3 hours prior:

  I thought I can change. I thought I can make it out. Turns out, I was the same as ever. I hated to constantly sound like a broken record. However, back then, screaming at my idle self was my daily life. Sorry, I know that this just wasn't the way to live my life, but at that time, this... This internal conflict was draining too much of my energy. My mind was working overtime to fix this, yet here I was.

  As usual I wasn't doing what I am supposed to. Today was Monday and under ideal situation, I should have been in class. I had exams tomorrow too. Did I study? NOPE. To make it worse, I didn't even attend a single lecture for one of the classes I have an exam in. I should have been using every second of the remaining time to study. Of course! That WASN'T the case...turns out my mind had other plans. It was decided that my time was better spent just sitting here, in my car, wondering how I managed to waste two weeks.

  Thankfully, this "peaceful" time of self loathing was cut short by low pitch music slowly intensifying in volume. Being returned to reality, I felt the stuffiness of stale air around me. It was starting to get unbearably hot in the car. I turned on my car's engine and pulled down the window next to me. There was a small breeze. Too bad, that pesky sun had to ruin it.

  I always loved the smell of air right after the rain. On the contrary, sunlight was more of a necessary evil. I suppose, the normal reaction would be happiness, but this clear blue sky was just further getting on my nerves. This would have been a perfect day to go and study outside. I knew just the place. It wasn't even that far, I already took the time to drive here. If only I just stepped out of this car and walked up the stairs. Those stairs were at most 5 meters away from me. They would have led me to my university campus. A beautiful place with so many good study spots. I could have studied surrounded by blooming trees. I was confident that this would have made me truly happy.

  Something had to be wrong with my mind. There was no doubt that studying there was what I wanted. Yet, at the same time, I found it too hard and overwhelming just to put on my sneakers and go there. Not sure why, but I just couldn't get myself to move, no matter how much my mind screamed and begged me to.

  I was being swallowed by my thoughts again and then...the sound of music suddenly cut off. Naturally, I turned my head to look. Nothing out of ordinary happened. A loving couple walked out, but I only saw a glimpse of them. The newly parked car, on the other hand, easily caught my attention with its neon yellow color. However, I didn't want to seem like a creep, so I kept scrolling through my phone. Still my mind couldn't help but wonder as I shifted my eyes to look. By now, that couple had already left. Meanwhile, I was siting in a sort of half lotus pose, with my hands resting on a steering wheel.

  Hunching my back even further, slowly I turned my head to the left. My head was practically on the wheel at this point. However, I also had the perfect view of that car, parked head first right next to mine. It would be a crime not to at least take a peak.

  "Bang"

  Seemingly forgetting about the phone, which was in my hands, I accidentally dropped it again. This was what? The 10th or 11th time this week. I flinched as it fell down on the rubbery mat of my car. Right away, I bend my body further down and stretched out my dominant hand to pick it up. The two messy buns on my head kept getting in my way. I had to slide further back into my seat to get past the obstacle, which was the steering wheel, but I did manage to pick up the phone.

  "Phew," I breathed out, feeling relieved.

  There didn't seem to be any scratches. Aaa..well..let me correct this. There didn't seem to be any new scratches, which could have easily been avoided had I just bought that case. I just didn't understand. What could be so hard about choosing and buying something as simple as a phone case? I always had problems with such simple tasks.

  "This shouldn't be this hard," I thought.

  At least this wasn't something others struggled with. I didn't know why I was like this. Nevertheless, I knew that there was nobody but me to blame for all the trouble in my life. I wasn't talking about my newly bought phone, no it was much more than that, unfortunately. This time, I have really dug my own grave.

  "Sigh"

  I looked back towards the car. Sun was in that direction, so I squinted my eyes.

  "How fast can a fully electric cars go?" I wondered, looking at the dark tinted roof. By no means have I ever been an expert in cars. However, I remembered being a passenger in one of those electric ones with see-through ceiling. This one shared some resemblance, so I figured it was an electric car.

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  "Ugh," I was no longer able to handle the strong afternoon sunlight. I turned away from it and unlocked my phone, tightly held by my right hand. Although inconvenient; I couldn't transfer the data from my old phone, lost under the most mysterious of circumstances, but it was fun to explore this new gadget.

  Glued to my phone with my back propped on the driver side door, I saw motion in my peripheral vision. It was the couple from earlier heading back to their car. First, I saw an overwhelming shade of peachy pink. It or I suppose she, would be more correct to say, was walking down the stairs in the direction of that car. It was hard to get a closer look since it would be odd just to stare at somebody for that long. Also the heap of trash in my car wasn't helping. I had to shift my body a bit to take a peek. This car didn't just need a bit of cleaning, it was in need of an archeological excavation. The fact that I could see the right side mirror, was a miracle in itself, really.

