He wakes up with a jolt

It’s 4 am

He changed his mind. He prefers weird surreal dreams over strangely realistic dreams.

“Has the world not done using me as a squishy toy yet…?”

“I need a drink.”

He’s a bit scared of opening the door.

He looks at Ángel’s sleeping body for encouragement.

“He must’ve bundled me up after I passed out…”

“I’ve been giving him lots of trouble lately, haven’t I?”

He wants to be brave again.

He wants to be the person he used to be.

But the person he used to be was single.

The person he used to be didn’t have a DnD campaign. Didn’t have holidays with Mari. Didn’t destroy children at card games. Didn’t have snack hunting hours with Nina.

Didn’t kill multiple houses. Didn’t help all those people.

He knows this. He just… forgets sometimes. He needs to remember more often.

He needs to remember he is not a ghost.

He is alive. He is living.

Maybe he needs a new goal. The chickens are… a bittersweet memory.

Solve a cooler mystery? Kill a bigger house? Desecrate Coli’s grave?

He looks at his left hand

…Get married?

Oh. Haha. What a… What a funny feeling he got from that.

His Dad always said that marriage was the best thing that happened to him.

Hopefully having a Baby Oliver is up there too.

Marriage… No, no. It’s too soon, too soon.

But… one day.

He imagines a small chapel in front of the sea.

“My husband…”

“I present you my husband”

“A room for me and my husband”

“Get your hands off my husband!”

He gets silly with it.

A bright future… Is it really true? What if it’s just hopeful dreaming?

Well, it’s not like he wants to go back to the timeloop. He has to face the future, bravely or not.

…But there’s no crime in hoping

Filled with the memories of Mari and Nina’s wedding, he gets out of bed

He feels something brush against his leg

An empty cat carrier

The beast is out.

“FUCK”