He must have found Freedom somewhere. He didn’t want to risk leaving again to find Diggery or someone who’d chosen another path. He could lose it again, considering this museum. So, he triggered it. He died so that Freedom would move to another location. He knew that it would be easier to find this time around.’ This was just my guess, but Yusaku nodded as if he agreed.


‘Probably, knowing him. What I can’t understand is why he chose that path…’ His eyes were sad, like he had lost a friend. Whether they had known each other in life or not didn’t matter. I had grown attached to Charm, and before her, Helena. So, I knew the pain of losing a friend you had been through so much with.


‘We’re getting out of here,’ I growled. ‘Take that to Diggery. Call another meeting.’


Charm nodded her agreement. She looked up and shouted at Sable, even though it had been a long time since he had said anything. ‘Hear that! You’ve let to many people die. I don’t care about whatever chances you’ve given us. We won’t play by your rules and we won’t play as your pawns!’


The meeting was to tell everyone that we needed to focus on looking for our lives. It was an item in this museum, somewhere. We no longer had to look for Freedom, we had to look for Sable’s Life.


‘I’ll take Heart and Yusaku to search the left wing,” said Ryogo leaning on the center table. ‘Charm’s taking the rest of you guys to check the right wing.’


I stood up, ‘I’m taking Spasky and a couple more volunteers to search deeper in. Miss von Überwald, could you join us to make sure nothing become animated?’


Angua von Überwald nodded, standing. Her skill as a werewolf was invaluable here. Every now and again statues or models would jump to life. She could usually stop them and Spasky could also be quite handy with anything human-like.


‘We’re just looking for anything we haven’t experimented with. Make sure a group player touches it first if you aren’t 100% sure you don’t want to leave the museum at once. Come straight back if you get injured and Mimosa Vermillion will heal you. If you find any useful items than bring them back into the parts of the museum we’ve already explored.’


This really seemed all there was to say. It was our last resort and people would get very hurt out there. I took my group out and hoped that we would be spared any more pain.


Ryogo’s group had the most luck. They returned with possible items. Ours nearly died. Agua von Überwald sat on a table, her arm in sling. I sat on the floor having a nasty scratch on my head treated.


‘Any luck?’ I asked as Ryogo and Charm came in. Charm shook her head and Ryogo looked a little disappointed. ‘My group found a few useful items and a couple of possibles. What about you? Is everyone alright?’


My face soured. ‘Yah, we are alive. Spasky is the worst. He nearly lost his head.’


‘What happened?’ asked Charm.


‘You wouldn’t have read a book called the Pit and the Pendulum, would you?’ I asked.


Charm shook her head, mystified.


‘Well,’ I said. ‘The guy in there had it easy. We ran into an item which summons invisible knifes that hunts anyone near it until it tastes blood. I’m lucky it just scratched me head.’ I pointed at the scratch, even though Mimosa Vermillion protested that I was interrupting her treatment.


‘Ouch,’ said Ryogo.


After that, we continued hunting recklessly. Mishap after mishap happened, but everyone was to tired to care. And finally, finally our search payed off.


‘There’s a window over here!’ called Heart.


‘Huh?’ I asked, coming over. ‘But I didn’t think this place had an outside.’


‘You can’t see through it,’ said Heart. He was looking doubtfully through black glass at nothing. The window was set low in the wall and it was just wide enough for a person to squeeze through it.


‘Can it be opened?’ I asked leaning down to try and look through it as well.


Heart shrugged and tried to see in any lock or switch was along the top, sides, or base. Finally he pressed something and something gave a small click. ’Well,’ he said. ‘That should do it.’


I pushed up on the window until it was fully open. When I looked down at Heart he was staring wide-eyed out of it. ‘What is it?’ I asked, trying to look down into it without letting go.


Heart reached out his hand until his fingers reached past the window. “Ah,” he said, as if understanding…and then he dissolved into the window.


I stared in horror, wondering what sort of trap Heart Fellowship had gotten himself into. Someone chuckled and I dropped the edge of the window. It banged shut and then it too dissolved.


Sable! ‘So,’ I growled. ‘We found the exit.’


Now that we knew what we were looking for, we all thought it would be easier. But I knew, and so did Charm, that the window had taken several weeks to find and might take several more. It was all up to chance and luck (or possibly Sable) where our Life would land. So we searched.


‘Found it!’ crowed Ryogo. Me, the group players, and the few remaining single players followed his voice. ‘Step up, single players,’ he said. Aleksander Spasky and Fleture stepped forward, but Fleture looked like she wanted to do everything but go. ‘Let Spasky go,’ she said. Her eyes didn’t shift from Ryogo.


It was almost painful to watch. Dead by Freedom or by your greatest enemy was almost easier. But it was clear that Fleture’s and Ryogo’s connection ran deeper than friendship. Only, they came from different world and as soon as Fleture or Ryogo reached their hand past that glass they would lose each other forever.


