May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 3: Her Friends

After a peaceful sleep, Aila woke up very energetic. She recalls the events before she fell asleep and hopes that the [World] will adhere to her request.

Her life at the end of the world was quite a breeze if you compare it to what the general populace have experienced. Every time she went out to find supplies she took back some. Although not plenty, she was never empty-handed. Zombies didn't bother her much and she was safe in their presence even if she was fully surrounded. They all avoid her if they can.

These facts have made her a lucky koi of their little group. As long as she is around, there is no serious danger that actually befell them. So much that danger comes to them in another way. Their fellow humans.

Some less kind people took interest in them and tried to take them in. But experience has taught them. These kinds of people hold no good intentions. It was because of these people that her parents died and turned zombies. Since that episode of their life, they have been wandering from place to place, avoiding human contact as much as they can to protect themselves from malicious intentions.

It was considered peaceful considering how chaotic everything was. But it cannot secure them a stable place to stay, nor can they easily mingle with others. Safety is good, but it cannot always grant people what they seek and want. Like having a significant other.

It was hard to see in your little group that you were the only one who had no partner. Aila really takes offense at eating dog food at every chance. Those friends of hers show off something she didn't even try or had in her first life.

Even worse, they are all her friends from childhood whom she saw growing up. She basically knew them all inside out and she could believe they could end up with each other. It's like finding an unlikely matching set of clothing, both horrible separate but kind of fit with each other. Just that these clothes do not really match, but look well somehow.

Just thinking about it is stressful. She wants to punch something to relieve the rising rage in her. But take in mind that she's a lady at the moment, not the woman of the apocalyptic world as of yet, so no ruining that image until needed. Her parents will be sad if she changes too suddenly.

"I wonder how they will live after I die." Aila said to herself as she wondered how they took in her death. They might still live well, they are strong after all, but she is worried about how they had taken her death in the process.

Strangely enough, their bond was weirdly deeply invested in her being. Before the end of time, they are protective and careful about her. Almost like they are treating her as their daughter or a child, despite how sour they are at times. Anything that happened to her, somehow they knew about it before she was even aware of it.

Slapping her face with both hands, she refocused herself on her plans for today and for the following days. But before she starts job hunting, she still needs to inform that group of smiling hyenas of her decision to stop school. If she neglects to inform them of this, she might not live long enough to experience the end of the day again.

"Now who shall I call first?" Aila said as she bit her thumb. She had been swiping her phone for minutes now and still hadn't called any of her friends. She's starting to get very nervous about this task at hand. If she didn't call anyone now, she might get really afraid of telling them her new life plans, of course, minus the apocalypse part at the moment.

Sighing a heavy breath, she placed her phone on the side and flopped herself on her bed. "This is hard. They'd be very angry if I didn't personally tell them about this."

"But if this continues, I cannot take the first step in my plan." She messed her hair in frustration. "They are stronger than me before the apocalypse , even more so in the apocalyptic period. Either way, I'm screwed if this stays as it is."

"Hey!" Aila said to no one in particular. " I know you can hear me. Can you tell me a way to solve this dilemma?"

There was no response. Aila was not actually hoping for one anyway, but letting out those words helped smooth her nerves.

She then started a staring contest with her phone, half hoping an answer would arrive to solve her problem. But in the end, an animated object is not useful until its user uses it. So she decided to go directly into the line of fire.

She typed a series of texts and sent it to their group chat. It might have been easier to announce things in the said chat, but friends of hers were never known to be the quiet ones and are sure to raise a fuss in a single message. So she scheduled a get-together with her whole squad to brave their interrogation.

Imagining her fate after this session, she hopes that they will understand her at the moment. If they can't, hopefully they will not change how they treat her. There are precedents of them going overboard after all. At the awareness of something related to her that they didn't get from her firsthand, things just go down hill with them. She wants to avoid that as much as possible.

Her phone immediately became noisy after she sent that chat.

[TheMostBrilliantGCThereIs]

[DancingQueen: How rare of you to invite us!]

[KeyboardWarrior: Yeah rare but I like it! What came to mind that you're inviting us?]

[SmilingLiger: You're not possessed by something aren't you?]

[HandsomePoop: As long as it's your treat I have no problem with it.]

[Top1: You're up to something aren't you?:]

So far as Aila read through the chats, it went pretty well. Although some were suspicious of her sudden proposal, it was rather positive in most parts.

[DanceringQueen: I'll clear my schedule for that day. Thank goodness me and Geoffrey had already met for this week. If not, I might not attend at all. Hopefully, you are finally introducing us to someone.]

The group chat was suddenly silent with that message. Immediately, it became very noisy. Aila massaged her temples in stress as she read through the thick text that follows. Some of them are excited about the prospect of her in a relationship, some are too against it. She needs to stop it before it gets too out of hand like it always does.

[ReadingManiac: I'm not in a relationship and I probably won't have one in the long run. Thank you. But I do have something to tell you guys]

[DancingQueen: Awwww. I thought you'd be introducing someone to us. It would be great that it's not only me who has got a special person in this circle.]

[KeyboardWarrior: Thankfully it's not about you bringing someone @ReadingManiac. I'm not yet ready to see you with someone who will take you away from us.]

[SmilingLiger: @DancingQueen you are giving this girl too much credit. It'll take forever for her to be in a romantic relationship with anyone. After all, she's a literal block of wood who knows nothing about romance. @KeyboardWarrior rest assured she's staying with us longer than you think.]

Reading that last message, she didn't stop her finger from leaving the group. That smiling motherfucker always hits her where it hurts the most.

[Top1 added you to the group]

She didn't bother to read whatever shenanigans they were discussing in the period she raged about quitting. She just sent a message that she'd be waiting at the usual place at the usual time.

[ReadingManiac: Don't forget to bring those you have yet to read this chat! Those people will probably not bother scrolling up with all the bullshit this chat has!]

With that, she turned off her phone. She needs to calm down and forget all that mess of a chat. Taking a few slow breaths, she cleared her mind and didn't think about it and prepared her resume for applying for a job. Those bastards can take care of themselves without her in the following conversation in that chat.