So it's that day of the year again. The Purge, when Strays and wraiths get sucked into Doors and Gates so they could crossover to Nirvana. This is a work day, Familiar! No Holiday for you. No overtime. No hazard. What? What rights? It's on the job description, remember? The one you signed before you were immortalized? So, stand up and get goin!

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

As per usual, read with an open mind. Accept and play along. Enjoy the adventure.

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A special place in time,
I'll put it in a bottle,
I'd go back there in my mind.                          Another World, The Vamps

∞XIII∞

"Time's up," Rosario said, clapping a hand on the blackboard. "Everyone, pass your paper."

The students began to file out of the Literature classroom, leaving their papers on the teacher's table as they passed by. I kept sitting there, trying to shake off the disorientation.

"You," Rosario hissed at me.

"M-me?"

"Yes, you! Aramis. Who else?" she snapped, placing her hands on her waist. "Do you see anyone else here?"

"Oh... right."

She gave me an irritated look. "Well? Aren't you going to give me your answer?"

"What answer?"

"Your answer, stupid," she said through her teeth, staring at the piece of paper I didn't know I was holding. "You're wasting time!"

I stood up and went to her table. "His happiness," I read the words on the paper aloud, my brows knitting. "What's this about?"

"Ugh!" She snatched the paper from my hand and tossed it with the others. "What kind of stupid answer is that? I told you to write an essay about what matters most to you as of the moment and you wrote two words? How am I supposed to grade you with that?"

As Rosario went on with her ranting, a shrill static noise filled the air. I whipped my head to see where it was coming, but there was nothing behind me but an empty classroom.

"Did you hear that?" I asked Rosario.

"No! Have you been listening to me all this time? I keep telling you what needs to be done, Aramis and still, you keep getting side-tracked with all your bullshit. Whatever you're trying to achieve here, you're failing."

Closing my eyes, I tried to shake the daze out of my head. The noise was making me queasy and I could hardly even make out what Rosario was saying.

"I... don't understand!" I cried, covering my ears.

She slammed the paper in front of me. "I'll give you another chance. Do you want to rewrite your answer?"

I shook my head, wincing as the shrill noise became louder.

"Happiness, huh?" she scoffed. "You think this world's so perfect. How naïve. Now, do you want a rewrite? Tell me now or you'll fail, Aramis. Do you want a rewrite?!"

"NO!!!" I screamed and suddenly, the noise died down. "No..."

Rosario's hazel eyes were steely as she sat on the edge of the table and shrugged. "Your call."

∞XIII∞

I was just getting my things from my locker when I saw Vladimir pass by with Mei. From the other end of the corridor, Kyoshiro turned up wearing a number ten varsity jacket similar to Vincent's. His left arm was in a cast and sling.

Peeking from behind my locker door, not only did I see Vlad waving at Kyoshiro. I also saw Mei run to him, looping both arms around his neck before planting a kiss on his lips.

"What kind of sorcery is this?" I hissed to myself, fighting the urge to bang my head on the wall.

I followed them to the basketball team locker room and pressed my ear on the door.

"I already told the other players that Vincent's secretly having a one-on-one training with Coach," Kyoshiro said. "Looked like they took the bait. No one's happy about it. They're thinking about kicking Vincent out of the team."

"But Coach Amyr isn't going to let that happen, will he?" It was Vladimir this time.

Kyoshiro let out a noncommittal groan. "Coach is already pissed at him. I doubt he would take Vincent's side. He knows I'd tell everyone it was his idea if he did."

"Good," Vladimir answered. "Everybody's going to hate him as should be."

"He had it coming," Kyoshiro agreed. "He didn't really think his 'sorry' was enough to make up for breaking my arm, did he? As if I'd really believe it was an accident. He did it so he could take my place as captain. I should be the MVP, not him!"

"Relax, Kyo," Mei hushed. "He will get what he deserves in due time."

Vladimir sniggered. "Exactly. By now, the basketball team must be ganging up on him. Why not make it more interesting by breaking his heart too? It's our perfect timing."

"When it rains, it pours," Mei warbled.

∞XIII∞

Dad placed his elbows on the table and intertwined his fingers in front of his mouth. "You're not touching your food, A. Is something the matter?"

I stopped poking on my pasta and put the fork down. Sighing, I fixed my eyes on the window looking to the road, trying to tune out the light chatter inside the classy restaurant that brought me in. My thoughts were in a jumble. I didn't know what to make out of everything that had happened.

"Come on, A. What's bothering you? You used to tell me everything. I'll listen," Dad pressed on, hoisting himself on his seat. "Your Mom and I broke up because of our differences, but that doesn't mean I'll stop being your Dad. When I heard you got arrested I can't help but think it's my fault. And it is. We only see each other once in a while, but I want to be there for you as much as I can."

I chewed on my lip. "Is this even real, Dad? Is any of this real? Because I can't tell anymore."

Dad's brown eyes softened. He placed a hand over mind and squeezed. "I'm a writer, A. I think I'm the worst person to ask that question," he answered, giving me this sad smile. "What if this—if all this—was just a story, would you do a rewrite? If anyone asks me that question, I would always say, yes."

"Why?"

He took a sip of his chardonnay and stared at the glass. "Because I'm human and humans always want more than what they already have. We always wonder about what could have been, what might have been. We tend to believe we deserve better. And that's what makes us so miserable. But the truth is, no matter how many lives you live, it's never going to be perfect. There's no such thing."

All of a sudden, a Dishwalla song filled the air.

Oh, and now you find you're on your own

You try to find your way back home

It was Dad's phone ringing. He glanced at it and grimaced when he saw the name Archie on the caller ID.

"Pick it up," I grumbled.

