《Quiet days… despite all the suffering I've endured… I will not give up on her… I will take revenge… just as she did for me… She didn't leave me behind… as I left her… made her alone… behind me… I want to go back to save her… just to say her name… She remembered me… despite the passage of time… but it was only 3 months… and as if time between us… is different… I think… I may have been wrong… that world is not a haven… it’s a prison… that imprisons your imagination… to absorb it… as if it’s a superpower… inside our small minds… I started to remember some things… after we were adopted… I am now a puppet of that damned one… and yet… I must obey him… to save her… as long as he has the way to enter this world… I must exploit it… I learned that… I saw what Zero saw… she is the one who showed me all of that… when she protected me… maybe… I can survive… despite all this hope… there is still a feeling of despair inside me… groaning, screaming, despair, frustration, tyranny, and illusions… around me… something is dancing in front of me, calling me to madness… will I really… see my future… my destiny… my fate… Eve… I miss you… I am… just a being… doing what it is ordered to do… I am a victim of my nightmares… Saturday… it is the day of Nashud… for that damned one to exploit me… 》

  Words that penetrate the heart of a girl with a distant dream, gradually regaining what she left in oblivion, to save the dearest people to her shattered heart, with a past from which tears flow from every direction, Alice… are you here?

  ******

  Alice was returning after work, with her two friends, and they were feeling tired and exhausted, talking along the way.

  "It was a difficult day… playing handball with Group C is hard… Mei." One of her friends said.

  "(Sighs and complains)...I'm not good at sports like you two… 'I feel sorry for those sensors…'" Alice said sadly.

  "Lia… if you had just passed me the ball, I would have scored." Mei said.

  "Mei… if I had passed you the ball… I would have severely injured one of us." Alice said spontaneously.

  "Entering the children's gym every Wednesday doesn't mean I'm that dangerous."

  "You hit me in the foot with the ball two days ago… to the point of making it purple." Alice said worriedly.

  *****

  "Umm… by the way… I'm having a sleepover at home… I invited some people… it will be a fun night… there are games… series, and snacks… I hope you both come." Mei.

  "That's great." Lia.

  "When should we come?" Alice said very enthusiastically.

  "Tomorrow… Saturday." At that moment, Alice froze in her place, the joy and enthusiasm fading from her heart, saying as she felt worry creeping into her: "Ah… Mei… I won't be able to come."

  At that moment, Mei and Lia were surprised and inquired.

  "Why, Alice…?" Mei said disappointedly and worriedly.

  "It will be a great party… don't you like series? You watch them more than anyone…" Lia said in surprise.

  "Actually… every weekend… I have to go… to…"

  "Ummm… I understand."

  "Unfortunately… don't worry… I'll bring you snacks." Mei.

  "Mei… no need for that… I… have to hurry to the station… see you both on Monday." Alice said as she returned the newspaper, hurrying towards the station, bidding farewell to her friends, with confusion apparent on their faces.

  *****

  Zero got off the bus in front of the house, looking around, looking at the city with a look of pity and sadness, then hurried towards the door, took the key from her jacket pocket, opened the door, to find infinite silence, no one at home.

  "They are at work." Alice said despairingly.

  ******

  Alice opened the refrigerator door, finding a plastic container, took it and closed the door, then sat on the chair, opening the container, finding a piece of apple pie, a plate wrapped in aluminum foil, and opened it to find vegetable soup, it was very warm, she didn't even need to heat it up.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  She smiled gently, holding the spoon in her trembling hand, swallowing her warm food with difficulty.

  "I'm really scared… even though I'm safe… Zero… tomorrow is Saturday… I must finish my food… even if my appetite for food has disappeared… and also… I must finish all my school homework… damn it… I won't be able to watch TV… there was something strange… I'll ask him later… about that news." Alice said sadly while eating her food.

