Friday August 11th, 2056 - I

Andrew and Mei are walking through the city, headed for the station.

"You have your Forb-pass, right?" Mei asks.

"You have yours?" Andrew replies.

"Of course I do! I always keep it back here." She taps the back pocket of her white hotpants.

Even though I could, I won't look at it. I just don't feel… attracted… to her. Way less than she seems to me at the least. Even May wasn't as close as her, it feels… kind of like cheating, but not really. I don't know. Just like May, she's perfectly my type. Cute, energetic, slightly chubby and great… assets, yet I don't feel it. But, maybe that's a good thing. May is still out there after all.]

"It'll still take a while until we're there, so, what exactly happened to you so far, in this 'timeline'?" Mei asks.

[It can't do any harm, telling her.]

"I woke up in Hulive, where I met Helen." Andrew starts.

[Helen Oakes.]

"I also met four guys, Mike, Chris, Joe and Wilhelm, all between thirty and sixty years old I believe."

[Never asked their age.]

"After a month or so, I moved in with my sister, Melissa, but that was short lived. After she told me the story of… how my family died, she kicked me out of town and sent me here."

"Your family… died?" Mei asks.

"Everyone except my sister is gone. They had a car accident, and my brother…"

[Saying it out loud stings. Mei's presence helped me get over it, but now…]

Andrew feels his throat swelling up, trying to keep his tears in.

[I haven't cried in a while. I was wondering if my tear glands had completely dried up.]

"…committed suicide after hearing it." Andrew finishes his sentence.

Andrew swallows profoundly, and Mei notices the stressed out expression on his face.

"And what about your friends? If you're from 2019, they should be here, right?" Mei quickly evades the previous topic.

"I… haven't heard from any of them, yet. Except one, but he wasn't really a friend of mine. After talking for a short while, he fled, saying everything was my fault." Andrew replies.

[No, wait, she doesn't have to know that much.]

Mei is silent for a moment. They enter the station and head up the stairs.

"Do you know what he meant by that?" She asks.

"Kind of."

"I don't think anything would be your fault, given what I've heard." Mei replies. "It's not your fault for… how did you die anyway?"

"Cardiac arrest. Helen told me I have a pacemaker now, but I have yet to notice it."

"At least it wasn't a painful way to die. I get shivers down my spine if I think of, like, drowning, burning, knife or gun wounds…"

[You don't have to sum them all up. And it would be odd if I noticed the pacemaker, but don't those make some noise? It just feels like I don't have it at all.]

"…those are truly frightening, don't you think?" Mei finishes.

[I hadn't heard half of them.]

"Yeah, I guess." Andrew replies.

"I guess? What do you mean with 'I guess?'"

"Well, dying doesn't seem like… that painful to me. I have the feeling that… the moment you are destined to die, you don't feel the cause of the pain so to speak." He explains.

"Philosophical." Mei answers. "I think dying would hurt a lot. The most pain you'd ever experience, both mentally and physically. What did you feel, when it happened?"

They arrive at station 8F, headed for Frigital, and wait on a bench. Only three other people are present on the floor, a distinct difference from the busy main street.

[I don't remember what I felt. I didn't feel pain, but it wasn't painless. I felt something, that's a fact, but I don't know what. Was it sleepiness? Amnesia? Nostalgia? No, I don't remember memories flying by. It wasn't a fun feeling, but not a bad one either. And, I'm out of words already.]

"I don't remember, sorry." He responds.

"That's fine. I was hoping you'd say that, actually." Mei tells him. "Maybe it's a good thing you forgot, because it might have been the worst time of your life."

[Sorry, Mei.]

The Forb capsule arrive, and they enter it. It speeds off into the distance, leaving Clifftell behind in the haze.

[The worst time of my life was after I died.]

After arriving at the station in Frigital, they can already see the Hulive building to their left. "They were surprised to hear I was visiting again after only a month." Mei says.

[I guess that's to be expected.]

They leave the station and go onto the road, walking towards the visitor's entrance of Hulive.

"I told them an ex-patient was coming too, but they didn't think too much of it." She continues. "It didn't even seem like they cared, but what does it matter. It's our visit, not them inviting us."

"It feels so long ago, since I've been here." Andrew says. "Yet it has only been two weeks."

[Two weeks. That time used to fly by when I still had… my old life. But now, it feels like an eternity. It felt like everything happened of the course of months.]

"Well, you did experience a lot in those two weeks." Mei responds.

[And that's true too. I just… want to take a break. A break from life, reverting it to the boring but pleasant way of living back then.]

They arrive at the entrance, and Mei rings the bell.But not until I find May.

"Hulive Patient Rehabilitation Centre, could you identify yourself?" A masculine voice responds from the intercom.

"Mei Hillton."

[Hillton?]

"Hillton, Hillton…" The man replies. "Ah, found you. You called yesterday, correct? And brought an ex-patient with you?"

"That's right!" Mei exclaims excitedly. "Got him right here."

"And what's your name?" The man asks, directed at Andrew.

"Uhm…"

[It must be a coincidence. No one in the family could have had a child. Melissa didn't tell me anything about having a child, and no way she would've named her something similar to 'May', after she said how much she despises me. Anyway…]

"Andrew… Hillton."

The man is silent for a moment. Mei is silent for a moment. Andrew is also silent, but not inside his mind.

[It wouldn't make sense. Connor never could have had a wife, he… died way too young for that. And the time past between his death and Mei possibly being born doesn't add up. Melissa doesn't fit as well, she never wanted kids. She was actually scared of pregnancy and giving birth, if I remember correctly. Yeah, that's right… it's all just a coincidence.]

"Oh, so you brought a family member?" The man finally replies, awkwardly. "Well, I found him in the list of ex-patients so I'm sending his caretaker to the door right now."

The microphone shuts off. Mei jolts her head towards Andrew's.

"Are you for real? Is your surname Hillton? As in, a smaller mountain weighing a ton?" Mei blurts out haphazardly.

[Never thought of my name like that before.]

"Well, it is. H-i-l-l-t-o-n. I'm sure of it." Andrew tries to laugh it off. "And I'm also sure it's just a coincidence."

[I don't feel a family-like bond with her, not that that's the best reason. I want to look into this later, we didn't come here for our name.]

Mei nods. "Let's look into it another time, okay?" She says.

[As if she is reading my mind.]

"Yeah." Andrew nods.