Spasky was the one who ended up returning to life and Fleture hugged Ryogo close. I turned away, unable to look at them anymore. It was hard to face the fact that after so long I would be losing then as well. The window home had disappeared, but we would find it again and only one more person stood in the way of leaving this place behind.


Later, I sat in ‘my’ room with Charm. The rooms had become more personal as time had gone on and I started to feel more and more like it was my home. Somehow, before Helena had returned to her would, me and Charm had found a working camera. In that photo, we were all together, all smiling, hoping to get out of here.


‘It’s hard, isn’t it,’ said Yusaku. He was leaning on the doorframe, like he had always been there. ‘We’re all going to end up in different worlds and times. We won’t see each other again.’


I was surprised when the tears started to fall. Neither Charm or Yusaku said anything and I didn’t look up. What could I say? They had all become my friends and slowly I was losing them.


‘If it’s any help,’ said Yusaku after a while. ‘I’ll write about you.’


I blinked a couple of times. What did that even mean? I knew he was an author, but why was that any help at all.


‘Look,’ said Yusaku. ‘Never in my life have I made such good friends as the ones here. Writing to you, writing about you, for an author it means you’ll never forget. If I can know your safe, even in my head, it will mean so much.’


I blinked a few more tears. ‘Yah, I guess I can see that.’


Charm snorted, but still looked flattered.


‘Something tells me,’ Yusaku continued. ‘That we’ll find each other again. After all, we crossed worlds to get here, by Sable’s doing or not. We’ll see each other again.’ He pushed himself off the doorframe and strolled out into the hallway. Both me and Charm looked after him. I wonder if she felt just a little bit better about all of this.


Later, Ryogo and Fleture hugged one last time before Fleture pushed away with tears in her eyes. She reached out her hand, stretching her fingers out beyond the boundaries. But I noticed that her other hand was still held in Ryogo’s. She faded into the window and we all watched as it once again disappeared.


Now all that was left was to find it once more and we all would leave this trap of an afterlife.


Many of us no longer wanted too. Angua frowned at all our faces. ‘Your forgetting what we’ve given up so far, you can’t honestly want to stay here, can you.’


Yusaku shook his head. ‘No, they don’t. But it is hard to leave a new family. It is hard to continue living a life that you have left for so long.’


Ryogo looked like he would have chosen Freedom at this point. But you could only follow one path. After that, the choice was made for you.


Angua led the way back to the hallway. We walked through it, heading for the left wing. Ryogo trailed behind us like a balloon, like he wasn’t in control anymore. Even Yusaku, who had put on such a front of keeping our spirits up, looked tired and worn.


Though time doesn’t exist in the Museum, it seemed to take us a short amount of it to find Life. It was like Sable wanted to kill us on the inside if not the outside.


‘I take it we’re all leaving,’ said Charm. She lightly placed her hand under the window and lifted it up. She held out her hand and I took it. Yusaku took mine and Ryogo took his. It continued in this chain until Angua was the only one with a free hand. With that, she reaches out and pushed her fingers under the window. I don’t know if we all closed our eyes, but I did. We, the last group players of Sable’s Museum, were saying goodbye to each other. Yusaku’s hand disappeared from mine and I knew that soon mine would disappear from Charm’s.


And then, I think I faded. Next thing I knew, the patter of raindrops fell against my face. Sirens could be heard in the distance and someone was shouting. My eyes opened and I blinked up to see my mother, phone in hand, repeating my name over and over. I seemed to be laying on the road, a car a couple of feet away was smoking, having hit a light post.


The driver was standing near the car, rapidly talking into his phone as well. ‘Yes! Yes! I think they’ve just come to! But they hit their head so hard I thought they had died!’


My head did hurt, come to think of it. The world around me was blurry, but I didn’t seem to be on death’s door or anything like that. From the way the driver was talking…


My…dream? My dream came back to me and I tried to sit up. ‘Charm?’ I muttered.


My mother protested, trying to push me back. The ambulance pulled up just then and I was rushed to the hospital. After that, everything was a blur. The doctors said that I was very luck, I had nearly been hit and had had a major concussion. But that I seemed to be doing fine now. I told no one of my dream. It was just too weird.


But then visiting hours came and this time my mother brought my phone with me. Mystified, she passed it to me. On the screen was a picture marked with the date, and even the time, of the accident. And I mean down to the second.


It was a picture of about twenty people all standing in a hallway. One person made a peace sign and a few of them looked to be wearing cloths and costumes out of book genres and medieval times. But then I looked closer. There I was, in the center, smiling. Not wearing a hospital gown, not looking beat up and tired. Beside me were two girls, one with what looked like a robot arm and the other with electric sparks dancing between her fingers.


Charm, I thought. And Helena. I clutched the phone tight. I had no idea how it had gotten on here, but somehow, that picture taken with the old camera had made it over.


