“Huh…?” Yan Liang opens her eyes. “What’s going on? Wen Chou? Qu Yi?” She looks around, darkness being the only thing In sight. She tries to look down at herself and sees nothing below her. “Where am I?” She tries to feel around, but notices she can’t actually feel anything. It is as if she has no body. “Am I dead?”

  Suddenly a wave of bright light, the sound of a door swinging open, everything quickly forms around her, a white hospital room. The silence ceases as sounds of typing and footsteps on tile flush in with the visuals. From the newly opened door Yan Liang hears the talking of adults. She begins looking around the room. While she still has no visual body, she can freely move and look around in the confines of the provided room.

  She notices a girl sitting up in a hospital bed in the center of the room. “Who is that?” She tries to make out the face, but for some reason the face is brightened to the point Yan Liang can’t make out how the person looks. The girl is on a laptop. Yan Liang approaches the girl, still unable to see her face, but notices what was on the computer screen. She sees what appears to be a quiz being filled out. With the speed of the answers, it seems like whoever the girl is has done her research on the subject.

  “And done.” She hears the girl speak. She stretches in her bed. “I guess that’s everything for this semester.”

  “What is that, online classes?” Yan Liang mutters to herself.

  “Laura, are you doing okay?” a voice asks coming through the doorway. Yan Liang turns to see who it belongs to. A woman walks in. Yan Liang notices a similar shine coming from her face, preventing Yan Liang from making out her features.

  “Lar-a? I’ve never heard a name like that before,” she mutters, before hearing the girl behind her respond.

  “Yea, Mom. I finished another class for the semester.”

  “So independent.” The mother of the girl laughs. “Didn’t the semester just start two weeks ago?”

  “Yeah, but they had all the assignments published already, so I figured I could get it done quick.”

  “Make sure you’re not overworking yourself,” the mother warns. “I really don’t want you getting stressed. I don’t want your health to be affected.”

  “It’s fine, Mom.” the girl says happily. “Besides, getting it done early means I have even less stress.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.”

  The two continue as Yan Liang looks back and forth between the two of them. “They seem happy.” She approaches the girl, trying to make out any features through the light. “But, why is she in the hospital?” She hears footsteps approaching and she turns towards the door. She sees an older woman enter the room. Unlike the mother and the girl, Yan Liang can make out her face. She has a smile on as she holds a clipboard.

  “Excuse me, Ms. Yates,” the woman says to the mother. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but visiting hours are ending in a few minutes.”

  “Oh, right.” the mother sighs. “Get rest, Laura. Don’t stay up all night.”

  The girl laughs. “You know I don’t do that.”

  The mother turns around to leave. “I won’t be able to visit tomorrow. My boss has me scheduled for the whole day. I love you.”

  “Love you too, Mom.”

  Yan Liang smiles, looking at the girl. “They seem to love each other a lot.” She approaches the girl, looking at her in her hospital gown. “But why is she here? This is a hospital, right? She doesn’t sound too worried about being here. Why are they acting like this is so normal?”

  As the mom leaves the room, Yan Liang notices the girl in bed slouch over, appearing to be more upset than she appeared to be in front of her mom. The nurse approaches the bed. “What’s wrong, Laura?” she asks the girl, a knowing look on her face.

  The girl lets out a sigh before looking at her laptop. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

  The nurse shakes her head. “You may be able to be tough for your mom, but you can’t fool me. I’m used to seeing that look on the face of young people.”

  The girl’s head turns to the nurse. “Well,” she starts before letting out another sigh. “I don’t know if I should tell you, but I want to tell someone…”

  The nurse nods before turning around, slowly and quietly shutting the door to the room. “Don’t worry, Sweetie. I’m not loose-lipped. I can keep a secret.”

  The girl turns to her before grabbing her own knees, rocking back and forth. “I-I guess this is a little embarrassing to say, but I wish I could go to a real school.”

  The nurse raises an eyebrow before returning a sweet smile. “Oh, sweetie, that’s it? That shouldn’t be embarrassing at all.”

  “I-It’s just, from shows I’ve seen, I really wish I could talk to people my own age, to hang out, do so much fun together.” The girl turns to look out the window into the dark streets below. “All I know about girls my age… is behind glass.” Her voice begins to shake. “I-I… all I-I know about other kids is what I’ve seen…” she begins audibly whimpering. “M-My only friend… my younger cousin… left me so long ago…” The nurse gives the girl a hug, which the girl reciprocates. “I-I wish… I-I wish I could have just been born n-normal,” she lets out between tears.

