Then... He crushes it.

  His eyes lock onto mine. Unblinking. Cold, like frost slicing through bone.

  “You could always... just kill yourself.”

  Chapter 12 – Forked Fate

  “You could always... just kill yourself.”

  Those words don’t fade. They echo, loud, endless, like a bell tolling in an empty church.

  You could always just kill yourself…

  That's right. If I die, Grace lives.

  No one else has to get hurt, no one else has to die.

  Maybe that’s better. Maybe that’s the only way I leave this place with my soul intact.

  I glance at White. He’s watching me... silent, patient, expecting.

  I don’t speak. I can’t.

  My thoughts are a maze, looping, bleeding into one another.

  Could I really kill someone else to save Grace?

  He says it so casually, like it’s just a chess move. Just sacrifice a piece.

  And if i did kill someone, how would Grace even react?

  She’d hate it. Hate me.

  Worse... she’d hate herself.

  Even now, knowing death is coming for her, she still shines. Lifts people up. Cheers them on. Keeps the rest of us from falling apart in this prison of dread.

  If she found out someone had to die for her to live…

  She wouldn’t survive it. Not emotionally. Not as the Grace I know.

  She’d crack. Break.

  Shatter from a beautiful, unshakable spirit into something hollow and haunted.

  My hands are trembling. My whole body is.

  I have a choice to make. But both doors lead to ruin.

  Then...

  “You need to decide,” White says. “Either you go with it or you don’t. But you need to choose.”

  I look at him.

  Yes. Decide. As if it’s that easy.

  If I kill someone... Grace lives.

  But she might never forgive me.

  She might break trying to forgive herself.

  If I do nothing... she dies.

  And worse... if I kill to save her, everyone else will see.

  They’ll understand.

  That there is survival here, just kill someone else before your turn.

  That’s all it takes.

  This place will turn into a slaughterhouse.

  My head pounds, sharp, rhythmic, like a hammer to the skull.

  I stand. Not because I want to but because my body does it for me.

  My expression is blank. White sees it. And I see the disappointment in his eyes.

  I turn toward the door.

  Where am I going? What am I supposed to do?

  My hand finds the knob. Click. The door creaks open. Cold air hits my face, slides down my spine.

  What now…?

  I move forward.

  White said this world follows patterns. Rules. One dies, another arrives. Always thirteen people. Always.

  Not more. Not less.

  But his plan is not perfect it has its flaws.

  I step outside, kneel down, and draw in the dirt.

  A long line. Thirteen dots. Each dot, a person.

  The first dot: full year.

  Last dot: a month.

  Grace.

  White said the moment someone dies, a new one is brought in.

  Immediate replacement. The System he called it, demands balance, as if it can't function without 13 people

  I stare at the dots. Then, I wipe away one in the middle.

  Now there are twelve.

  This shouldn’t be possible.

  If the System can’t tolerate imbalance, it should immediately fill the gap.

  Yet… when someone is killed, Grace is moved forward. Not replaced. Moved.

  Why?

  White waited until the last possible moment to reveal his plan, not just because he thought I'd twist it, but because it had to be executed at the right moment.

  Not a day earlier...

  Which means it only works when death is already reaching for them, when there’s barely any time left.

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  He used one word: "manipulation."

  It's all more clear now.

  The System knows who is due to die next. It prepares for that death.. probably even starts the transfer.

  But if someone else dies just before Grace’s scheduled moment, the System counts it as done.

  The conditions are satisfied: one person is dead.

  It doesn’t care who.

  It only wants the slot erased and refilled.

  Now that someone else died instead of Grace, she's no longer positioned anywhere in the timeline. Her death was cancelled.. her turn erased. She's not next anymore... she's unassigned. And if the system doesn’t place her back in line, it means there are only 12 people now.

  And since the total number of people must remain thirteen, the System shifts her into the empty spot.

  So, when her reassigned time comes... still marked for a death.. the System pulls in a new person.

  One in. One out. Balance maintained.

  That’s why White waited.

