***

Claire woke up in her bed. What the...? Her memory was very fuzzy, she couldn’t remember her dream. She checked her watch. 6:27 A.M. Claire then remembered that she was getting late, not for school, but for a meeting set at 7:00 A.M. “Shoot!” She got up and dressed fast. That’s when she noticed something she didn’t remember having. A hat. The same hat from her ‘dream’. Claire approached it, unsure of why it was there. “So, it wasn’t a dream?” she asked herself, almost whispering.

After getting a quick breakfast, Claire decided to let the hat where it was and not bother with it. She got out of her apartment, at 6:39 A.M.

Luckily, she arrived at the place at 6:52 A.M. The place was the school, but she wasn’t here for learning. A man greeted her. “Hello, Miss Evans. You’re early?”

“Hi, Mr. Damien. And huh, not really. Just in a hurry.” She giggled. Her mind was still slightly fuzzy.

“Alright then. You’re coming?” Both walked down the school. It was odd, seeing it empty with no students smoking or screaming the top of their lungs (that happens more than you might think). It was very, very calm. Almost too calm. The night air was still there though. Claire and Mr. Damien entered a classroom and sat down. “So, how are you?”

“Not going to lie, my mind is kind of fuzzy right now. No idea why.”

“Oh.” He noted what she said in a small notebook. “Okay, anything happened recently. Anything that you dislike?”

“Y-Yeah… Apparently, you’ve called my parents.” Claire looked down.

“I didn’t really mean to. I wanted to call your mom, since I know that she is a better person, but your dad picked up and sort of forced me to ‘expose’ you.” The teacher admitted.

“Well, that didn’t lead to good consequences. We fought yesterday; I’ve ran away.” Claire looked up.

“Ah… That’s bad… Have you talked to Freya?”

“Didn’t have time. I will today, though.” Claire turned around and saw something bizarre to the door. She couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Some kind of shadow? Without thinking much, she just turned back to her teacher.

“Are you okay?”

“…Y-Yeah…”

Claire was now walking down a hallway. Her meeting with her teacher, Leon Damien, ended up making her feel slightly better. But her body was starting to hurt a little. She was going to go to the bathroom. The more she walked, the more the sound of her footsteps resonated. And all of the sudden, a different sound popped up. Claire looked behind her and saw a shadow. Now, she was sure that she wasn’t hallucinating… Am I?

The shadow was a lady, all black and white. While she may seem human, she wasn’t. The lady was clearly just a humanoid robot shadow. She was wearing long boots, a vest and an awfully familiar hat. The shadow also had round cheeks, lines on her face that separated it, almost forming face plates, and long realistic hair.

Claire was very confused. “H-Hello…?” she asked, not sure of the response.

The lady waved at her hello.

Claire was even more confused. She decided to just go on to the bathroom. Claire walked again and reached it. That’s when she noticed the shadow was now next to her. Claire jumped a little but didn’t scream. Surprisingly, she admitted to herself that the lady looked… pretty, upon closer inspection.

“Hi.” The shadow now talked. Her voice sounded… friendly.

“…Hello…?” Claire’s face was self-explanatory. What the heck is going on…?

“How are you?”

“Great, I guess?” Claire now had the idea of pretending like everything was normal and that she was talking to an actual person. “Why are you following me?”

“Just seeing if you’re doing great. Not any bad or dangerous or weird stuff.” The lady explained.

“Okay…” Claire didn’t sound convinced. She looked at herself in the mirror and almost passed out. She was pale. Her eyes were tired. And the shadow wasn’t there. “What the…”

“Is something wrong Claire?”

Claire jumped when the shadow said her actual name. “H-Huh, nothing. I-I’m going to go now… Can you, huh, not follow me, please?”

“But Claire, I can’t leave you at risk like that.”

“Look, thank you for caring about me but, I don’t want to have a weird lady that I don’t know popping up in my life and stalking me, okay?” Her voice sounded sharp but weak. What is wrong with me?