  In addition to that, the wind that day was making it hard to see her face as her eye-catching hair continuously obscured the view. She kept trying to fight the wind by pulling back the long, silky strands of hair. But at some point she gave up. An Asian looking guy was walking just a couple steps behind her, holding her purse. That V-shaped face, youthful appearance and androgynous figure made him look like a stereotypical K-pop idol.

  Soon enough, both of them were standing near the rear door of the car, with their backs turned towards me. The difference in their heights became even more pronounced, now that they stood so close. She looked very petite and childlike next to him. Both were wearing matching black hoodies with intricate print on the back. That design was actually something I would have liked to own myself. The black spider silhouette outlined in white would have looked great together with the silver spider earrings I was wearing. That spider was the black widow, the splatter of red in shape of an hourglass, made it obvious enough. Beautiful and deadly, I loved it.

  I suppose everything worn by beautiful people automatically looks good. Forgetting my worries, newfound curiosity dominated my mind. That K-pop idol looking guy, appeared to be quite the gentleman as he opened the door for his partner. The black dragon tattoo on that guy's left arm caught my attention.

  "Maybe I should get a tattoo," I thought.

  "WOW!" That truly startled me. Before even closing the rear door he turned around to face me. Those eyes. Yeah, those eyes, seemed to be looking straight into the deepest, darkest corner of my soul. I felt fear?

  Ok, fine. He wasn't really looking at me, pretty sure he didn't even notice me sitting in the car. At least, that's what I concluded after seeing him follow his companion and close that rear door behind him. Those fully black, unnaturally large irises, which I so wrongful believed to be contacts, were creepy. I couldn't even see his pupils. I wondered if he himself could see anything through those.

  Nevertheless, it was his choice, so who was I to judge how he dressed. Those eyes did fit his image tho. There was a bit of eyeliner around his eyes too. I assumed he was goth, but this full black getup did compliment his bleached wolf-cut style hair. His hair was so thick, I wished I could have a hair like that.

  Slouching back into my seat, I got lost in a daydream."Maybe I should get a hair cut or dye my hair..."

  "Ah... A-Ah... Uh... Agh!" That wasn't me. In fact, those sounds were coming from that car. I gave a small side eye.

  "Yep. That's what you get, Mara, for not following the gut feeling of wanting to study." I complained to myself. They probably thought they were along here. That was why they were doing that. It would certainly be awkward if I leave now. I could have just drove away, but it was too early to go home yet.

  My only solution was trying my best not to look or be noticed. I attempted to distract myself with my phone. The charge was already at 1%, so I plugged my phone via USB. To my dismay, the moment my phone started charging from the car, the last song I listened to started playing at max volume. I hurried to turn it off. My ears were hurting from the loud sound and it was certainly too late. Sure as hell was I noticed now.

  I was dying from embarrassment when the not-so-PG sounds coming from that car stopped. With all my jumbled thoughts, I didn't notice a black feathered bird landing on the roof of my car. At the same time, I saw him.

  Not sure how long he was standing there, but the next thing I could remember were his big black eyes staring straight into mine. Not sure if I was deluding myself, but those irises were getting larger. Similar to how black color absorbs all light, it felt like those eyes were sucking the life out of me.

  "Thud"

  Not sure what that was, but it snapped me out of the daze and gave me the chance to gather my thoughts.

  "What the hell just happened?" I was about to voice my complaint, but...

  "Aww," I was hit straight in the face by some small metallic object flying at me through the open window. I looked down at my lap to see that it was some sort of ancient looking coin. There were sounds of wings flapping and that man yelling, struggling to avoid sharp claws aimed at him. Meanwhile, I was trying to comprehend what was happening. My left hand continued rubbing my wounded forehead, as my other hand grabbed onto the coin. It had two parts. An inner silver circle and an outer golden ridge. I had this unexplainable feeling of wanting to flick that inner circle. I wanted to make it move, but it remained motionless despite how much it was fidgeted with. Strange, I was certain that this part should be able to spin. The coin was beautiful nevertheless. It had something written on the outer gold ridge too. If my translation was correct, pretty sure it said "remember...

  "It's no time to daydream, you fool!" That was a very familiar voice interrupting me.

  ...death," I finished my thought from earlier before shifting my gaze away from the coin.

  I looked up and yes it was THAT bird, the cause of all of this. I remembered at last.