She looked outside her window to pray for her father and grandfather. She was reluctant to take her eyes away from the peaceful night outside the glass, but she knew it wouldn't last much longer after the sun rose.

Her mother, who had been heading to bed after finishing cleaning the kitchen with her mother-in-law, spotted Miyana clutching her hands to her chest. She realized she was praying once again. She settled in bed discreetly over to Miya, who was resting on the wooden pink star headboard. She remained silent, she simply embraced her daughter. Both kept staring at the yellow moon; its light was the only thing that illuminated the room at the moment, before a patrol car passed by their street.

Miyana turned her head to meet her mother's hands as she tried to avoid the patrol car's headlights. While Miyana was covering her eyes from the light, she could feel the rough texture of her mother's skin on her forehead. Taking her mother's hands away from her head, she moved them with the passing car lights to get a better view of them. She tenderly stroked them, remembering the days when they were softer.

Remembering the days before all of this. On the days, she counted the moment it was time to go camping in the mountains with her father, mother, and grandparents. She fondly remembers the days when she would joyously sneak past her mother during her impetuous self-planned volunteering hours, merely to go play with her friends near the creek or movie theaters.

Remembering how, at the beginning of all of this, she would whine about having stomachaches simply to stay home from school, even though there was nothing wrong with her. The entire school grew depressed; no one wanted to play, and everyone stayed to themselves. Everyone's favorite teacher mysteriously disappeared from school after receiving a visit from a 'Death Messenger' along with a letter. No one has seen her since then, and, likewise, no one has gone to check on her. The older students at the school spoke of her living her final moments alone, but the teachers sent the younger students away to speak to the teens.

Miya pressed her mother's hands to the side of her face and softly hummed. She then calmly closed her eyes. “It’s all gone, isn’t it?” She noticed that her mother's hands reacted with surprise to the sudden words she heard.  “Our happiness in the place where we grew up.” The reality hit her mother when she felt her mother's embrace tighten around her, but she didn't want to admit it. Miyana went to sleep, comforting her mother, who held her tears the entire night. They both prayed to the moon that night, hoping that everything would soon go back to normal and to see the men missing from their homes.

Everyone living inside the city was astonished when a month passed by quickly. After everyone was told that they would be working longer hours night and day, Miyana's mother started to come home late, sometimes even until morning. She has been held up in her room whenever she comes home because of that. Not wanting to bathe or do anything else. Miya and her grandmother would pay attention to her health and diet when she was awake.

At times, she just wanted to stay in bed because her legs and feet were hurting from the amount of time she spent standing while working. Because of this, Miyana would cook the food that she and her grandmother grew in the garden. Meanwhile, Miya would bring her mother her lunch to the bedroom, where she was resting. Her grandmother was often busy outside the house.

While she ate, Miya would snuggle up to her mother and pull out days worth of unopened letters that were sent from her father and grandfather. Miya would not open any of the letters if her mother wasn’t here to read them with her. That was a new happy memory the three were able to make when given the chance. Even though it was meant to be a happy memory, every letter that they opened would bring tears to her mother and grandmother's faces. Despite the fact that each letter received a positive answer.

Miyana sometimes struggled to start crying, unless given an extreme shock or fright of some sort. Her relatives, who grieved beside Miya, understood she missed them just as much as they did. However, because Miyana was unaware of the implicit cipher which had usually been included in the letters, she would be unable to read what was actually written and told about the problems occurring outside the guarded gates.

That evening, the house was quiet, and Miyana wondered where the other two had gone after finishing their meals. Walking around her house, she stepped outside the front door and started wandering around the front yard, but was stopped by the patrol unit and instructed to go back inside. As a result of the city's new curfew schedule, police officers were deployed for night patrols. Miyana explained that she was looking for her family, though she couldn't find them. One of the guards instructed the youngest to accompany Miyana while she probed the entire house.

While they waited for her supervisor, the patrol officer requested if they might sit on the front porch with a cool drink. “It's a wonderful evening, isn't it?” The lady asked, as she offered Miya a relatively small sugary beverage from her pockets. “Please keep this confidential. I am aware of how tight the food portions are at the moment, particularly for sugary treats.” The lady winked a Miyana and just talked lightly and honestly, without a harsh tone, but her face was distraught, her eyes and cheeks becoming a reddish tinge. “Would you like to cry? Did the Death Messenger drop you a visit?” Miyana murmured, her young mind filled with God only knows.

As if she had heard something amusing, she laughed at the question that was given to her. She didn't answer Miyana; she simply petted her head and asked her to finish the drink before her boss returned. And that’s exactly what she did. For forty-five minutes, the two girls sat and conversed on the front porch. Not knowing how long it has been. Both of them were reminiscing about the days earlier.

When Miyana was the ringleader of the toddler invasion. That made the lady laugh so hard that she squirted her drink from her nose. “The unexpected plot twist!” She let out a pained chuckle. The patrol officer went on to explain that she and her supervisor were supposed to be on patrol that day, but ended up at the hospital due to an unexpected illness they both caught that same day. Due to being forced to go to the hospital, they both got into trouble, but let off lightly.

The lady and her supervisor were always fascinated and wished to talk to Miyana one day about her improvised one-day plan of invasion, to convince a few dozen children to tag along with her plan. They both burst out laughing just before they overheard tapping on the wooden swinging seat they were sitting on.

Miyana looked around and noticed her mother and grandmother have puffy features, particularly around their eyes. “What happe-” The patrol officer immediately understood the situation, as she vaulted from her seat when she saw her boss carrying three hangman's nooses, which had been cut down from wherever the two women were found. Miyana was seemingly oblivious of the situation. She was unaware of the ropes that the supervisor was withholding from her. Miyana was directed inside to take a shower.