riverrun Vol. 47

Katie sat on the bed next to me and said, “If you came back to this day just to
save me, that honestly means so much to me.” I heard her take a deep breath.
“What date was it?”
My head looked away from my phone, and my eyes looked at the wall in front of
me. “O-October 2nd.”
“Wow…”
We sat there, hearing my clock on the wall behind us tick away. A few times the
ticking was interrupted by one of us sniffing.
“Look, dude.” She said with her voice cracking. “This isn’t right. You have to go
back. Maybe I’m meant to die—”
“No. there has to be another way. There has to be a way the three of us can still
be here. There has to be, there has to be.”
She shook her head. “I’m okay with dying if that is what needs to happen.”
“No. I’m not going to choose—”
Katie reached over my lap, and tapped the link. Before I could turn to her and
react, I saw darkness all around me. Katie disappeared and the email disappeared.
The sun was no longer shining through my window. I checked my phone
for the date. October 2, 2017.
I was sitting on the side of my bed again like I was earlier. Slowly, I turned my
head next to me to see Vienna resting her palms in her cheekbones.
“Are you gonna do it?” She said not breathing through her nose.
The tears that I thought were frozen inside of me began pouring again for one last
time. I felt my phone slip out of my hands and heard it thud against the carpeted
floor. My sobs ran from me uncontrollably, and I felt Vienna’s warm arms wrap
around me.
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