Total darkness surrounded me. It was as if I didn't even exist.
As I sank deeper and deeper, I remembered who I was, and memories slowly flooded back into my mind.
"Senna!" I shouted loudly, but I couldn't find her anywhere, and no answer came.
I reached the very bottom of the darkness. I stopped, and then I saw Senna in front of me, staring into nothingness. Her face was tense, as if she were worried about something.
"Senna, is that you?" I asked, moving toward her. "Where are we?"
As soon as she heard my voice, the tension vanished from her face. She looked at me.
"This is my ability. I placed our physical bodies inside my own mind, saving us from the impact of the fall."
I looked around at the void.
"I didn't think such an ability existed. It seems incredibly powerful."
"Maybe you're right," she said, a bitter laugh escaping her lips.
I could see something was weighing on her. Finally, she spoke.
"This… please, don't tell anyone."
"Why? Don't the others know?" I asked, surprised.
Senna nodded, then took a deep breath.
"I don't like using this ability because it comes with a heavy price…" She didn't know what to do with her hands or where to look, but finally, she turned to me. "The space we are in is nothing but my subconscious. And every time I end up here, I have to relive the memories I've deeply suppressed."
Senna's face grew more and more strained. She knew it could start at any moment.
Suddenly, a door appeared behind us in the void.
A faint click was heard, then the door opened on its own—and in a single heartbeat, the darkness dissolved. A blinding, warm light flooded the space.
Before I could say anything, two little girls ran right through me.
They didn't push me. I didn't feel their touch. They simply… passed through me.
Both were laughing as they ran forward, holding hands, with carefree smiles on their faces, as if nothing else in the world existed but them.
I turned to follow them. They ran into a kitchen.
It was a simple room filled with warm light; the sun was shining through the window, and the scent of fresh food hung in the air.
A woman stood by the stove.
When she saw the two little girls, she smiled. A sincere, tired, yet infinitely gentle smile.
"Running again, are we?" she asked softly, with love.
The two little girls ran to her, laughing, and hugged her.
I stood motionless in the doorway.
And then I noticed… Senna had frozen beside me.
Her fingers clenched into fists, her breath hitched, as if the air had suddenly become too heavy to breathe.
"Mother…" she whispered, barely audible.
Her voice wasn't trembling. It was worse than that… it was empty and fragile.
"Is everything okay, Senna?" I asked worriedly, knowing this was a painful memory for her.
Senna slowly looked at me; I saw her slowly falling to pieces.
"That woman… is my mother. And the one next to her… is my sister." She stared at the floor, her eyes quivering.
I stepped closer and placed my hand on her shoulder.
"So they are your family. Where is your father?" The words came out of my mouth without thinking.
Senna froze. That was when I knew I had made a mistake.
"My father is a mon—" Before she could finish, the light around us completely vanished.
A single heartbeat of darkness followed… and in the next moment, I saw the childhood Senna walking home on an empty street.
The sky was overcast, the air heavy and oppressive. The entire street was deserted; little Senna walked alone. She clutched her bag to her chest, stepping slowly toward home.
She didn't smile. She didn't speak. She just walked.
Beside me, the present-day Senna suddenly spoke sharply, as if she were afraid of what I was about to see.
"Here… this is where everything changed." Her voice was tight with tension.
As she neared their house, little Senna suddenly stopped. Her hand tightened on her bag. Her face went pale.
A bad feeling swept through her—an instinctive, pure fear that cannot be explained.
In the next moment, she began to run. Faster and faster. Her breath became gasping, her shoes clattered loudly on the stone.
"Mother, Elza, I'll be home soon," little Senna whispered softly.
The door of the house suddenly appeared before her. Little Senna practically burst through the door. Then she stopped instantly.
The interior of the house was completely trashed.
Overturned chairs. Broken dishes. Dark stains on the wall.
In the middle of the kitchen stood a man. His back was turned. Something was dripping from his hand.
On the floor… Senna's mother and sister lay. They were nearly unconscious.
It was clear the man had tied them up and tortured them.
Little Senna dropped her bag. She didn't scream. She didn't move. She just stood in the doorway.
Her eyes were wide, her body trembling, as if every thought had frozen inside her at once.
She didn't understand. She didn't want to understand.
The present-day Senna spoke beside me, barely audible.
"I completely froze… I couldn't even cry."
Little Senna's mouth trembled. Not a single sound came out. She just stared at the bodies on the floor.
The man slowly turned, walked over to Senna, and knelt before her.
"We've been waiting for you. We were so bored, I had to have a little fun with them." The blood of one of them remained on the man's face.
The man saw that every fiber of little Senna's body was shaking.
"Come now, don't be afraid. What kind of child trembles at the sight of her own father?"
I immediately looked at Senna, who didn't even dare to look at the man.
"Yes… that man is my so-called father…"
"I don't want to believe this…" The sight and the knowledge that her own father had done this was too surreal.
