Page 97 of Pulse Zero
I pace. That’s thefirst problem, especially considering that a shower and a solid six hours of sleep in an actual bed did absolutely nothing to stop my body from feeling like it’s falling apart.
The second problem is that Ican’t stoppacing.
Back and forth across the living room, bare feet dragging against the floor, one hand pushing my glasses up my nose every thirty seconds like they’ve suddenly forgotten how to sit on my face properly.
“Okay,” I mutter for the eightieth time.
Felix watches me from the couch like I’ve finally lost the last fragile thread tethering me to reality.
He’s not wrong.
“Okay.”
I drag a hand through my hair, exhale hard, then immediately inhale too fast like my body forgot how breathing works again.
“Super normal,” I say to no one, trying not to choke.“Everything about this is super fucking normal.”
My gaze flicks to the camera like it’s already done a hundred times today. Reese’s camera. It’s still there, still watching. I can almost see his silver eyes reflected back in the lens. I feel it like a weight between my shoulder blades.
I don’t look at it too long. Instead, I veer hard left toward the kitchen, then down the hall, and back again.
“So,” I say out loud, gesturing vaguely into the air like I’m giving a presentation to an invisible audience. “Hypothetically speaking,purelytheoretical, if someone were to, oh I don’t know, consider doing something incredibly stupid, we would all agree that’s a bad idea. Right?”
Felix blinks in that judgmental way he does.
Unhelpful.
“Right.” I nod. “Great talk.”
I keep moving, keep wearing a fucking hole in the floor as I pace. Because if I stop, I might actuallythinkabout it instead of just circling the idea of it like a fucking coward. But the thing is…
I’m already thinking about it. It’s there. Sitting in the center of everything.
Ascension.
The word alone makes something cold curl in my gut.
Die.
And come back.
Maybe.
I let out a shaky breath, pressing my fingers to my temples and rubbing slow circles. There’s no fucking way…
“Yeah, no,” I mutter. “That’s insane. That’s…objectively insane.”
Felix hops down from the couch and weaves around my legs, forcing me to stop unless I want to trip and die in a much less narratively satisfying way. It would suck to die like that before Ican even figure out thecoming backpart.
“Please don’t,” I beg him. “I’m already spiraling enough here. Let’s not add a broken neck to the list.”
He ignores me and headbutts my ankle.
I give in and crouch down, my fingers sinking into his fur as I speak softer now so only Felix can hear me, not the camera. “So, fun hypothetical for you. If I die, you’re gonna need a new person. You wouldn’t love them more than me, right?”
He purrs.
“You would. Traitor.”
