Flip the Coin [BL]

Chapter 500; Future—

Henry’s POV

I fiddled with the soft dog ears in my hair that had been a bit squished under the hoodie.

The violin bow was in my lap, and I looked at the wasteland around me.

It was still night, the car was silent, and every time I looked at the co-pilot seat, I felt suffocated for Kenny and for his mother.

After half an hour of driving and me looking out of the window, I thought that we had left the already big circus area behind by quite a bit.

Did I already cross from Kenny’s space into the Maestro’s space, or even into his memory? And if yes, when exactly had it been?

Was it when I stepped on the stone street? When I entered the car? Or had it happened the moment I snatched the little clown’s bow?

Maybe I was still on the bridge between them?

I leaned back and closed my eyes.

No matter where Kenny was, I would go there to find him.

If his unconsciousness had been left behind, was his consciousness somewhere separate?

We will see.

From the car, we changed to the most modern and fastest train I had ever seen and then to another car.

No words were spoken, and I continued to follow.

The last car brought us to a house on top of a cliff; the ocean was under said cliff, and more towards the inland was a city that seemed, in comparison, not as modern as the big villa.

When I spotted the cliff, I immediately thought of the time when Kenny had been skewered—it had happened while he jumped from one.

Time sped up considerably when I entered the house.

It was as if our timelines didn’t align anymore; every movement before me happened incredibly fast while I was still moving as before.

I had to look closely to tell what was happening in front of me.

The first thing the couple did was reach for a white violin and then hand it over to the tired kid.

So they had already figured out that he was the little clown in front of the tent, probably having taken him for exactly this reason.

He played it for the couple the rest of the night.

The kid then received a new room and clothes that were just for him; time continued to go faster, and I soon noticed that I couldn’t follow him out of the house.

How I was stopped from immediately approaching the carousel and how Danny was restricted by an invisible wall—it was happening again when I tried to leave with the child.

But it didn’t matter; I was sure that if Kenny were here, he would only appear later in the maestro’s vicinity.

If this were his space, if he just replayed his memories, or if this were the genuine past, Kenny would probably appear when time had reached the Maestro’s present.

And the kid was luckily mostly at home for me to watch.

Sometimes leaving for school, and the rest of the time he was always practicing until he noticed that he was truly alone.

It was as if he had thought he were being tested, treading the waters carefully.

But seeing how seldom that couple came back, his time schedule changed a bit.

Nothing major, but he started to watch TV.

He started to use the games that had been in his room to play.

But he still played the violin daily.

Time continued to flow rapidly, but I didn’t miss the view the sky offered one night.

Lightning.

Hundreds, thousands, a million lightning bolts.

This wasn’t the first time I saw it.

Time continued to move forward, and I didn’t miss the news the kid watched, constantly speaking about something I didn’t understand because of the language barrier and time speed, but I spotted pictures of insects and bird swarms on the big screen.

While I walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, weeks or months had passed, and the electricity went off all of a sudden.

If I hadn’t stood at the window already, I would have missed the moment when planes fell from the sky.

Just as Kenny had described after seeing the Maestro’s memories.

Just as it had happened to us.

And now I can say with certainty that this is the Maestro’s past.

But what I would have undoubtedly noticed either way was that one of the planes crashed into the cliff, exploding and setting the house on fire.

I stood amidst the fire; I watched the child burn, his skin dissolve, and smelled his melting hair.

I saw him curl up amidst the flames while coughing and sucking in the fiery red before turning charcoal.

And seeing this view, I squeezed my healed wrist before eventually biting into my arm, hard.

It reminded me of the moment I found Kenny’s naked body for the first time after one year, amidst dark, burnt earth close to the crystalline world.

This fire did nothing to me physically, as if it were just light effects.

The time seemed to flow slower during the big fire, as I was able to step forward with the violin bow in my hand—which was just as unharmed as I was.

I let go of my arm and bent down to put my hand around the child’s neck, feeling not the heat but the chewy, fleshy, raw touch.

I had to at least try it and naturally do so when he was in his weakest state.

I exerted force, but nothing happened, as if there was iron under his skin.

I couldn’t kill him because this was the past.

Having already guessed this outcome, I stood up and walked back to the window.

A system on the ceiling was triggered a long time later, putting out all the flames and covering the black figure with what looked like a blanket of snow.

Helpers arrived and discovered the figure.

Someone bent down, feeling for a pulse, and then screamed something I didn’t understand.

People acted quickly and brought the charcoal body out.

Time passed with even more speed than before.

Workers arrived.

I watched the house being cleaned, being built anew; time passed.

The climate changed.

A few more fires erupted inside the house because the sun shining through the big windows ignited the replaced furniture.

But this time, the ceiling system worked faster, stopping the flames from devouring the renovated house.

Workers came and changed the windows; new furniture was brought.

And then he came back.

On something similar to a stretcher, he was brought upstairs, back into his room.

I followed, and when I arrived in his room, the people had already gone; the burnt body had grown considerably, so years had to have gone by, but the burns made him unrecognizable either way.

With his hair, eyes, and ears gone, and his limbs left unusable, he just lay there bandaged, plugged into all the medical devices possible.

Someone put a white mask on his face; half of it had a smile etched into it, and half had a crying face.

Time passed; doctors came, doctors left, people came, people left, but I never saw the black-haired and black-eyed couple again.

I looked out of the window, from which I could see the cliff, the sea, and also part of the city with its older, baroque buildings.

I saw how nobody went outside during these hot times, how night didn’t come anymore, and how the sun was shining down mercilessly and continuously.

Dead fish floated on top of the ocean, and the birds taking them lessened; in the end, there was not one animal alive here anymore.

I turned around and saw that no doctors came anymore, just a few helpers here and there, but in the end, he was left utterly alone.

The machines soon gave up.

But his body refused to die.

On the contrary.

When time seemed to flow slower again, I saw him taking a long, deep breath before letting go of it again.

The scars in his neck region didn’t look as gruesome anymore, and when he lifted his bandaged hand to rip the white mask from his face, I could see red eyes amidst the scarred flesh.

"Was this the first time you killed a counterpart?" I asked but didn’t receive an answer.

"Did you survive until now because you sucked out the energy from your counterparts?" Like the shadows did?

Surviving on emotions?

"How did you find out about your power? About your ability to make a space?"

The body started to heal sporadically, soon starting to resemble a human more than a piece of dying flesh.

"Intuition? Triggered during a life-threatening situation?"

The red eyes never looked away from the old violin in the corner.

I looked out of the window again and saw that there were a few small fires in the city; not a leaf of green had been left.

Time passed, and then there was an explosion in the sky.

Fire rained down, just as if someone had destroyed a lightbulb to then be showered by sparks.

The sky darkened, the lights fell, and the sun disappeared.

It was so unreal that it was hard to believe.

I watched as what was left of the ocean froze over; the windows broke because of the coldness.

There was no snow, but ashes and ice covered everything; this planet had died.

I saw no more light.

Where are you?

No sun.

I miss you, Kenny.

No warmth.

I miss you, my love.

"If this is your past—and we too had lightning strikes, disappearing insects, and the complete blackout..."

Nothing on this planet was living any longer, with the exception of the body on the bed behind me.

I couldn’t tell anymore if time had stopped, was still moving fast-forward, or was moving properly again.

"Is this the future of our world as well?" I asked into the utter silence, not thinking I’d be heard or would receive an answer just yet.

"P̵r̴o̶b̷a̸b̸l̶y̶."