  It only works when she’s right at the edge, when the System has no time to react differently.

  It’s not mercy. It’s not a miracle.

  It’s a loophole.

  A flaw in a perfect system.

  Grace gets to live. But someone else has to die for it.

  And I’m the one who has to make that choice.

  But this isn't foolproof.

  If the system decides to fill the death slot with a new person instead of shifting Grace into it... there’ll be complications. But even then, she'd gain more time.

  This place... thirteen people, thirteen months... it isn’t random. There’s order here. Balance. A pattern. One person dies each month. One enters. Over and over. The cycle is locked. In a year, this place has thirteen months... unnatural. It confirms White is right: this place demands 13 people, no more, no less. Each month is connected to a person, someone dies, and another enters. Everything aligns with this twisted balance. So even if Grace isn’t moved when I kill someone now, even if the system fills the death slot with a new person, it’s still fine. Someone has already died this month instead of Grace, and she would be scheduled for the next. Her time extends. Just a little longer. One more breath. One more moment. One more month.

  The cold wind slices deeper now. But not as sharply as the realization that I already know what I’m about to do.

  And I’m calm. Not because I’m ready... but because there's a chance. A chance to save her.

  I stand up... There no time left.

  I move forward, heading for the clinic. I need to get back to Lenny. I have to think. Fast.

  I climb back in through the restroom window. It’s been nearly twenty minutes since I left, my excuse about the stomach ache should still hold.

  I push the door open and step out.

  The air feels warmer now... heavier.

  Lenny’s still there, hunched over the counter, mixing my medicine like nothing ever changed

  “You’re back,” he says, glancing at me. “Everything okay?”

  I nod. A lie. Nothing’s okay.

  My thoughts are knives, and I’m bleeding from all directions.

  I walk toward him, unable to hold it in any longer.

  “Grace will die soon, won’t she?” I whisper.

  Lenny pauses. The stirring stops. He doesn’t turn right away.

  Then slowly, he looks at me, eyes heavy, full of a sadness that confirms what I already fear.

  “I’m sorry, kid,” he says softly. A faint nod. “That’s how this place works. Everyone dies eventually... just a little sooner here.”

  My eyes blur with tears.

  “I want to save her,” I say, my voice barely holding together. “She doesn’t deserve to die.”

  He finally turns to face me fully.

  “I know,” he says. “I want the same. No one here deserves to die, kid. I know you wish there was a way to save her...”

  He exhales, the words weighing on him.

  “And I wish I could tell you there was. But... there isn’t.”

  He steps closer.

  "I'm sorry, kid..." Lenny says.

  “But Grace... she’s at peace with it. Not because she wants to die, but because she gave all she had. Every hour, every breath. She didn’t waste a second.”

  “That’s not fair,” I snap. My fists shake.

  “She earned more time. She fought for all of us!”

  “I know,” he says softly. “And maybe that’s why she’s ready. Because she gave this place meaning when the rest of us were just surviving.”

  I grit my teeth. “Then let someone else die. Why her?”

  He sighs, eyes heavy. “Because this place doesn’t choose by worth. Just by order.”

  “She fought a different battle than the rest of us,” Lenny says quietly.

  “While everyone was clawing for survival, chasing a way out only to drown in despair… Grace was holding us together. Holding on to us. So we wouldn’t fall apart. So we wouldn’t lose ourselves to this place.”

  His voice trembles.

  “She saw the truth, saw what this place was doing to people. And she realized the real battle wasn’t escape... it was living here with love, with dignity, like a family.

  Some might say she gave up. That she stopped fighting. But no... she won.

  Without her…” He wipes his eyes. “Without her, this place would’ve crumbled long ago. And she knew it. That’s what makes her who she is.”

  I stare at him, eyes wide, voice cracking, desperate.

  “Then that’s why we have to save her. No matter what. No matter the cost. We have to. It doesn’t matter what we have to do, how ugly it is, it must be done. Because this place needs her.”

  Lenny blinks. A bitter, hollow smile creeps onto his face.

