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Mystery Fiction

This story contains themes or mentions of suicide or self harm.

“I think you need to move on now, Luke. It's been 4 years.”

“You just don’t get it. Sora. I love her, and she loves me. I can’t just move on. If anything, I feel lost and confused about what to do. Maybe I need to get away from here and restart somewhere else. I can't bare living where my nightmares began.”

“I visited you today because I wanted to see improvement, not because you going on about love. You can move on, just like how you moved on from everyone and everything else, stop living with this mindset and sober up. It's time for you to face reality."

“Can you just eat your gelato and stop acting like my therapist? I don’t need help, at least not help, from you.”

“You already got three therapists to quit, I'm not about to be the fourth. I'm just here to ask you, you still blame me for what happened, don't you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“No, you blame me for saving you that day, for not letting you do something stupid, and me for trying to stop you in the first place, don't you? You said you loved her, but maybe you loved her too much. I’m not trying to be a therapist or a villain. I’m just trying to be a friend and a good sister and help you.”

“I knew what I was doing that day; it was perfect. No one could have ruined it, not you, not me, no one. But, people had to come along and ruin it. Right now I could be with her and not have to suffer because of people like you,”

“Calm down, brother, your gelato is on the ground.”

“I hate gelato."

“I know you hate gelato, 'cause it was my favorite, right? Also, wasn't a gelato place the last place you took Mai before her death. I'm not here to trigger you, but, you’re a coward Luke, too scared to live up to what you’ve done. I’m not mad at you Luke. I’ve never been mad at you, but you heavily frustrate me. I see you walk by every day, you know how it makes me feel when I see you visiting someone else and not your own sister? I feel like shit. I know you're struggling Luke, I won't judge you for it, but, just please, come and talk to me.”

"It's not as easy as you make of it Sora, I'm trying not to feel guilty, and visiting you worsens it. Maybe one day."

"I can't force you Luke, but I hope you think about coming around sometime. You know I'm always in the same place, I miss you. I hope you get better and live a long life with no guilt or regrets. It looks like your friend is coming this way. I guess that's my cue to leave. Be careful of him and enjoy the Riverside Luke, we’ll meet again”

"Wait, what do you mean be careful of hi-"

“Hey, Luke!”

“Oh um...Who are you?”

“What do you mean? It's me Ryan?”

“Oh from high school? I remember you, hey, don’t you have a twin brother in prison? What was he in for again?”

“Oh um, yeah, Preston’s still in Prison. He went in for kidnapping. Sorry, can we not talk about him?”

“Yeah, my bad. didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable”

“It's fine. Anyways, I saw you talking to someone from across the river, who were you talking to?”

“My sister just found me again, talking all this about how I should feel and how she wants the best for me. If she wants the best for me, she wouldn't bring up my guilt or even appear in front of me. I know how Mai died that day. I don’t need her to remind me and make me feel guilty. She also took me to get gelato. I hate gelato. I feel bad though. I didn't mean to be that rude to her, it just came out naturally. She scared me for some reason.”

“What…are you talking about, are you okay man?”

“What do you mean? Are you here to be my therapist too? If so, you can leave.”

“No, I mean, I saw you talking to no one. You were alone, so I thought you had airpods on, but I guess not.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Your sister died with Mai three years ago Luke, didn’t you say you hated her? You’ve never even visited her grave since she died? Also, gelato? You’re holding an empty paper cup, well, it used to be a paper cup, but now it's just squashed.”

“How do you know.”

“After you watched Mai get kidnapped in a white car, you and Sora went to find her but ended up watching Mai die. After knocking out the kidnapper, you tried to kill yourself, too. Sora saw and in a frantic state tried to take the knife from you, but got stabbed; you killed her. You then left the knife with the kidnapper and fled the scene. You hate her 'cause you wanted to be responsible for killing the kidnapper and not your sister.”

“My goal was to save Mai that day. I wanted to kill the kidnapper and let my mother-in-law know that I’m capable of protecting Mai. I just didn’t expect her to die. If my sister didn’t come in and acted as the hero, I would have died with Mai. I love her too much to let her go alone, Ryan.”

“If you love her so much then you should live for her and stop blaming your sister for getting in the way of you showing off your shit skills. You sound stupid, no you are stupid.”

"What do you mean by that?"

"Wasn't Ryan your best friend? I'm surprised you still haven't noticed."

“Huh? Wait, you never answered me, how do you know the details of what happened that night?”

‘What do you mean? It was on the news?”

“No, the news never mentioned what color car took Mai away, it only stated that it was a Toyota.”

“Oh, really? I guess I didn't pay attention to the news.”

“Wait, Ryan is supposed to be in London…. You’re not Ryan.”

February 25, 2023 04:52

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1 comment

Amanda Fox
18:38 Feb 28, 2023

I love a twist ending - nicely done!

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