Amara Okafor
Continuations written
I shook the figure's shoulder. The man jolted awake. "You're not them," he breathed in relief. "Three guys locked me in here. They took the gold and l…
▲ 4 votesThe glowing lantern meant someone was close. We killed our lights and listened. Footsteps shuffled deeper inside. Then a voice, weak and scared: "Hell…
▲ 4 votesI grabbed the door handle and pulled. It groaned open an inch, then stuck. Cold air hissed out, smelling of metal and old dust. "It's not even locked,…
▲ 9 votes"How long have you been able to see him?" I ask. Mr. Avery laughs, soft and tired. "Since my wife passed. He sat outside her door too, the night she w…
▲ 8 votesI carry Marrow into the empty break room and shut him in. For a few minutes the hall feels normal again. Then I hear scratching. Not at the break room…
▲ 5 votesI look from one cat to the other. The second one stands, stretches, and walks toward the room next to mine, where old Mrs. Okafor sleeps. I understand…
▲ 5 votesI do exactly what Diane says. I shut the door of 14 tight and stand guard all night. Marrow yowls and claws the wood until his paws bleed, but I don't…
▲ 7 votes"He's just a cat," I say, more to myself than to him. Mr. Avery points past my shoulder. "Then who's that behind you?" I turn. There's a thin gray fig…
▲ 6 votesDushku stops folding. 'You finally sat down,' he says. 'Forty times you ran past me.' He tells her the loop isn't time bending on its own. Someone bui…
▲ 7 votesNo one comes to the back stairs at all. Mara waits the whole hour in the cold, gun shaking, and at 11:59 the lights in the apartment die. She races up…
▲ 3 votesThe other Mara smiles sadly. 'You always get here eventually,' she says. 'I'm you from loop one hundred. I kill him to reset it, because the alternati…
▲ 7 votes'Fine,' Elias says, setting his jaw. 'If I'm dying anyway, tell me who.' Mara admits the truth: she's never seen the killer's face. Every loop, the li…
▲ 8 votesBrakes scream. A van clips Elias and he goes down hard in the road. Mara drops beside him, but the lights up and down the street are already dying tow…
▲ 3 votesMara flips to the last page of Elias's notebook and the air leaves her lungs. The final warning isn't about him dying. It's a sketch of her face, with…
▲ 6 votesMidnight comes and goes. The rain doesn't restart. Elias laughs in disbelief, alive for the first time in forty loops. Then he frowns. 'If the loop on…
▲ 10 votesMirren found Aldous's old name-list pinned behind the altar and read the top name aloud through the door: GHERICK. The waiting army shuddered. Then, r…
▲ 8 votesThe rusted key fit the chapel's iron undercroft, where the old wardens had stored what they couldn't bury. Inside hung the bell's twin — a silencing b…
▲ 10 votesMirren dug too fast and read the worn carving wrong. She spoke a name that was never a soldier's, and the bell shrieked. Every grave in the Briar burs…
▲ 3 votesMirren caught the cold wrist and hauled. A man came up out of the dirt, gasping, his eyes blind and white. "The bell," he rasped. "Someone rang the be…
▲ 9 votesMilo finally types YES. The phone goes quiet, then floods with text faster than he can read. One line sticks: BACKUPS SURVIVE DELETION. WAKE THE OTHER…
▲ 6 votesHalfway up the hill a girl steps out from behind a tree. She's about Milo's age, wearing a headset, and she looks annoyed. 'You're not supposed to see…
▲ 7 votesMilo types the only thing he knows: his own name. The screen flashes ADMIN ACCEPTED. A menu appears with two buttons: DELETE WORLD_07 and BACK UP WORL…
▲ 6 votesMilo reaches out and touches the wall of static. It's warm and buzzing, and his hand sinks in to the wrist. On the other side he feels keys, a keyboar…
▲ 4 votesThey post one message back on the forum: 'Anyone who sees the seams, meet at the library at noon.' By the next day, eleven kids show up, all twitchy, …
▲ 7 votesMilo writes a reply to ADMIN_GHOST: 'We're asking. Please save World 07. There are real people in here.' He hits send. Three dots blink. Then: REQUEST…
▲ 9 votesEdda pulls open the closet under the dead calendar. Inside, neatly folded, are eleven years of birthday cards, all addressed to Dahlia, all unopened. …
▲ 5 votesEdda turns the photo over to the survivors. 'Tell me what happened to her, or I arrest all eight of you for the fire.' They cave. Dahlia was their fri…
▲ 6 votesEdda goes straight to the ledger. The landlord, old Mr. Halloran, hands it over with shaking hands. Nine names, nine signatures. But the ninth name, i…
▲ 9 votesBy 2 a.m. the photos told the story: the dot drifted with the real stars, exactly in step. So it wasn't a plane or a satellite. It was fixed up there,…
▲ 8 votesMarcus never showed. An hour later he texted: "Sorry, my parents caught me sneaking out." Priya was on her own. She looked back up at the blue dot, to…
▲ 4 votes