"Harper?" He asked, putting his hand on her arm.

"LET GO OF ME!" She shouted, pulling her arm away and jerking around to face him, tears still streaming down her face. Dark skin. Blue eyes. Her eyes locked on his chest, the place where the bullet had gone straight through in a rush of adrenaline. There was nothing there to show of his injuries. Nothing to show that he was long dead.

"Woah, woah. Okay." He held his hands up in surrender, "What... what happened?"

She glared at him for a moment before jerking her head towards the guard on duty, "Why'd you let him in here?!? How is he in here?!? Get him out! Now!"

The guard merely smirked and leaned back, "Sorry. Her orders."

"I don't care about your stupid queen's orders! Get him out of here right now or, so help me, I will murder everyone here."

The guard's smile grew, "You know you can't do that. Try another threat."

"Woah, uhh," he glanced between her and the guard a few times, "Not quite sure I understand. That seems like a reasonable threat to me."

She looked back at him and frowned, "Who the actual heck are you? There's no possible way you'd forget."

"Forget... what?"

"It's a fairly simple concept," the guard said, spinning his keys on his finger and chuckling when she growled at him, "Everyone here... we're already dead. Except her, of course."

"Wait..." his eyes grew as he thought, "But that would mean-"

"Yeah, you're dead," she said, rolling her eyes, "Great. You're all caught up. Now TAKE HIM OUT OF HERE!"

The guard shrugged, "Again, Her orders. Besides, then you'll go back to staring at the wall and then you won't tell us anything, soooo... nah."

"You clearly don't understand what's happening."

"Well, I know that getting lost in your own head happens quite a bit, so yeah, I think I do understand."

"Uh, are we all going to ignore the most important thing here?" He asked.

She rolled her eyes again, "Yes?"

"HOW AM I DEAD?!?"

"I shot you. Anything else, dad?"

Her father thought for a bit about this, "...Why?"

"You killed my friend. You were going to kill me and send me to this hellscape, so I killed you first. Next?"

"Ah- uh... why would a kill you?"

"You tell me! You were the one who tried to murder me!"

He sat there thinking this over," ...How old were you?"

"13. Why?"

"That... that could explain it. If it really did change to 8-10 instead of 4-5.... That would make sense. And then you wouldn't be showing up here anymore." He glanced at her, "How old are you now?"

"18, and would you mind explaining those numbers to me?"

His eyes widened even more–somehow–and he mumbled some numbers under his breath before meeting her eyes in an almost awe-like manner, "If you're 18... no, that's impossible... how are you still alive?"

______________

Isabelle opened her mouth to continue when someone grabbed her arm. Turning around, she was met face-to-face with the nice boy who'd told her about Harper's condition. "What is it?" She whispered.

"She's... not listening anymore," the boy admitted, looking down at her daughter sadly.

"How can you tell?"

"I... I don't even know at this point, if I'm honest. She just... looks more alive at times than others. It's hard to explain."

Isabelle sighed, "Alright. Would you mind sharing your name?"

"Logan," he held out his hand.

"Isabelle," she shook his outstretched hand and looked back down at Harper, "Do you know what happened?"

Logan shook his head, "She seemed perfectly fine. I mean, she was sleeping in more often, according to the boys, but she was working 2 shifts on a normally part-time job and had school, so I'm not surprised."

Isabelle chuckled softly, "Taking charge, like always. Some things never change, so they?" Her smile fell as she thought of something, "Wait... what happened to Corin?"

"Uh... who?"

"Corin. Harper's father. What happened to him?"

Logan's eyes widened slightly, "You... don't know?" When Isabelle shook her head, he looked at the floor for a moment, "How do you not know? It was all over the news."

"I haven't been watching the news lately."

"Uh... you still should've seen it. It... it happened 5 years ago. Shortly after she left Oshkosh."

Isabelle felt her interest spike, although she didn't like where this was going. "What.... What happened?"

"Miss Isabelle.... Corin attempted to... he tried to kill Harper."

Isabelle put her hand on the wall to steady herself as the words hit her like a brick wall, "Wh... he did what?"

Logan bit his lip, "Uh... well.... After Harper moved in with him she found his office. Tons of files, lots of indecipherable handwriting. She was a little too curious and... found herself in a file, all the way up to no more than a week prior. She was scared, so she tried to get back to Oshkosh with the help of a friend. They... got caught. Her dad killed her friend. And Harper...."

"She didn't take it well..." Isabelle finished.

He nodded, "Not well at all. She.... uh.... She killed... him."

Isabelle's eyes widened and she turned back to face Harper, who hadn't moved in days. "N...No," she mumbled, "That's... she'd never.... He can't be..."

"I... I think Harper felt the same way you do."

Looking at Logan, Isabelle saw the concern in his eyes reflecting the worry in herself. Harper was technically a murderer. Her baby who had been created to save a life had taken one. It... didn't seem possible.

Without warning, the door burst open and both of them whirled to face it. "Logan! Mom!" Thomas called, running in, followed by Hayden who was holding a notebook.

"Boys?" Isabelle asked, grinning despite the dire situation at hand.

"Hi mom!" Hayden said, giving a small smile as he hugged her, "Missed you."

"I'd be more sappy, but we found something," Thomas interrupted, grabbing the notebook from Hayden's hands and setting it on the round table in the corner of the room. It was purple with the word "Math" written in big, bold letters on the front, along with Harper's name.

"What... what is it?" Logan asked, glancing briefly back at Harper.

"Well, we thought it was a math notebook," Thomas started, "But then we realized, Harper never took it to school. It was almost always on the counter or a table."

"So," Hayden added, "We decided to be a little snoopy, and-" he flipped open the book to a page they'd obviously marked by bending the corner. Scribbled across the top in Harper's messy handwriting were the words "Dream World."

"Boom!" Thomas exclaimed, giving Hayden a high-five.

"I... don't get it?" Logan said slowly, and the boys' triumphant expressions dropped slightly.

"I do," Isabelle started, grabbing the notebook and sitting down, "Let me see... amnesia, random boy, city in the void of space-" she paused.

"What is it, mom?" Hayden asked, grabbing her arm and peering over her shoulder at the writing.

"Raven...." Isabelle murmured, "He was #137." Rapidly she flipped through the pages, scanning for names, "Dakota, also known as 'Koda. She was #79. Grace, #11. Ethan, #247. Kate, #302."

"Would you mind explaining what those names and numbers mean and how on earth you seem to have this all memorized?" Logan asked, glancing at the pages and frowning when there were no numbers.

"These... these were all test subjects. Before Harper. Which means..." Isabelle vigorously scanned the page and froze when she found the name she was looking for. "Edge. #256." She felt her eyes start to water slightly as she looked towards her sons, "He was supposed to be your cousin."

The boys looked shocked, but said nothing. "And.... This means what?" Logan inquired, glancing at Harper again.

"It means," Isabelle started, looking up at them, "That Harper... Harper can actually save Ashley. That, or she'll be killed trying."

I DID IT!!! 2 CHAPTERS IN 2 DAYS?!?! LETS GOOOO!!!

Sorry, I'm just excited that I got something done, lol.

Uhhh I have to sleep soon, so this is gonna be short, but maybe this chapter is tying up some loose ends? Hopefully? Idek man, I'm just glad to have written something.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see y'all later! Bye!