The footsteps of the person, who had been standing outside the room for a while, faded away as they walked down the hallway. Seraina listened and didn’t move until she was sure they were gone.

Earlier, Seraina had been searching the room for any clues about this novel world’s plot. And it just so happened that as she tried to open the bedroom door, she found it was locked. At the same time, she felt the presence of another person outside the room. It wasn’t certain how long they had been outside before Seraina knew they were there. Had they been waiting a long time, listening in on her? Was this a regular occurrence? It gave her the chills a bit.

Forgetting that for now, Seraina went back to looking for whatever information she could find: a diary would be helpful, but there had been no signs of one so far. The bookshelves were filled with novels that told of romance and adventure. This only revealed to Seraina that the original character was a woman who wanted to escape her reality, giving Seraina an idea of the life she had been living there. Although the locked door was also an indicator of how bad it had been for her.

Surveying the room once more, Seraina took in the plain, white walls, the large bay window that gave the original character a sense of freedom that the bedroom door did not, and the simple furniture. All that was in there was a bed, a desk, bookshelves and a clock that showed the passing of time; it was surely something that would be oppressive and make the body’s original owner even more anxious. At least there was an ensuite bathroom, so at least that wasn’t a worry.

Going back over to the bookshelf by the door, Seraina studied the books and tried to see if there were any she had missed before. Looking up, she noticed a box that she hadn’t seen the first time around. Standing on tip-toes, she reached up and took the box down; luckily, the OC’s body was a little above average height, making it easier for her.

She knelt on the carpet and placed the cardboard box in front of her. It looked old, ripped, and a little crumpled in places like it had been placed on top of the shelf and forgotten about. Seraina thought of the original character and felt even more sorry for her. What was in these boxes that were so bad that she couldn’t bear to look at them? From what Seraina could see, when she opened the box, was that the only things in there were some photo albums and a few little trinkets.

First, she took out the items and placed them off to the side, and then took out one album. It was small and a generic colour. There didn’t seem to be anything special about it, and as she flipped through the pages, she could see that they were starting to turn yellow in some places.

The pictures were mostly solo shots, and only some were with other people. Seraina assumed they were her family, and she hoped they weren’t the ones who had pretty much imprisoned her - that would be sad, but not something that was impossible.

Her hand faltered when she got to one page and shock flittered through her eyes. In the photos placed there, she saw two faces she thought she would never see again.

Tears came up unbidden, and she fought to stop them from falling.

One boy was tall and had short, mousy-brown hair and kind eyes that held a gentleness that comforted everyone around him. And the other was a little shorter, with average looks that were unassuming at first, but it was his warm aura that made people gravitate towards him.

In her original world, before she was tasked with helping the novel worlds, the two boys had been her best friends. All three of them had been inseparable since they were practically babies. They had been through all the life stages together: school, college, when they each got into their first relationships, etc.

The brunette, Callen, had been sickly since he was young and couldn’t do as much as the other two could, but that didn’t stop them from enjoying their time together.

And later on, it didn’t come as a surprise when he passed away at a young age, from how ill he had been for most of his life. After that, Seraina and Asher spent time together to try to get through it, but their grief got in the way, and soon life did, too. It was only a matter of time before their friendship became nothing more than a few texts now and then.

Eventually, they stopped talking altogether, and the friendship between the three of them lost all meaning. And seeing their faces now, in a world so different from their own, was something she had never expected to happen, and an unknown amount of questions started to bombard her. It was just a shame that the System wasn’t here to answer them for her.

Hours passed just like that, and Seraina still couldn’t bring herself to put down the album. Memories flooded her mind, and she was finding it hard to extricate herself from them, and the opening of the door was just barely heard. It wasn’t until the person was in front of her that she noticed someone had come into the room.

Slowly raising her head, Seraina fell backwards, and the album slipped from her hand. The man hesitated as he made to move forward and help her up, but he stopped himself and stood up straight again, and turned his face to the side.

The album now lay haphazardly on the ground, its pages still open on the set of photos that Seraina had been looking at moments before. There was a group of three: two boys and one girl. All of them beamed happily at the camera, and it seemed like they had no care in the world. And the girl, who was now all grown up, was sitting shocked on the ground, and above her was the average-looking boy - now an adult - who shouldn't be in this novel world. 

“Asher...” Seraina found her voice once more and couldn’t stop herself from saying his name.