Chloe stood in front of him, her hands shaking slightly, her eyes pleading.
"I'm begging you, David. Please. I don't know who else to turn to."
David shifted his weight, his gaze not quite meeting hers. The voices, the images, the perspectives—they never stopped. But he didn't need to see Chloe's face to know what she was feeling. Fear. Desperation. The kind of emotion that clawed at him, gnawed at his insides. But he didn't care. Or at least, he tried not to.
He gritted his teeth and took a step back.
"I told you to leave me alone."
"I can't." Her voice broke. "I can't. I don't know who else can help."
David's frustration hit a boiling point. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, trying to push away the mental weight of all the countless perspectives crowding his mind. Just one moment of silence. He was about to walk away, but then something stopped him.
He turned slowly. "Why don't you just say it then?"
Chloe swallowed hard, gathering what little courage she had left. She took a deep breath, her eyes locking with his, raw determination flickering in them. "My sister. She's been kidnapped."
David said nothing, but something inside him tightened. His gaze flickered from Chloe to the space around them, sensing the subtle weight of her words, the intensity behind them.
"I don't know by who, but the group holding her—they're dangerous, David. I don't know how to find her."
David glanced away, but Chloe wasn't finished. She had to make him understand.
"You see, I… I have a power too. I don't know exactly how it works, but it's... it's connected to the things people do. I can't see the future or anything like that, but I can see everything a person has done in the last twelve hours. It just… it just plays in my head when I look at someone."
David felt a cold prickling run down his spine. She could see everything?
"I saw you this morning, David," she continued, a bit more urgently now. "When I saw you in class, all of your movements, everything you did in the past twelve hours— it played out in my head. The alley. The woman. The fight with the man." She hesitated, but her voice dropped, heavy with unspoken truth. "I saw the mask. I saw how you knew what was going to happen before it did."
David's stomach clenched. He hadn't expected her to know about last night. But it was too late now. The truth was already in the open.
Chloe took a step closer, her voice trembling. "I need your help to find my sister. I think they're holding her somewhere on the outskirts of the city, but I don't know exactly where. But I do know one thing: their leader is... different. He's not like the others. I think he has powers like yours, David. And I need you to help me before it's too late."
The weight of her words hit him like a tidal wave. He felt it—he felt it—that sickening knot in his gut that told him this wasn't some casual request. Chloe wasn't just some girl asking for help. She was desperate. And he could see it in every layer of her, even in the way her voice faltered, her posture tensed, every tiny shift in her body language.
David swallowed hard. The decision loomed over him, dark and heavy.
"I can't," he muttered, turning away from her. "I don't... I can't."
"Please!" Chloe's voice cracked, and she grabbed his arm, pulling him back towards her. "You're the only one who can. You don't have to like me. You don't have to care about what's going on with me, but I need you to help me save her. You—" Her voice dropped to a whisper, her grip loosening just a little. "You saved someone last night. Please… you can do this."
David closed his eyes, taking a long breath. He could feel it—the pressure mounting inside his skull, the flood of possibilities crashing through his mind. All the perspectives. Every single one. It was too much. She wasn't supposed to get in.
Chloe's voice was soft when she spoke again. "You can think about it. But don't wait too long. She's running out of time."
David's heart raced, but his expression remained cold. He shook off her hand, walking past her slowly.
"I'll think about it," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "But I'm not making any promises."
He walked away, and as he moved through the streets, Chloe's desperate gaze followed him. But he didn't turn back. He couldn't. He couldn't allow himself to care.
As he walked away, the sound of her voice stayed with him, echoing in his mind:
"You saved someone last night."
David's jaw clenched.
He hadn't saved anyone.
He just saw everything before it happened. He couldn't save anyone.
And that was the worst part of it all.