THE FIRST TIME
610 Words
Episode 5: The First Time
Elara stared at Kael.
Blood was spreading across his shirt.
Her hands trembled as she caught him.
“No…”
Kael's eyes slowly closed.
“No, no, no!”
She pressed her hands against the wound.
“Somebody help!”
But the corridor was empty.
Maya was gone.
The woman was gone.
Only the emergency lights continued flashing.
Red.
Darkness.
Red.
Darkness.
Then Elara heard a voice.
Her own voice.
This is not the first time.
She froze.
A memory opened.
She was standing in the same corridor.
Kael was lying in her arms.
Blood covered her hands.
She was screaming.
Then everything went black.
Another memory.
Same corridor.
Same gunshot.
Same blood.
Same ending.
Another.
And another.
And another.
Elara suddenly understood.
She had lived this moment before.
Hundreds of times.
She looked at Kael.
“No…”
Her hands began shaking violently.
“You always die.”
Kael's eyes opened.
He was still alive.
Barely.
“Elara…”
She stared at him.
“You know.”
He struggled to breathe.
“I know.”
“How many times?”
Kael swallowed.
“Seven.”
Elara's heart pounded.
“Seven?”
“This is the seventh time.”
“Then why don't you remember?”
“Because every time you remember…”
He coughed.
“…you reset everything.”
Elara stared at him.
“What do you mean?”
Before Kael could answer, the hospital lights went completely white.
A loud electronic beep filled the corridor.
Then—
Everything disappeared.
---
Elara opened her eyes.
Morning sunlight poured through her bedroom window.
She sat up quickly.
Her breathing was heavy.
She looked around.
Her room.
Her clothes.
Her books.
Everything was normal.
She touched her chest.
No blood.
No wound.
No hospital.
She looked at the clock.
3:18 a.m.
Elara frowned.
“Why am I awake?”
Her phone vibrated.
One message.
From an unknown number.
DON'T GO TO THE HOSPITAL TODAY.
Her heart began racing.
Another message arrived.
YOU'VE ALREADY DIED SIX TIMES.
Elara stared at the screen.
Then came the third message.
THIS TIME, DON'T TRUST KAEL.
She slowly looked toward her bedroom door.
A shadow stood beneath it.
Someone was outside.
Elara held her breath.
The door handle began to turn.
Slowly.
She reached for the nearest object she could find.
The door opened.
Maya stood there.
Pale.
Terrified.
“Elara?”
Elara stared at her.
“How did you get into my house?”
Maya froze.
“What?”
“I locked the door.”
Maya looked down at her hand.
Then back at Elara.
“I…”
Her voice trembled.
“I've never been inside your house before.”
Elara's stomach dropped.
“Then how do you know where I live?”
Maya didn't answer.
Instead, she whispered:
“Because this isn't your house.”
Elara slowly turned around.
The room suddenly looked different.
The walls.
The photographs.
The furniture.
And on the bedside table was a framed photograph she had never seen before.
Two children stood in a garden.
A little boy.
A little girl.
Elara picked it up.
Her fingers went numb.
The boy was Kael.
The girl was her.
But behind them stood the same woman from the hospital.
And written across the bottom of the photograph were four words:
THE FIRST LIFE — 2009.
Elara dropped the frame.
Maya grabbed her hand.
“We need to leave.”
“Why?”
Maya looked toward the window.
“Because Kael isn't the one hunting you.”
A car stopped outside.
Black.
Luxury.
Familiar.
Kael stepped out.
Alive.
He looked up directly at Elara's window.
And smiled.
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