Once again, I woke up here. That state of clarity was gone — I would think about it later. Now, I felt I was ready for the lessons. I got up quickly and went to talk to my mom. I had a feeling I should do something for her. That was probably the reason I'd died the previous time.

  "Oh, you're finally up. I was starting to get angry."

  My mom was, as usual, annoyed with me. I decided to turn a deaf ear to it and just asked:

  "Is there anything I should do for you today?"

  "You're so impossible. I gave you instructions yesterday."

  "I'm starting to remember, but could you remind me of the details, please?"

  Of course, I didn't remember anything, but I thought this approach would be easiest.

  "Fine, but if you dare not to do everything, I'll be furious. Now listen: first, you should solve the training test from the book, and second, I want you to visit your grandmother. You need to take some books from her — she knows which ones. I hope you won't forget this time."

  "Yes, everything will be done."

  I was satisfied. This could have been the reason for my death last time.

  "You're strange today. I need to go. See you in the evening."

  So she left. As for me, I started to get ready for school.

  This time, I wasn't expecting any trouble. But to my surprise, we were missing a student. That was new - it had never happened before.

  I was in my first lesson before the test, and one of my classmates, Misha, wasn't there. But everyone was acting as if everything was normal. I only noticed because he usually sat right in front of me.

  I would ask Kate about him later. Right now, I needed to focus on the test. This time, I finished pretty quickly and waited for Kate.

  "Hey Kate, how was your test?"

  "Okay, just okay. I think I did well."

  "Do you know where Misha is?"

  "Who?"

  "The boy who usually sits in front of me."

  "I have no clue what you're talking about."

  Hmm. That was interesting. Kate wasn't the type to forget her classmates.

  "Anny?"

  "Yes? Everything's fine. I just need to check something."

  I needed to ask someone else. Nobody knew about that boy. So it probably had something to do with my situation. Maybe I needed to find that three-eyed thing.

  The other lessons were unchanged, so I got through them smoothly. I was going to do my mom's tasks and finally survive this day.

  I'd spent two hours on the home test — an unforgivable amount of time. Now I only had an hour to get to my grandmother's and back. My grandmother was a difficult person, and my mom and I weren't particularly close with her, but I still had to run errands for her sometimes.

  On my way, I saw a few of those rusty, strange doors leading downwards. I thought that if I survived this day, I would explore them.

  I arrived at my grandmother's place. She was a Roma and even worked as a fortune teller, which she fully embodied in her demeanor. For my mom, a businesswoman, my grandmother was a stain on her reputation, so she didn't want much to do with her. But sometimes I had to go over to take or give something.

  I entered her apartment.

  "Hello, Grandma. How are you?"

  "Hello, hello, Anny! How beautiful you are. Come in, let's have a chat and some tea."

  "Sorry, I'm running late for training. It's a busy day."

  "That's a shame. You've completely forgotten your old grandmother. I'll give you the books, but only if you visit me this weekend. Do you promise?"

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  "Alright, I promise. But no fortune-telling, please."

  "Oh, oh. I'll be waiting. Wait a minute, I'll get the books."

  I took the books, said goodbye to my grandmother, and headed home. On the way, I kept thinking about that state of clarity before my last death. I was sure I could activate it somehow. I would try during training.

  On the way back, I saw Blacky. The dog wagged his tail and ran up to me as if he knew who I was. I petted him when he got close.

  "Hi, Blacky. Do you remember me?"

  The dog seemed to nod in agreement. Strange. Did the dog really remember me, or was it just a coincidence? I decided I'd bring him a piece of meat this time, too.

  I got home and told the dog to wait if he wanted the meat.

  I ate quickly, grabbed my training gear, and was ready to go when my eyes fell on the stack of my grandmother's books. My curiosity got the better of me, and I opened one. I didn't understand a thing; the language was completely unfamiliar to me. I couldn't even tell what language it was. Strange. Did my mother know a foreign language? Oh, I would ask her in the evening.

  I grabbed a piece of meat and left.

  The dog was still waiting. I petted him and gave him the meat. Surprisingly, I wasn't afraid of him anymore; I felt a kind of connection with this dog. So we walked to my training together. When we arrived, I petted him goodbye and went inside. He went off to attend to his dog business — not that I had any clue what he did in his free time.

  During training, I tried to achieve that state of clarity but failed. Even in the most difficult situations, I couldn't tap into it. As before, the training was exhausting. After it was over, I was sitting on a bench, trying to collect myself.

