Monday July 31st, 2056

With the sun already far above the horizon, Andrew leaves the house and closes the door behind him. Melissa had already left earlier in the morning. He heads out with a backpack, which he packed with lunch. In his pocket, he has his phone and wallet, with money he lent from Melissa, his ID card, a second card as proof of his stay at Hulive, and his Forb card. He uses it at the station to check in, and waits for the next wagon to arrive.

[Will some of the old city even be left? I couldn't see any of it when I was in the station. I do hope all the roads are still the same, so I can find my way around.]

The Forb arrives, and Andrew gets in. It speeds off to Clifftell, quickly distancing itself from Perigowinkle.

Andrew arrives on the station, at connection 12H: Perigowinkle. He takes the stairs down all the way to floor A. The station is swarmed with life. Students chatting, business men fast-walking while talking on their phones, retirees sitting on benches at their designated station. It is a lively Monday noon.

[So busy, I can barely get around. At least they're all normal people. Not… May. Realising she probably isn't near helped me greatly, though I still have to find her, somehow.]

Andrew struggles to look at the signs without getting bumped around. He gives up and forces himself through the crowd, and leaves the station. A group of cyclists almost run him over, as he puts a single foot on the main road.

[It didn't even look like a road. The tiles are only slightly darker, so I think light-grey is the sidewalk and darker-grey the road. I'll remember that from now on, but it's odd that it changed.]

Andrew takes a map of the city from a tourist stand and walks across the city. While watching out not to hamper other people, he heads towards the main square, where Clifftell College was, now Clifftell high.

[Clifftell High is a way more accurate name, as the College part was less than a third of the entire campus at the time. Let's see if it has changed much.]

Crossing streets and gently pushing bothersome tourists out of his path, he arrives at the main square of Clifftell, with the statue of the city's founder in the centre, surrounded by a park with neatly ordered trees and wide open grass fields. He looks to the left, where the school resides. His school.

[It… it…]

He lets his hand fall next to his thighs.

[It didn't change… at all.]

The old building is still there. The same building he remembers, with the large round stained glass window above the front door. The gates are open and students are walking in and out of the campus. Between all the new, modernised buildings, Clifftell College still stands as medieval as it has always been. Andrew's eyes are wide open.

[It feels like forever… since I've been here.]

After a moment of hesitation, he decides to head towards the campus.

Between all the uniform-wearing students, Andrew enters the campus of Clifftell High. He takes a look at the signs, which label different buildings. 'Main Hall', 'Physical Room', 'Science Lab', and a few others.

[Looks like they converted to high-school only, I don't see any signs of a college being here. And the uniforms too, I never had one when I went here.]

The uniforms are black, with the emblem of the school on the back. Underneath the uniform resides a white blouse. The boys are wearing black pants, while all the girls wear a skirt down to below their knees with a pantyhose underneath. Andrew looks at a few of the students.

[I can see both black and white pantyhoses. That girl has a pink one, so I guess the pantyhose is a free choice. Do guys have something they can choose freely too? Doesn't look like it.]

Andrew enters the Main Hall. Some people give him a weird look, while others just smile at him when he makes eye contact.

[They probably think I'm new and transferring here, but only one of those is true. The Main Hall didn't change much, the statue of Michael is still standing proud. The administrator office is still to the left, cafeteria to the right. Stairs are still the same, floor's labelled A, B and C. Yep, this is how I remember Clifftell College.]

The bell rings, and all the students scamper up the stairs like a horde of sheep. Andrew waits until they're gone, and takes a walk around the ground floor.

[I think I should just leave, I can't really go around and check out anything without disturbing anyone. Melissa told me about dorm rooms, I guess I'll go look for them.]

He heads to the exit, but a woman calls him from the administrator office.

"Young man?"

[Young man? Is that a new way to address teens?]

"Hmm?" Andrew responds. It came out ruder than he expected. "What is it?" He asks, a little more serenely, and walks up to her office.

"Are you new here? I don't remember seeing you before. Do you need anything?" She asks.

