“This is worst than the Crowley Hotel.” Tristan muttered as he entered Brighter Tomorrow’s building. Although he couldn’t feel that death had transpired in that building, he could feel the collective energy of death that stuck with the suicide survivors. He could also feel death getting closer and closer to some of them.

“How can I help you?” The receptionist asked when Tristan walked towards it.

“Ummm… I was wondering if you have a job opening…” Tristan said shyly.

“We’re always open for volunteers, though it’s not a full-time job and the pay is admittedly not that high.” The receptionist replied honestly in a friendly tone. “But if you’re interested in a full-time job here, then I would have to ask the HR first. You could leave your name and contact information.”

“Yeah, sure.” Tristan said as he carefully wrote on the form. He felt giddy as he wrote the name ‘Tristan Franco’ on the form. Finally, he wasn’t just Tristan. He felt like he had an identity of his own again. “I’ll wait for your call, then.” Tristan said after filling up the form and then left the reception.

He took his time and looked around the lobby. People come and go but nothing special caught his attention.

“Tristan? What are you doing here?” Justin was surprised when he saw Tristan the moment he walked inside Brighter Live’s lobby. 

“Looking for a job.” Tristan replied.

“Here? Of all places?” Justin questioned him. “You know what kind of place this is right?”

“Yeah, that’s why I went here. I mean, this place fits my skillset so…”

“You can’t work here.” Justin told him firmly.

“Why not?” Tristan complained with a pout. “You’re the one who told me to not give up, and I think I really fit in here.”

“Tristan, death is all over this place. Almost everyone here had a brushed with death. You would sense it every single day, every single minute. I don’t want you to be in that kind of environment all the time. We already talked about being positive, right? Working in this place wouldn’t help at all. It might only make you feel closer to death and it’s darkness.” Justin told him.

“Are you worried about me?” Tristan asked him.

“Of course I am. So, please… find somewhere more positive. You can’t get away from your fascination with death if you keep surrounding yourself with it.” Justin told him.

“Justin, death is everywhere, I can’t run away from it.” Tristan replied.

“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean that you should actively seek out being around it. Find somewhere with a more positive vibe, Tristan. It would be better for you.” Justin said.

“Fine. I’ll do that.” Tristan replied.

Justin made sure that Tristan had left before he went to meet Gordon Cortez. He was walking towards the reception when he got a call from Yvonne. “I’m on my way to talk to Gordon Cortez.”

“You have to go back to the precinct, Justin. The higher-ups just put a stop to our whole investigation. They say there’s no connection between the two cases, no motive, no irregularities, and no suspect.” Yvonne told him.

“Shit!” Justin hissed. They were right though, they had nothing on that case and were operating purely on speculation. “Have Denver checked their emails or social media accounts? What about the schools they attended, country clubs, book clubs, study groups…?”

“There’s nothing connecting the two groups.” Denver said over the phone. “It does seem that both are isolated cases.”

“We can’t just give up on these cases, there’s something more to it, I can feel it.” Justin insisted. He couldn’t deny his instincts. Mixing the sleeping pills in those drinks made no sense to him at all, and the only explanation he could think of was that someone in that group didn’t commit suicide at all. She was killed.

“Justin, right now there’s nothing we could do.” Yvonne said. “Maybe both cases are really suicide.”

“I doubt that…” Justin heard Tristan’s voice. When he turned around, Tristan was just behind him. Justin glared at him but Tristan just shrugged. “Ask them to get all the recent yearbooks of the victims.” Justin only looked at him and then hanged the phone. “Hey, you didn’t ask for the yearbooks.”

“We were told to stop investigating the case.” Justin told Tristan. “Besides, Denver already checked, the victims all went to different schools.”

“Just trust me. I’ll explain later.” Tristan said. 

“Fine, I’ll see what I can do, but you need to explain to me in detail later.” Justin said and then dialed Andre’s number. “Hey, I need your help.” He said.

“Long time no see.” Tristan said as Andrew arrived at the coffee shop they were at. “So, how can he help?” He whispered to Justin.

Andrew was still not used to seeing Tristan. He was still cautious and very afraid. “What is this about?” Andrew asked.

“Can you help Tristan get some yearbooks?” Justin told Andrew.

“Yearbooks? What for?” Andrew replied.

“To help me remember something. Maybe I could see some familiar face on the process.” Tristan said.

“You can’t get a yearbook unless you’re from that batch, but you can borrow one from the respective school library.” Andrew explained.

“Great, then can you help us? There’s a few on the list and we could do it much faster with your help.” Justin said.

“What am I supposed to do, take picture of the whole thing? Do you know how long that would take?” Andrew complained.

“No, just the cover would be enough for now.” Tristan said.

“Just the cover?” Justin asked him.

“Yeah, if I get a nostalgic feeling about it, then I’ll go to the library myself.” Tristan explained to them.

“Alright, fine. I’ll help you.” Andrew said with a smile.

“Really? Thanks!” Tristan replied with a smile.

“You seem to be getting closer to him.” Andrew said as Tristan went to the toilet. “Should I be concerned? He asked his friend.

