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Chapter 4: Useless Confession

Yumi sighed. She'd been just floating in the same exact position for at least an hour…even though there was no real way for her to know how much time had passed.

Then her leg vibrated.

"Ah!" Yumi opened her mouth to gasp out the single syllable, even though she hadn't really expected any sound. She'd already tried screaming at the top of her voice just for the hell of it.

Yumi moved her hand to her thigh, and felt a vibration again. And a lump.

She could have cried, she was so happy. It was her phone! Somehow, some way, her phone was here in this limbo with her, and it was ringing!

Too late though, she finally had the sense to press the little button that would answer the phone. She didn't really mind though. It was probably her mother calling to ask her whether she'd be home for dinner or not. She didn't want to talk to her mother. She didn't think she could handle it. She could just imagine it…

'Yumi dear, will you be home for dinner tonight?'

'No Mother, I'm sorry, I can't make it tonight…'

'Alright Yumi, but just make sure you eat your vegetables at that boarding school. Ok sweetie?'

'Yes, Mother. Mother…?'

'What is it, honey?'

'I love you, Mom.'

'Oh sweetie! I love you too, bye now!'

For Yumi it would be devastating. Her mother would be a bit confused—after all, teenagers didn't sporadically tell their parents that they loved them—but she would pass it off as nothing, and just be happy…until later that night, when she began worrying something awful had happened to her daughter.

Now Yumi felt as if she would cry again, but for a completely different reason. Now she just wouldn't—no, couldn't call her mother one last time to tell her that she loved her…

Yumi's feet suddenly went numb. She looked down and saw with a mixture of shock and terror that she had no feet.

She panicked. Anyone would if they suddenly realized a part of their body was gone. Unfortunately, though, there was no time to panic. Yumi's ankles began to feel numb, and sure enough, when she looked down, another portion of her body had just dissipated into nothingness.

Yumi tried to keep calm. She tried to tell herself she wasn't really being deleted…her overactive imagination was just getting carried away…

But she knew. She knew she was dead. And then she remembered. Her phone was still clutched tightly in her hand. There was no way she could call anyone and tell them she loved them. But for one person…she had time for just one person…

Yumi had an idea.

Ulrich woke up to the sound of his phone ringing.

"Unh…" He felt so miserable, but he couldn't remember why. He hated that. And just as he remembered, and was about to just totally ignore whoever was calling him, he noticed a little piece of neon orange post-it on the phone. He picked up the small black object and ripped off the scrap of orange.

Ulrich—went to go see Jeremy

—Odd

Ulrich noted bitterly that Jeremy would be just as—if not more—upset than he was. He had lost Aelita for certain. At least there was a chance of bringing Yumi back.

"Ulrich!" Odd screamed at (what most would hope was) the top of his voice. "I have some…bad news…"

Ulrich just stared at his friend blankly. He didn't want to hear the bad news. He knew what it was. He just didn't want it said aloud. "Odd, get out."

"Wha…?"

Ulrich held up his phone—it had stopped ringing—as an excuse and said simply, "I have a call to take."

Odd simply nodded, half-understanding, and left.

Ulrich stared at the phone. While he still felt reasonably numb, he might as well check his messages. It might take his mind off things…

He went to messages, but there was nothing under voicemail…weird…

So he tried text messaging. There was one message, and when he looked at the caller, he felt a surge of hope.

He quickly opened the text message, knowing it would be a long message detailing how she was okay, and how she knew she was going to get out and be fine and laugh and smile and be his girlfriend.

But he was wrong. He looked at the simple sentence and wanted to implode. All of his hopes shattered in the one millisecond it took for him to absorb the message's meaning.

It meant she was gone. It meant that she knew.

He dropped the phone on the floor, without exiting the message. He grabbed a pillow and hugged it to himself, carelessly knocking over a picture frame in the process. But as he assumed the fetal position and crushed the pillow to his chest, sobbing harder than he ever had in his life…he just didn't care.

Odd found his friend lying on top of his covers…still fast asleep…in the morning. It was Sunday, so everyone was allowed to sleep late. He'd stayed the night in Jeremy's room. He'd been comforting the other boy, who needed a shoulder to cry on more than solitude, unlike Ulrich.

As Odd walked over to his friend, just to pull his blanket on him, he stepped on something. He silently knelt down to peer at the floor. What he saw made a few tears trickle down his face.

Ulrich's phone lying face-up, with a text message clearly displayed on it…

I love you

The simple message almost tore Odd's heart into shreds. Poor Ulrich…

But the other item lying on the ground was what really broke his heart.

It was the picture of all of them. The same one he'd been looking at before. Only now the frame was shattered, little shards of glass all over the floor. The picture had slipped from its place in the absence of its protective barrier, and was lying on the ground.

And again Odd focused on the same figure he had before. The one dressed all in black, such a contrast to her happy nature.

And again Odd's eyes filled up with tears, and again he didn't wipe them away, and again he found that the more his eyes filled up with tears, the harder it was to see the laughing girl—the frozen, immortal memory…

Until he just couldn't see Yumi any more.