[Ask one question at a time. Miss… Wember. Never heard of a name like that before, good that you have a name card.]

"No, I was a student here some time ago. I'm just checking the place out because I heard they built dorm rooms." Andrew replies.

"The dorm rooms were built over twenty years ago." Miss Wember replies. "And, you don't look like you went to school here… twenty years ago."

[Whoops.]

"Are you sure?" She asks.

[What do I even say now? Do I tell her about Hulive, or do I just excuse myself and leave? Telling her wouldn't help that much, she probably wouldn't even understand. But how would I explain it other wise? Oh maybe…]

"Young man?"

"Oh, sorry. No, I was mistaken. I heard something changed on the campus, so I went to check that out. I'll be on my way again, as I don't have a lot of time. See you!" Andrew blurts out hastily, and before Miss Wember can reply, he already heads towards the exit.

"Oh, see you." She says. After a brief look of confusion, she continues her work.

[Okay, I got out of that safely, I think. It seemed like she just accepted my explanation and moved on. Now, time to check out the dorms. They should be behind the main building, as far as the signs tell me.]

He takes the path that heads around the main building, passing the Science Lab, and arriving at a fenced off field. Andrew looks between the bars of the fence, and sees a long road with houses on both sides. Above the entrance of all the houses is a number and a letter.

[I guess these are the dorm rooms. I expected more of a hotel like structure, but a house park works too. Those numbers and letters are probably classes, so each class has a single house. I wonder if everyone has a room for themselves, it would take up quite a lot of space if that's the case. Or, the rooms are really small. Looks like I can't enter, so I'll just check out the other side of the school and go home. I don't think there's anything else to do in Clifftell at the moment.]

Andrew continues on the road behind the school, walks past the Physical Education Room, and comes out in front of the main entrance again, from the other side. He looks up at the stained glass window, above the entrance.

[Well, see you in a few weeks, Clifftell.]

Andrew goes to the front gate. At the exact moment he walks through, an Eastern looking man passes him. Andrew notices it in the corner of his eye, and faces him. The man faces him too. They make eye contact, and both stop in their tracks.

"Andrew?" The man asks.

[He… I recognise him. Is it really…?]

"Rajib?" Andrew says. They look at each other in silence, not comprehending their current situation. Rajib takes steps towards him.

[Is it really him? He doesn't say he's not. Rajib. We used to be in the same class together. We helped each other with history projects all the time.

"Yeah, that's me." Rajib replies. "Let's sit down and talk, shall we?"

On a bench outside, in the park in front of the school, Rajib sits down. Andrew takes place next to him. Rajib seems on edge.

[Does he really want to talk to me? He looks like a stressed student right before exams.]

"So, how has your life been so far?" Rajib asks, on a weird tone.

[What an odd first question.]

"Well, I've been up for…"

[Woah. Wait a second. I've only been up for just over a month. It feels like I've been here for months, in 2056.]

"… A month, little more."

"Only a month?" Rajib replies. "Well, you used to be perseverant back then too."

A silence falls upon them. Rajib places his face in his hands.

"You don't understand, do you?" He says.

"What do you mean?"

"No, you wouldn't understand. You're too apathetic for that. You missed too much. I gotta… get back to work."

Rajib gets up, even though they've only seen each other for a few minutes.

"Wait, what do you mean? What did I miss while I was gone?"

Rajib looks back at Andrew. His pupils are small, and veins can be seen all throughout his bloodshot eye. A tear forms on the bottom of his eye.

"Too much. You missed… everything." He replies. Andrew stands up and reaches out, but Rajib takes a run for it. He takes the first bus he sees, and leaves Andrew's sight.

[What was that about? He said he wanted to talk, right? Missed… everything? What does he mean with everything? What happened while I was gone? Rajib, don't leave me after telling me that. Apathetic. Am I apathetic?]

Andrew sits down again, defeated. A few tourists look his way, but quickly evade their eyes again, as if nothing happened.

