Vol Chapter 7 (1/2)

Final Chapter: Good Morning

1

When I woke up, I was in my room in the facility, completely unchanged from the norm.

My pajamas were soaked with sweat and clung to my skin. I felt like I’d had a very long nightmare. I lifted my hazy head and touched my forehead. I thought I felt something sticky like blood, but when I took my hand away in surprise, I saw nothing there.

…Was it really a dream?

I timidly approached the closet and swung the door open. But my soul was not sucked in; I just saw my clothes hanging inside. I heard no rabbit or cat. It was a normal, unremarkable dresser.

Relieved, I changed out of my pajamas. I checked the clock. It was past twelve. Was it afternoon, or midnight?

The hallway outside was very bright. The air felt a little warm. It looked like noon to me.

…What about the other children?

Suddenly worried, I knocked on Letty’s door beside mine and opened up. Letty was sleepily sitting on bed in frilly pajamas.

“Oh… Allen? I had a really, really scary dream. …It was really sad, and painful. Are you okay, Allen? You look sad…”

Surprised, I touched my cheeks. Indeed, it did ache a little around my eyes. Even though I thought I’d only cried in a dream…

“…Yeah, I’m fine. You don’t look so good, so maybe you should rest some more. It’s only noon.”

After expressing some concern for Letty, I left the room. I checked on Chelsy, Joshua, and Stella, but they were similarly sleepy and dazed. Then… Teacher.

I went to Teacher’s room and knocked. I didn’t hear the voice I always did. I knocked harder to the same result. As I twisted the k.n.o.b, my heartbeat got louder. A p.r.i.c.kling pain strangled my chest.

I forced my heavy body to open the door. Teacher was asleep in bed. It felt like a rare occasion to see him asleep in his own bed. Maybe that was the first thought to come to mind because I didn’t want to face the reality.

“…Teacher?”, I called as I approached. But he showed no reaction. His face was pale, and he gave a more sickly impression than usual. Getting uneasy, I put my hand on his chest. It slowly moved up and down.

…He was alive.

“Teacher.”

I called for him again, but he didn’t respond. I held his hand sticking out of the sheets in my little hands.

“…Good night, Teacher.”

I let go. I found myself searching my pocket, and noticed something hard and thin in my usually-empty pockets. I pulled it out - the golden locket Teacher always wore. Teacher had given it to me in that World. So those were real occurrences, not a dream.

Holding the locket, I suppressed my welling feelings. Remembering everything, my chest tightened, and I had trouble breathing. Pus.h.i.+ng through it, I opened the locket to find a photo and a note.

The photo showed a boy and a girl with similar faces. …The young Teacher I met in that World, and his sister Fiona. The note had a phone number and the name “Cliff,” as Teacher had said.

I rubbed my eyes with my worn-out arms and steadied my breathing. There there, there there, there, there… I repeated in my mind.

…I had to call him. Teacher told me to.

I remembered there was a phone in the entrance hall. I left Teacher’s side to leave the room.

Finding the phone, I picked up the receiver and put it to my ear. An artificial sound echoed. Good, it was connected.

I carefully dialed the number while looking at the note so I wouldn’t get it wrong. After a few dial tones, a familiar voice came through.

“…Yes? h.e.l.lo? Huh, it’s not often you’re the one calling me. If you’re calling to ask for help cleaning or something, that’s gonna be a no.”

Mr. Cliff responded in his usual cheerful voice. He seemed to think Teacher was calling.

“…Mr. Cliff.”

“…Is that Allen I hear?” Once I spoke, his bright tone lowered drastically.

“Ah, I see…” Mr. Cliff understood the situation. “You don’t need to say anything. He’s told me what would happen for it to come to this.”

After a short pause, he continued in a pained voice I’d never heard from Mr. Cliff before. “Get your things packed. And tell the other children to. …I’d appreciate if you could do his, too. It’ll take me a while to get there, so please. …Give me some time to think, okay?”

I said nothing more except “Okay,” then gently hung up.

Once the receiver was placed back, I lost all energy and collapsed on the spot. An abnormal powerlessness ate at my body.

What should we do now? What would happen?

I had decided what I wanted to do. But…

“…Keep what you really want a secret.”

I put my hand on the wall and stood up. I had to pack. So I walked back to my room.

Warm sunlight came in through the windows. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and peaceful chirping tickled my ears.

A long time had pa.s.sed. Joshua and Chelsy had recuperated and returned home to their families. They seemed to be on good terms with their parents again.

Letty, Stella, and I were staying at Mr. Cliff’s house. He was at times at a loss with our peculiarities, but he was helping us go to school. I was working hard to repay him as soon as I could. I’d recently gotten a part-time job.

“Hey, Allen, what’re you doing?”

While I was deep in thought, a young man with long silver hair lept up onto my shoulders. It caught me off-guard; there was no way I could hold him.

“Stop it, Joshua. You’ve gotten stronger lately, so that really hurts.”

“Yeah? I bet you’d get a little stronger if you played basketball, Allen! You’re always either reading or folding paper planes, that’s why you’re so scrawny.”

Joshua grabbed my arm and swung it. Shaking his hand off, I sighed.

“Oh, Allen, Joshua. I haven’t seen you for a while.”

A woman with brown braids in a distinctive red and white outfit came running from the end of the white hallway. But she nearly tripped on the way, and a friendly-faced woman with white hair and reddish-purple highlights managed to stop her.

“No need to rush, Chelsy, they’re not going anywhere! Oh, Allen, Joshua, good morning! …Huh? I mean, it’s already noon, so… Good day?”

Letty pondered as she lifted Chelsy up. Behind them, an eye-catching woman with long black hair approached with a dumbfounded look.

“…This is a hospital. You should be quiet,” Stella scolded. The two looked at each other wryly.

“Well, let’s go,” I said to the others, then slid open the nearby door.

Teacher was taken to this hospital where he and I first met. He was still sleeping, still breathing. His peaceful expression hadn’t changed all this time.

“Teacher, I brought one again today.”

Joshua took a little paper plane out of the dark red backpack he was wearing, and put it on Teacher’s blanket. Letty, Chelsy, and Stella all took out their own and did the same, piling them higher.

“In a practice game the other day, I nailed a throw in a real bad situation, and everybody went wild! It was super embarra.s.sing when I tripped and twisted my ankle after that, though.”

“…You used to be the one who made us fall over. Surprising us with frogs, and worms…”

“Oh, er… s-sorry about that, Chelsy. Heck, that squishy feeling’s so weird, even I don’t wanna touch 'em anymore!”

Joshua s.h.i.+vered with disgust, but had his usual mischievous smile. Chelsy next to him had a gentle smile, too.

“Teacher, mom’s… gotten a lot better,” she said, grabbing and letting go of the sleeves on her one-piece. Her faintly red cheeks hadn’t changed since she was young. “Maybe it’s because dad started taking more days off to help look after her. She says when she’s fully recovered, she wants to be a teacher again. …I want to be a teacher myself someday, like you and mom.”

“Letty, Stella, you got anything?”, Joshua asked, putting his hands behind his head. “Better say it soon, who knows when you’ll get to visit again.”

Letty twisted her neck and thought, then her face lit up and she spoke with glittering eyes. “…Oh! The other day, I went with Chelsy and Stella to a newly-opened sweets shop and had cake! It had fluffy cream, and bittersweet strawberries, and it was really good!”