Surrounded by green trees, the skies were a normal shade of dark, and there were stars out. I noticed that so was the moon. Tonight it decided to fully reveal itself, covered by no clouds, dressed in ghostly white. It looked down at me, oddly comforting, in a way. Despite the damage its watching presence inflicted on my nerves. 

A gust of wind reminded me where I was. I found myself in the middle of the street, no cars running through it. I was still lying on cement, so I got up to get a better look around.  Save for the sounds of night dwellers, the parked cars and houses, there was no sign of life. The neighborhood was completely deserted, and most of the windows had gone out for the night. I walked along the street and found myself drawn towards one of the houses with the lights on the second story. And stopped in front of it.

0473 Meyers

A fuzzy red welcome mat presented me the door, and from the looks of the peeling paint, I knew to knock.

A scuffle upstairs, a crash of unexpectancy at my arrival.

He was soon downstairs and ready at the door.

“Oh, come on! What could you possibly want no--?” 

He stopped scratching at his patchy beard and visibly, his edges softened. Though it did nothing to soothe the eyebags that’d been growing over last few days. First he opened his mouth in surprise, then shut it. Then, opened it once more to speak. 

“Alex?” 

I stood there watching him, seeing the change in him. The weight on his back was lifted off as he began straightening himself up, aging in reverse.

I nodded to the mat in front of the door and he broke out into a smile.

“Yeah, okay. Fair enough--hey, why, would you come on inside?” With a shiver, he moved the door open a little wider. “It’s real cold out this time of year.” 

I followed him inside. 

"Sorry for the mess, I.. I wasn't expecting any visitors," he said, rushing to clear coffee stained papers off the table, tossing them in the bin nearby. The room was dimly lit by the kitchen light hanging over the center of it.

"...I-I mean, I really wasn't expecting you to come back," he continued. "Here, please, take a seat."

I followed his request and took a seat across from him.

"I was really worried you know. After.. you know, you seemed so upset and after you left, I was real out of it. Couldn't sleep for days, but you can blame work for some of that."

I understood his troubles. To some extent, he would mine, if he knew. If only someone knew. The teacher was swamped with grading essays as of late.

"So.. why the change of heart? I thought we were, well, done..?"

He sat there, staring at where my eyes would have been. Technically, where Alex's should have been. Only a few seconds passed before I decided on action, lifting my arm away from my leg and inching a hand towards Reynard Meyers'.

"Oh."

He looked down at our hands resting on each other as we sat there in silence for a moment. Then, a moment more.

The hands on the clock began to turn faster, and I could almost hear the complex of people surrounding us. The illusion was going to break down soon. I had to act fast.

"Woah, Alex! Where are we going?" Reynard Meyers exclaimed as I suddenly stood up, a tinge of sweetness in his voice. I began to lead him to the front door, before stopping to gesture to the coat hanger.

Once outside, we found our way to a spot on a bench at the local park. A place Alex and Reynard would frequent on dates, before…

An owl hooted and flew by. 

"I missed seeing those. I missed you. But most of all? I missed feeling alive! You have no idea what it feels like to walk through life as if you were, I don't know, dead."

A faint smile formed beneath my bandages, as I resisted letting out a dry laugh. It never got old. I tilted my head back and leaned onto the oblivious man beside me. His smile grew even more. As he slowly shut his eyes, mine suddenly fluttered open, staring where he sat, through corners of my eyes. 

Then, the all-too-familiar buzzer sounded.

I remained frozen, my eyes darting around to survey the fading world around me.

"How I missed living.."

That whisper too faded away. I blinked, and suddenly I was back. Instead of being blinded by white, bare trees, and a frozen lake, I was met with two dark chocolate eyes that beamed with great intensity.

"That's all it took this time?! Choot, Kor…" The man dressed in a different style of formal attire marveled before him. His golden name tag with "Alphonso Hazeur" written on it, as usual, shined as bright as his teeth. "Even with such a late start, you still managed to get them all done each time before the hourglass ran out!" 

I unbuckled myself from the contraption. Hazeur chuckled and I shrugged as we turned to look at the largest screen in the room, showing live footage of the hourglass chandelier suspended in the main lobby. 

"Come on, let's get you back to your quarters. The sand's almost all sunk to the bottom. Heck, you should get more rest since.." He trailed off, his grin vanishing for the first time since I arrived. "...Listen, please just forget I said anything." I nodded, and we began walking past the workers seated at monitors, their eyes glowing and typing at inhuman speeds. As we neared the elevator, one partially snapped out of their trance. 

"Irene Esperança, born and dead: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, DOB: 11/03/1973, DOD: 04/21/2004… Chen Li, born Shanghai, China, DOB: 7/16/1940–" The worker came to an abrupt stop when Hazeur slammed a hand on the desk. 

"La ferme!" 

The worker's eyes stopped glowing and so did the computer, when he turned to look Hazeur in the eye, who was clutching his fedora nervously. When the message finally got across, the desk worker apologized and replied,

"G-great job today, Kor. I'll tell you the next missions when you're ready for them–not that I'm saying you're not ready now! I just mean for when.. w-when.. just whenever the sand resets or you feel like it, really. I'm a bit new… sorry, again. Uh, you're not upset, right?" I shook my head slowly. Why would I be? Should I?