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Level Five Paused: Chronomentrophobia

Ang iyong ganday umaabot sa buwan. (Your beauty reaches the moon)

By Shyne KamahalanPublished 2 years ago 15 min read
1

"You freaking cheeky savage. I didn't know you had that in you. You're cheating your way through the game now, huh?" Shyrene punched us both in the shoulder. For the events that I've seen her have to go through, she always seemed happy, and honestly, even compared to a person who had everything going well for them, she seemed that way. She's this cute ball of sunshine, and as ironic as it sounds coming from me, it makes sense. She's this cute serotonin hot-shot, that I'd do anything to be just like. I might be the sun, but it doesn't mean I'm happy. It means I keep plants alive or some lame shyet.

"Shyrene, one of your doubles literally got shoved up between the wall. I'm not expert of this world, but don't you have the memory of that happening? And the pain too?" Camdyn asked her exactly what I've been thinking, but I've brought it up to her before and I didn't get the answer I expected I'd get out of her. Like Blake said, that girl is strong, especially emotionally, and to Cam's question, all she did was nod like it was nothing. It left Camdyn speechless for a few. Apparently he hasn't wrapped his head around Shyrene's attitude yet, and he didn't intend to hide that. "Then how the heck are you so cheery all the time? You're down to two lives before level five has even began, and you can act not the least bit worried?"

"I've been here for so many years, the unexpected, as unexpected as it is is a given. I've never actually gone through any levels, but we — Blake and I — have been trained forever to go through with this, to make it better for you. This is like our debut stage all the way to our last stage, altogether, right here. I'm content knowing that I made it. So what? I have two lives left, but I've met you both and as crazy as stuff as been, I really do think that the worst that can happen is I lose those and have to wait it out until you pass. I believe in you both. I trust you literally with my life. I won't be gone forever."

The words sounded familiar, like they came right out of Blake's lips from before, and I eyeballed him as she explained herself. He mouthed a muted, 'I told you so', casually shrugging, and tied it together with a confident smirk. This man knows this woman from the inside-out, and has collected every building block of her very being that makes her, her — the pieces that he can absolutely despise, and the ones that he can love with all he's got, and he's chosen out of his own will to love all of it in its entirety, even in there agreement and disagreement. I couldn't deny, and I don't think anybody could, that they have a bright future ahead of them if they choose to pursue it.

"Wow, that's no pressure whatsoever, girly." Camdyn scoffed, faking the yanking of his shirt cloth to supposedly cool him down. I disliked his reaction because it seemed to degrade what Shyrene truly meant and was doing her best to get across to him. He started the serious conversation, not her, and he's the first one to come out of it with a joke. Still, looking at the way Shyrene was handling it, I didn't feel I needed to butt into it either. Everything was under control.

"It's not pressure. It's trust. They're different things, because trust you can treasure, and I hope you do, Camdyn Sacar." She answered him, so fast it's like she's been meaning to say it for a really long time, but she shifted the topic just as quickly. "Anyway, you didn't really answer me when I started this conversation, and because we've come along this far, I'll say it more directly. Why did you decide to escape the level, instead of pass it according to the rules?"

Camdyn hesitated to answer. I've known him for long enough to know he was trying to come up with a lie to cover for him, but he wasn't finding anything, and when our eyes met for a split second, he gave up on his self-made journey.

"I had the feeling Ell needed it," he said, and since it was far from what I could've guessed, my heart danced a little, creating its own music that I could hear the rhythm in my ears. "I've always heard this saying from my mother when she was alive; it's useless to be on top of the world if you haven't been at the bottom of it, because there was no feelings behind getting up there. Ell has been there for so long, on the bottom of it, not just in this dream, but all her life, and it's been my fault sometimes, so I want to contribute to something good and the view; it ended up better than I thought. I know the phrase isn't literally, but I thought, maybe the best way to handle this is up. It's worthy to remember when the next event comes and you feel the world has fallen on you again, that there's always up."

"So it's a metaphor?" Blake asked. I knew he'd be listening this entire time, but he hasn't spoken yet, and it physically made me lose my balance when he finally did, but I liked it, because it put Camdyn in a soft state; one that made him look naive, shy, innocent, and bewildered by the waves of this world in a ruckus. When he was in uniform so many of the days we were together, though I knew this soft side of him existed, it was easy to forget. It's not how anyone knew him as. "Your way of passing that level was by a metaphor?"

"I guess so."

I reached up to ruffle his hair, having to step up onto my tip toes to even skim the top of his head. "You corny bish," I snickered, "that's kinda cute."

