Mar is wandering the streets after dark carefully hiding in the shadows. A 5-year-old child is standing out like a sore thumb no matter what time of day. Claire, his guardian for one day and last friend, died earlier peaceful in her sleep with his help. It was only a matter of time. No matter how hard she tried the cancer in her brain was relentlessly eating her live and her memories away. Yet she refused to be healed.

"What are you going to do now ?", the disembodied mechanical voice asks from a broken TV sitting on the side walk.

"I don't know", Mar confessed.

When he learned that his parents were dead he knew that time is running out for him too. They were coming for him. Unable to find any other options, they put their plan into action. This was the first time that Mar aided someone to die. Claire had all her affairs already in order. It was still early morning. Silently, Mar helped her to wrap up the last few remaining belongings and ship some worthwhile items to her friends and relatives. Then they dropped the rest off at a local charity. She withdrew the last of her money for Mar. Hand in hand they slowly returned home. The older woman and the little child. They were not in a hurry. The sun was already touching the horizon and coloured the sky in a dark red when they finally arrived in Claire's flat.

"Are you scared to die ?", Mar asked as he got the backpack ready they just purchased for him.

"Everyone dies. Only very few know how much time we have left, but all of us … eventually ...", she couldn't finish the sentence.

"I died many times now. Though I never counted them but I know there have been many versions of me before now".

"Have there been any versions of me ?", Claire asks.

"I don't know. I can only see my past. But I wouldn't be surprised."

Claire sat down on the bed in the now empty room, shaking a bit. He put on his coat, picked up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

Despite the short period of their acquaintance, Claire was helping him in his grief for his parents and moving forward with his new life. She was also the last person that Baldr will ever meet, the last bridge to the only life he had known in his current life time. Mar did not let it show but he felt deep sorrow, pain and despair. Claire swung her legs onto the bed leaning against the head board. Mar did not let it show but he felt deep sorrow, pain and despair. Claire swung her legs onto the bed leaning against the head board.

"Do not be afraid. Death is not the end or the goal of life.".

He leans over Claire who welcomes him in her arms. He responds in kind and they hug tightly. Claire cries silently. He can feel fear shaking her body. To ease her anxiety he floods her mind with the joyful feeling just after a heartfelt laughter and she relaxed.

Then a few heartbeats later he sends her into a deep sleep and then stops all electrical activity of her brain. It was surprisingly easy and completely painless to Claire. Lifeless her hands drop off his back but he still held on to her body.

He gave up the fake smile he was showing for Claire.

He cries.

For the longest time he couldn't let go of her. It was the right thing to do but it felt so horribly wrong. He is fighting the urge to bring her back. Time and again, he recites the reasons why Claire wanted to, no even must die.

Out of habit he already found her body in the past and was ready to overwrite reality. Like a alcoholic holding a glass of whiskey or a smoker holding the next cigarette with the lighter on, he was ready to ignite the life of Claire once again. But he knew she wouldn't want that.

It was only after the sun completely set behind the horizon and the room was dark that he gently laid her down in bed.

He stood up and left the room.

He left the front door ajar and walked out of this life.

# # #

After an hour of walking aimlessly around an industrial area at the shore of Lake Tol he finds a quiet corner at the back of a warehouse and hunkers down for the night.

Solemnly he eats some of the food he brought from Claire's house.

Using some bricks he found nearby he made a little fire using his gift. He can protect himself from the cold without any aid and doesn't need the extra heat. Yet because of some strange basic instinct, a fire's warmth somehow made this corner feel a bit homely and eases the feeling of loneliness.

"I didn't know bricks can burn. ", the mechanical voice asks from the springs of an old mattress.

"They just store heat and help me splitting the water in the air into hydrogen and oxygen to make the flame. I fixed it so that the gas flow is combining in the bricks cracks to act like a flute for the flame. So, you are right bricks don't burn but I can make it look like that using my little trick."

"I see, low carbon footprint, ey?", the mechanical voice says jokingly. The it continues with a somber question. "Are you okay?",

"Do you think my parents exist somewhere right now ?"

"I have no knowledge about that. I am a freak consciousness of your past and present. I never met any ghosts. Sorry..."

Mar nods slowly thinking.