“Andrew, Tristan has no one else. He couldn’t remember who he was, and even if he does, he couldn’t go back to that life.” Justin told him. “He needs friends.”

“So you’re his friend now?”

“Me and you.”

“Me?” Andrew asked in surprise.

“You share his secret, Andrew. You basically have only two options; either be his friend or be his enemy. Do you really want to be an enemy of someone who can come back to life over and over again? Who knows what else he is capable of?” Justin said with a grin.

“Oh, shit…” Andrew said. “I’m trapped, aren’t I?” He asked with a sigh. “Look, I have no problems with Tristan, all I’m saying is that, we still should be careful. We still don’t  know what really happened to him, how he can come back to life, and who killed him.”

“That’s another thing.” Justin sighed. “I couldn’t find anything on his case. I don’t even know where to begin investigating.” Justin admitted. If it frustrates him that much, then he could just imagine how Tristan was feeling.

“So his own memory is the only key to his case.” Andrew said.

After visiting two school libraries, Justin and Tristan found nothing, and it was the same for Andrew. They were on their way to another school when Justin got an email from Denver. “This is an encrypted email.” It read. “Yvonne and I decided to investigate the suicide case without telling Chief.” Tristan read the email to him as he drove

“What changed your mind?” Tristan typed for Justin.

“Yvonne found out something weird. One of the victims of carbon monoxide poisoning didn’t have any suicidal tendencies. She was only accompanying her friend in the group session for moral support.”

“My suspicion was right.” Justin muttered. “They mixed the sleeping pills on the drink to throw us off. It wasn’t a normal suicide, it’s a murder-suicide.”

“But, would someone really take their friend to their death?” Tristan asked.

“Ask Denver for the names of those two.” Justin told Tristan. “Also ask if Yvonne could meet Gordon Cortez, we should know what he has to say about the cases.”

“Denver said Yvonne is on her way to talk to Gordon.” Tristan read Denver’s reply. “And the names are Vicky and Jaclyn. And…” 

“And what?” Justin asked. “What else did Denver say?” He asked Tristan.

“Denver said they’re just not regular friends.” Tristan said. “He said that based on their social media accounts, they were exes who recently broke up. A few weeks later Jaclyn started attending therapy at New Tomorrow, on her second group session, Vicky was already with her.”

“She must’ve guilt-tripped Vicky into coming with her.” Justin said. “And if their break up wasn’t an amicable one, then Jaclyn would have the motive to drug her and take Vicky to the death with her.”

“This is all messed up.” Tristan said with a disappointed sigh.

“I thought you’re fine with death?” Justin asked him.

“Involving me, yes.” Tristan replied somewhat proudly. “I still think it’s nothing to be afraid of, but you’re right; life shouldn’t be taken lightly.”

“I’m happy to hear you say that.” Justin replied with a smile.

“Well, when you gave me a new identity to start a new life, I started thinking that maybe, just maybe, life isn’t that bad after all.” Tristan said. “Besides, you work late every day just to protect people’s lives, so maybe life is really worth fighting for after all.”

“You’re not changing your outlook in life because of me, are you?” Justin asked with a smirk.

“Don’t feel too smug about it.” Tristan replied.

They were about to reach their third school when Andrew sent Justin a picture. “This is it.” Tristan said as he saw the picture. He couldn’t be mistaken, it was the book in his dream. “Justin, Andrew found it.”

They made a u-turn to meet Andrew and Tristan felt his heart pulsing in anxiousness. He was still a bit confused and was still in a slight state of disbelief that he had an accurate dream about it.

“Are you sure this is it?” Andrew asked when they arrived at the library.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Tristan replied.

“So, would this really help you remember anything?” Andrew asked again.

“I don’t think so.” Tristan replied.

“What? Then what is this all for?” Andrew asked impatiently.

Justin looked at Tristan. “You promised to tell, Tristan. Andrew helped, so he deserves to know too.”

“I had a dream about this book.” Tristan replied. “It was after I passed by the crime scene for the second group suicide case.” He added. “I think it’s a vision of clues regarding the case.”

“That’s impossible.” Andrew scoffed.

“So is coming back from the dead, but here am I.” Tristan replied. 

“He’s got a point, Andrew. There’s no use in denying the impossible now. We’ve already seen one, so might as well keep an open mind on everything.” Justin told him.

“Fine.” Andrew replied with a sigh.

“Anyway, it’s not the first time, I also had a vision when we were at the Crowley Hotel. I thought it was just because the place was creeping me out, but after seeing everything in my dream in Crowley’s dungeon, I started thinking otherwise.”

“Wait, you also get premonitions?” Andrew asked, still in a state of disbelief.

“He can also sense death.” Justin added with a smile. 

Tristan kept on turning the pages until he finally stopped on one page. “That’s her.” He muttered, remembering the picture the figure stabbed in his dream. He was so sure about it.

“Aliyah Kim. You know her?” Justin asked.

“Not really, but I’m pretty sure she’s going to be the next target.” Tristan replied in all seriousness.

“Are you sure?” Justin asked as he turned his head. His eyes met with Tristan as their faces were only centimeters away. He could practically feel Tristan’s breath on his face and it was somehow making him nervous.