  “Kid… all Grace ever wanted was for everyone here to live out what little time they had left in peace. And she gave them that. Her time’s up, and even if there was a way… if it meant chaos... Grace wouldn’t want it. That’s not what she stands for.”

  I lower my gaze. My skull pounds. My body aches with fury I don’t know where to place.

  What’s wrong with me?

  If there’s even the smallest chance… shouldn’t I take it?

  Not everyone here deserves to live.

  Mason. That bastard who threatened me without a second thought.

  If someone has to die, let it be him.

  Not her.

  Not Grace.

  I’m not a killer.

  But if it saves her…

  Then it’s not murder.

  It’s salvation.

  Right?

  But maybe this isn’t even about saving her anymore.

  Maybe I’m just scared.

  Scared of losing her smile. Her warmth.

  Scared of losing the version of myself I only ever found when she was near.

  White was right.

  If I really loved her...

  I’d let her go.

  But I can’t.

  I won’t.

  I stand.

  “I’m sorry, Doctor. I have to go.”

  And I run.

  I burst out of the clinic.

  The door slams open with a force that echoes behind me. My heart’s racing, my chest tight, every step trembling with the weight of the decision I just made, the one I know will change everything.

  The one that will save Grace.

  I hurry down the steps, barely noticing the way the world feels heavier, like the sky itself is holding its breath.

  And then, I see her.

  Grace.

  She’s standing there.

  Waiting.

  Worried.

  For me.

  The girl who's moments from death… the girl this world is about to take away… is looking at me with concern because I had a stomachache.

  She sees me and her eyes light up.

  No. Not now. Don’t do this to me.

  And then her voice hits me like a soothing bell ..Is everything ok? She asks

  I step forward.

  And I almost break down right there.

  Because no, I’m not okay. I’ll never be okay if she’s gone.

  But I nod. Because she needs me to be strong now.

  And so I will be strong for her ...

  I nod. It's all fine.

  She smiles but then..

  “I need to tell you something,” she says, voice soft.

  Her fingers find mine. Cold. So cold. Like her life is slipping away through her touch.

  “Come,” she says, softly tugging my hand.

  I follow, but my eyes dart across the path.

  My heartbeat’s loud in my ears. I don’t have time for this.

  Not now.

  We walk quietly, the silence stretching too long, too heavy. I stop.

  “Grace... can we talk later? I really have to do something.”

  I try to pull away.

  But she doesn’t let go.

  “Black,” she says. Her grip tightens. “Wait. Just a minute.”

  She’s trembling.

  “There’s something I’ve been holding in... and if I don’t say it now, I never will.”

  Her eyes won’t meet mine.

  “I’m next.”

  The world shifts. My chest twists.

  “I didn’t want to tell you. I thought... maybe I could just slip away quietly.

  But when I saw your face at the clinic, I couldn’t. I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.”

  She forces a small smile. It trembles, then fades.

  “You made me laugh, even when my heart felt like lead. You made this place feel better. Not because it changed...

  but because you were in it.”

  “I know you thought I was always calm. Always fine. But I was terrified, every day.

  Until you came.”

  She hesitates, voice softer now.

  “I kept worrying this place would fall apart after I was gone.

  But with you here... I’m not so afraid anymore.”

  Her hand slides into mine again.

  “I don’t know what you're planning. But I see it in your face,

  you’re carrying something. Something heavy.”

  Her fingers brush mine.

  “And maybe it's selfish of me to ask this now, when you’re already struggling... but I have to.”

  She draws a breath.

  “This place... it’s fragile. Everyone here is holding themselves together with bits and pieces. And when I’m gone...

  there might not be anyone left to keep it from breaking.”

  She swallows hard. Her hands tighten around mine.

  “I’m not saying you’re the answer to everything. I know you didn’t ask for this.

  But I think you’re stronger than you realize, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now.”

  Another pause.

  “So... if there’s even a part of you that cares, about this place, or about me...

  even just a little...

  please. Promise me you’ll watch over them.

  Even if it’s only for a while.

  Please....”