"No! No! No! no no no no no no no no," "What the actual—UGH," Axto adding on, and on and on.

  "Okay, so sit down and think," he says as he sits down on the bed, staring down at the gun and dagger.

  "Ah, screw it!" He grabs the ons and reaches towards the first drawer on his bedside table, stops in his tracks, thinks about it and then he reaches for the sed drawer, and pulls it out, shoves them in, and sms the drawer shut.

  "That's going to be a problem for future Axton Abanish, the future 'Double AA'! Right now, I am starving.", he says out loud in frustration."ht, there's a food court nearby. I'll just get something to eat there. Ah lord, I'll probably run into someohere; that'll be annoying.", he thinks to himself.

  Axton then ged into something fortable: his baggy blue jeans, some sneakers, and of course his trusty 'SleepHedge' t-shirt, a hard rock ba introduced to by his dad a few years back.

  He grabbed a random bck hoodie and headed off with his wallet and his phohen decided to just walk to 'Cheffie's Court' si's close by. On the way there, he scrolled on his phone, going through his social media, just scrolling, looking at pages showing positions fs he could join since he was getting low on cash again. He'd rather think about something that would actually help him go about his life and not take it.

  As he scrolls through the media, he thinks of... Joining 'Presence' again, a band he and his friends made a while ago; he left the band two months ago because-

  "Ow! Hey, watch where you're—," said the girl he ran into."I am so sorry, I should look where I'm walking, and not run int—" the girl standing in front of him was wearing a bck hunting cap which was folded upwards, a bck jacket with a red tee underh, and regur bck jeans. An outfit he was very familiar with, too familiar with…

  She was one of his ex-bandmates and... best friends."Oh... Nasri..." muttered Axton, an immediate rush of guilt flooded his bones.Nasri just hugged him.

  "Dude, Ax, you practically went radio silent for two months—and no, sending random pictures of cats you find oreets in the group chat does not t as being in tact," Nasri said in a ed but somewhat annoyed manner.

  Ax was about to interrupt, but he stood corrected. "Hey... I was about to g—""Get some food? Good, you've gotten skinny. e, my treat," Nasri interrupted. "Alright, I guess.".

  10 minutes had passed; Nasri just ordered some chi ramen, and Ax ordered the same, and now they are waiting for their food to be served. They were sitting at a window seat.Usually, ing here means ing to the food court with friends and hanging out, either at Cheffie's Court or the Multimart underh, which starts at the ground floor and leads up to the 2nd.

  The st few times they had been here at the same time, it was with other friends and bandmates; it was their usual get-together spot sierally everyone knows where this is.

  But... this time the air was awkward; st time they talked, Nasri was screaming at Ax for leaving, and if you were there, it would sound like she was the one who kicked him out.

  "Listen, I—," said Nasri."I'm so—," said Ax, both simultaneously.

  "You go first," said Nasri.

  "Ah, right, okay, look, I just wao say that I'm sorry for leaving you guys like that; I shouldn't have cut you guys off, let aloually leave like that," expined Ax, timidly, feeling ashamed and small, especially in front of her.

  "About that, Ax, why didn't,-okay look, I have been waiting to meet you in real life, but I kept chiing out, but—" paused Nasri, as she took a deep breath.

  "Ae why you basically went AWOL for a while," added Nasri, showing even more .Ax's eyes widened in realization

  Ace was another member of the band who had known him the lo and was also one of his best friends ever sihe day they met on the first day of school.

  "Axton, why didn't you tell me that two months ago... it was your parent's third death anniversary?" asked Nasri in a geill so ed voice.

  "It's... plicated, and it's not—""It's not fair? Not fair on us for you to open up and burden us with your mental health," Nasri had basically gagged him; this was why he kept avoiding her; nothis past her.

  "I'm not going to push you, but just know that I won't push you away either; none of us will. Take your time, but just be ho with us, or just attempt it for once," Nasri was stern with him.

  Their versation was interrupted briefly by a waiter, serving their ramen, who then proceeded to scurry off.

  " your ramen before it gets cold," ended Nasri, because she could see that Ax was getting visibly stressed."Right! Sorry" excimed Ax.

  Nasri sighed deeply."On a less serious note... got any gigs pnned?" asked Nasri."Not really; I was actually looking for one as I bumped heads with you, literally," replied Ax.

  That joke made Nasri ugh a little bit, but she tinued,"Our rhythm guitarist who took the gig kinda just bailed on us, dude. We need one by week, or we'll have to py that part of the tra the speaker. We kinda need you, but no pressure. Just text me on 'Redbook' if you want to join us, just fig at least. It's your favorite trad album.", she added, as if to entice him into sidering going back to the band.

  "Alright, good to know," replied Ax, who kept a mental note.

  They both caught up with the small things and fiheir food together."Oh, and before I fet, Hamz wao pass this on to you.".

  Ax was fused, but Nasri handed him a... red guitar pick, 0.98 mm of thiess, with his stage name printed onto it, 'Double AA.'.

  "Held on to this for a whole month, but yeah, it's yours now. It was supposed to be a New Year's gift to us. I have ohat just says 'N without the 'N.'".

  Ax ughed a little bit, it was an inside joke the band was familiar with.Nasri softly smiled.

  "Yeah, it's about time I go at least, you... just take care, man, be safe." Nasri just said her goodbyes, and Ax did too, but Ax kept thinking he owes her for the rame-

  "You don't owe me jack, by the way!" she yelled as she left.Ax just... sighed deeply. It was a lot to process, especially because of the day before. As Ax walked bae... he thought about his uuation hard and deep, he is low on cash again, his only source of ine were his gigs and his band, which he burhrough the past two months.Not to mentioupid door he was sucked into and almost died ihought about the ren fair pce he ended up in, there were mentions of golden s, those might be worth some cash, but his curiosity was getting the best of him.

  He checked his wallet and he was low.

  He'll think about going to the other world or not and risk it ter, aill has some time to decide on the gig, so he'll think about that ter.

  …

  Hours have gone by, and Ax is just lying on his bed, pting; it's 7 pm.He got up, wore his bck cargos, bck jacket, and bck boots, and pulled out the sed drawer and shoved the two ons down his cargo pockets and the 5 broas into his hoodie pocket, and he walked out and headed for the ke, where the door first appeared

  It was eerily quiet, just like st time but… the door was o be seen..

  "Now... where are you... I really want to go back to the marke—" A blue door appeared in front of him and hit him smack dab in the middle of his face.

  "Ah! I swear this thing has a will of its own." Puhe door; the door vanishes, reappears wheurns around, a) hits him again."I am losing a fight against a stupid door; I will shoot this thing, or so help me."

  He thehe door and carefully walks in this time.

  Entered: Nexus