Life After You

Zeph: “This is Day 2.”

Delilah: “I know.”

I nod. Subconsciously, I bite my lip, a little nervous. I didn’t accomplish much on my first day. Rather than getting answers, I only got more questions. This was not what I’d been hoping for.

Zeph: “Pft...didn’t turn out the way you hoped, did it?”

Delilah: “Things just got more complicated.”

Zeph: “Then maybe you’ll want to consider telling me the whole story now.”

He leans forward on his desk, drawing himself closer to me.

Zeph: “You know everything about me, I know everything about this world and not enough about you. Shall we share information?”

Delilah: It’s not really a request, but an order. Even so...I don’t think he would do anything even if I didn’t want to tell him. Oh, but—

Delilah: “Wait...not enough about me?”

Zeph: “I know nothing about you.”

Delilah: “...”

By the time I met Zeph in Pistevo’s world, he knew everything about me, just because I had After You open on my phone almost all the time when I was still in the real world. I found out only when I met him in person that he knew of everything that happened on my end as long as it happened during the time the game was open, since the game required access to camera and everything.

Delilah: But if he doesn’t know anything about me...does that mean we went back in time?

Zeph: “Well?”

Delilah: “It...might shock you. Well, no, it won’t, but...”

Zeph: “Hahaha...don’t worry about it. Haven’t you already told me about the most important part to you?”

Delilah: “...oh.”

The part about our relationship.

Delilah: He has a point.

Delilah: “Alright.”

In the hour that follows, I tell him everything I know from the beginning—about myself and my physical condition, which he already knows from the “start” of this game; I tell him everything we learned together in Pistevo’s world, about everyone we met there.

And I tell him, at last, about the door we chose to go through in the end.

Delilah: “And then I found out that I got thrown into the beginning of the game like a legit player, and you don’t know me other than what you’d know by default at the beginning of each game.”

While listening to my monologue, Zeph listens intently, a serious expression on his face.

When the story is finished, he shifts his gaze to his sketch again.

Zeph: “Maybe you’ve gone back in time.”

Delilah: “You mean...by the time I met you in Pistevo’s world, all of this already happened?”

He shrugs.

Zeph: “It’s a possibility. From what you told me, ‘I’ was keen to abandon my world for yours.”

Delilah: “Now that you say that...it’s totally possible that it wasn’t just out of consideration of me. Maybe you actually knew something about...”

I look up sharply at Zeph.

Delilah: “Do you think something bad is going to happen?”

Zeph: “Ha...if only I knew. But you are already here. If something disastrous is bound to happen, there is no escaping it; and if our present is actually in your past...then, there is probably no way for me to ‘remember’ any of what you told me.”

Delilah: “...”

Delilah: How strange. Zeph is right in front of me, but it feels like he is a stranger. It feels like the Zeph I knew has died. Did he really know something that he didn’t tell me about? Did I “kill” him by choosing his world over mine? But if that were the case, why didn’t he object seriously? Is there something else that made this risk worth it?

Delilah: “I’ll change my objective, then.”

Zeph smirks, seemingly amused. At the same time, it looks like he already knows what I am about to say.

Zeph: “Oh?”

Delilah: “I’m not going to try to make you fall in love with me or remember our...past—I’ll just call it that for now.”

Zeph: “Hahahaha...is that what you were trying to do?”

I huff but don’t otherwise comment on it.

Delilah: “I’m just going to try and find out the truth, and survive this game with you.”

Zeph: “That will be no easy task, you know.”

I nod.

Zeph: “Are you sure about that?”

My heart skips a beat. Even if it isn’t the same Zeph, I now have the proof—proof that I love him, no matter what or who he is.

Delilah: “Yes.”

Zeph rests his chin on his elbow, peering at me in curiosity.

Zeph: “What a shame. I was beginning to look forward to your tricks.”

Delilah: “What tricks?”

Zeph: “What were you doing out in the middle of the night last night? Are you sure you’re not just trying to get all possible routes?”

Delilah: A reference to Mykel. Oh...wait, he cares about that?

Despite the fact that what he is probably just asking—and not actually minding what it is that I do with the other guys—I find myself smiling at the slim chance that he is.

Delilah: “I had a weird dream, so...I was just going out for a walk when I met Mykel. Oh! I should probably tell you about that dream.”

Zeph: “Nah, nah.”

He waves dismissively, in an exaggerated manner.

Zeph: “You already told Mykel, I don’t need to know...pft.”

Delilah: “I didn’t tell Mykel, actually.”

Zeph: “...”

It is then that I recall to him my “dream”, which I am not actually sure is a dream. I tell him that I saw Gilad, and how real it all felt to me.

After telling Zeph about the dream, I lean back in my chair, slightly uneasy.

Delilah: “...it probably sounds stupid.”

But Zeph’s smile has faded. Replacing it is a thoughtful expression. He, too, leans back, staring right at me.

Zeph: “I don’t think so. This world has been behaving strangely—this you already know. It would not surprise me if your brother managed to crack into it.”

Delilah: “Can we find out?”

He nods.

Delilah: “What do we do?”

Zeph: “We talk to Rehan.”