The Rolling Girl

Chapter 18: So You've Been Rolling Too?

Miku's POV:

   With a gasp I leapt out of bed. What time was it? Where was I? The last thing I remember is...

Len. At the movie theatre. There was a...a fire. Then...
Then what? Yes! Then he tried to save me, but I ran back inside to help him get out too. I ran back inside just as the roof collapsed, burying us both underneath its rubble.

And I had survived? How did I get home? Why wasn't I in the hospital?

   Just like a dream, the memory faded away until it was too blurry to recall. Maybe it was just a dream, but I don't think it was. I had felt every last bit of it, and my body still aches from being buried alive under burning roof.

   I went to the bathroom, and looked in the mirror. To my surprise, I looked exactly as I had yesterday morning. The bruise and cut were still there in their rightful places. There was absolutely no physical evidence that the theatre extravaganza had even taken place.

I refuse to believe it was a dream, although I'm realizing it felt like one. Why on earth would Len Kagamine skip school to hang out with me? It made absolutely no sense and therefore was probably just a lucid dream. Like the ones I had so often about my dad.

   As I was staring at myself I started to recall more weird dreams I had had. In fact, they were all about Len. Weird. Weird and embarrassing. I shuddered at the thought of anyone finding out I was having these kinds of dreams about our school's most popular boy.

At the same time, they were kind of comforting. Even though I died at the end, which is a common theme for all my dreams, in each new one Len was trying to find a new way to save me.

Maybe I've finally cracked. I think I might be schizophrenic.

   I reached up to smooth back my hair. Today I should try to look nice. Why? Why do I need to look nice? What's so special about today?

A sudden shock overcame me. Len had died in my not-dream. That's what made it feel so real. It makes sense that everyone who tries to help me would disappear. That's just how my life works.

   Automatically out of habit my body was taking me down my usual path to school. I realized it when I was about halfway there.

There's no way I can go to school and face everyone knowing Len had died. It was kind of my fault after all. 

   I stopped to turn back towards my house. What I saw made me freeze. I was standing right in front of their house. Len and his mom...
His mom. She must be heartbroken. Unlike my own mother, she actually cares about her son.

I have to get out of here. The guilt tugging at me is too much.

Instead of running like I wanted to, my feet inched me closer to the house. No! Bad feet! We're going to our house!
My hand reached out towards the door, forming a small fist as if to knock.

I managed to stop myself in time. What, so now I can't even control my own body? Evidently not since I had sagged down onto the steps without even realizing it.

I really am schizophrenic.

"Miku?" Len's voice came from behind me.

I sprang up and turned to face him faster than the speed of light. Thankfully I still had enough control not to scream or faint on the spot.

"You...you're...but..." I stammered.

Len looked absolutely one hundred percent confused. "Hi?"

"Hi." I nodded and then mentally smacked myself. 

"You uh...you want to come in?" He asked and stepped aside to make room in the doorway.

"Oh no no no no." I waved my hands out in front of me. "I can't do that."
I do NOT want to enter into the house of a ghost, hallucination, ummm...vision?

"Yeah, um sorry. That was a weird question." Len shuffled uncomfortably. Then he regained composure of his face. "You look really tired, you probably shouldn't go to school."

"Huh?"

"Yeah." He reached his hand out and felt my forehead which I knew wasn't warm, but he acted like it was. "You probably have a fever. I'll get the thermometer, and my mom can help you skip school if you want."

"NO!" I yelled nervously. That would be too much like what happened yesterday, in my not-dream which at this point looks like it might have actually been a dream.

Len turned bright red.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I just...I shouldn't skip school. It's the only thing that gets me away from my mo..." I clamped my hand over my mouth and then mentally smacked myself again.

"Your mom." Len nodded like he knew what I was talking about. "But at school there's Ruko and...him."

Him!? HE KNEW ABOUT HIM!? Just like in my dreams!?

"Yesterday," I started. "Yesterday you went to the theatre, right?"

"Uh...yesterday was the music recital." Len smiled at his own private joke.

"No...no it wasn't." I said, getting really confused. "Yesterday I didn't go to school."

Len's eyes widened. "Did you...um...okay this is going to sound really weird, but did you go to the theatre with me?"

I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. "You're not dead."

"Neither are you." He pointed out.

"But I watched you get crushed by the entire flaming roof." I sputtered.

Len laughed a little. "Ooh this is so weird. Now you remember stuff."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Then it hit me. Maybe he meant...could he mean that my other nightmares. The ones I just remembered this morning...were those all real? I felt dizzy. I was definitely hallucinating, and probably had amnesia.

"Now you should probably actually come inside." He invited me in and I was too weirded out not to follow.

"Okay." He said and flopped onto the couch.

Before he could continue his mom came in and repeated the same exact conversation she had yesterday...today...in my dream...um...not-dream.

"Freaky." I muttered as she left.

"You get used to it." Len pushed back his hair with a sigh. "So you remember the whole theatre thing?"

"Uh huh." I nodded and hugged a pillow.

"Do you remember anything else?"

"Not until this morning. I thought they were all like, dreams or something."

"They weren't." Len groaned.

"So you've been spending a month trying to stop me from dying?" I inquired. "Oh, that's why you were trying to get me to come inside. Because that kept me going the longest."

Len turned a little red again. "Uh...yeah. I mean, how could I not? It's the only thing I can think of to end the time loop."

"Time loop?"

"Yeah. We're stuck in a time loop and the only one who knows about it is Meito, me, and now you."