Shortly after, the man left and the girl breathed a sigh of relief. His nagging only got worse as time passed, but in her heart, she understood that he was only looking out for her. Beep. She flinched at the sound of her phone and fished it out of the cracks of her old couch. Once the screen illuminated, she glanced over the contents and her face visibly darkened. "Bastard." She flung her phone towards the ground and grit her teeth in pure rage. In an instant, the atmosphere that surrounded her was laced with ice and her lighthearted mood was spoiled. She clenched her fists and warily looked down at her phone. Her head began to throb and her breathing gradually became more shaky. There were only two things that could scare her: the nightmares that plagued her every night and 'that person.' Her pulse sped up and she began to sweat bullets. In an effort to calm down, she ran into her bathroom and took a cold shower. The cold soon washed over her and she was lulled into a deep sleep while sprawled on the couch.
***
"Tana," the girl looked up into a pair of clouded blue eyes. "Tana, wake up." 'But I'm already awake,' she thought while staring into the gentle blue eyes. She continued to stare into the familiar blue eyes and eventually saw that they belonged to a girl who was similar in age to her. Gray hair flowed down the girl's shoulders and she wore a flowy white silk dress; she was shrouded in an aura of innocence and youth. As the sun shone down on her, she looked otherworldly and transparent. Tana felt that if she were to touch this existence that embodied youth and innocence, she would taint it. Surely enough this thought materialized when she looked down at her hands and saw them covered in blood. Her clothes were bloodied and the ground was littered with corpses and the stench was almost unbearable. She began to violently shake and scream until her lungs emptied out all its air and her throat began to bleed. 'I'm not a killer,' she thought over and over again; she crouched down to the floor and held herself in a ball while whimpering and went quiet. The girl with the welcoming blue eyes tapped Tana's shoulder and lifted up her chin. "Calm down," the girl whispered with a smile. Tears slid down Tana's cheeks while the girl patted her head and hummed a lullaby and suddenly the blood and corpses disappeared. All that was left was Tana and the girl with the welcoming blue eyes.
***
The girl abruptly woke up and rubbed her eyes in confusion. 'Who was that girl in my dream?' For as long as she remembered, her nightmares started with sunlight and then the blood and corpses. The corpses had never disappeared and there was never anyone there to sooth her in her dream. 'She was warm like the sun.' At this thought she became aware of her surroundings. Her apartment was eerily dark and the squeaky couch could be heard as she shifted around in her seat. She searched around in the dark to find her phone and suddenly touched an object foreign to her apartment. 'A book?' She had never disliked books, but in an apartment littered with cans of beer and cigarette buds, there was no place for one. She felt a subtle chill down the back of her spine and searched for her phone more hastily than before. Once she felt the familiar silhouette, she grabbed it and turned on the flashlight and searched for the light switch. She flipped the switch and hurriedly scanned the room for intruders but there was no one there. She had nothing in this cramped apartment that anyone would want anyway.
Once she quelled her suspicions, she turned her attention back to the book; its cover was black and it was titled, 'My Evil Dad,' in bold white letters. After contemplating on whether she should scan its contents, she grabbed the book and turned the page. Suddenly, memories of a forest that were unfamiliar to her flowed through her brain. The sudden intake of this new knowledge resulted in a throbbing pain in her temple; her whole body weakened and she collapsed onto the couch, book in hand. She lied on the couch and stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours while her body regained its strength. While lying there, the girl scanned through the book and narrowed her eyes. Her questions seemed endless and the book only helped to generate more.
"My Evil Dad," she muttered while reading through the book. 'What a stupid name.' It was a romance that resulted in a tragedy between a duke's daughter and the first prince in a world with swords and magic. They met through the female protagonist's father who also turned out to be the hidden boss and would kill the first prince after he ascended to the throne. After reading the book, the girl scoffed and scanned it over once more. 'Wait…that's Kritana? Tana?' A side character whose only purpose was to place the main characters even further into the spotlight through her death, Tana. She was the sister of the female protagonist and the sidekick of the first princess, the antagonist of the story. At her death, her sister called out her nickname for the first time, "Tana…" The girl's body tensed up and she came to a sudden realization. 'I was called Tana in my dream.' She frantically searched for the female protagonist's description then dropped the book in shock. "Gray hair and clouded blue eyes…"