Robert came back for the last act. Even after everything my writer had done for him, he still came just to watch Aaron die. It seemed Robert wasn't completely sane after all. 731Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYLjUJ2Lfd
We all knew it was over. Though Cole was victorious, none of us felt even decent. There was no congratulatory yelp or even an acknowledgment of victory. Cole just jerked back from the body, numb. So were the rest of us. 731Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eWf7vvDne
"Aaron, get up," Jack said. "Come on, please." 731Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdH2PxRryI
Jason walked up to the body and tapped Aaron's arm. It was limp. "What the–"
"He's dead," Robert said with no embellishments. "Guys, he's not coming back."
"How do you know that?" Jack demanded, his clear blue eyes suddenly angry. I stepped back, worried that one of them might attack me.
Robert shrugged. "Shadow told me." He turned and faced me. "You're going to want to bury him, right?"
"Yeah," I nodded, my voice shaking uncontrollably. "There are some shovels in the lab."
Jason found the spare Hab canvas and we wrapped Aaron's body with all of it. Despite the fact that the sun was setting, we picked a place and buried him outside the Hab. We shoved a table like a gravestone to mark the spot and Cole wrote a 2001: A Space Odyssey quote along with Aaron's name. It didn't matter how hard it was to dig a decent-sized hole with tiny shovels while in full spacesuits, or how hard it was to keep a plastic table standing in Martian sand. It was the least we could do.
After paying our last respects, Robert grabbed us, minus Aaron, back to school where my writer had reversed everything on Earth. It was lunchtime, and the fire alarm hadn't been set off yet. We were huddled at the secluded staircase at the edge of the school. Everything had been restored. Well, except for that one thing.
"So now what?" Jason asked. Cole stared at his feet as if he still was unsure how he felt about killing Aaron. We sat in the sound of silence, dread filling the space between us.
"Well, we go back to being school students," I finally said, equally aware of Aaron's missing presence. Yes, he was gone, permanently dead. Yes, I knew it was ultimately my fault. But none of them would remember after this, so this memory was my burden, alone.
"Claire, you lied, didn't you?" Jack said. The anger had drained from his entire being an hour ago.
"I thought it would come true," I protested. "I didn't know this would happen! I thought–"
"Well, I believed you!" Cole screamed. It was the first thing he'd said since the battle. He didn't even talk during our "funeral" service.
"I know," I said. "I'm sorry. But I promised you'd win. And you did. Even though it was like this."
Though his face unreadable, Robert did his best to shrug. "You promised me he'd die."
Well, I did, but he shouldn't have known that. It was probably almost time for a reset. Our adventure had run to completion, anyway.
"So now what?" Jason repeated. The lunch bell rang loud and clear. Our entire impossible Mars adventure had lasted a little less than an hour in real time.
"We go to fifth-period," I announced.
"What about our powers?" Cole asked. "Do we keep them?"
I thought about it. We had lots of fun on Mars testing out our law-bending abilities, but we hadn't really lived with them. And it felt cruel to remove the only fun my friends had in the face of tragedy. "I say we keep them until around this time tomorrow. How's that?"
They nodded in agreement. We parted ways and I walked to my geography class. The rest of my day was a mask of pure fun over scathing guilt. It was the best I could do. Besides, after the reset, no one would know the real reason Aaron died. My writer would fill in the story somehow like she always did.
After school, I didn't bother to do homework. I just couldn't concentrate. None of it would matter after the reset, anyway. Instead, I spent my time trying to make everything I'd ever wanted. I fixed my busted Koss Porta Pros, created some LEGO bricks from garbage, and loads of other cool things I'd never bothered to buy. I almost wished I could keep the powers, but I knew from the start that they were temporary and only for this adventure. And honestly, even if my crew deserved to keep them, I didn't deserve them.
I don't ever watch the news, but I'm certain there were some pretty impossible events that evening. I understood. We were all doing anything we could to keep our minds off the real issue, the one thing I couldn't undo. The one person who didn't get to go home and play with his powers. And honestly, he had the coolest power. It was such a shame. I didn't hate Aaron that much. Maybe my writer did. Regardless, second-period was quite awkward the next day. 731Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MqDuEH1Su
Joey, Robert, Jack, and I stood at roll call. Cole was in a different P.E. class so he had to line up with his class. The four of us stood there, avoiding the spot at the end of the row where Aaron usually sat. We were quiet. Kisa noticed our unusual behavior, but we didn't tell her anything. Aaron's body still sat on Mars. Until the reset, there was nothing I could do to make things better.
Ms. E. split us up into teams to play volleyball. Usually, Robert was quite the loud character during volleyball, but today, he was unfocused as if he was only half-present.
"Hey, Bobby, where are you?" I asked, handing him the ball. "It's your serve."
He blinked, as if just noticing my presence. "I'm watching it," he said. 731Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ys14ZGMpM
"What?" I asked. The other players started to seem annoyed, waiting for us to move.
"I'm watching him," Robert clarified. "I'm watching him die."
Him. Aaron. "Why?" I asked.
Suddenly, my hearing and my vision fell out of sync. I heard the volleyball smack before I saw it hit the ground. It was extremely disorienting. It took me a moment to realize that the speed of light was suddenly slower than the speed of sound. "How did you do that?" I asked. "It's impossible…" The speed of light was the cosmic speed limit. There was no way the speed of sound could be faster than light… unless my writer decoupled the cosmic speed limit from the speed of light before giving the power to Robert in order to ensure stability in the universe. But Robert showed no interest in playing with the speed of light. "…and why now?" 731Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDyjc0XEap
Robert leaned into my ear, whispering. 731Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfNG3pkk6KV
"The same reason I do anything. Because it's fun." 731Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XEwwFq7jP
