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Chapter 2 - Act 2

Sofia accepts the request and goes to Lia. When she enters the house she is red and her heart beats fast. Sofia notices that Lia is nervous and sweating, worried she asks her how she is: is she afraid of being alone at home? Lia replies amazed that no, that's not it. It's great to be alone at home because you can do whatever you want without having your parents' eyes on you. Sofia then asks to eat sweets and watch TV until they are free, but Lia reminds her that they are there to work. Still stressed out, Lia feels she is confessing to Sofia and tells her that she has discovered something interesting, but about herself.

She takes her hands and says: "Sofia I have to reveal to you something very important, please pay attention to what I am about to tell you ...".

Sofia then thinks that Lia is about to declare herself, so she blushes.

"Listen Sofia, you are my best friend, I can tell you about it ... You see, something unusual is happening to me and I made you come earlier because I need to confide in me"Intrigued Sofia says:"Sure, don't worry, you can tell me everything, you know."

Lia declares to have supernatural perceptions, tells her about Frufru and also about the nightmare just made.Sofia doesn't believe her, she has heard so many versions of these strange events from her friends. Furthermore, Lia usually jokes a lot to put her at ease. She gives her a bewildered look and tells her she wants to continue working on the newspaper, but Lia insists that what she is telling is important. Then Sofia, irritated, says: "Stop making up absurd stories for the newspaper, come on! What then of all the people, with the" magical powers "was it really you? You're not taking the question seriously ...".

She gets up to leave. Lia is very upset and says that maybe she is right, it is better to stop thinking about the paranormal and that each go back to their own lives. Once home, her mother Eva notices that Sofia is sad and bitter, so she asks what happens.

Sofia cannot resist telling everything: "I had a fight with Lia! I ruined everything ... she wanted to tell me something important but I thought only of me". So Sofia also confides her feelings for Lia and Eva consoles her by saying that she has suspected for some time. After that she cooks her favorite dish to cheer her up. At the end of the dinner, instead of watching the usual program with her mother, Sofia goes back to her room, lies down on the bed, thinks back to the discussion with Lia and sleeps with tears in her eyes. The next morning, at the Lyceum, Lia greets Sofia, who is red with embarrassment and wants to apologize, but their three classmates, Angelo, Michele and Eugenio, stop her talking about a very important video for the newspaper. One of the guys shows on the phone a last-minute video where a single building suddenly collapses. Sofia is frightened, she fears that there really is an inexplicable danger. Lia, on the other hand, is more interested than usual: for her that video shows the truth about the existence of the paranormal and thinks it proves that her powers are true.In that instant the high school trembles, the alarm sounds and everyone runs away from the class in terror.

Before going down the stairs, however, Lia freezes, she can no longer move. Her eyes are wide open, not from the tragedy that is happening around her, but from an infinite mass of visions. Among all of them she clearly sees herself with her chest open, from which a ray of light comes out. Sofia turns, sees her and goes to her. Yells to move, takes courage and starts pulling her by the arm.

"LIA! What are you doing? Why don't you move ... I can't move You."Everything is now collapsing. Angelo, Michele, Eugenio and other guys do not have time to reach the exit that are crushed by the walls that collapse on them. The ceiling collapses on the two:

"... Lia I can't lose you! You are all my courage, without you I am lost!" Sofia screams at the top of her voice with new tears streaming down her face, like the night before, Lia hugs her and whispers: "Don't worry Sofia, your courage will never fade". Under the rubble, between the blood and the screams of several people, Sofia is barely alive. Lia, on the other hand, feels like she has been reborn, nothing has been done, but she cannot bear the vision of her friend in agony, so she decides to blindly trust her premonition and instinct, so she opens her chest with her hands, takes the her heart and sticks it in Sofia's chest, placing it under her friend's heart without leaving scars on both, as if the chest were liquid.Hours go by, the sirens of the firefighters and ambulance are heard muffled in the debris. Voices are getting clearer as the rubble is moved. Rescuers find Sofia holding Lia's lifeless body in her arms. Without tears, without emotion, without expression, Sofia gets up, leaves her friend's inanimate body and is taken to an ambulance.In the hospital various doctors visit her physically and mentally, they notice that she has no wound, but she does not show any signs of speaking or changing expression. Eva arrives in a hurry and talks to the doctors who warn her of a possible trauma but she has no injury, no problem. So she remains under observation for a couple of days. After a week, the funeral of Lia and the other victims of the high school are celebrated. Sofia doesn't want to go there. Her mother checks how she is.

"I'm not sick, I don't feel anything. Don't worry ... There is actually something wrong with me. I can't remember the events of the collapse."

"Quiet it's normal after what happened."

"No! What happened is not normal ... I don't know how to explain it but I can't feel any more. I lost my love for Lia!"

"You have suffered a trauma. What you have lost will return. I have no doubts!" The mother smiles at her and hugs her daughter.In the evening Sofia is in her room and feels a pain in her chest. She feels as if there is a presence in the room with her. Exhausted, she decides not to care too much and goes to sleep. She fears she has gone mad or, worse, fears that those "supernatural forces" that everyone, including Lia, had talked about are true.She has a nightmare concerning a painting, where a flock of crows comes out attacking her. Fright forces her to wake up. She first sits down on the bed, then goes to her desk, turns on the light and, intrigued, retrieves a series of books on the occult and the interpretation of dreams from the shelf; classic books that the mother collects. She discovers that Ravens are mouthpieces of the unconscious and force us to remember repressed experiences.Sofia needs to go to the bathroom to wash her face. She hears noises from the kitchen. Goes out to check. Entering the room feels wet on the ground. She turns on the lights, sees a lot of blood on the floor. She sees her mother's head on the table. Sofia is strangely not shaken. She wonders why, but suddenly notices that her shadow begins to lengthen until it takes on a humanoid shape. This shadow begins to emanate a sound, one of the sharpest Sofia has ever heard. All the windows in the house shatter and the earth trembles. Sofia has time to escape from the collapse of the house. On the street are heard alarms, sirens and neighbors fleeing in terror.Sofia is still confused by what happened but stops to mull over what Lia said about the strange disappearances and her "unnatural powers". She turns and sees the rubble of her house. It is not fiction, nor a dream: What she sees is real. She decides to get as far away as she can from that horror. As she walks, memories come to her mind: among the various memories she discovers that she had Lia's pure heart as a gift at the time of the accident at the Lyceum. The memories become clearer, now Sofia touches her chest and still feels Lia's presence inside her.