The day passed in an unusually mundane way, for once. Aaron and I sat on the edge of an overpass, watching cars pass beneath us. In the back of my mind, I registered that I had memorized the pattern of every vehicle approaching: red sedan, white minivan, blue pickup. We sat in silence, crinkled taco wrappers discarded beside us, as my brain turned things over for the trillionth time, looking for an answer that worked.

Aaron broke the silence first. "I promised no arguments, and I'm sticking to that, but I want to ask you something." He waited for me to give permission, which he rarely did; it felt nice to be surprised by something. So I nodded, wondering what would come next. "Is there... is there any way I can make all this easier on you?"

I blinked in surprise. "What? Are you fucking... you could just stop this. Just end the fucking loop. Was that a serious question?" I could feel my anger building, and the taco wrappers began to vibrate. "You've kept me locked away in a day, pushing me to become a one-man war crime, and now you're asking how to make that easier on me?"

Aaron didn't seem scared of me, even when I got like this. Either of us dying just reset the loop, so he'd come to terms with the pain associated with that a long time ago. If anything, he just seemed sad, and tired. "I know... I know you don't believe me, when I say that I'm doing this for the right reasons. But I hate this as much as you do. I just also believe it's necessary, for you to leave all this behind." He gestured weakly at everything around us, cars passing in the dark. "I know that you think I'm torturing you, and I fucking hate it. I don't want it to always be like this."

It took a few minutes of me staring violently at him, but my anger began to subside. The wrappers (and the overpass itself) stopped shaking, and I could feel the tension in my shoulders drop. We sat in silence as I turned his words around in my head... and felt something click into place.

"...move the loop forward."

Aaron looked over at me, confused. "What? What do you mean?"

"Move the time loop forward. Twenty four hours, same as it's always been, but start it right now. With you and me, sitting here on this bridge. Not waking up in my normal bed, expecting to walk into my normal life. Let me start it here, with you. I won't... I won't change immediately. You know that, I know that. But it'll be a start. And god knows that we both could use some freshness in our lives."

Aaron quietly considered my request. "I guess it doesn't matter what day we repeat. And... I guess I like the idea of starting the day side by side. Phone calls in the morning don't have the same vibe."

"Plus, if I blow up your head again, I'd have to clean myself off. Definitely a deterrent." I grinned. Somewhere along the line, my humour had become much darker.

But Aaron laughed with me. "I doubt that would stop you, but I respect the sentiment. Okay, done." And without hesitation, I felt the telltale ripple of the 'checkpoint' being reset.

I didn't give him even a moment. A second later, I had flung both of us high into the sky, holding us far above and out of sight. The cars were insects scurrying below as we dangled in midair. Aaron screamed, flailing to grab onto anything and finding nothing.

Floating myself closer, but just out of reach, I spoke calmly. "Now that we're starting side by side, let me tell you what every day will be from now on. Every day, I will pull us up and out of sight. And then, I will harm you in new and inventive ways for every waking minute, but without actually killing you. And then the day will reset, and I will start again. And again. And again."

Fear covered Aaron's face, but I felt nothing. He'd smothered that out of me years ago. "You wanted to teach me to cross the lines of human morality? Congratulations, you did it. So now let's see how long it takes until you turn around and start trying to teach me 'mercy'."

A muffled crack signalled that the pressure I was exerting on him had cracked a rib already; I would have to squeeze slower tomorrow. I grabbed Aaron's face, ignoring his obvious signs of pain.

"And when you've finally decided you've had enough, and you want the suffering to end... I strongly suggest you give up at the start of a loop. Because you're going to be in very, very bad shape by the end of the day."

An end was in sight now, finally. This couldn't last forever, Aaron couldn't last forever. I still had to cut away my own heart to make it happen, but I could live with this if I had to.

And if I'm being honest... knowing I'd never have to hear the Indiana Jones theme again would give me the strength to persevere.