Leon's POV

When I woke up on that Monday morning, everything felt off.

I looked around my room and nothing was out of the ordinary and yet, there was something gnawing me at the back of my head. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but it was so unsettling that I couldn't place what it was.

On my desk was the neat stack of notes that I had been continuously receiving from Avery. While I had told her many times that it wasn't necessary, I found it adorable that she kept insisting. Not that I didn't appreciate it though, just having me occupy the tiniest of space in her mind was enough for me.

Even if it stemmed from a little white lie. I never found the lesson difficult – in fact, I think I've memorized it at this point. However, spending even the shortest time with her made me want to continue on with this.

But now, I have no idea what to do. No matter how hard I tried, Pat still ended up breaking up with her.

If only I didn't oversleep that day, I could have stopped him from seeing Zoey and this large snowball wouldn't have rolled down the hill.

Just one mistake and everything that I had been carefully tiptoeing around just crashed onto the ground.

"Leon, your mother told me to wake you up," a knock on my door sounded and I knew it was our maid, "Do you have an special requests for breakfast, by the way?"

"I'll just have whatever my parents are having," I said back and I heard her footsteps walk away.

In the end, I couldn't calm Avery after Pat talked to her. In fact, I never got a chance because she already pushed me off. I understood where she was coming from and I respected the fact that she needed space, but to say I wasn't a little bit hurt was all a lie.

So I told Pat that I wanted to leave, ditching the party way earlier than intended. After that, I never heard of anything else throughout the whole weekend. Pat had told me how guilty he felt and even though I was frustrated beyond belief, I didn't want to blame him.

Because this was nobody's fault. I shouldn't point fingers because at the end of the day, you cannot control other people's feelings.

I just wish that Avery was still alright after all of that.

I took a shower in my en suite and sitting there on the small marble bowl by the sink was my silver whistle. I place it there every single day to make sure that I never forget to bring it with me.

I've always wondered if the other whistle that I gave her had any effects. I've done so many attempts at this point, but that one moment in the car was the first time I've successfully managed to make her wear the whistle.

Now I only had one whistle in my possession. Whether it made a difference or not was something I had yet to find out.

Grabbing the silver whistle, I turned it over and squinted my eyes at the engraving. During the first few times I've used it, I didn't even notice it because of how small the letters were.

L.C.

I have mused a couple times before that those were there because they were my initials, but I never got to figure out their true meaning. The whistles still remain a mystery to me, no matter how many times I've used them.

But speaking of the amount of times I've used them – I was exhausted. This was more of a mental game than a physical one and it was so draining.

Well, I know that spending more time dwelling on this wouldn't give me more information than what I already know. I proceeded to get dress, grab my backpack, then headed downstairs.

Just saying, the long winding staircase has never benefitted me whenever I come home drunk.

"Oh you're finally up!" mom laughed when she saw me enter the dining room, "Eat quickly or you'll be late again."

I lowered myself on my usual spot where a plate of eggs, toast, and bacon with a side of fruits were already waiting for me. Another maid filled up my glass with orange juice and also settled down a mug of coffee next to it.

I know that I have the kind of life that many could only dream of and I was thankful for it. However, it doesn't make the whistle business any easier.

"Honey, we have to get to work," dad said, finally lowering his iPad, "I have a meeting at exactly eight."

Mom sighed, placing her mug down and pushing herself up. She made her way to me and kissed the top of my head, "We'll see you tonight, Leon."

"Bye, our not-so-little lion cub," dad chuckled, squeezing my shoulder affectionately, "Have fun at school."

If there was one thing that made everything so difficult, it was that I had to say goodbye to them every single time. I mean, I would still see them eventually but it felt different. Only I would retain the memories while they would remain oblivious to everything that their son had been through.

Although I was extremely grateful that no matter what version of them I come across, they were still caring and sweet. I pride myself for winning the lottery in terms of parents.

I wonder if they will like Avery if I ever introduce her to them. Not that I was afraid of anything since she was the kind of person that was so easy to like. Her personality was perfect, her looks were beautiful, and everything about her was amazing.

Hold on, we have to shake off those thoughts. We might be entering dangerous territories if we keep thinking like that.

So I finished up my food and said thank you to the staff after. However, no matter how much I tried to distract myself, there was still something at the pit of my stomach. Even during the drive to school, that gnawing feeling wouldn't go away.

Eventually, I realized why.

Avery didn't go to school, she was nowhere to be found in any class. I tried to relax, to not think of the worst case scenario, because maybe she wasn't over Pat yet and still needed extra time to process everything. This wasn't the first time she skipped classes so I shouldn't be too panicked over this.

Though when she first disappeared, I immediately told Pat the right place to find her – right by the field. I've given them every push that I could think of and still, they didn't end up together.

Just how many times will I have to fail?

While the teacher in front kept yapping on, I let out a soft sigh and started doodling on my notebook. I've heard this lesson too many times, I was honestly tired of it.

Avery.

I wrote down her name and stared at it for the longest time, trying to wrack my brain up for another plan of action. Leading Pat to her didn't work out so I was once again stumped with what to do.

I mindlessly started scribbling but when I realized what I did write, my eyes went wide and I immediately grabbed an eraser.

Avery Colten.

No, get those thoughts away. She's not meant for you.

