Another: The Class of 1999

Chapter 20 - Oh No...

What do you do when you care about somebody deeply, but know that they only way to prevent their deaths is to die yourself?

What are you meant to do when you've spent so long trying to save everyone from dying, only to realise that YOU are the cause for the deaths?

These were paranoias that I could tell were swirling around Clarissa's mind. They were helpless... There was nothing they could do. There was nothing any of us could do.

Clarissa was the extra student. They were the dead one.

Suddenly that day when I saw Riku examining those two leaves made sense. He must have been making sure his powers were accurate.

"No..." Clarissa's knees grew weak, and they sat down, gripping the sides of the chair. When speaking, their words came out slowly, voice shaking. "You've made a mistake, Riku. I... I can't be..."

I could feel tears welling in my eyes. Clarissa, my best friend, a girl who I truly adored, had to die in order to save everyone else.

"Clarissa-" Riku began, but Clarissa cut him off, by letting out a frustrated scream, standing up, and hurling her chair across the room, creating a large crash.

"I have a family!" Clarissa cried. "I live with my mother... Akira-kun is my childhood friend... Yume-san, Yuki-san and Ai-san have been my friends since middle school... There's no way I can be-"

"Remember that the curse can alter memories?" Riku spoke calmly and cautiously. "Those memories aren't real."

"Surely the curse can't work THAT well!" Charisse contradicted the knowledge we had received. "All those time, all those memories I have... I remember FEELING things... The curse can't possibly alter my emotions too!"

"Hang on, let's think about this," I raised my hands. I tried to sound calm. "Ri-kun, what exactly is it that makes you so sure Clarissa-san is the extra student?"

Riku sat down on a desk table. "I've known about this power ever since I got my prosthetic fingers. I remember coming in contact with two birds. One was alive and healthy, and the other looked ill and in great pain. When I held the healthy one, it was fine. But when I held the ill bird, it felt strange. The second bird just seemed a lot heavier, drained me of my energy. Not to mention the bird was extremely cold. The next day I went back, the ill bird was dead. Ever since then, I began experimenting. I realised that I could kind of sense death using touch. I'd touch healthy and unhealthy trees and I could determine which ones were dying, and sure enough they'd die. I remember holding one of my teacher's hands in elementary school and feeling the same things when I'd held that bird... Three weeks later my teacher was dead."

Clarissa was panicking, nervously rocking their body back and fourth whilst looking around with wide eyes, tears falling. 

I reached out my hand. "Clarissa-"

"NO!!!! STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!" Clarissa shouted, voice raspy and breaking. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!!!! I DON'T WANT YOU TO KILL ME!!!!!" Clarissa suddenly grabbed a rusted knife from the open desk and held it in front of them. I took a step back, and Riku jumped off the desk. "Stay away from me..." Clarissa warned us. "If you try kill me, I'll... I'll... I'll kill you first!!!!"

"Clarissa-san, listen to us!!" I cried. Now I had to make sure I didn't sound scared. "We know you're feeling worried and guilty and stressed. But we are NOT going to hurt you."

"Don't lie... You want me dead!" Clarissa spat, speaking through their tears. "It's my fault that all this is happening... Tsuki-san, it's my fault your Dad is dead.."

"Clarissa-san, we can't blame you for something that you had no control over," I said, trying to push the image of my father out of my mind. "We can talk to Chibiki-Sensei, we can talk to the rest of the class, and we can figure something out."