"That's because it didn't get us all killed," Blake joked. "It's so unsettling though. We're standing here right now because of a metaphor. Holy crap."

Part of me was glad he ruined the moment.

Part of me wanted it to last.

Most of me wondered what the heck got into me.

LEVEL FIVE, CHRONOMENTROPHOBIA

FEAR OF CLOCKS COURSE PREPPED!

PLEASE WAIT UNTIL LOAD IS FINALIZED

LEVEL FIVE WILL BEGIN

"Oh shoot," Camdyn said. His breath hitched, but when he noticed that we overheard it, he did his best to recover it, likely expecting that he was going to get asked about it. Clocks were falling from above us, landing gently on the ground as if they had wings to carry them there.

In the room we were put in, it didn't take long for us to be so surrounded by these that we couldn't take a step in any direction without knocking a whole ton down, and weirdly, that wasn't all. They continued falling, stacking on top of one another, until they towered above our heads we could hardly see one another through the cracks of the clock-walled maze. Each of the thousands at minimum, were ticking, out of sync with the others, it felt like all of us were being punished. After being exposed to the entertainment industry, nothing went well in a scenario like this one.

"What is it Camdyn? Are you the target this level?" I shouted as loud as I could, as the ticking felt to increase in volume. He didn't answer me, and I was brushing it off with the idea that he simply couldn't hear me calling out to him over all the noise, when an obnoxious beeping starting to rattle my skull, in harmony with the ticking. I searched around for the source — something that looked like a heart monitor, or anything you'd see in the medical field really — but I didn't see anything like it.

As it continued, it made my entire body vibrate, and it made me weaker, but more determined to figure out what was going on. That's when I realized, it was coming from Camdyn's head. As it's always been, nothing escapes me in this world. We've been over this too many times, and here his mind was like Airdrop, straight on over to me. Being this especially noisy meant that he must've passed out somewhere and I had full access to take over his entire body. It didn't feel right at all, that he'd go unconscious with the typical noise of a hospital. A memory like that could never be good, and it was destabilizing to have to do it alone.

"Shyrene! Blake!" I called for them, searching in the nearby areas for any action or faces, when I heard them holler out their own 'yeah?' and 'what?' from the same side of the room. With their attention, I made sure to speak up a little louder so that they didn't have any excuses of not hearing me. I was sure in the decision I've come across, and I didn't care what they'd say about it. They had to agree. "We're going into Camdyn's head. All of us."

"You've got to be kidding!" They both yelled back, scurrying in the direction they heard me yelling in order to find me. Each of them knocked over heaps of clocks on the way over, but it didn't phase either one of them, and if I'm being totally honest, I probably should've been more aware that it was going to happen. Shyrene spoke for the both of them when they arrived before me. "I told you how risky it is already when you switch minds, but Ell, we're already in your head, including him, and then we're going to go into his head, which is literally already in your head! See? It barely makes sense. I don't think it does in the least actually, and that doesn't sound safe! There's technically not room for all of us there."

"Shyrene," I looked at her, and from calling out her name alone, her eyes went big. I could tell how uncertain she was about doing this, but I knew how certain I was too. "You said you trusted us right?" I asked her, pulling back the topic we all talked about before. Hesitantly, she nodded. "Then do as I say. We're all going to be fine, and I'll take full responsibility for whatever happens. You got it?"

"Okay, fine." She gave in.

"But why? Why do this?" Blake wasn't ready to accept it, and he wasn't afraid to say so. "What if what you're taking responsibility for is our deaths, Ell?"

"Being alone in your own head is a terrifying thing. I was there myself, and I remember you guys saying there's nothing you can do to help, and I understand that, but there is something I can do for him, since we're in my head to begin with. I have control and it would be sinful not to use that. I just really need both of you to back me up. Can't you do that for me?"

He blew out a breath. "Okay but on one condition."

"Yeah? Anything."

"Keep control of your emotions and I really mean it this time. If we go crazy in your head, that's one thing, but go crazy in his — things might get stuck. The mind needs space and this is a lot of strain on it."

"I will. I know we'll be fine."

We didn't end up in a hospital like I was expecting, but an airport in Japan. Looking out the windows I couldn't tell if it was just darkening or if the sky was starting to brighten for the day ahead, but I assumed the second with the emptiness of the area. A version of Camdyn from his high school days — it had to be the time when his mom first died — was in a seat in a waiting area, alone, besides luggage of his and his father's, staring up at a gigantic wall clock.

