I don't move.
I can't.
My phone says 6:12 AM. Same cracked corner. Same low battery warning. Same stupid wallpaper Mika set because she said my old one was "depressing."
From the other room, she groans again.
"Ren, I swear, if you wake me up early on purpose—"
Her voice cuts off into a yawn.
I press my hand to my mouth.
If I breathe too loud, this might disappear.
Slowly—slowly—I slide out of bed. The floor creaks in the exact same place it always does. Left foot. Then right. My heart is slamming so hard I'm scared she'll hear it through the wall.
I step into the hallway.
Her door is closed.
Closed.
It wasn't closed before.
My fingers hover in front of the handle. They're shaking so bad it's embarrassing.
Open it.
Do it.
I turn the knob.
Mika's room smells like cheap strawberry shampoo and old notebooks. Clothes everywhere. Posters peeling off the wall. Her alarm clock blinking 6:12 because she never resets it.
She's there.
Alive.
Curled up under her blanket, hair a mess, one eye half-open and very annoyed.
She looks at me.
"…Why are you staring like that?" she mutters. "You're being creepy."
My knees almost give out.
I laugh.
It comes out wrong. Too loud. Too sharp.
"Mika," I say, and my voice breaks right down the middle.
She frowns. "What?"
I cross the room in two steps and pull her into a hug.
Hard.
"Hey—ow—Ren, what is wrong with you?!" she complains, trying to push me away. "You're squishing me!"
She's warm.
She's real.
I bury my face in her hair and just—breathe. The shampoo smell. Strawberry. Cheap. Perfect.
"I thought I lost you," I whisper.
She goes still.
"…Did you have another nightmare?" she asks, quieter now.
I don't answer.
Because how do you explain dying?
How do you explain jumping off a roof and waking up like nothing happened?
I pull back, wiping my face fast before she can see anything. "Yeah. Something like that."
She studies me. Too smart for her age. Always has been.
"You look awful," she says. "Like, worse than usual."
"Thanks."
She smirks, then yawns again. "Can I go back to sleep now? School sucks."
School.
My chest tightens.
In the other timeline, she never made it to school.
I nod quickly. "Yeah. Yeah, go back to sleep."
She flops down without another word.
I stand there for a few seconds longer. Just watching her breathe.
Then I step back into the hallway and close the door softly.
Click.
The sound echoes.
—
The kitchen is exactly the same.
Dirty mug in the sink. Bills stacked on the counter. A note Mika left yesterday: Don't forget lunch money!!! with three exclamation marks and a doodle of a stick figure punching another stick figure.
My hands start shaking again.
I sit down at the table.
"Okay," I whisper to myself. "Okay. Think."
I died.
I remember dying. The wind. The lights. The fall.
And now it's morning again.
Time didn't just rewind a little.
It snapped.
My phone buzzes.
A message pops up.
Unknown Number:You alive?
I blink.
What?
Before I can think, another message follows.
Unknown Number:You were on the roof last night.
My stomach drops.
I type back with trembling thumbs.
Me: Who is this?
Three dots appear. Disappear. Appear again.
Unknown Number:Someone who noticed.
My heart is racing now. "Not possible," I mutter. "No one was there."
I look at my hands.
They look normal. No blood. No injuries. No pain.
Except… something feels off.
Like I walked into a room and forgot why.
I try to remember the moment right before I jumped. The exact thought. The exact feeling.
Nothing.
There's a blank space.
I frown.
"That's weird."
I can remember the dream.I can remember Mika on the floor.
But the moment I decided to jump?
Gone.
I rub my temples. Maybe shock. Trauma. My brain protecting me or something.
Yeah. That makes sense.
Probably.
Another buzz.
Unknown Number:Careful, Ren.
I freeze.
They used my name.
Me: How do you know my name?
No reply.
I stare at the screen until it goes dark.
—
The day moves forward like nothing happened.
Mika eats breakfast. Complains. Misses the bus. Yells at me for not reminding her earlier. Same routine. Same jokes.
But every second feels borrowed.
At 7:43 AM, something happens.
A car screeches outside.
My body reacts before my brain does.
"Mika—WAIT!"
She's already halfway out the door.
I grab her arm.
She yelps. "Ow! What—Ren, let go!"
The sound of metal smashing into metal fills the street.
A car blows through the intersection.
If she'd stepped out one second earlier—
My knees buckle.
I pull her back inside and slam the door shut.
"What is wrong with you?!" she snaps.
I'm breathing hard. Too hard.
"You were going to die," I say.
She stares at me.
"…What?"
I swallow. My throat feels raw. "Nothing. I—just—be careful, okay?"
She looks at me like I've lost my mind.
Then she sighs. "You're seriously weird today."
She grabs her bag and waits.
I peek outside.
The street is clear now.
I let her go.
She runs to school.
Alive.
Again.
I sink down against the door.
My hands are shaking so badly I can barely feel them.
"That wasn't luck," I whisper.
I knew.
I knew it would happen.
—
That night, I test it.
Something small.
I drop a glass on purpose.
It shatters.
I close my eyes.
Focus.
Go back.
The world pulls.
My head screams.
And suddenly—
The glass is whole again.
In my hand.
I gasp and drop it for real this time.
It shatters again.
I don't rewind.
I just sit there, staring at the mess, heart racing.
"It works," I whisper.
Then a wave of dizziness hits me.
Hard.
I grab the counter to stay upright.
Something slips.
Just for a second.
I try to remember what Mika was wearing this morning.
Pink jacket.
No.
Blue?
My chest tightens.
"Wait… what color was it?"
The answer doesn't come.
A cold fear crawls up my spine.
Time gave me something.
And it took something back.
I don't know what yet.
But I will.
Soon.