Camy

The sky was inky blue, the stars were twinkling, and everything that had come before had been naught but a bad dream.

Pomni pressed her back against the wooden bench and let out a small sigh. Beside her sat Jax, who was hunched over with his eyes fixed straight ahead. It was so quiet that she could hear the streetlight buzzing above them.

She pawed at their seat anxiously, her hand inching closer to Jax’s almost involuntarily. Normally she’d prefer to keep some breathing room, but there was something drawing her towards him tonight. Just as her hand was about to brush up against his, she pulled it back, shaking the whim from her head.

No, don’t ruin it. He’ll run away again.

“Hey, Pom-Pom?” Jax’s voice rang out so abruptly that Pomni nearly jumped out of her skin. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as she tried to catch her breath. Letting out something between a scoff and a chuckle, he added, “Sheesh, didn’t realize you were such an easy scare. I’ll have to log that away for later.”

Pomni rolled her eyes, flashing him a smirk. “Pfft, nah. The grating sound of your voice just killed the ambience for me.”

Jax huffed out a small chuckle. The grin faded from his face as he stared up at the sky, his pupils dilating slightly. For once, he didn’t have a snide comeback ready to go.

That alone was enough to make Pomni peer over at him.

“…you okay?” She asked.

He scoffed quietly, leaning back on the bench. “Poms, you and I both know I’m the absolute pinnacle of good mental health and self-esteem.”

Pomni furrowed her brow. “Jax. C’mon.”

His teasing smile faded a little, and for a moment, he just looked away.

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered. “I know.”

Deciding not to press the matter, Pomni let the silence stretch between them once again. The buzzing of the streetlamp seemed to grow a little louder.

She almost couldn’t believe it. That they were sitting here together on this bench. After everything that had happened. Or hadn’t happened. What had happened? It all seemed so fresh on her mind, yet so far, far away.

But that didn’t matter. None of it mattered. They were together again. They were okay.

“Ya know,” Pomni said softly, breaking the silence. “I kinda missed this.”

Jax glanced at her. “Missed what?”

She shrugged, looking down at her hands. “This. You being an annoying, insufferable asshole.”

A small smile tugged at his mouth. “Pfft. That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Pomni couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s pretty sad.”

The two of them cackled, and in that moment, it was almost easy to forget that she’d watched him disappear.

“So, uh. Weren’t you gonna ask me something?”

Suddenly, Jax’s expression shifted. “Oh, uh… yeah. Yeah, I was.” His voice was quieter this time.

Pomni looked over. “I’m listening.”

He hesitated, the faint smile on his face not quite reaching his eyes.

“I just wanted to say… ugh…” Jax trailed off, turning his head away.

“Yeah…?” Pomni prompted, leaning towards him. Jax sighed, his shoulders slumping.

“I just wanted to say,” he started again, then paused, the corners of his mouth spreading into a wide smile across his face. His pupils dilated until his eyes were almost entirely black.

“…it should’ve been you.”

Pomni furrowed her brow, confused. “…what?”

Jax sat upright abruptly, his head snapping towards her.

“It should have been you.”

A swirl of bright, bursting lights poured from Jax’s right eye, the entire side of his face glitching into inky blackness. Pomni looked on in horror as the mutating pixels compounded on themselves, engulfing Jax’s entire body until all that was left was an unnerving grin full of yellow teeth and an eye so dilated and lifeless and hypnotic that she couldn’t have looked away if she’d wanted to. The buzzing of the streetlamp had transformed into a deafening whir that melded with Jax’s distorted voice.

“IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU!”

As the glitching mass that once was Jax overtook her, the streetlamp burst open with a bright flash of light, tiny shards of glass raining down on them.

And all she could do was scream.

—