[ WP ] On Dec 31st , 2016 , everyone hears the exact same broadcast message in their head : “ Level 2016 failed ; restarting level . ”

`` You can see it coming,'' Roger said, eyes tipped towards the sky. Darkness rustled in the trees and the moon was intersected with power lines, everything tangling up together with the night. `` Australia's gone. Asia's gone. Europe's gone. Just the world turning and turning and turning and slipping off the brink.'' He sloshed the champagne in his glass and took off his 2017 novelty glasses. They looked back up at him, studded in silver glitter. `` There's video of it,'' he said, and held out an empty hand. `` All of the stars go out.'' 
 
 `` What the fuck,'' said Marlene, crouched over on the curb, her stringy hair running down over her shoulders and dipping to nearly touch the ground. `` Why the fuck are you still watching the news?'' 
 
 Somewhere in the distance glass shattered. A siren went up and weakened and died. The music still blared, suffocated, from inside the house. Roger went up to her, watching his shoes scrape across the sidewalk. He wrinkled his nose at the sour scent of vomit. 
 
 `` It was n't real,'' said Marlene, `` and no one in the goddamn media has any idea what they're talking about, so it doubly is n't real.'' She raised her head and her shoulder subtly moved and there was the soft tinkle of her glass shattering on the ground. Roger looked own and saw the shards etched in light, the spreading puddle of liquid. `` Why the fuck torture yourself like that? All those noises in your head.'' She looked out at the sky. `` Silence. Just let it come. Silence.'' 
 
 `` It's not torture,'' Roger said, and lowered himself down next to her, checking the pavement first for dampness. He stretched out his legs. The streets were empty of cars, drunken partygoers stumbling silhouettes in the distance, every light in every building on. `` I mean, it's a good thing, right? A second chance.'' The pavement was grainy against his palm, and he wiped his hand off on his jacket. `` I just like to know what's coming.'' 
 
 `` Jesus Christ,'' Marlene said. `` Jesus Christ, Casey.'' She drew her sleeve across her mouth, smearing it with lipstick and vomit. For a moment her mouth gaped open like a fish gasping for air. `` This whole fucking year. Some stupid game. She killed herself over some stupid game.'' 
 
 `` She's be back,'' Roger said. There was no conviction in his voice. He felt for her hand limply, and she pulled it away. `` She'll get a second chance just like-'' 
 
 `` You think we'll remember?'' said Marlene, urgently, thrusting her face at him. Her eyes were lined in smudged shadow. `` I mean, it does n't make any sense otherwise, does it? If we just go through the whole same fucking charade over and over again -'' Her hands came up to her throat and grasped at something invisible. `` Maybe we've done this before. Maybe we've done this a hundred thousand times before.'' 
 
 `` No,'' said Roger. He set his champagne glass down delicately, and folded the novelty glasses around the stem, and looked back up at Marlene. `` No, no, it would n't make sense that way. We've got to - There's got to be something different.'' 
 
 `` So she'll remember,'' said Marlene, swallowing the thought down like a stone. `` The whole fucking year. Just that constant nervous terror clawing away at the inside of her chest. Just that - that nothing was ever going to be all right ever again. That she-'' Marlene pressed the heel of her palm against her eyes. `` How do you live through that? How does it get so bad that you kill yourself just to not have to deal with it anymore, and then you wake up and that fucking terror's still inside your chest and you're alive again and everyone's alive again and nothing you live through or do from now on will make any fucking difference-'' 
 
 `` Marlene!'' Roger said, and grasped her shaking shoulders, and Marlene stood and staggered, her white ankle twisting, and Roger stumbling to his feet to catch her, and then she righted herself again and shambled off to lean against an electric pole. 
 
 `` None of it was real,'' Marlene said dully. `` Nothing but the constant growing terror of knowing that we'd inevitably and irrevocably fucked everything up.'' She bent over and gagged and a long string of saliva slid out of her mouth onto the sidewalk. `` None of it was real but the failure.'' 
 
 `` We're going to see Casey again,'' Roger said. He made a careful step towards her. `` One more chance. For all of us. Everyone alive again.'' His hand drifted over her shoulder. `` It was n't just terror, was it? There was joy. There was-'' 
 
 `` Do n't,'' Marlene said, and turned to face him. There was a grim smile across her lips. `` Do n't try to make this better. 20-fucking-16.'' She leaned against him and pressed her forehead into his shoulder. `` I could n't help her,'' she said, her voice muffled. `` Casey was in such fucking pain and I could n't do a single thing to help her, and I still do n't know what I could have done, and we're going to start all over again, and I did n't learn a goddamn thing from last time, none of us did, and we're going to start all over again -'' 
 
 `` Sure,'' Roger said, and put his arm around her. They swayed softly together, out of sync with the music, out of sync with everything but each other. `` That's life, is n't it? Maybe we learn something and too often we do n't, and we keep trying the best we can, and every day we wake up and start over.'' He raised his eyes to the sky, and his mouth hung open. `` Oh,'' he said. 
 
 Behind Marlene's back, the world was spinning and turning over, the black void of an empty screen coming up to meet them, the faint sirens and screams in the distance dropping off the edge of a cliff. Roger stood stunned, his heart pounding, seeing what no video had been able to properly capture: a wall, a pit, a seething tidal wave of black, an absence of sight and sound and every other sense, the universe switching off. His hand tightened on Marlene's shoulder, and she grunted and nuzzled into him, almost affectionate. 
 
 `` God,'' Marlene said, as all the stars went out. `` I'm so glad this year's over.''