  Yan Liang begins to tear up herself. “She seems so sad. She only wants to go to a real school? What about the cousin that left her? Where did she go…?”

  “There, there,” the nurse responds. “Let it all out.”

  The young girl continues to hug the nurse as her crying goes on, letting out all of her tears. The scene continues as minutes pass. The girl finally runs out of tears. The nurse pats her on the back. “Do you feel better?”

  The girl nods before wiping her face with a tissue. “I-I’m so sorry. T-this was so rude of me, letting this all out on you.”

  The nurse smiles a comforting smile. “No, it’s fine. I’m the one who asked.” She looks to the side. “How about I tell you about a secret I have in return? You let out a piece of your heart. I can do the same.”

  The girl turned to the nurse. “You really don’t need to.”

  “Oh, but I want to!” The nurse smiles. “It’s only fair.” She looks around, making a gesture as if to make sure no one else is listening. “I can actually see the future.”

  The girl looks up at the nurse. Her body language suggests she is not believing the comment.

  The nurse grabs a nearby chair causing it to squeak as it slides across the floor, She pulls it behind her and sits down. “I know you may be skeptical, but trust me, I’m being serious. Can I tell you what I see in your future?”

  The girl laughs, thinking it’s just a joke to try to lighten the mood. “Oh! Sure, tell me what you see in my future. This will be fun!” She turns her body around as she crosses her legs, paying close attention to what the nurse is saying.

  “Very well. Let me see your palm.” The girl gives her right hand to the elderly nurse as she begins to examine it. “Hmmm, I see! I see, ah! I see it! I can see you will attend a real school someday.”

  “Oh? What type of school?” The girl laughs.

  “I can tell, you will be at an all-girls’ school, since you are so uncomfortable around boys.”

  “Huh? How do you know that?” the girl asks.

  “I told you. I can see the future.” The old woman winks.

  The girl chuckles to herself. “Well, I guess an all-girls’ school is a way to avoid that problem.”

  “Hmmm, I see you will have a friend there, a friend close enough to be your sister. You will be connected at the hip, despite your differences.”

  “Oh! That would be great! I’d love to have one of those ‘BFF’ type things! I’d love to style her hair!” She turns her headm somewhat embarrassed, “It’d be nice to use all the hours I spent watching hair tutorials.”

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  “I see. I see. While the first friend you meet there won’t want that herself you’ll meet another girl; She will have hair that you can try anything to your heart’s desire!”

  “Oh, that does sound nice!” The girl laughs.

  “Oh, it’s not done. You will wear a uniform of your favorite color, matching the sunshine you love to see so much.”

  “Oh, you’re good.” The girl laughs. “But I guess I’ve mentioned my favorite color is yellow at some point.”

  “Your uniform will be something cute, yet formal. It will be snug enough that you’ll feel like you’re always embraced in a hug!”

  Yan Liang laughs. “This prediction sounds great! I can really relate to this girl! I hope she gets that someday!”

  The nurse smiles. “Ah, I guess that’s all I can see. What you do with that future will be all up to you.” The nurse grins at the girl. “Have faith. Someday, you will have all that and more.” She stands up as she lets go of the girl’s hand.

  The girl laughs. “Thank you. This really… this was really nice to imagine, even if it never happens. Just imagining it makes me happy.”

  The nurse slides the chair back where it was and says, “Don’t worry, it will happen, Laura. I make a promise it will.”

  The young girl looks at the nurse’s name tag. “T-Thank you for listening and helping me cheer up, Mrs… Yu Ji.”

  As Yan Liang hears that name something suddenly feels off. “Yu Ji? I heard that name before, right?” She looks to the woman, noticing her name tag for the first time. However, something is wrong. The woman is smiling at Yan Liang. “Wait, can she… see me?” Yan Liang quickly turns back to the girl, only to notice the face of the girl is no longer blocked by light.

  The girl stares at Yu Ji smiling, her black shoulder length hair upturned near the bottom as her bright blue eyes stare happily.

  “Wait.” Yan Liang gets out as she approaches the girl closer. “T-That’s… That’s me?”

  All at once, everything comes for Yan Liang. A huge surge of pain comes into her mind. She tries to grab at the sides of her head, but her arms or lack thereof do not respond. “W-What’s going on?!” She screams out, but the voice never leaves her mouth. Everything around her shifts to darkness as the hospital room becomes a recent memory. “W-Where is everyone?!”