‘What’s this?’ asked my mother, confused.


I was looking through all the new messages. Some were from worried friends, but one, one dated the day of my accident, had no name attached.


I opened it and all it said was. You forgot something. It wasn’t signed. But it seemed to have the tone I was so used to hearing over invisible loudspeakers. I almost laughed. ‘It’s a gift,’ I said and closed the phone. Something told me that I would never lose this picture. My phone could get run over or dropped out a window, but I knew that it would always appear somewhere else.


Yusaku had his writing. I had this.


‘You look happy,’ said my mother. ‘But your crying.’


I reached up and touched my face. I hadn’t realized I was. ‘Yah,’ I said. ‘I…I think I might just have lost something nice. But it’s not really gone, if you get what I’m saying.’


She didn’t, but she didn’t speak of it again. She just reached down and hugged me. I hugged her back, holding onto that phone with all my might.


Yusaku was right. I’d see them again. Somewhere, somehow.


Another message popped up on the phone, also unmarked. I wondered if Sable could somehow read my mind or see into my world.


Once you enter a museum you leave with wisdom if you are wise. Once you make a friend you keep them if you are wise. Once you fight an enemy you beat them if you are wise. Once you make a choice you keep it if you are wise.


Those who visited Sable’s Museum leave it with courage. I look forward to seeing what you do with it.


Until we are under the same sky again.


Unknown username.





























Alternate ending:
Yusaku:

The bullet the beam just beside his head. Yusaku looked over and ducked. He really should stop getting into police business, it had nearly gotten him killed this time.


A police officer tackled the assailant and his partner stared at the author in shock. ‘I could have sworn it was going to hit you, sir.’


Yusaku straightened his tie. He’d escaped death before, but that had seemed closer than usual. ‘Don’t worry yourself about it,’ he said as he continued to walk down the street. Most police officers here knew who he was by now, so they could bring him in for questioning later.


As he walked his phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out. He felt like he was forgetting something, but what was it?


A live news broadcast started to play on his phone and the author froze. It was a horrifying scene, what the news showed. The message above the announcer read ‘Famous Magician Toichi Kuroba Killed in Terrible Accident’. The phone grew slack in Yusaku’s hand. Not only did his wife train under this very magician but he was also Yusaku’s…friend…


Where had that come from? wondered the man. He looked down to see who had sent the broadcast, but it was unmarked. But a message read under it:


? asked the thief. ! answered the detective. Friends are hard to find, Yusaku, don’t forget. Remember gifts given in a museum.


Yusaku turned off the phone, memories coming back. With it came ideas for books unwritten. He looked up at the sky, out of habit from the Museum, and said quietly, ‘Thank you.’



Ryogo:


Tears were in his eyes when he woke up in the hospital. He could still see Fleture’s eyes on him, still see her face. He remembered everything and it hurt so much. His friends were around him, but he could hardly see them or hear what they were saying.


He turned his head away, not meeting anyone’s eyes. His eyes fell on a chart that was propped on a chair. The chair was empty and the clipboard rested on it. He reached out a shaky hand, wondering how he was doing. But when he looked at it his eyebrows furrowed. In red a heart was sketched out. Inside it was a detailed drawing of Fleture.


Ryogo didn’t know if Sable could draw, but this looked like his handiwork. Below, scrawled in spidery writing, was the words: 1 in a set of 2.


Ryogo clutched the picture to his chest even as the others asked about it. He closed his eyes and shut the world out. It didn’t matter what Sable gave him or what he tried to mend.


Ryogo would never forgive him.




---


“They say your darkest thoughts are your truest thoughts”
“Why do you say that mother?”
“Because darkness lies in all our hearts.”
“Not yours, mother, never yours.”
“Even mine dear. I had a weak heart once, I love two cats.”
“But love is good, mother!”
“But neither really loved me, darling.”
“Does that matter?”
“It mattered to me, love.”
“Why didn’t they love you?”
“Because one had already fallen for someone else and he could never see love in any she-cat’s eyes.”
“Who was that, mother?”
“Your father, my Will.”
“…”
“Adopted father, Will. You are no blood relation to him.”
“And the second?”
“One of your father’s warriors. He was kind to me, but I didn’t see until it was too late that kindness is not love.”
“How were you too late?”
“I had you, my darling.”
“…”
“Don’t look at me like that, Will. I never said that I didn’t love you. By too late I meant that I had fallen in love with a tom who did not share my feelings. And because of that, you now hold a curse in your paws.”
“What curse mother?”
“You were born immortal. Immortal and invincible.”
“But you are that way too, mother.”
“Not born that way, dear. This was a gift. But I never knew that I would have you.”
“How am I cursed, mother?”
“You will never have kits, never die, never feel great pain.”
“…”
“How is that a curse, mother?”
“…”
“Maybe you’ll see more when you are older, dear.”
“Maybe…”