When lunch rolled around, that disturbing itch became alarming. When Avery and I skipped class together, Sasha and Mia still ate with the group. They've managed to engrain themselves in the clique so even if one of them was missing, it wouldn't be a compromising situation to still eat with the rest.

But this time, the two of them sat in another table. Not only that, it was the table farthest from where we were all sitting.

The more I observed, the more unnerved I felt. Both of them had unordinary heavy bags under their eyes and just from how they carried themselves, something felt off. They didn't interact with anybody aside from each other.

And to add more, they rarely opened their mouth. They would share a look every now and then but aside from that, they ate mostly in silence. Even during the class before lunch period, they felt more distant than usual, but I thought it was just because they were missing a piece of their trio.

But the moment that I knew I had to be distressed was when it was math class.

The teacher was droning on as usual, I didn't even pretend to listen as I kept staring at Avery's empty desk. Right now, I was praying to every single deity I could think of that she was alright.

But I think I was about to be gravely disappointed when completely out of the blue, I heard somebody's chair scrape on the floor.

I tore my eyes away from the desk and my heart fell inside my chest when I saw Sasha standing up, one hand on her phone and both of her eyes wide in horror.

"Is there something wrong?" our teacher asked, surprised by her sudden movements.

"Mia," she barely managed to mutter. The said girl immediately shifted in her seat and pulled out her phone, letting out a loud audible gasp when she saw something on her screen.

Without any warning, she stood up as well. The teacher kept firing them questions, but all of it fell deaf in their ears.

Sasha snatched her bag and started marching to the front, joining hands with Mia and the both of them sprinted out of the classroom without any warning. At this point, I was sure that all color had drained from my face.

"Girls!" the teacher yelled, trying to chase after them but between the forty year old adult and two sixteen year old girls, I think we were sure who won that race.

"I wonder what's that all about," Pat spoke then his face fell when he saw my expression, "What's wrong, L?"

No, no, no.

Please, don't let it be!

I took out my phone and dialed Avery's number, pressing it hard against my ear as if adding pressure to it would actually make a difference. My leg was shaking at how nervous I was and I hoped, to this cruel universe that I was living in, that she would answer.

But I felt like my whole life started breaking when the call went to voicemail.

The high school rumor mill was a fickle thing. The situation that happened during math spread around like wildfire. Especially because it was Mia, somebody many knew was sort of straight laced compared to her two other friends. Something completely out of character like running out in the middle of class without permission was worth gossiping and speculating about.

And that same high school rumor mill was what delivered the news to me that evening.

I was in the middle of eating dinner with my parents when my phone started buzzing continuously. I usually ignore messages when it was meal time but again, this day wasn't like any other day. So I grabbed it, opened it, and saw the somebody has sent something to the group text.

The messages flooded in rapidly that it made me more frantic than it should have. I tried to scroll through everything until I reached the message that triggered the fast entry of other messages.

And as the words that I read slowly registered inside my head, I couldn't help but sit there as I felt my whole body become numb. My hands released my phone, making it hit the plate and land pathetically in the middle of the mashed potatoes.

This caused both of my parents to flinch in surprise, making my mother question loudly, "What's the matter?"

It was futile because all I could hear was the ringing inside my ears.

How? Why?

Sure, Pat broke up with her but I made extra precautions so the problems wouldn't pile up. At this point, she shouldn't have figured out the thing about her father yet and the incident never occurred.

Unless...

She already knew what happened to her father.

However, if I remember correctly, she will only find out about that on the same day as Pat's birthday. No matter which timeline, that piece of the puzzle remained constant. The only significant difference that occurred was that I gave her the whistle before going back to the past.

That meant she did have the whistle and somehow, it made her retain her memories.

Then that brought us to the one thing I didn't even want to think about – the incident. Please don't tell me something happened to her during the party.

As I slowly lowered my head in defeat, my eyes once again saw the message flashed on my phone and the terror consumed me.

On seven in the evening that Monday after the party, I got the text that said Avery Barber was dead.

: How?

: Apparently she was found with an empty bottle of pills.

Just like what happened in the other timelines, I could never predict how she did it. Once it was successfully jumping off the building, another was drowning herself in the river, and this wasn't the first time that pills were involved.

There were a lot more gruesome versions but it didn't make anything feel better.

I pushed myself up to my feet and started running upstairs into my room, ignoring all the yells coming from mom and dad. I frantically searched for the whistle.

I failed again and again. I wasn't successful even this time, I wasn't able to save her. Even after giving her the second whistle, I still failed.

With my hands and lips trembling, I placed the silver whistle to my mouth. I blew on it three times, my eyes tightly closed as I did so because I could already feel the tears starting to form.

Please, when I wake up, give me the strength to face another timeline.

And most of all, please let me save her.

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So yeah, that's the end of the story. Avery's dead and good bye to everyone!

I'm just kidding, but the following chapters will still be written in Leon's POV (not like we have much of a choice considering my main character is dead). Speaking of following chapters, we're going to have two updates this week! So I shall see you all again on Tuesday for the next chapter.

But yes, Leon does have something to do with the time travel thingy going on. More of that will be explained next chapter. 

Question:  Which theory of yours got proven or squashed in this chapter?

Don't forget to vote, comment, and follow. Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you next update!