After a week, I was released. I saw both a psychiatrist and psychologist. I couldn’t tell them that I had died and somehow came back to life. Anyone would have thought that I was crazy, so they were both scratching their heads at the situation. Eventually they decided that it stemmed from being at home when someone broke into the house, and it was easier to just let them believe it.

I started healing and the headaches stopped. The flashbacks weren’t as frequent and the nausea had lowered in intensity. I had to see a therapist once a week though. That therapist helped me through a lot. Of course, eventually I would share much more with him, but that wasn’t until much later.

I had planned to stay by Mason’s side the entire time and not let him go anywhere without me. I would prevent his death. I didn’t care much anymore about solving the mystery of who was killing both Mason and I. I just wanted to get through two horrible dates, the dates of our deaths: Sunday, January 21st, and Monday, January 29th.

I walked out of the hospital with Mason. We walked to my parent’s car and got in.

“Sorry you have to go out of your way to drive me home again,” Mason said.

“It’s alright. I’m just glad Christopher has a friend like you,” my mother replied, keeping her eyes on the road.

“Hey mom?” I asked.

“Yeah?”

I needed to keep Mason next to me, at all costs.

“Can Mason crash at our place for a couple of weeks? I feel safer with him there,” I said, trying to sound vulnerable.

“Have you asked Mason first? It’s ok with me if it’s okay with Mason.”

Mason shook his head. “You really are useless without me aren’t you? I’ll ask my mom.”

Mason pulled out his phone and called his mom. He explained the situation to her. She said he could stay over at our place for a couple of weeks as long as he came home for dinner sometimes.

“Do you have a date when I could go back to my house?” Mason asked.

“How about January 29th?”

“That’s almost three weeks!”

I made my face look down. “Sorry. I’m asking too much, aren’t I?” It wasn’t hard to get my eyes to fill with tears.

Mason held out his hands to calm me down. “No, no it’s fine! I can stay that long!”
“Thanks!”

It looked like my PTSD could be used to my advantage. I understood that it was playing dirty, but I didn’t care. I had suffered through a lot and I didn’t want to go through it again. I couldn’t lose everyone again.

We drove to Mason’s house so he could pick up some stuff for his long stay at my house. We drove back to our house. Inside, I started up the stairs to set up my room for him. On my third step I fell onto my knees. The queasy feeling was back and so was a soft headache.

“Don’t push yourself,” said Mason as he helped me up.

I thanked him. We got to my room and swung the door open. It was just how I left it a week before that. I decided that I was going to be a nice host and let him sleep on my bed. I opened the closet and pulled out a futon that we kept for guests.

“You really shouldn’t be setting all of this up. You just got out of the hospital. Why don’t you let me do it?” Mason asked.

“I want to get better as fast as possible,” I said.

Mason shook his head. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I took it out. I had a couple of texts from people in the squad. I unlocked my phone.

“Hey bros, winter vacation is almost over. Why don’t we do something fun to celebrate Christopher’s release from the hospital?” Fernando messaged.

“Yeah! I know the perfect thing to do!” Jett said.

“Let’s hear it,” Giampi texted.

“Let’s all hop over the community pool’s fence and swim in it one night!” Jett suggested.

“Bro! That’s an awesome idea!” Fernando wrote.

“It’s cold. We don’t want Christopher getting sick after he’s just been released from the hospital,” Mason replied.

I looked up from my phone. Mason had taken out his and was messaging.

“Cmon! Christopher, you want to go right?” Jett said.

I had never done anything illegal before and that was my first time doing something like that. After dying once I realized that life was to be enjoyed. While I could live multiple times, according to the Skeleton Master, I wouldn’t take it for granted.

“Let’s do it!” I wrote.

“Really Christopher?” Mason said, looking up from his phone. “You know what we’re going to do is illegal, right?”

“Screw the rules.”

Mason flinched. I could tell he wasn’t used to me speaking so assertively.

“Are you going to come?” I asked.

“Yeah. You asked me to stay at your house so I can help you heal, so it only seems natural that I would go.”

“Yay!” 

“Good thing I packed a bathing suit.”

…………………………………

Night time had rolled around. It was 10PM. As I changed into my bathing suit, I realized that the events that should have unfolded today (going to the beach) hadn’t. That was very interesting. It meant I could change the timeline, and hopefully that would mean I could save Mason. And if Mason didn’t die, then neither would Jett.

 I finished changing and walked outside of the bathroom. I entered my room. Mason was reading a book.