  "Hey Anna, looks like you took a lot of punches today."

  It was Tom. We hadn't spoken before training, but he still approached me.

  "Yeah, my head's in the clouds today."

  "Aw, did you get yourself a boyfriend?"

  Did he really think the only thing that could distract me was a boyfriend? What did he take me for? But then again, I was sixteen. So maybe, to him, that was a valid reason.

  "Who knows. But I feel like I might die because of it."

  "Oh? Is it some kind of illness? No, you're joking."

  "Yes, yes, I'm joking."

  "Let's walk home together."

  "Why not? Let's."

  "Wow, I didn't expect that. But cool — you've finally realized how awesome I am."

  "So arrogant. I'm going to change."

  We walked home together, and nothing happened. A miracle, I thought.

  I got home alive. Just then, my mom called to say she'd be late. I thought about tomorrow, about how to improve on today, and checked my homework. Finally, I decided to take a nap.

  When I woke up, it was the same day. The same damn morning, and my mother was shouting at me to get up.

  Why? What had happened? Had I died in my sleep? Did the day reset every night? Oh, I had no time for this. I needed to ask Mom about the books.

  "Mom, do I need to take the books from Grandma today?"

  "Yes. Did you forget?"

  "No, no. I was just curious—what kind of books are they?"

  "Nothing special. It's time for me to go. See you this evening."

  Hmm. She hadn't answered me. That was strange. Okay, I could ask Grandma. I just needed to get the test done during school; I thought Kate could help me. I had a plan for the day, and I started putting it into action.

  Kate helped me with the test, so now I knew how to solve it. Maybe I'd died last time because of a wrong answer on the home test, but I doubted it. Now I was on my way to Grandma's. I had time to sit and chat, so I hoped to get some information.

  I finally arrived.

  "Hello, Grandma. How are you?"

  "Hello, hello, Anny! I didn't expect you so early. Did you come straight from school?"

  "Yes, I didn't have anything else to do, so I came here."

  "Come in, come in! Let me feed you, and we can chat while you eat."

  I went in, straight to the kitchen. This was the most ordinary room in the whole house, not what you'd expect from a fortune teller's home.

  She served us soup and sat down across from me. It was a hot, fatty chicken soup. I didn't like it, but it was bearable. To avoid upsetting Grandma, I started to eat.

  "How was school?"

  "Same as usual. Good grades, no problems with classmates."

  She was about to ask something else, but I interrupted.

  "Actually, I wanted to ask about the books you and Mom are always exchanging. I looked at one of them—I didn't recognize the language."

  "They're just silly books. Nothing special."

  Strange. Neither of them wanted to tell me. But why? There must be something special about them. I decided to push a little.

  "If they're just silly books, tell me what they're about."

  "No, no. That's a secret between me and your mother."

  "At least tell me what language it is."

  "Oh, you know, I bought the tastiest candies! Let's try them after the soup. Let's eat before it gets cold."

  So, both of them had refused to talk about the books. Suspicious. Really, really suspicious. I needed to show the books to someone who could identify the language. Stupid online translators couldn't identify it either.

  We finished eating, and I went home. I hadn't gotten any information from her. She'd wanted to talk about everything except what I needed. So irritating. I would go to my mom's work after training and ask her one more time.

  As I was leaving the house, lost in thought, I didn't notice that the door looked strange, and I got too close to it. A damn rusty door... I was distracted. It suddenly swung open, and a pair of white hands grabbed me, pulling me inside before slamming shut behind me.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck! I pushed against the white thing and hurled my bag of books at it. The white thing staggered slightly. I lunged for the door and yanked it open, but instead of my grandmother's house, there was only a rusty corridor. Fuck. Stupid me.

  I bolted down the corridor, but the white creature caught up. Its nails dug into the skin of my shoulder. I turned to face my attacker, and a deep horror washed over me. It was a naked, skinny man with absolutely white skin, too-long limbs, a bald head, and a white beard. Disgusting.

  Its other hand seized my neck in an iron grip. Its face was too far away; I couldn't reach it with my hands. I was starting to lose consciousness. I kicked out at him, and his grip faltered for a moment. In that instant, I pushed harder, but he lifted me up with one hand and slammed me onto the floor. The air was knocked from my lungs.

  This terrible thing climbed on top of me and started choking me with both hands. Shit. Eventually, I couldn't do anything. My consciousness slipped away.