  The only sound she can hear is a rhythmic thump, matching with a beep of a machine.

  “Laura!” She hears the voice of the mother cry out, but the sound is heavily deafened.

  “Someone, please take the mother out of here!” she hears a man’s voice say.

  “Laura! Please wake up! You have to open your eyes!”

  The continued sound of a thump and a beep keeps getting louder and louder to Yan Liang.

  “H-HELP! I NEED HELP!” She tries to scream as no sounds escape her lips. “Wen Chou!? Qu Yi!? Mr. Lei!?”

  The rhythmic thump shakes Yan Liang’s very core. “Please! “PLEASE!”

  All of a sudden, everything stops. She hears a single long beep, as the thumping finally stops.

  Tears began flowing down Yan Liang’s face as she has a realization of what she just felt. “I… I died…” she mutters. “I-I died…”

  She stares in the void of darkness. In absolute defeat. That was her, right? Laura? Laura Yates? As she begins to think more light shines through as she finds herself watching herself as a little girl running around a yard. “Wait, that’s… also me?” I’m alive? A sudden surge beats into her head, as feelings of comfort and warmth flow in. Memories. She remembers being a child. She remembers the terrifying baseball game that secures her anxiety of boys in elementary school. She remembers receiving an acceptance letter for Falofhan Boarding school. She jumps up, hugging her mom. She remembers the first day coming in, a young twelve-year-old accepted at the start of the fall trimester from her all-girls’ middle school. She remembers coming in for the entrance ceremony. She remembers the exact outfit she wore. She wanted to make a good impression, scared of being responsible for herself. She remembers watching the dumb smile of Wen Chou’s grow when Yan Liang first admitted to playing baseball. She remembers all the moments the two share through the three years they are roommates. Wen Chou laughing so hard chocolate milk spilling out of her nose. The time she tried to style Wen Chou’s hair. Wen Chou being reprimanded for fighting, and Yan Liang pointing out she was only defending herself, saving her from a detention. Even the pudding incident. She feels herself shudder. The pudding incident. Something Wen Chou saved her from getting consequences of.

  Tears begin to flow down Yan Liang’s cheeks, tears of happiness. She remembers. She remembers everything. She is safe here. She has everything she was promised from Yu Ji.

  Yan Liang opens her eyes. She is met with the darkness of her own dorm room ceiling. She stares up at it in silence for a minute. She feels her cheeks are wet from the tears. Slowly she sits up, seeing both her roommates still asleep. She turns to her clock on her nightstand, 3:43 AM. She needs to go for a short walk. Quietly and carefully, she gets up from her bed not wanting to wake her roommates. She grabs her sandals and silently slides them on. Ss she picks up her key, she’s careful not to cause it to jangle, she slowly exits the room, making sure to close the door without making a sound. The hallways are dark, with only a few dim lights providing a little shine other than the moonlight from the windows. It is certainly lights out by now. While she didn’t want to break a rule, she can’t just lay in bed after what she experienced.

  She slowly heads down the hall, using her hands to guide her way to the stairs. Since the elevators are turned off during the night, she begins the long trek down the flights of stairs.

  “It wasn’t just a dream,” she thinks to herself. “Everything was too real, I remember…” She could clearly remember growing up, being bedridden from a serious chronic illness. She could remember her old name, “Laura Yates.” She mumbles it to herself. While it sounded odd and long to her before, it felt right. “Names were like that in my old life, right?” She could also remember her life as a younger Yan Liang. She couldn’t remember being a baby, but her earliest memory of playing with her older cousins is when she was four years of age. They talked about how mean some of the boys were in their school.

  “Is this the afterlife?” Yan Liang thinks to herself as she quietly creeps down the stairs. “But, who are all these people here with me? They seem to remember all these memories after I died more than I did?” The thought causes her to pause. “Am I the only one here because of this?” She looks out the nearby tall window, seeing the moon and its light gazing in. “This is what Yu Ji promised me, right? Is everyone else here like me?” She shakes her head. She needs to get some fresh air. She heads down the steps slowly. As she gets to the ground floor, she sees no light, but a full moon through the windows in the door shows her the way. She slowly creaks it open and walks out.

  The cool nighttime air hits her suddenly. It is welcoming to her. She looks up to see a sky full of stars and a bright shining full moon lighting all the grounds of the campus of Falofhan. It is serene and quiet. Only the sounds of bugs and the occasional sound of an owl can be heard. She slowly walks the concrete path, as her thoughts roam with her.

