One year left. She wondered how she would go out this time. Perhaps getting stabbed? Hanged? Stuck in a crossfire? She'd done it all.

For three thousand years, Aru had been alive. Every generation for the past centuries she would restart her life at the age of seven and see it till the end of her seventeenth birthday when she would die a brutal death and the process would then repeat.

She was always invisible to all but herself until the day she passed, then she'd become a star for a few days until her case was dismissed. Then she'd quietly creep into another family as if she had always existed there for seven years. And Aru was exhausted.

She had tried to take her own life, but then she would go into painful comas that lasted until her fateful birthday or be saved by someone who thought themselves a hero when in reality they were doing her no favors. All the world was against her.

Slowly her hand spun the spoon that made the coffee it was dipped in become a vortex of brown. It was pretty here, with its windchimes and large windows that persuaded more sunbeams than needed to enter. They called this place a 'cafe'. What a stupid name, she thought.

People dotted the room reading novels, perhaps with the motive to seem naturally aesthetic. What idiots they all looked like, holding aloft their books with an imperious look etched on their faces as they pretended to read words they didn't actually understand while putting on an air of grace and poise. One man was reading an economics textbook with his expression saying he was in the middle of a heart-wrenching romance scene. Another was leafing through a comedy while gasping as if someone had been killed. A hysterical giggle passed through Aru's lips. Murdered. Being accused of murder. What did it all matter?

The best feature of this tiny shop was perhaps the flowers. Placed here and there and staining pastel colors into the monotone background. There were none in the dungeon, she thought absentmindedly.

Just then a waiter dropped a glass cup near Aru, and a few shards flew her way, trying to embed themselves in her leg but only managing to scrape the surface instead. Red pooled from the scratches and slowly rolled down her skin.

It hurt, she thought distantly. Everything hurt so f***ing much.

"I'm sorry! D*mn it, I messed up. Are you alright? It must be painful. Shit, I'm so sorry!" She looked up at the blabbering waiter and startled. Him. She could never, would never, forget how he looked, how he smelled, how he touched. Would never forget those eyes.

Her second life. The one she had loved most in this cruel place. The one who had told her he loved her back. The one who had ended his own life to protect hers. Her sixteenth life. Her two-thousandth life. The list went on.

"Aiden?" He looked up.

Besides the second time she was reincarnated, she never talked to him. So why now...?

"How did you know?" And for the first time in years, she let her tears drop. Aiden panicked.

"Oh no please don't cry I'm really sorry I was being a stupid clumsy jerk I'm sorry-!!" He too looked close to breaking down with her.

"No, no, I just- just had a really bad day. I... heard a customer say your name, that's all." She squeezed his shoulder comfortingly.

"Oh, ok. That- that's good. I mean not good!" He rubbed furiously at her eyes, and she remembered how they used to comfort each other like this. Bawling their eyes out and the other too would start crying because they thought they were the one who messed up. Not the world.

It was him, Aru knew. She would always know, even in death. And she knew she couldn't mess up his second chance at life. Not again.

Remember, it's me against the world.

"No," He would say whenever she said that. "It's you and me against the world. Remember that."

"I'd better get going." She got up swiftly, placing a few shards gently into his palm and telling him to not hurt himself, before hurrying out the door.

"Wait!" He called out desperately, pleadingly. She should have cut him off, leaving only the splayed string behind. Instead, she called out:

"Arundhati Shah," Then left. He understood. He always did.

But something had changed this time.

A/N: What am I even doing at this point? Brace yourselves everyone, I made another book. Also is this much of swearing and death topics okay for you all? Let me know if you're uncomfortable and I will see what I can do. Also please tell me what you think.