  "After finishing these last two… I will be able… to look at Zero's books… hahaha… this is too much… I'm not used to all this… I feel pressured… but… if I stick to that old mentality… everything will end… I must help my friend… even if it means… sacrificing as she did… hah… and with all this… I notice something strange about myself… I used to love playing and watching TV… and staying with my friends more than my current situation… when I entered the nightmare world… something changed in myself… I feel the change inside me… this confuses me."

  Even if a person is young, they will feel a big difference, life is hard, everything changes little by little, nothing stays the same, fear of change filled Alice's heart with worry and chills, uttering words she doesn't usually hear, different voices wrapping around her ears, while she is drowning in the vortex of her bloody fears, to suddenly take over the feeling of loneliness over her shattered self, leaving behind destruction.

  Alice raised her head, immediately heading towards her room, leaving that food to cool in that stifling atmosphere.

  She sat on the chair, taking out all her notebooks, holding that black pen.

  "I must hurry… tomorrow will be the promised day."

  ********

  The darkness is deep, and the winds are blowing, their faint whistling, and the creaking of the door as it opens, sends a deep impression into my soul.

  Making Maria and Bell feel an eternal loneliness, Maria closed the door.

  "I didn't expect the principal to invite us for dinner." Maria.

  "Hmm… the atmosphere is kind of strange." Bell.

  Maria looked at the table, finding Alice's dinner cold.

  "Hmm… she didn't eat her food." Maria and Bell were puzzled.

  "What happened to her?" Bell.

  *****

  Maria glanced into Alice's room, finding her asleep at her desk, and the desk lamp was on.

  "Is she…?" Bell said worriedly.

  "She's been exhausted lately." Maria said as she entered the room.

  *******

  Maria covered Alice, then left the room, smiling.

  "Everything alright? Maria." Bell.

  "She seems excited for tomorrow… I hope… she won't have nightmares." Maria said as she closed the door.

  ******

  A strange feeling grips my soul as it groans and cries, trying to escape its inevitable fate, leaving behind destruction and shards of bleak memories, trying to drown in the well of oblivion, and yet, it will catch me sooner or later, this is what is happening to me… Saturday, a day like any other day of the week. But, but in my opinion, just… a nightmare.

  I try to forget this, again and again, but the pangs of conscience bring back those distorted memories.

  *****

  The time has come, those clean clothes that make me feel warm, and showering, makes me feel refreshed, and eating a normal breakfast that is difficult to swallow, and riding a taxi with my parents to take me to my destiny.

  Alice got into the taxi, her heart pounding strongly from fear.

  'I am… really nervous… I don't know what will happen… yesterday… I had a strange dream… in which I see my rotten self… looking at me from the mirror… to pull me towards her… with those sticky black tentacles… my hands… are trembling… no… control yourself… smile… don't worry… focus… this is hard.'

  "Alice… are you alright?" Maria said worriedly.

  "I'm fine… Mom… I'm just… nervous…" Alice said falteringly and confusedly.

  "Do you mean… what happened a week ago." At that moment, Alice felt chills and fear, replying: "Not exactly… I know I got a little carried away… but… but… that's not what's confusing me…".

  "Don't worry, my little one… resist and be brave… don't be afraid of those nightmares… as long as they are-."

  "Don't be afraid, Alice… you will be alright… as long as we are by your side… nothing bad will happen." Bell interrupted Maria.

  "Umm… yes… '… that's not what scares me… what scares me… is that I will fail… after that incident… I still feel something… calling me… I don't know… everything has changed… for me… I feel a strange feeling… a feeling I hate… a feeling that resembles fear… and tension… and also… I started to feel… something… trying to control me… much… more… makes me… remember… and see… what Pain… Zero… used to see… I am like you… I started to forget myself… something… is trying to pull me… to be like Pain… my disfigured rotten half… is calling me'…".

  Something is making me feel depressed, a strange self invades my weak body, a feeling takes over my fragile limbs, and a feeling of fear presses on my chest, and pain haunts me wherever I am, I started to feel, Zero's feeling, more than before, that rot started to lurk in me, more than before, it's a call for me, to return, and face that fate, and strive towards my dreams, and face my disfigured nightmares, Pain… Zero… Eve… I will return.