Harry

“Who are you?”

“Good question. Ten points.”

“Why are you here?”

“Stupid question. Minus four points.”

“What?’

“Really stupid question. You’re at negative seventeen now.”

Harry blinked. The blonde girl in his mind was sitting on a rock taunting him. Her face wasn’t blurred this time and Harry wondered if it was even the same girl. She looked so young, younger than he was, but she had the same voice and the same dress and she just seemed the same.

She had shoulder length blonde hair and bright green eyes. Well, they were green now, but Harry had a hunch that they weren’t always that color.

She scrunched her nose. “Come on. Hit me. I’m bored.”

“Why?”

“Hmm. How very existentialist of you. Plus ten points.”

“Is this a dream still?”

She shook her head. “There goes your comeback. Negative fifty-six.”

“What!?”

“Just kidding. Geez. Do you like my rock?”

“What?”

“Nothing. I don’t really know. But I’m sitting on a rock. And I’m pretty sure that this rock is not my bed. Because I’m also pretty sure I was sleeping upwards of oh, thirty seconds or so. But hey, whatever floats your boat, right?”

“I’m really confused.”

“I know you are Harry.” She stood up.

“Don’t ask me why I know your name. I just do. In fact, I know a lot about you and it’s freaky, trust me. But for some reason I’m not afraid of you. For some reason, I really really want to help you. I don’t know what they want me to do though. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say. So come on, keep with the questions. I’ve got all night.”

Harry stared at her longer. Her skin glowed from exposure to the sun. he couldn’t tell since she was sitting on a rock, but she didn’t look that tall. In fact, she looked extremely small and fragile. But something in the way her eyes darted around and the way her fists would clench told him that that assumption was wrong.

“What’s your name?”

“Good good, plus fifteen for you.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Even better. Seven more. What’s negative fifty-six plus twenty-three? You have that.”

Silence.

“Negative thirty-three.”

“I don’t know. You’re just here.”

“Are you supposed to teach me something?”

“I don’t know. Do you know, the first I came here, I thought I was in heaven.”

“What?”

“Yeah. I was there once, you know. I died. And all the white here, and the softness, I just thought I was back. But then the first time I woke up, and the second time I did too. And then I found you. So I’m pretty sure I’m not there.”

“You died?”

She nodded vigorously. “Twice actually, but only the second one really counted. I think we’re here because we want to die, by the way. Do you feel like dying any time soon? Because I do.”

Harry stared at her.

Seriously?

Had she just asked if he wanted to die?

But why? Why had she asked? Was she going to kill him? No. He snorted mentally. She was probably just crazy. And then he wondered. What would happen if he died? He’d be in heaven. She had loved it. He wouldn’t be with those stupid Dursleys with the threat of impending doom hanging over his head all the time.

“I think so.”

She brightened visibly. “I think that’s it. Lesson over. Your grade for today is a one-oh-nine. Congratulations. Visit soon?”

Harry’s eyes blurred. Wait, was he leaving already?

Wait, no.

“Buffy!”

He jolted up in bed sweating. He blinked and put on his glasses. He could see the sun just barely peeking through the curtains and he closed his eyes and flopped back onto bed.

He gripped them shut and tried to think back. She was going away already. She was fading into blurriness. He had already forgotten her eyes and her face and her skin. She was just a blurred figure in a white dress with blonde hair.

He groaned in frustration. What was she trying to tell him? And why could he never get the message?

He hated his life.