Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 71

The small vault hidden behind his mirror was a secret only he and his father, who had gotten it installed, knew about.

Nobody else knew about it.

It was where he usually stashed things important to him, like his comics, so nobody would be able to get their hands on them.

One thing Asher despised was people touching what belonged to him.

Or taking it without his permission.

Hence, all his important belongings were kept here—including this notebook, which he had no recollection of storing inside the vault.

Flip—!

Turning the page, Asher’s eyes widened as he laid eyes on what was written in the book.

It seemed like a diary.

A journal.

Or perhaps a log of events written down by him.

The handwriting was unmistakably his.

There was no doubt about it.

But when had he written it?

He had no idea.

"I-I...."

He paused as his gaze settled on the first log.

{Day 10; Man... this feels surreal. I don’t know why I’m writing this down since I’m not a fan of diaries but I just want to pen down how elated I am. I’m done with high school already and for a while, it feels like I lost something incredibly dear to me and now I got my family back.... Uh...the hell? Where they lost before....?}

Asher paused as he read the words, his brows knitting together.

Gazing further down, he spotted another log.

{Day; I have no idea how much time has passed.... Time feels different for a reason.}

{Day; I forgot again.}

’Huh? What does this mean?’

Flip—!

He immediately turned the page and began reading.

{Day 50;....}

"Ba.... thump...."

Asher’s heart skipped a beat almost immediately as he stared at the log with wide eyes.

His hands trembled.

The notebook trembled along with them.

His mouth was beginning to run dry as beads of sweat slowly gathered across his temples.

’Da-Da-Day 50? How-How is this possible? Bu-But it’s just been a week since my final exams, yeah?’

Flip—!

Asher quickly turned to the previous page and reread the first log.

Then he turned back to the next page.

Day fifty was still staring right at him.

’How? How has it been fifty days since I finished high school? It-it was just a week and a few days ago.’

His heart raced at the horrifying possibility that he had somehow lost his grasp on time.

With a silent gulp, he decided to read further.

{Day 50: I have realised that I’m now forgetful for some reason. I-I can’t form complex thoughts and time seems to move faster or somewhat different here. I wonder why it....uh... man, I’m hungry.}

The log ended there.

Asher swallowed hard before moving his gaze toward the next one.

{Day 70: That cemetery visit was crazy. I wonder what sort of creature was that. And I don’t know the difference between a dream and reality anymore because it seemed like I saw graves for Jayden and mum. But it all seems too hazy and more like a dream. It probably is.}

Asher was more than stunned as he stared at the day written at the top.

Seventy days?

That’s over two months.

Shouldn’t they be in Vespers by now?

So what was going on?

There was no way anybody could imitate his handwriting so perfectly, right?

So it meant that he was the one who wrote these logs.

But why couldn’t he remember?

It had only been a week since he finished high school.

So why the hell was he seeing Day Seventy?

Alas!

It didn’t end there.

Asher looked further down.

{Day 90; You might be wondering how I’m able to recall? Well, forming complex thoughts is quite hard. So the only way to count down days is to keep it locked within my subconscious mind.}

{Day 190: I forgot again. There’s something important I’m trying to recall but I keep forgetting.}

Asher swallowed hard and turned the next page.

{Day 200: Shouldn’t we be in Vespers?}

{Day 400: Not real. Not real. Not real. They aren’t real. Nothing is real. Something is wrong. Something is crazy wrong. Escape....}

’Not real? What is he.... what am I talking about?’

Wiping away the beads of sweat gathering across his face, Asher quickly turned the next page out of curiosity.

{Day: I can’t recall again. I have lost grasp of time. Anyway; don’t trust...don’t trust. You need to realise.}

’Realize? Realize what?’

{Day; I have no idea. Listen, simple thoughts alone. Simple thoughts. Don’t think complex thoughts.}

{Day 700: Ah... finally grasped the days. What was my message again? Damn. I forgot.}

’Wait. Wait. Wait. This is becoming weird. Seven hundred days? How-How is this possible? What is going on?’

Out of sheer frustration, Asher flipped to the next page.

And there, he saw that only two logs remained.

{Day 715: I-I-I’m losing. Something is odd. Reading all these logs; I feel like there’s something important I’m forgetting. I feel like-like I’m running mad. Like I’m losing myself. And one word keeps ringing in my subconscious mind; I need to wake up.

But-but am I sleeping? I’m wide awake. So what does it mean to wake up? My brain, memories and thinking capacity has become a mush. Damn.... I-I failed.}

Asher’s palms instantly became sweaty as he fearfully glanced at the final log.

He didn’t know what he was going to see.

And somehow, he was afraid to find out.

{Day....I don’t know again; the code of the day to my future self is; Written. I trust you to find this notebook and help yourself. Time is running out. Try and remember. Written! Written! Written! This word should bring you back here.}

And there—

The logs ended.

Asher stared at the words written across the page.

His eyes slowly scanned them from top to bottom.

Wide.

Unblinking.

His heart palpitated violently with each passing second while his throat ran dry.

His mind spun with immense worry.

’Se-Se-Seven hundred days? Tw-Two years? It’s been two years?!’

The notebook suddenly slipped from Asher’s grasp and fell to the ground.

His vision became blurry.

Asher staggered backward.

Luckily, the bathroom door stopped him from falling.

His breathing became uneven as his head throbbed violently from everything he had just read.

Two years.

He had lost—

Two entire years.

And he couldn’t remember any of it.

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