[Melissa was just as secretive. I want to know. I want to know everything. What's so important that happened while I was sleeping?]

The doorbell rings. Andrew heads down from his room to open the front door, and let Melissa inside. He helps her with her bags, but she doesn't thank him.

[Back to your apathetic self, I see. Apathetic. What is he talking about. Maybe something that's everything happened in his life, but not mine. We were not that close anyway, so why would it matter for me? Why do I still care? I just need to forget it. It was nothing.]

"Melissa." Andrew says. Melissa looks up and at him, while having one shoe half-untied.

"What?"

"I met Rajib today. He told me I 'missed everything'. Do you know what that means?"

Melissa looks away and continues untying her shoes.

"Rajib, who's that?"

"A classmate of mine, well, he was back in 2019." Andrew replies.

"Oh, I see." She places her shoes down and looks Andrew straight in his eyes. "August Sixth. I already told you that. He's probably talking about the same thing, mostly. Just have patience, you should never rush."

"No!" Andrew exclaims. "My curiosity has been driving me crazy the past few nights! I need to now! Right now!"

"Shut up!" Melissa yells, ever more furiously. Andrew is startled by the unexpected energy coming from her voice. "I don't want to think about it myself either!" Melissa continues. "The sixth of August is the only day… of the year. So stop asking me." She snatches the bags from Andrew's hands, who is still standing in the hallway, speechless, and she heads up the stairs.

[So it's something, bad. Negative. Something that made Melissa extremely depressed, that changed her personality completely. And even Rajib, who I didn't even talk to often, knows about it. Melissa's response confirms that.]

He heads up the stairs, into his room, and falls onto his bed

[What the… fuck. What did I miss, that's so impactful as they say? Did… some one die? No, I don't want to jump to conclusions. And, if someone died, they would've told me already. Well, at least Melissa would. I only seen Rajib for at most three minutes. Why didn't I just go after him? I could've easily pushed him to tell me everything. Everything… that I need to know. Everything I don't know yet… is a lot.]

[I don't understand, why can't they just tell me? The only thing I'm sure of is that something influential happened on the sixth of August. Something else might have happened on the thirtieth of July too.He takes his notebook from his desk and writes what he's thinking about inside.]

[The only thing that comes to mind, a thing that can have such an impact on someone's life…]

[Death.]

[Though I don't want to think about it, that has the highest possibility. Death. Such an intriguing subject. After we die, we just… don't think anymore. There's nothing, not even darkness. It's impossible to comprehend.]

[Which is why, I should think about it. I even cheated it, and I know nothing happened. You just… skip that part of time, like sleeping. But, if you never wake up, that would mean you would be skipping time indefinitely…]

"Heh, I'm rambling again."

[Stop it, brain. Andrew is in control now.]

Melissa calls him for dinner, and he heads down stairs to the living room. Not a single conversation sparks while they're at the table, and Andrew heads to his room immediately afterwards. He doesn't put on his pyjamas, and falls onto his bed in his underwear.

[Damnit. Damn everything. I just want to know. If it's really something with death, I have to go to the graveyard. Tomorrow morning.]

He lets out a sigh.

[But, I don't think I can. The likeliness of it being related to death, will make Melissa prevent me from entering until the sixth. I expect that much. Mystery hunts were always fun, or so I thought. This isn't fun at all, when something keeps holding you back. Something, invisible. Could it be a social thing? No, wait, that doesn't make sense at all, Andrew. You should just go to sleep already, there's no information to collect anymore. It's only waiting now, just one more week. A week. It's such a long time, when there's nothing to do.]

Andrew pulls the bedspread over himself, and closes his eyes.

[I don't understand, how some people can spend their lives shut inside, without people to talk to. Only going outside when you need groceries, it would be extremely boring. They probably all die without anyone knowing. Die of boredom. I don't want to think about that. I don't want to meet that same fate. You won't meet that fate, Andrew. You just have to continue searching for her. She's still there for you, waiting. For now, she's with you in that closed letter. Her love, and her soul.]

[Why am I thinking to myself like this?]