Dad mouthed 'thanks', before answering it. "Yeah, Archie. It's me... Now? Yes, but I'm with my daughter. I told you that... Can't it wait? No... No! We just revised that part with the editor... Okay. I'll be there."

He put down the phone giving me this sorry face.

I rolled my eyes. "Let me guess: you have to go in the middle of our once-in-a-blue-moon dinner."

"I won't go if you don't want me to."

Crossing my arms on my chest, I pressed my lips into a tight line.

"Say something, A," Dad said, leaning over to meet my gaze. "How do I know what you want me to do if you don't talk about it? Don't shut me out. Don't shut people out. Accepting that you feel something isn't weakness. It just shows you're human."

"Am I? Because Mom calls me a monster and everybody else thinks I'm a freak. To you, I'm just an obligation." I retorted, immediately regretting the tone I used when I saw how hurt Dad was.

He exhaled and removed the napkin from his lap, his eyes blank. "I'm taking the earliest flight to California. The movie producers wanted a rewrite. At this rate we're never going to get to the end if someone doesn't make up their mind on how the story goes. Every time we change something, another thing is bound to get screwed up."

"Well, isn't that just... perfect?" I smirked.

Dad leaned over to meet my gaze. "As I've said, there's no such thing as perfect." He narrowed his eyes as though to leave an impression. "Come on, I'll drive you home."

I trained my eyes toward the window. Coincidentally, I saw a familiar guy wearing a number thirteen varsity jacket walk by. It was Vincent—head hung low, shoulders slouched, steps slow, just about to conjure a guitar out of thin air and play the saddest song ever.

"No need," I told Dad, getting up to kiss him on the cheek. "Have a safe flight. Bye."

Then I hurried out of the restaurant and jogged after Vincent. I was breathless by the time I was able to reach and pull his backpack. I just realized how I missed draughting, if such a thing ever existed.

I tapped him on the shoulder once I caught up with him. "Hey," I said, making an effort to smile.

"Hey," he smiled back. "You heading home?"

I had to blink to clear out the daze. "No. Shouldn't you be in practice?"

"Yeah, I quit." He kicked a pebble in his way as we walked. "Or more accurately, the team kicked me out. Said I was trying to get Amyr to coach me one-on-one. They were pinning the captain's injury on me. All kinds of crap. And worse, Mei believed everything. She... broke up with me."

I nodded weakly, not sure what I should say. I had a heads up that this was going to happen. I just wasn't sure how it could have made any difference. It wasn't like I had any control over anything here.

"Sorry," he murmured, closing his eyes. "I didn't know why I'm saying this to you. Everything just spilled out."

"Don't be. At least here, you're finally speaking your mind to me. I kind of like this version of you."

His brows began to pull together. "As opposed to what?"

"To the furniture-smashing, kill-now-ask-questions-later kind."

He laughed a little. Even in this world, it felt priceless listening to it. "Yeah, right. All I've ever smashed and killed in my life was a piggy bank. It wasn't even mine. It was Vlad's."

The mention of his brother's name left a stain of sadness in his eyes.

"I guess you two are pretty tight, huh?"

"Used to be. Now, not so much."

"Why? What happened?"

His gaze became distant, blank. "I told him something horrible."

"What did you tell him?"

For a second, he looked at me as if deliberating whether to answer or not. With a sigh, he dropped his gaze. "The truth."

"Shouldn't that be a good thing?"

Sucking in a harsh breath, he slipped his hands into his pockets. "Truths can be real ugly."

"Tell me about it," I grumbled.

"My Mom's been having an affair with my Dad's best friend. I knew since middle school but I never told anyone about it until this one time when Vlad was really getting on my nerves. I may have sort of told him that he's not my Dad's son—I didn't mean to hurt him. It just kind of slipped out—and he made a huge deal about it. Dad heard and confronted Mom. Turns out, I was right. Vlad's just my half-brother. Everything kind of became kind of messed up at home and Vlad has been blaming everything on me ever since. It's just—Why the hell am I telling you all of this?" He shook his head, incredulous. "I don't know why I'm telling you all this."

"Geez," I smirked. "When I said tell me about it, I didn't really mean tell me about it. But... thanks."

Scratching the back of his head, he gave me a flustered look. "For what?"

"For entrusting your deepest darkest secrets with me."

"I've got ninety-nine problems and they're the least you should worry about, Aramis Rayne," he sighed, looking up at the starless sky. "It just makes me think, you know, if I could redo that same moment and just shut up for once, maybe... just maybe, Vlad wouldn't make it his life's mission to make me miserable."

I stopped walking and gazed at him, wishing I could tell him everything I knew. That there was some twisted world out there and he was a part of it. "When you try to change something, another thing gets screwed up. So it's better to just accept the way things are and work from there."

"That's deep. Where'd you get that line? A book?"

"An author actually—my Dad."

"Figures," he sneered.

"Why, you think I can't come up with my own words of wisdom?"

He put his hands up, pressing his lips together to curb a smile. "You do realize you've been arrested. Twice."

"Point taken." I had no clue why I was arrested, but even I couldn't see the wisdom in that. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You already did, but sure."

"Do... you ever feel like you don't belong here? That there's a whole different world out there you should be part of?"

He blinked as if I wasn't speaking in English. "I... haven't really thought of it that way before."

"I mean, with all that has happened, do you like the way your life has turned out to be?"

"Life sucks. That's the way it's always been. And it keeps beating you up until you're down for the count." There was a tired look on his face as he met my eyes. "I don't know. I guess, you just got to know when to give up."

My reply was a very clever "Oh..." and I had never felt more alone in my life.

Having that normal conversation with the normal Vincent was, for me, the strangest. Yeah, he was freely talking to me, sharing his problems without me having to dodge flying cabinets. I thought we had the connection we had before, maybe better. But I just felt like I was his therapist, not his friend.