Waking up with a throbbing pain in her head, she moaned that it hurt.

  But the moment she sat up, she knew this wasn’t a dream anymore. This wasn’t another false awakening. This might be her reality this time.

  She was still in the same patient gown she had worn for the past two days. Without giving it much thought, she stepped outside. As she crossed the building’s entrance, her heart throbbed sharply.

  Was it relief, or was it grief pretending to be relief?

  She began wandering, trying to understand where she was. A few stares brushed past her, but no one lingered long enough to care. Then a familiar voice reached her.

  “Hey, you came back?”

  Is he oblivious, or just an idiot?

  “Oh. Hey, Lucas.”

  He tilted his head. “Where’s your scarf?”

  “It tore. Or something. I don’t know.”

  “Whoa… sure.”

  Even the chatterbox fell silent. An awkward air settled between them.

  “So,” he said carefully, “are you going to attend class?”

  Aki scoffed. “Rather than that, I feel like I’m about to become their next experiment. I don’t even have a phone.”

  “Then why don’t you ask the teachers?”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “As if I’d go to those perverts on my own accord.”

  “You need to,” he said. “If you want to stay in this school.”

  “School?” Aki laughed bitterly. “That’s what they told you this place is? And you believed them? What an idiot. This is a place for mentally sick people.”

  She looked straight at him. “I knew it the first time I saw you—you really are an idiot.”

  Silence.

  His eyes twitched.

  “What did you just say?”

  He started mumbling under his breath. “I’m not sick. I’m not sick.” The words spiraled, repeating, breaking apart. “You’re just like them. How dare you? I even helped you so be on my side.”

  His hands closed around her throat.

  “Be on my side,” he repeated. “Be on my side.”

  Everything happened too fast. Too sudden. All Aki could think was. Why?

  She tried to breathe, but all that came out was coughing, again and again, harder every second. Her chest burned.

  “How dare you,” he shouted. “Leave my side.”

  Her coughing worsened. Her heart raced, her eyes burned, her body started shaking violently. Saliva spilled from her mouth as she struggled to gasp for air.

  “Why aren’t you on my side?” he yelled.

  Then he let go.

  Without even looking back at her, he walked away, still mumbling something.

  Aki lay there, coughing, shaking. She was scared. She had seen violence before, but this was new. Back then, patients were restrained, stopped, contained. But here? No one came. No alarms. No help.

  Just her.

  She understood it then. She wouldn’t be protected.

  Rather than sinking into the pain, she made a quiet mental note. Even as she coughed, she smirked faintly in Lucas’s direction.

  “So this is the start,” she whispered. “What’s waiting for me next?”

  She stayed there until her breathing steadied. Whether she was resting or thinking, she wasn’t sure. When she looked around, she was surrounded by nature, green trees and grass.

  She closed her eyes.

  Isn’t it nice? So quiet. It’s pleasant.

  She wanted to lie there a little longer—but eventually, she stood and returned to the building given to her. Her new home.

  She went straight to the library.

  But all it gave her was trouble. Everything's broken, the floor, the shelves.

  “Can’t they repair anything here?” she muttered. “Do they really want my will to die that badly?”

  Still, she searched through the books. And then she saw it. The illustrations are disturbingly similar to the monster she had encountered before.

  “Am I still dreaming?” she whispered, gasping.

  No. She had been through enough reality checks.

  “Even if this is fake,” she told herself, patting her head softly, “I need to hold myself together. For now, this is my only reality.”

  So I need to take care of myself.

  After calming her breathing, she began reading again.

  Only later did she realize she hadn’t eaten in days. Yet she didn’t feel hungry. She could walk normally. This wasn’t new she’d gone days without food before. But what unsettled her was something else.

  Her emotions were… fine.

  Too fine.

  “Are they drugging me?”

  She needed information. But could she trust these books? Could she trust anything here?

  “I need to see this world myself,” she decided. “I need to experience it and find a way out.”

  She couldn’t live in this haunted place forever.

  With that thought, she headed toward the people she despised the most, the ones she had avoided since waking.

  The perverts.

  It was finally time to face her new reality.