Chapter 34: In between

This must be heaven.

I can’t remember what happened, really. I remember that the murderer tore off her mask to reveal that she was Illy. Illy killed Yuki.

I remember how the bullet missed her because I jerked the gun…I remember the crates labeled high explosives. I remember Orange.

And then I don’t remember anything.

But this must be heaven. White, everything’s white; the floor, the wall, the ed. The bed is wonderfully comfortable and springy and –

A very familiar, bald, rainbow faced man glares down into my face. This must be hell.

“Not you,” I groan, trying to wave my arms in front of me. The Boss – a ghost or not I don’t know – shifts his seat back tentatively. As if my random waving motions can hit anything. “Don’t move, Evans,” he growls, and proceeds to bore me with an explanation of how I died and/or survived. I fall asleep again.

When I sleep, I dream. That, you realize, is quite a stupid statement. In my dream, I see Illy. She’s holding the same dagger as when we first met, dressed in her costume, but her mask is off. At first, her face is blank, like a clean blackboard. Then she smiles a little and shakes my hand. “Round three went to both of us,” she says. “Thanks for the game.”

When I blink, the person in front of me is no longer Illy, but Yuki. We are standing on the bridge where we first met, where Yuki got killed. Yuki is dressed in her white winter coat, her black hair flowing out behind her. She looks lovely.

I smile.

She smiles.


-Finis-