She lay on her soft bed, her eyes closed, thinking back over every little moment of the past.
She rolled onto her side, her eyes staring blankly at her Cloth Doll.
She simply could not sleep.
She gave the thread around her little finger a gentle tug.
Her mind kept returning to that night ten years ago, to the promise he had made her.
[Maybe I wasn't part of your life before, but I'll be there every day from now on.]
[Even when I get married?]
[Even when you're old.]
She closed her eyes with hope in her heart.
Suddenly.
She opened her eyes and felt the cold and its menace closing in from every direction. Trembling and bewildered, she looked around as endless darkness enveloped her. There was no sunlight, no fireplace, not even a single figure, as though she were submerged at the bottom of a sea where daylight never reached.
It seemed she had not grown up, either. Her body bore whip marks, and she still clutched that tattered Cloth Doll, covered in scorch marks.
In fear, she screamed for her Older Brother.
She felt terrified and helpless, as though her mind had suddenly filled with countless memories that did not belong to her. She saw a raging fire, saw a body being cut open, saw the unfeeling puppet on that stage, saw the entire building plummeting with her from the pitch-black sky with a thunderous roar.
At that moment.
She clutched her head and let out a piercing scream in the darkness.
Darkness.
Pain.
Numbness.
It was as real as something happening right beside you, so real it threatened to replace your entire life.
Until, at that moment, a figure appeared in the distance and came to her side, gathering her trembling body into his