In his mind, what drew me here in the first place, that hospital beeping was still there, nevertheless. He was clearly associating the tick of the clock and the beep to be hand in hand with one another. What I wanted to know was why? What connection could he possibly make?

"Hide," I commanded to Shyrene and Blake, and when I did, they both listened without question probably in order to keep my feelings steady. We each knelt down behind a row of seats, peeking over to see what would happen next, like Camdyn was the entire movie.

"I hate it, that clock," he had only thought it, but it was in ears reach to each of us, being here in a snippet of his world. It didn't make sense, and it made me feel obligated to sit here and watch him. "Does she think she's counting my time? Or whose time is she counting?"

I glanced over at the two with me to see I wasn't the only one at a loss, but I didn't say anything, in fears I'd pose a distraction to Camdyn continuing. Whether that saved us or not, I'd like to think it did, because he went on without any issues. "We only count what ends, isn't that right? But time itself isn't one of those things. Our time ends, clearly mom's did. Life is too fragile, and we come temporarily just to go permanently. Yet time itself, it's here and always will be."

It was beginning to come together now, why he connected two things that were so different from one another, and with that knowledge, Blake turned his head to make sure I had my emotions in check. Thank goodness he did, because if he didn't, maybe it's a possibility I would've broken down, at least for a little bit. Really though, everything was under control, it's like Camdyn didn't need my help to begin with, but once we heard this, none of us wanted to leave. No one dared to mention it.

"Just look at her tick," he continued, "she must be counting my time now. She's bragging that while she's here forever, mine will eventually end, maybe sooner than I think, and as she brags, she's waiting until she doesn't have to count my time anymore. She's waiting for my end."

"You naive, young, stupid little boy," a pair of clicking footsteps headed over to the high school student, with a stride that I recognized. As I looked him up from those steps, up to his face, I found Camdyn himself, the current one that's been playing these levels with us. It relieved me, because if anyone had right to call the young boy stupid, it would have to be him. "I can't tell you that you'll get over this fear, because you won't. You'll be embarrassed about it forever, scared over such a thing that nobody understands the context of why, but that's okay. Because good things will come from this point on."

The younger boy's eyes twinkled, innocently, looking up at the older version of him who was still standing. "What good things?" He asked. "At this point, I highly doubt that can happen."

"Several things will suck, I'm sorry to have to say that, but I'm not gonna lie to you," The Older Camdyn replied, deciding to sit. He sensed the feeling his younger felt of this man towering over him, and wanted to be more level with him, especially when delivering news that wasn't necessarily good. "But it'll be worth it because you'll fall in love. It might not last forever, but it was good while it was there, I promise you. If you turned around right now and went back to Japan, you'd never meet her, and I think that after Mom died, she's the only one who came close to filling in that empty void. Of course, it wasn't a place for her to fill, and she couldn't actually do that, but she did make you forget that you were hurting for a while, and that's the best anybody could ever do."

"Who is this girl? And why would I want to get into something like that if I already know it doesn't last?"

"Saturn Marie, is her name when you meet her. Ellie Reyes today. I'm still getting used to calling her that, but that's her name now. It's a long story, but a very beautiful girl she is, lively personality. Full package." The older responded, running fingers through his hair, his gaze off into the distance as he reflected on it. "And first of all, we don't know anything yet. We never know, because love is something we fight for everyday, but even if it doesn't work, like I said, it was worth it."

Blood seemed to rush quicker throughout my veins, and I could feel my cheeks heat up, in danger of a blush. Blake gave me one glance, and by it, he put on the most determined look on his face that screamed, 'now or never'. "I have to go," he finally said, suddenly disappearing from Camdyn's mind.

"Where are you going?" Shyrene said, which I overheard because I followed after her that was desperate to keep up with him. We returned to the room of clocks, and Camdyn was down on the floor, fully passed out, proof that we were back in my head. In a distance further away, Blake was in a fast paced-walk, but with every intention to treat Shyrene kindly, he turned around to look at her, and soon enough was heading back over.

We were both shocked to find that his face was bright red, more than mine could've been in such a short period of time, but Shyrene was the most surprised of any of us. Her expression didn't put him at ease at all, and he got more fidgety and embarrassed, without any explanation.

"Blake, what is it?" She kept with it, unable to let it go, and was understandably losing patience. I can't say I had that right, but I was all ears to what was going on myself, and I almost wanted to involve myself in the moment to get things on the track rolling, but I didn't, and I'm glad I didn't.

"Shyrene, I'm in love with you."

Series
1

About the Creator

Shyne Kamahalan

writing attempt-er + mystery/thriller enthusiast

that pretty much sums up my entire life

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