I gasped, feeling like the air was being sucked out of me. My heartbeat was beating like crazy and cold sweat fumed over me. I remember being followed and almost getting robbed, but being clawed and almost by a... monster.

Was it... a dream?

 I thought it was a dream. 

Looking around, I was back in my room. Confusion laced over me as I could not remember how I got here.

I tried to gain balance, but my feet clamored and I fell to the floor.

If it was a dream, why are my feet so weak? 

And I feel like I just ran a marathon.

I breathed deeply, the house was eerily quiet. 

Just then, the door opened, cutting my own thoughts.

I could see Bryce, my stepbrother coming in and he sighed in relief, “Thank goodness your awake, Itzy.” He then helped me up, “What are you doing on the floor?”

I cleared my throat, “I was just... trying to stand up.” I said, and I couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know how I got here in my room?”

He nodded, placing me on the edge of my bed and grabbing a glass of water. I chugged it in, feeling like I had not gotten to drink for a week.

“As far as I can remember, you were laying at the doorstep yesterday.” He answered, “I was confused about why you were there, sleeping, I thought you had gone out drinking but I could not smell any alcohol,” he sighed as he clenched his jaw, “Did my mother do something to you again? I swear Itzy-“

“I’m fine…” I said. 

He gnawed his lip, “I’m just worried for you, Itzy. You must have worked hard these past few days that you passed out like that outside the house. Next time, I’ll go home with you.”

“What? No Bryce-“ 

I wanted to complain, but he shushed me, “No buts.”

“The house is eerily quiet. Was your mother gone out? Oh, my aunt!” I jumped to my feet, although it hurts me.

Bryce’s angry expression turned solemn. He held my hand as he averted his eyes to the ground, not meeting my eyes.

“Itzy, I’m afraid to say this but... something happened.”

I sat back down and watched as he bit his lip, taking the courage to say it. The news.

“What? Just tell me, Bryce.”

He swallowed, “Your aunt... she died last night.” 

His words seemed to echo in my ear as I try to process them. “Are you pranking me? Bryce c’mon, we’re old enough-“

He grabbed my head. His soft expression tells me that he is indeed serious.

“I am... telling you the truth.  We just found her when I tried to find you last night and I saw her lying lifeless in her room. I asked mom, but she was not home at that time. We don’t know the reason, Itzy.”

My heart felt like it had been shattered into a million pieces, and my head swung like a bat. I was trembling, I knew it. And my vision was blurry, not sure if it was from this sudden news or from anger.

No. It must not be so.

I have to see it for myself.

I won’t believe anything until I see it completely. 

“I have to see her.” I said to Bryce, “Take me to her.”

Bryce nodded and guided me outside my room. He drove me to the funeral home and asked the staff to let us in.

They let us in and took us to a room where a body was waiting, with clothes covering it.

“We instantly took her here...” Bryce said.

I opened the cloth and saw an almost unrecognizable body. 

But I could recognize her features, her decaying pale skin, and her size.

It is her.

My eyes snapped shut, as I swallowed hard. 

It was my aunt.

It really is her.

I put the cloth back on my aunt’s dead body and turned to Bryce, “Let’s go.” 

He furrowed his eyebrows, “That’s it? You’re not going to “

“I’m fine. Let’s go.” 

He quietly nodded and guided me outside to his car. He drove me back to the house by turning on the engine. 

I went straight to my room and he followed me. 

“Itzy? I apologize. I know it must have shocked you.”

“Leave,” I said to him coldly. 

Bryce tilted his head to the side, “But you need comf-“

“I said leave.” I snapped at him, my voice louder now. “I need my moment. Please, just leave.”

I caught my voice breaking at this point, desperate. 

“If you need anything, call me, I’ll just be outside,” he said. Bryce seemed to get what I meant, and I didn’t have to repeat what I just said. He closed the door behind him, and I stared blankly into space. 

I locked myself in my room.

Why? 

Why did this happen?

To think that I was just taking care of her yesterday. I snapped my eyes shut, letting out tears as I screamed into my pillows. 

I heard Bryce’s calling me for lunch and dinner, but I didn’t leave my room. 

I’m not in the mood to eat. 

Or to move.

Or to do human things.

 I want to just disappear. I don’t even want to continue living. I mean, the only thing left that I’ve been fighting for is gone. What else is my purpose?

I gritted my teeth, my head raging with thoughts, but I had one thing in mind.

It must be his mom. 

Damn her.

I marched to my stepmom angrily and, with gritted teeth, I glared at her, “Did you kill her?”

“Itzayana, I’m sorry about your aunt,” she said, but her tone does not even seem that sincere.  

“Did you kill her?” I repeated. 

“Of course not! Why would you even-“

“Out of everyone here, you’re the one who wanted her out. And now that she’s gone, you’re happy.” My hands seemed to not even hear my mind as they went straight to her neck and I choked her. I gripped it tightly, watching as she begged me to stop, but the sound of her cries just motivated me to continue until big hands grabbed me. 

“Stop it, Itzy! You’re crazy!”

I turned to the sound and scoffed to see my father as he went to my stepmother and comforted her.

“Are you alright, dear?”

“Your daughter is getting out of hand, honey.” 

A father calling his own daughter crazy? Wow. It did not even hurt me anymore.

Any of their words do not have any effect on me at all.

“Taking her side does not affect me at all, and you’re just quietly taking this situation? My aunt just died, dad. Your ex-wife’s sister just died! Don’t you even have any reaction?”

Dad just gulped and sighed, “I’m sad, of course, but we have to move on.”

“Move on? Wow, dad, I can’t believe you!”

Just then, the door opened,  “What’s going on?” and it was Bryce. 

Dad looked at me and said, “Quiet. Itzy, you need to prepare now.”

“What? Where are you taking me now that my aunt died?” My father is really abandoning me.

He said, "Someone will come soon. He’ll take you.” That’s just what he said. 

It took me a few minutes to understand what he said. 

Did he just sell me? “You..sold me?”

Hearing that, Bryce went to Dad and punched him,  “How could you do that to my sister? To your own daughter?”

 “It’s for the best, dear.” said father, but I could not bear to hear his words anymore. 

Just then, the sound of the car engine was outside, and it honked.

Father went outside to open the door and a tall man with a bulked body appeared with striking blue eyes and dark hair. 

He looked somewhere my age yet he was rugged, which made him a bit more mature. 

“Good evening. Is Kira Itzayana Fernandez here?” the man asked. “The master is already waiting for you.”