RECORD OF TODAY #324

Idk wat it is it was a creative writing assignment for English and we had to make a story from an image. It was an old haunted looking house with three kids biking by it. Gate around house.

The dog died Today �" that’s old news though, she dies every Today
My mother mourns her every Today.
The mayor goes missing every Today.
The kid with long golden brown hair falls and scraps scrapes her knee, every Today.
Things never change around here, and the secret is �" I’m the only one that realizes it. My mother wears the same clothes. My brother still begs for pizza instead of pancakes for breakfast. Everything that happened the Today before . . . disappears. I could accidentally cut my arm off and it would be there the next Today, because things NEVER change.
I’m just honestly surprised that I still care enough to record everything that happens, even when it gets erased for the next Today.
But the records from the Before are still there, even if I feel like I’m reading a book.
Even if it feels like those things disappear from my mind even if I take a glimpse at the Before records.
Yet this Today was strange, the normally neverchanging things that happen here . . . changed.

“Jaqlyn!” My brother called, and I groaned.
Once again, the Today was going to start with him dragging me to ride bikes with his friend. I groaned as I walked down the newly fixed stairs that were made in the Before, my worn combat boots making small thuds on the floor as I finished my descent.
He was in the same clothes like in all of the Todays that are behind me, a slightly oversized blue hoodie, a brown pack slung over his shoulder, and a goofy grin fixed on his face. I felt guilt eat at me, he feels like he hasn’t lived this day on repeat, and he feels like his surprise hasn’t happened.
But I have lived through Today . . . maybe dozens of times, and the Today’s always end in disaster �" no matter how many times I try to save Carter.
I force a smile upon my face, trying to make it seem like I’m genuinely happy about Today �" like it was the Before, where every Today was different.
“Hey Jack,” I say. “What did you need?”
“Nothing,” He strugged shrugged.“I just wanted to bike with you and Carter. You don’t have anything you need to do. Right?”
I nod, and follow as he practically bounces out of the house to the shed where the bikes live.
As he opens the shed, I take a step back as a squirrel jumps out and scurries away. That was Mr. Jumpy �" or at least that is what I think I named him after the first few Todays happened �" he always runs away, and on the first Today, he did land on me, and lets just say if there wasn’t another Today I would have had scabs for days.
I hear the small crunch of leaves underfoot �" he is a bit earlier than the last Today �" and greet the coming person: “Hello Carter.”
“How! How did you know it was me!” He exclaimed.
I chuckle, he doesn’t know that I have lived Today 324 times before this Today.
“I don’t know, I guessed, I guess.” I lied, it fell off my tongue , as easy as breathing.
“I don’t believe you Jax,,” He stated. “That is just . . . inhuman. No one �" and I mean NO one should be able to do that.”
“Let’s just say that I have lived Today hundreds of times.” I said coolly, rubbing my arms in hope of ridding myself of the chill.
He snorted. “Okay, and I am immortal.”
“Yeah,” If only he knew.
From the last 323 Today's, I could confer that we were going to the abandoned house on Oak St. But it was the journey there that terrified me �" obstacles that ended in tragedy.
We peddled slowly through the neighborhood, and they moved carelessly while I watched every sign �" ones that I used to ignore �" counting down the seconds to the first Today Tragedy.
There was wind Today, and I looked around puzzled �" there was no wind in the Today's before.
As we began to cross the street, I felt the rumbling of the coming car. Red, that's what it was and always is, it speeds too fast and causes Carter's death.
“Carter stop!” I screamed, and he froze foot about to kick off to cross.
The car flew by, Carter's eyes widening as the black blur passed by, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Today Tragedy 1 averted.
Just a few more to go.
“What the f**k,” Carter breathed. “How did you know? How�" That's impossible, no one could see that car. No one but you warned me.”
I gave a tight smile.
No one has lived Today 323 before . . . Well Today.
Jack ran his hand through his curly brown hair, and took a deep breath.
“Let's . . . just continue on our way.” Jack suggested. I felt bad, he didn't want to have a weird psychic girl as a sister.
I'm sorry, I mouthed. I wished he could understand �" that I know exactly what is and what will happen.
We began biking, and I only have two more Today Tragedies to stop. Because I could not �" would not see the anguish on my brother's face upon seeing his friend dying.
It was like a chore, each Today I would wake up..
Each Today I would predict and stop each Today Tragedy.
Each Today I would go home talking about the house where we went.
Each Today I would go to sleep and do it all over again.
I'm lost in thought as we head to our destination, looking down as we go �" living the Today 324 times helps with memorizing every obstacle in your path as you bike.
I kept my eyes glued to the ground, searching for the second Today Tragedy �" the crack in the pavement, the jagged rock, the fall that always ends with Carter bleeding. But the road ahead was smooth. Too smooth. The crack wasn’t there.
It had never not been there.
A cold pressure tightened in my chest. My breath hitched. The world felt… wrong. Off�'beat. Like a song skipping a note.
Why was the path different? Why was anything different?
My pulse hammered in my ears.
I tried to steady my breathing, but each inhale came shorter than the last. My vision jittered at the edges, colors smearing like wet paint.
Jax?” Carter’s voice sounded far away, like he was shouting through a tunnel.
I blinked hard. The world tilted.
Then the panic hit �" sharp, electric, overwhelming. My hands slipped from the handlebars. The bike wobbled beneath me.
“Jax!” Jack shouted.
I didn’t fall so much as drop, like the ground rushed up to meet me. My knees hit first, then my palms, then everything blurred. The sounds around me �" the wind, the bikes, my brother’s footsteps �" all muffled into a low, underwater hum.
I tried to push myself up, but my arms trembled uselessly. The world spun sideways. A tree trunk pressed against my back �" or maybe I slid into it. I couldn’t tell.
Carter and Jack were suddenly there, hands on my shoulders, voices frantic.
This had never happened.
Not once.
Not in 324 Todays.
Tears burned down my cheeks before I even realized I was crying.
My hands flew to my ears, trying to block out the noise, the wrongness, the change.
Then everything went black.We were at the house, the old one, on Oak St.
It had iron gates, and the lights were on. The grass was dying and there were plenty of overgrown weeds. Our bikes were at the entrance to the house, and they were just sitting there �" seemingly waiting for me to awake.
“Jax, you're awake.” Jack sighed in relief.
I was confused, why were we here even after I passed out.
Jack could sense my confusion. “You’ve been wanting to come explore this place for weeks, I assumed you didn’t want to miss it over you having a break down.”
“Yeah, what was that about?” Carter asked.
“Again I say, I have lived Today 323 times before this Today.” I answered. “I think I was freaking out that this Today was completely different from the last Todays.”
“Why do you keep talking like that?” Carter asked, a tinge of annoyance in his voice.
I looked at him and narrowed my eyes. “I have lived Today 323 times before this Today, and you die Today if I don’t stop the Today Tragedies.”
His eyes widened in fear.
“The f**k you mean that Carter dies!” Jack exclaimed. “That bullshit, supernatural crap like that could never happen. Stop being weird Jax.”
A creak in the house stopped me from responding to them. I snapped my head around, rising and walking slowly toward the house.
Then the chill returned, and a shiver ran through my spine.
No one was supposed to be here.
“Jax, what are you doing?” Jack asked nervously.
“No one should be here,” I hissed at him. “No one has ever been here Today, not in the passed 323 Todays.”
I walked into the house, and there was a layer of dust coating everything.
Everything but the footprints of someone.
Jack and Carter called my name, but I continued becuase there was something calling me. And I felt that it eould fix all my problems �" and the one problem of this, is that I don’t know what it would think my problem is.
I followed the footprints, and the closer I got the more the force pulled me towards it.
My head was spinning, and I wondered why.
The hairs on the back of my neck were rising and I was getting a terrible sick feeling.
I began stumbling toward the force, and the closer I got the more sick I began to feel.
It felt like walking through honey, and the guy didn’t follow me.
I felt someone grip my shoulder and turn me around.
Then I was faced to face with the person who created those footprints �" me.
Although their hair was matted and her eyes wild.
“Run.” She rasped, her voice hoarse as if it hadn’t been used in Todays.
With that she shoved me towards the force and my body felt like mist.
Stepping felt like water �" no pressure
But I pushed forward, tingling in the tips of my fingers and toes.
Then I was there �" the force.
It was a swirling vortex, a beautiful blend of blue, gold, and purple.
The air was warm, and it felt like it was still pulling me towards it even though I was here.
I could feel it in the back of my head �" once, it would only appear one.
Then I would be stuck here.
Stuck with the Todays.
Stuck forever reliving Today.
Or I could go through it.
Go into whatever place it would take me.
Would it be like the Before?
A decision that I didn’t know if I wanted or not.
If I stay I would never know anything but Today.
But if I went . . . everything would be different, and it is terrifying to not know anything but the past.
And if I go, I would never feel like it is my responsibility to protect Carter and Jack.
My blood was rushing in my ears, and I had no idea why. But it felt calming to know that it wasn’ t my fault that Carter would die. Because, I would not know.
So I stepped through, and it felt like I was falling.
My stomach was in my throat and
S**T
S**T
S**T
I fell �" hard.
And I opened my eyes and it hurt because the lights above were too bright.
And everything was too loud.
My breathing.
The beeping of a machine.
Everything hurt.
“MOM!” A voice screamed from the doorway. “MOM, JACkIE’S AWAKE!”
I tried to move to face the voice but I . . . I just couldn’t.
Two familiar faces appeared at my side, tears streaming down their faces. They looked older, the boy was taller and the woman more frail with graying hair.
But I instantly knew who they were �" Jack and Mom.

