The alley didn't just become silent.
It drowned in silence.
The Other Me hovered at the mouth of the alley, glowing white eyes locked on mine, hair floating like she was underwater.
She pointed at me with a shaking finger.
"She dies," she hissed.
"She REPLACED me."
Tomorrow lifted one eyebrow, amused.
"You seem confident."
The Other Me laughed — short, sharp, broken.
"Why wouldn't I be? She took my son. My lover. My timeline. My place."
She stepped forward.
"Now give me back what's mine."
I swallowed.
Hard.
"I didn't take anything from you," I whispered. "I didn't even KNOW you existed."
"That doesn't matter," she snarled.
"You exist instead of me."
The stranger stepped between us instantly, chest heaving.
"No one is dying today."
The Other Me smirked.
"You can't protect her anymore."
She tilted her head mockingly.
"You don't even remember why you started."
His jaw tightened.
He didn't respond.
He couldn't.
Because he didn't remember me.
My stomach twisted painfully.
Tomorrow stepped forward, cutting through the tension like a knife.
"Let us be rational," she said calmly.
"One of you is the anomaly. One of you is the glitch. One of you must end."
The little boy crushed himself against my leg, shaking violently.
"Mama… don't let them pick you."
I put a trembling hand on his curls.
"I won't. I promise."
The Other Me scoffed.
"Cute. Practicing motherhood again? That child was MINE."
My heart stuttered.
"You killed me in that room."
"And I'll do it again," she whispered.
The stranger clenched his fists.
"You won't touch her."
"Oh?" She smiled sweetly.
"Still attached to the version that doesn't remember you?"
That hit him.
Hard.
He flinched like her words stabbed a nerve.
The Other Me's smile widened.
"You forgot her," she crooned.
"Let me help you forget why you cared."
I stepped forward.
"STOP TALKING LIKE YOU OWN HIM!"
She turned to me, anger sharpening.
"I DID."
She pointed at him.
"Before YOU rewrote him, he belonged to ME."
My breath caught.
He belonged to her?
Tomorrow cut in sharply.
"Enough. Power shifts when emotion spikes."
She looked at all of us.
"All of you must breathe before reality collapses."
Too late.
The air cracked.
The ground shook.
Memories — thousands, millions — flickered in the sky like lights:
Her memories.
My memories.
Undefined memories.
Forgotten memories.
The boy screamed and clung to me.
"Mama, it's happening again—!"
Tomorrow's voice laced through the chaos, calm but commanding.
"You must choose, Anshu.
If you don't, the universe will."
The Other Me lifted her hand, summoning a spear of light.
"I choose for her," she whispered.
"She dies."
She launched the spear toward me.
Everything slowed.
I grabbed the boy and pushed him behind me.
The stranger shouted my name.
Tomorrow simply watched.
The spear shot through the air—
Glowing.
Burning.
Deadly.
It was going to hit me.
I closed my eyes.
Then—
CRACK!
A wall of fractured timeline energy exploded between us, stopping the spear mid-air.
It shattered into glittering dust.
I blinked.
"W-what… what just happened?!"
Tomorrow's eyes widened — the first time she looked surprised.
"Oh."
The stranger turned to me, eyes wide.
"You—"
The Other Me staggered back.
"No… no, no, no— she's not supposed to know how to do that!"
I stared at my own hands.
Glowing.
Literally glowing.
A soft, broken golden light leaked from my fingertips like liquid memory.
"Mama…" the little boy whispered, astonished.
"You… remembered something."
My head spun.
"What did I remember?!"
Tomorrow stepped closer, studying me with renewed curiosity.
"You remembered how you died," she whispered.
"And that memory triggered your original power."
My breath caught.
"My… original power?"
"Time fracture," Tomorrow said.
"The ability to split timelines with emotion."
The Other Me screamed.
"NO! That power was mine! YOU STOLE IT!"
"I didn't steal anything!"
"You DID!"
She lunged toward me, furious and wild.
"You took EVERYTHING!"
The stranger grabbed her wrist mid-air.
"STOP," he growled.
She jerked her arm back.
"Get your hands off me! You loved ME first!"
He froze.
I froze.
The boy stared.
Tomorrow raised one eyebrow.
The Other Me stepped closer to him.
"You don't remember, do you?" she whispered, eyes softening.
"You held me when I cried. You begged me not to die. You kissed me before the world burned."
She touched his chest lightly.
"You promised me forever."
He swallowed.
Pain flickered in his eyes.
"I… don't remember."
Her face crumpled.
"You do," she whispered.
"A part of you does."
She pressed her forehead to his.
And he didn't move.
My stomach twisted painfully.
Something ugly and sharp sliced through me — jealousy, confusion, heartbreak.
The boy whimpered behind me.
"Mama… don't cry…"
I hadn't realized I was crying.
Tomorrow clapped her hands once.
Enough to ripple the world.
"Stop," she commanded.
"All of you."
We froze.
"You are tangled threads of the same story," Tomorrow said.
"And if you continue this way—
the universe will pick NONE of you."
Her gaze hardened.
"Someone must sacrifice something."
My voice cracked.
"Sacrifice WHAT?"
Tomorrow's eyes met mine.
"Eliminate your connection to one of them."
My heart dropped.
"What does that mean?"
She raised a finger.
"If you choose the boy— the child disappears."
The boy gasped and clung to my hand.
"If you choose him—" she motioned to the stranger "—your past will never return."
Pain flickered in his eyes.
"And if you choose her—" Tomorrow's gaze shifted to the Other Me
"—your power becomes hers."
My blood turned to ice.
"And if I choose NONE of them?"
Tomorrow smiled.
"Then you all die."
The alley trembled.
My breath hitched.
The other me stepped forward.
"Choose me," she whispered.
"I'm the stronger one."
The boy grabbed my sleeve.
"Choose me, Mama…" he pleaded.
The stranger took a slow step toward me, voice raw.
"Anshu… don't pick her. Or the universe loses you."
Three voices.
Three choices.
One impossible answer.
Tomorrow lifted her hand.
"Time is running out."
My heart hammered.
My throat tightened.
And then—
I whispered the choice no one expected.
---