"I wish to see them again. We only had a short while together but I enjoyed our time… ", he sighs as he lies down. "Please, stick around whilst I am sleeping and wake me if someone is coming."

"You should have started erasing memory aggressively of those stupid apes that are after you. Then your parents might be alive still.", the voice complains.

"Maybe you are right. Creating some elaborated hoax and some false memories might do the trick on the surface. However, I was never able to fully read my handlers thoughts. And when I fiddled with his reality it kept on changing back. I am somehow scared to touch this man's mind."

He curls up on the floor after making a thin air cushion around himself. He makes and adds a mild sedative in his blood stream to help calm his mind a little bit. The protection from the cold floor worked very well but the frictionless cushion is somewhat unpractical for resting. Because air cushions have very little friction his body keeps slithering everywhere as soon as he moved in his sleep. Although perfectly warm and cosy he wakes up several times after bumping into something as he turns in his uneasy slumber.

Swearing under his breath he eventually gives up sleeping and with the first faint light in the sky he moves on. Routinely he checks for Claire's body which had been resting in the bed. Unexpectedly early he detects that her corps is on the move. Maybe he shouldn't have left the door ajar to buy himself more time.

"It looks like they found your hideout, Mar", the mechanical voice commented.

"They sure did.".

However, they will have difficulty to find him now that the last link is gone. As he left Claire's flat Mar transformed his appearance and clothes. He really left his old life behind and became a new person. This wasn't some half job of dying hair and wearing a hat or sunglasses. This was a change down to his DNA. His late mother browsing the old photo album with him one day showed him a picture of a young boy, good looking and full of energy and confidence. It looked like the older aged original Mar.

"This is your father aged 7, Mar", she said at the time.

"Wow.. when I am older I want to look just like him", Mar thought with admiration.

Smiling at this memory he walks down a randomly chosen street he stops at a shop window. As he looks at his reflection he twitches the corner of his mouth. The person staring back is now almost the opposite of the person he admired.

With a sigh he felt the sting of betrayal to his parents and he realised how much he had already given up for his anonymity. And he wonders how much more this luxury will cost him in the future. Is he even worth this sacrifice. His reflection shows just an average boring person with no redeemable features except some sad eyes.

Gloomy he walks on towards a nearby park area. It was a bright Sunday morning and he figured that it won't be in use at this time. He finds a well used playground there and uses the old swing for a bit of escapism. Just for a few minutes to perk up his low mood and to just enjoy normality before blending into the background again. The swing is a bit wet from the morning dew and he dries it by swiping his hand over it before hopping on. Back and forth, he gains some height with the swing. The tuck of gravity and acceleration swirling and tickling his tummy made him giggled a bit as he goes higher and higher.

"Someone is coming", the mechanical voice warns.

Mar immediately snaps back to his gloomy self, jumps of the swing and swiftly walks towards the exit. A family of three enters the playground and they pass each other at the entrance to the play area. He takes a quick peak into their minds in case they are a threat or here to capture him. The adults certainly do not know him nor is there any maliciousness towards him. But once he probes the little girl's mind he briefly stops in his tracks.

It is a cute young girl with long blond hair that has a happy laugh on her face. Mesmerised by this face, he inadvertently apologises under his breath as he probes her mind. It somehow feels as if he is tainting it somehow in doing so. Yet he cannot stop himself. Her mind sky was vast and her thoughts could be described as a deep warm blue ocean. It is the feeling of open water together with the sense of freedom one can get lost in. He smells the fresh ocean breeze and can almost hear the seagulls. Mar stares at that little girl in passing. She seems to be ignoring him and as soon as the swings catch her eyes she starts dragging her father energetically with her. Just then, for a brief moment, the girl stops and glances at him over her shoulder. Mar still feeling guilty of having pried into the girls mind quickly shakes off the gentle feelings and retreats to some secluded spot overlooking the play area.

"Who was that?", he asks.

"Mel Moro", the mechanical voice responds. "She is the daughter of a restaurant owner, one of the best restaurants in Tol. She lives near the town centre".

"Does she have neighbours?"

"Yes, an old school teacher on the one side and a childless young couple on the other".

"Okay, lets make friends with the young couple".

Mar's mood is improving slightly as in his mind a plan for his future is developing.

# # #