Senna took a deep breath and looked at me, her eyes broken.
"He is a monster… he was no longer human by then. I found out later, but my mother was always paying him off just to leave us alone." Senna's voice suddenly cracked, fighting back tears. "I just… wanted a new bag. That's why we had no money left."
I didn't know what to say. I had always been preoccupied with my own suffering. I didn't know how I was supposed to empathize with Senna.
All I could manage to say was:
"I'm sorry." I knew it wasn't enough, that I should do more, but all my life, I had only ever imitated others.
"Hey, girl! Which one are you, anyway?" the man asked.
Little Senna couldn't even speak; she just stood there motionless.
Then the man punched the wall, just missing Senna's face.
"You know what, I don't give a damn who you are. Bring me the money your mother owes me, or they're going to die."
Little Senna began to cry from fear.
"Crying isn't going to solve anything," the man said, then slapped Senna.
"Enough! I told you we don't have the money. I'll pay double next month, just please leave us alone." Senna's mother intervened.
The man turned away from Senna and started toward the mother. Tears were falling continuously from Senna's face.
"You know that's not enough!" He kicked the mother in the stomach. "I need the money now!" In his rage, the man repeatedly kicked Senna's mother.
"Stop!" little Senna spoke up with all her strength. Her body was constantly shaking, her face red from the slap.
"You little brat, get over here right now!" The man's eyes were ablaze.
Little Senna slowly walked over. The man pulled out a pistol.
"Don't go there!" screamed the present-day Senna. Every fiber of my being told me something terrible was about to happen.
"Hold this gun!" The man shoved the weapon into Senna's hand, then grabbed her sister and threw her next to the mother.
"Don't even think about shooting me!" The man pulled out another gun and aimed it at Senna.
Little Senna stared at the weapon in her hand, terrified.
"I'll be kind and give you a choice."
Everyone in the room looked at the man in surprise. "You can choose who you kill. Your sister or your mother."
The man spread his arms. "Isn't that a wonderful opportunity?" It was like seeing a monster standing before me.
Little Senna was so frightened she dropped the gun. Her hands were shaking so much she couldn't pick it up.
"Senna, my love, please choose me!" her mother spoke up.
Senna's eyes trembled, as did every inch of her.
"Mother… I don't want to do this…" The sight of little Senna broke my heart.
"You have to do it… for yourself and for Elza." Her mother's gaze was full of fear, but for some reason, she began to calm down, like someone who had accepted her fate.
Senna aimed the gun at her mother; she couldn't hold it steady, her hand was shaking so violently.
Her mother took it upon herself and pressed her head against the gun.
"Don't be afraid, my little one. I will always be with you."
Senna closed her eyes, then the gun went off. Her mother's body slumped back, lifeless.
Senna collapsed to the floor, the gun still smoking in her hand, her eyes staring glassily into nothingness.
"You did it…" the man whispered, beginning a slow, mocking applause. "Good girl."
Senna looked up at her sister, trembling, waiting for the man to let her go as he had promised. But the man didn't move. Instead, he slowly turned his gun toward her sister.
"Wait!" Senna shrieked. "You said… you said I could choose! I did it! Leave her!"
The man smiled. It wasn't the smile of a human, but the smile of a monster.
"Oh, darling… You got to choose who you killed. But I never, not once, promised the other one would stay alive."
Then another thunderous bang filled the room.
Senna's throat tightened; she didn't cry, she didn't move, she only felt a gaping emptiness in her chest. Everyone she loved lay before her in their own blood, and she knelt there in front of them.
The man now aimed the gun at Senna and fired. Senna closed her eyes, accepting her fate.
"Do you think this is fair?" an unknown voice spoke to Senna.
"What the hell!" the man blurted out in surprise.
Senna slowly opened her eyes. Just inches away was the bullet heading for her face, but an almost invisible shield had stopped it.
The bullet fell to the ground.
"What did you do, you brat?" the man asked.
The unknown voice spoke to Senna again.
"This man took your happiness. Don't you want revenge?"
"Who are you?" Senna asked, frightened.
"I am you. I have always been inside you, and I will help you take your revenge and get back your happiness," the unknown voice replied.
Senna's trembling and fear slowly began to fade.
"How could you help?" Senna asked.
"Accept me!" the unknown voice answered.
"I accept you!" she replied without thinking.
In that instant, Senna's body was covered in blue-white glowing runes that pulsed across her entire frame. The runes glowed for seconds as if burning into her skin, then suddenly faded and vanished beneath the surface.
Senna's pain slowly ceased, and then she looked at the man. Her gaze was cold and determined.
She raised her hand, and the material of the vibrating shield around her suddenly thickened, forming into a sharp, glowing spear in her grip within a single heartbeat.
The mockery in the man's eyes was replaced by mortal terror, but it was too late. With all her rage, Senna hurled the weapon; it pierced the man's chest without resistance, pinning his lifeless body to the wall.