  “So, I am Laura Yates. But I am also Yan Liang? My initials match up. Laura and Liang, Yates and Yan. I…” She takes a deep breath. “I did die… My mom, she was in the room. The sound… it was deafening… it kept getting louder. I prayed for it to stop… And… I didn’t realize I was praying for it to end…” She tears up but wipes her eyes. “But, Yu Ji… she brought me here, a place where all my wishes came true. I have a friend like a sister, although she’s not exactly the ‘bff’ I imagined.” She thinks to Wen Chou’s stupid smile throughout the three years they shared a room. “She’s still my closest friend. I… I have a friend who I can style their hair… Wait. Qu Yi?”

  She blinks thinking about Qu Yi. “Now that all my memories as Liang aren’t fuzzy… it’s a bit weird. Since I’ve been here, the only time new students came are during an entrance ceremony at the start of a new semester.” She continues on the path, looking at all the stars in the sky. “Qu Yi…” She smiles, “An adorable friend, like a little sister.” She snickers. “She sure is the size of a younger sister. Yu Ji was right. She did send me two good friends, but… I wonder… is everyone here like me?”

  She stops for a moment to feel the light breeze. “Is this, what we all wished for?” She shakes her head. “Ah, there’s so many students here. It’s kind of a worry to think about, but… Why is it that I was the only one who had trouble with my memory…?” She thinks of all the moments when students were confused that she couldn’t remember something, especially something as simple as when she came to Falofhan. “If more people were like me, wouldn’t others struggle to remember some of their basic stuff?”

  Yan Liang’s eyes widen. “W-Wait. Qu Yi… she has struggled since she got here. She didn’t know how to put on an outfit, tie up her hair with a towel, style her hair, even pick out an outfit!” Yan Liang gasps. “Ah! What if Qu Yi is just like me?! But…” She frowns and continues to think. “I could certainly go through the motions, and deal with all that basic stuff... unless,” Yan Liang gasps again. “What if Qu Yi died before she was able to learn that stuff!” Yan Liang’s eyes begin to sparkle, “Maybe she really is like a little sister!” She can’t help but giggle. “That would explain a lot.” Rapidly she stops and then shakes her head. “No, no, no! I can’t just assume that! For all I know, this place could be made just for my dream.” She smiles. “But, such a weird way of doing it.”

  “Huh, you’re the last person I’d expect to be out here.”

  “Ah!” Yan Liang jumps up in fear and shock as she turns to the source of the voice.

  The source of the voice is myself. Lei Bo, ever present narrator and teacher. I approach her. “Hey, Goodie-Two-Shoes. Why are you breaking curfew at this hour?”

  “W-Wha? Mr. Lei?!” She asks, flabbergasted.

  “Yeah, that’s me.” I say, taking a drink from my special water container. “I didn’t think you’d want to throw away that ‘never had a detention thing. Is Wen Chou rubbing off on you?”

  Yan Liang holds her hands up innocently. “Wait, I can explain. I just had a really bad nightmare and needed some fresh air.”

  I nod, sitting next to her on the bench. “I figured you’d have a reasonable reason, but, you know the rules.” I turn to her. “You remember them, right?”

  Yan Liang stares at me wide eyed, finding the way I worded that to be concerning due to her recent memory issues. “Um, yeah. Of course. Do you mind if I ask, what are you doing out here?”

  “My job.” I sigh. “Look, I really don’t want to fill out the forms to give you detention, so if you could just hurry back up to the dorm, I’ll pretend I never saw you.”

  Yan Liang smiles in relief. “O-Oh thank you, Mr. Lei!” She turns around to head back, but suddenly stops, turning back to me with a serious look on her face. “Um, Mr. Lei. Have you… heard the name Yu Ji before?”

  I stop for a brief moment while opening my bottle. Now how did she hear that name? I assume Qu Yi didn’t tell her, as if something like that got out, the fact she was a boy may soon follow. However, that girl does have weird sleeping habits. I have seen her half asleep, and she sure is loose lipped. I take a breath. “Don’t think we have any student by that name in this school.”

  “O-Oh. Okay, thanks anyway.” She turns around, heading back to her dorm at a fast pace.

  I look up to the starry night sky, unable to sleep myself. “Now, what on earth am I supposed to make of the fact that Goodie-Two-Shoes somehow knows the name of the creator of our world?”