The moment the world reset was beautiful. Except it wasn’t. Nathan watched as everything around him became a flash of light. Almost within the same instant, the world reappeared, as if nothing had changed, though Nathan knew that was not the case. If he had blinked, he would have missed it. He mistook it for fatigue the first time, but he caught it the second time. The world had been reborn again.
But he knew Claire remembered everything and strangely, he did, too. This was the third reset, and all Nathan wanted to know was whether Claire would keep the extrasensory vision that he had given her.
And of course, he wondered where Aaron went. He didn’t return after the second reset. It was peculiar, but not of much concern.
Nathan knew things about the world that he suspected even Claire didn’t. Maybe she knew them, too, but he hadn’t had the chance to ask her yet. He wasn’t included in her adventures.
Nathan exited the abandoned quartz mine and walked across a rocky field in the dark of night. This was as good a time as any to return. He crossed the street to the Toyota dealership, fished a “soul” out of his pocket, and shoved it into the closest car. Nathan hated driving. He got into the backseat and had Ethan’s “soul” drive him back home.
The sun was peeking over the roofs of the houses across the street when he got home. His “mother” hadn’t noticed his disappearance, but that may have been a byproduct of the reset.
Nathan made it to school with plenty time to spare. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. None of the MTG kids looked at him funny. It was as if the entire flashlight incident hadn’t happened.
That was until Claire found him.
“Nathan. Nathan!” Claire shouted across the courtyard.
Nathan turned and immediately noticed the almost-healed cuts on Claire’s face. It had only been a few days since the incident, but Nathan thought the reset would have taken care of a few scratches. Her aura appeared gold, which was abnormal, to say the least.
He blinked and the wounds disappeared. “What? Oh. Hi, Claire.”
Claire ran up to him and in a sudden motion, grabbed his shirt. She was slightly taller than he was, and her cuts reappeared, making her look way more intimidating than she should have been. “Who are you? Answer me!”
Nathan wasn’t frightened. “There are no strings on me–”
Claire let go of him and a baseball bat came flying out from nowhere, hitting Nathan square in the head so hard he tumbled to the floor. His entire body burned in agony, and he couldn’t open his eyes.
He sensed Claire’s presence near his face. “Oh, no. You’re not going to ruin everything I’ve made as soon as I start,” she whispered. “You’re coming with me.”
Strong hands grasped his thin frame and Claire threw him over her shoulder. Why has no one stopped her? Nathan wondered.
“Claire,” Nathan managed with a heavy tongue. “Claire? Where are ya taking meh?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Claire answered. “We’re going to cure you of your ‘disease.’“
Disease? That probably referred to his immunity to the resets. “No,” Nathan slurred. He tried reaching into his backpack for his pocketknife. “No!”
“Shut up,” Claire said. “And stop calling me Claire.” Claire, or whoever she was, put her hand on Nathan’s forehead and soft darkness followed.
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