I was brought home, and found out what happened :
The car was speeding by as Carter was crossing.
I jumped off my bike and pushed him out of the way.
I was hit �" not him.
I was hurried to the hospital, and brought to surgery.
I was good, but wouldn’t wake up.
I was in a coma �" for almost a year.
The Today Tragedies never happened �" my brain was just repeating the accident, but adding more to it. Trying to hide the trama trauma I guess.
Free
That’s what I was.
Free from guilt.
Free from the responsibility of having to protect them.

Author's Note

Ok, to the original document had like crossed out things cuz it was like an entry and if you see any repeated words that are not spelled right well that was supposed to be crossed out cuz it was like an entry to something. And then there are some things that might not fit in places and those should also be strikedthrough. But yeah also ignore wok grammar issues and stuff

Reviews

[lauren]

Hi!
I just read your story, and I’m obsessed! Your writing is incredible, and I kept imagining how cool it would be as a comic.
I’m a professional commissioned artist, and I’d love to work with you to turn it into one, if you’re into the idea, of course! I think it would look absolutely stunning.
Feel free to message me on Discord (laurendoesitall) or Instagram (lizziedoesitall) if you’re interested. Can’t wait to hear from you!

Best,
Lauren

[Blackbird . . .]

I would love too, but sadly I don't have either and won't be able to do I sadly have to decline your offer :(
-blackbird