My heartbeat refused to slow.
I still felt the cold of that room on my skin.
I still smelled the lullaby-scented air.
I still heard her whisper:
"You stole my life."
The stranger and I landed in an abandoned alleyway as the timeline door snapped shut behind us.
My legs gave out.
He caught me again — one hand on my waist, the other cradling the back of my head so gently that my throat tightened.
"Breathe," he whispered.
"I can't— I can't—" My voice cracked and died.
He guided me down to sit on the pavement, staying close.
Close enough that I felt the tremble in his hands too.
Good.
Maybe he was scared too.
"I saw her," I whispered. "I saw where she killed me."
His jaw clenched.
"I know."
"She hates me," I said, voice shaking. "She hates me so much she wants to finish what she started."
He didn't answer.
Which meant: yes.
I wiped my face with trembling fingers.
"Why?"
My voice crumbled.
"What did I ever do to her?"
He looked away — like the truth was something too sharp to look at directly.
"The answer isn't simple, Anshu."
"Well, simplify it!" I snapped. "I'm having a really bad week!"
He smiled.
Barely.
Sadly.
Like he'd been waiting lifetimes to see me laugh again.
But then he inhaled.
Deep.
Heavy.
Pained.
"She doesn't hate you because of something you did," he said quietly.
I froze.
"She hates you because of something she couldn't do."
My spine went cold.
"What… does that mean?"
He rubbed his thumb against his palm — a nervous habit I'd seen twice now.
"She couldn't survive."
A lump formed in my throat.
"What?"
"The other you…"
He swallowed hard.
"…was supposed to be you."
"What??"
"That version was meant to live your life. Your choices. Your future."
He looked at me — and for the first time, he looked genuinely afraid of me.
"But you weren't supposed to appear."
I blinked.
"Me?"
He nodded.
"You're a glitch. A memory from a timeline that shouldn't exist. Yet you appeared anyway."
"I… stole her spot?" I whispered.
He didn't answer.
Which meant: yes.
My stomach twisted.
"So she hates me… because I took her life?"
"No," he said softly.
"She hates you because YOU survived."
A cold breeze slid across my skin.
He continued.
"She didn't get love.
She didn't get a family.
She didn't get a world that let her live."
His voice cracked — barely, but enough.
"And then she saw you get everything she lost."
The pain in my chest spread like wildfire.
"And the child?" I whispered.
"Why does she hate him too?"
His expression darkened.
"She wanted him too."
My blood froze.
"She tried to take him."
I swallowed.
"And she failed."
He nodded.
"That's why she killed you in that room. If she couldn't have your life, she decided no one should."
My vision blurred with tears again.
"That's… that's not fair."
"Nothing about this is fair."
I looked at him sharply.
"You said she only exists because I died."
"Yes."
"So if I stay alive—she disappears?"
His silence answered the question.
I shivered.
"And the Rememberer?"
He looked toward the dark horizon.
"That creature hunts whoever the universe can't categorize. Right now, that's you. And her."
"So it hunts both of us?"
"Worse."
He sighed.
"It hunts whichever one of you becomes the dominant identity."
I blinked.
"I'm competing with my own evil twin for my existence?! BRO WHAT IS THIS SHOW??"
He laughed.
A tiny, broken laugh.
It shouldn't have made my heart flutter — but it did.
"You're not evil," he said softly.
I scoffed. "Tell that to the universe trying to delete me."
He turned to me.
Slowly.
Intensely.
So close I felt his breath on my lips.
His voice dropped to a whisper that hooked onto my heartbeat.
"The universe isn't trying to erase you, Anshu."
I stared into his eyes.
"Then why is everyone acting like I'm a danger?"
His jaw tightened.
"Because you are."
Silence.
Sharp.
Cutting.
Breath-stealing.
I whispered, barely audible:
"Danger to who?"
He leaned closer until his forehead almost touched mine.
"To every version of yourself."
I swallowed.
"And to you?" I whispered.
His next breath hitched.
His lashes lowered just slightly.
He whispered:
"To me most of all."
Before I could react—
a familiar sound crawled through the alley.
SCRAAAAATCH.
My skin went cold.
A glitching shadow twisted at the end of the alley.
The Rememberer.
The stranger immediately grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind him.
"We're out of time," he said.
"She found us… and so did it."
A second shadow emerged — feminine, distorted, glowing white eyes.
Her.
The other me.
The stranger cursed under his breath.
"Anshu, listen carefully," he whispered.
"Choose one.
Right now."
My heart slammed against my ribs.
"Choose WHAT?!"
He tightened his grip.
"Choose which version of you the universe should save."
Darkness shifted.
Two threats approaching.
The Rememberer growling.
The Other-Me smiling.
And I—
I couldn't breathe.
Because I didn't understand the rules yet.
I didn't even understand myself yet.
And he was asking me to choose my own existence.
---