“But…”

Leon knocked the door. “Are you okay, Claire? Who’re you talking to?”

“Oh… Huh well…”

“Don’t worry, sir.” The lady said. No response…

“I-I’m in a phone call.” Claire came up as an excuse.

“Oh okay. Just, don’t yell, please.” This time, he responded.

“Sorry.” Claire waited for him to get out. When he did so, she looked at the lady. “He didn’t hear you...?”

“Yeah. You’re the only one who can talk to me for now. Consider me your personal guide or assistance.” The lady smiled.

“This is so weird… Am I drunk?”

“No, but you look pale.”

“Yeah, that’s a concern for later.” Claire suddenly felt a slight pain in her head. “Ouch!”

“Claire?” The lady was now concerned.

“I’m fine… Just tired… I’m getting back home.”

“Okay… Don’t forget to speak to Freya.”

“I won’t…” Wait, how do you know about her?

“Okay. Oh, you can call me Amy, by the way.”

“Sure thing… I don’t really have a choice, anyway, do I?”

The truth was that, Freya wasn’t there anymore. It has been more than a month since she was gone. Claire just didn’t want to bring more concern. She remembers that day, when she tried to talk to her friend. No response came from the entire day… And the days that followed… And now the weeks. Claire truly misses having someone to talk to, someone that cared about her… Until she realized something. That’s what Amy’s doing… No, she’s just a hallucination, nothing else… I hope.

“You look worse.” Amy said, now standing next to Claire’s desk.

“What the…?!” She jumped and actually screamed. Minmin got up to Claire’s knees.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you like that, are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine-” Then, she started coughing violently all of the sudden. Claire punched her chest uncontrollably. Finally, Amy helped her, and Claire stopped coughing.

“You’re… Not fine.”

“I-I’m just sick. I’m going to bed.” Her voice sounded slightly weaker. Claire approached her bed. She removed her clothes to put on her pajamas, not bothering with a shower.

“Huh… You could have done that… Somewhere else...?” Amy remarqued, feeling awkward.

“What?” Then she realized. “Oh, shoot! You mean being naked?” she actually had a small giggle.

“Yeah.” Amy smiled.

“It’s fine.” Claire put on her pajamas and laid down on her bed.

“That’s an adorable little kitten.” Amy said, approaching Minmin. The cat didn’t seem to care about the lady.

“Yeah… He’s the only thing that makes me a tad bit happier.” She explained.

“Oh, it’s a male?”

“Yep.”

“You gave a rather feminine name for a male cat.”

“I just thought it was cute.” Claire made a very subtle giggle. Amy seemed to be a nice lady, despite the sudden apparition, her appearance and the fact that only Claire could see and interact with her. “So… Are you just going to stay here?”

“Pretty much.” Amy responded.

“Like, not do anything, just standing here.”

“Well I can’t do much.”

“I mean, I have books if you want to read. Or you can make a drawing. It’s just weird to have someone just standing here, looking at me the entire night.” Claire said.

“Oh yeah. I guess that makes sense. I think I’ll read something.”

“Alright. Goodnight.” Claire finally started sleeping.

2:34 A.M. I can’t sleep. Claire thought. Despite her attempts, she just couldn’t. Claire looked around. Amy was sitting in a chair. She seems to be reading a book. Claire decided to call her. “Hey, Amy…?”

“Yes?” Amy said.

“You help me, right? That’s why you’re here?”

“For the most part, yes.”

“Can you do anything to make me sleep?”

“Huh… Tell you a story?”

“Nah, that won’t work. It never did to me.”

“Your request is a rather hard one… Let me think of something.” Amy responded. A few minutes passes. “Okay, I think I know.”

“So?”

“Just close your eyes. I’ll do a little something that will make you sleep.”

“Huh, okay, but what is this ‘something’?”

“I can’t really say… So, just, trust me on that one.” Amy approached the bed. “Just close your eyes.”

Claire closed them.