“Ready to go?” I asked.

Mason eyed me up and down.

“Are you really going to walk out of this house dressed like that? What if your parents see you? Put on some pants!”

I had noticed that Mason was wearing jeans and a long sleeved shirt. I nodded.

“Right,” I said.

I put on some jeans and a long sleeved shirt to cover the swimming shirt I was wearing. Mason got up from the bed and we walked downstairs. My mom was still in the kitchen which was something I hadn’t planned.

“Where are you boys going?” my mom asked.

“We’re going for a walk,” I lied.

“Well, be back soon!” she said.

I walked to the door but stopped. I felt queasy again.

“Are you alright?” Mason asked.

“I don’t think so,” I replied.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do this…”

“I have to do it.” I walked towards the door and opened it.

“Take care of him for me, won’t you?” my mom asked Mason.

Mason gave her a thumbs up. As quickly as the nausea came, it was gone.

The pool wasn’t far from my house. It wasn’t near the halfway point though and I had barely walked in that direction. I hoped that we wouldn’t get lost.

In the end we arrived ahead of time. The pool was located off a highway. We had gotten there through a skinny sidewalk so we weren’t in any danger. The pool wasn’t very popular and most people missed it by driving by. 

It was a dark and cold night. I stood in a field. A fence sat in front of me. I could see the pool. It was a large pool that was divided into two sides, one of them being deep and the other being shallow. A kiddie pool stood next to it. A storage building for floats and pool noodles was located  in the corner.

“I don’t think they’re here yet…” Mason said.

Suddenly I saw a flash of light hit me in the face. At that moment panic rose in me. I thought we were caught. The light moved out of my face and I could see it was Jett, holding a flashlight.

“Come on guys! Hop the fence! We’re all here!” he exclaimed.

I shrugged at Mason and began climbing the fence. I got to the top and jumped down. Mason followed.

“Are you guys ready for some fun?!” Fernando asked.

I could make out three figures in the pool. Jett, however, stood outside of the pool holding a flashlight.

“I didn’t expect Mason to show up!” Jett stated.

“Well, I did,” Mason replied.

“Is the water cold?” I asked.

“Not really. I’m going to get in the pool. We’re waiting for you!”

With that, Jett jumped into the pool.

I took off my long sleeved shirt and pants. I crouched at the edge of the pool and touched the water. It was freezing. It seemed that Jett’s idea of cold was ice. I stood there debating if I wanted to get in or not. I suddenly found myself in the water. Sebastian had snuck up behind me and pushed me in the water.

I let out a little yelp. I could feel the freezing water wrap around my body and chilling me to the bone.  I watched as Sebastian jumped in the pool, totally drenching me with water. Mason slipped in after and let out a yelp as well. He waddled next to me and whispered:

“Let’s talk alone in the far corner of the pool.”

I followed him.

“What did you want to talk about?” I asked.

“About the cloak you gave me.”

I had forgotten about that.

“I’ve been investigating and I couldn’t find a single tailor shop that made it. It seems like they make their own cloaks,” he said.

“Well, that’s interesting.”

“I also found that the cloak is made for battle. The hood covers most of the wearer’s face but allows them to see perfectly fine. The material is thin like a normal cloak but when I tried cutting it with scissors I wasn’t able to.”

“These guys are dangerous. I could tell that before you told me this.”

I heard a rustle in the bushes outside of the fence. I looked up. Jett’s flashlight lay on the pool edge. I picked it up and shone it in the bush. I saw a figurine in a purple cloak emerge. My eyes widened. It wasn’t the figure that had killed me. It was someone tall. The height and shape was like...like Mr Willis.

The figure turned around and walked onto the highway. I managed to make out the symbol of the pentagram on the back and that was enough to trigger a flashback. I flashbacked to the moment Jett and I saw the figure with their back to us in the cabin. I then flashbacked to the figure as they were on top of me.

I gagged.

Mason looked at me.

“Calm down. They’re gone.”

I stopped gagging and was breathing heavily.

“They’re the cause of your PTSD, aren’t they?” Mason asked seriously.

I nodded.

“You’re not going to tell me what they did are you?”

I shook my head.

“I figured as much. Don’t worry. I’m going to protect you from these guys. We’re together for a long time, so I’ll do my best.”

I almost laughed at the irony. I was trying to protect Mason and he was trying to protect me.

We pretended like nothing had happened and continued to play around undetected, and left the pool at 1 AM and got home safely.