They were walking on the street, free from the houses, only nature with a hint of human touch.

“How come everyone is so happy around here? I might start smiling just to not look like a foreigner”

Said Kenny looking around at different people from around them, confused as he was, turning his head towards ninety degrees and even turning his body to see them better.

“That’s the humane thing to do. For example look at you; you have two arms, two legs, two eyes, two ears; how can you not be grateful and think that there is a purpose for which you have been granted with such a blessing. It’s just the way it is, you might learn it here, since you’re such a grumpy ahh looking guy”

“Do I look grumpy? I’m not grumpy, okay? It’s just my eyes are just getting reflection from the sun, which is reflected in my overall looks because of how my face muscle tissue is going down–... oh forget it, you win this one”

Sighted Kenny, using hand gestures and movement in use for the context of his words.

“I think I know what might fix this grumpiness and stone-face of yours. Let me call her”

Kenny reached for his phone from inside his shorts left pocket.

“Wait, who are you calling?”

Asked Kenny, confused, looking into Stephan’s phone gallery, in which he had a list of contacts that he talked with; three of them, right at the bottom, were from “Therapy NW”, four from other names that he didn’t recognize, one from a “Kina”, and the last one, which was “Terre (My Only), who he thought she was his wife.

Calling her, holding the phone to his ear for around five seconds, he quickly placed the phone down, in a “texting” position, holding it with both of his hands. In his expression, it could be seen as a slight disappointment and upsetness.

“She isn’t picking up. Something might have happened, let’s go check it out”

“W-wait, right now?”

“Someone doesn’t feel good, you schedule your visit or do you check with them the next second?”

“The second option…?”

“That’s right, now let’s go”

They were heading back, towards the inside corners of the village.

Arriving, they waited near a bigger house, with two stories. Stephan took some peebles and threw them at the second story's window, right in front of their black colored iron gate.

Small clings came from the peebles hitting her lighted-up window, falling down on her backyard, but she wasn’t interested in opening her window.

Stephan took his phone out of his pocket again and called her father, who came outside with a joyful smile towards Stephan, like he was a best friend who went to a foreigner country and came back only years later.

With a firm handshake and a quick hug, towards Stephan, and a quick handshake and greet towards Kenny, he started talking about his daughter upstairs. First impressions for Kenny were that the girl’s father was a very educated man from the way he spoke, the words he used, the calmness in his voice and the clothes that he wore, which was more of a casual fit. Black expensive shoes, blue jeans, and an expensive white shirt, as well as a more-thousand worth watch.

“--And this is the situation…”

Ended the girl’s father with a massive wave of sorrowness inside his vocal cords.

“Please, come in”

Said the father, moving himself aside and pointing at the entrance to his home with his arm widely extended and his palm straightened out.

The father’s home was a really cozy place. A large couch in the middle of the main room, a white and fluffy carpet right after the couch. A two meter television. The main room was well decorated overall with some small items which could be memories from all the places that the family has visited.

The two boys sat down on the large couch which was going in a square shape, with a small glass table in the middle of the couch, which had two exits, one parallel to the other.

Both of them were served with snacks, ice in a small iron bucket with an iron claw hanging out from it, two thin cup supports, two really fancy glass cups and soda.

“Do you still have your wine section in the basement, mr. Kaiton?”

Asked Stephan, grunting his eyes, whispering out his question, almost like he felt embarrassed to as about something like this

“Oh sure, sure, Stephan, do you want the older or from the newer ones?”

“I was just joking, I don’t drink anymore… three years now”

Continued Stephan, breaking character, looking down towards the glass table;his eyes locked down, barely revealing his eye pupils, giving out a slight chuckle afterwards.

Her father stood near the glass table, looking down at the carpet and up at Stephan, breaking the silence in an awkward manner, not knowing if he should say his part or not.

“If you are still here, could you check on Kina? I hope she’ll listen to you”

“Thought you’d never ask”

Said Stephan with a small smile on his face, sitting up from the couch in which they were both sunken in.

Her father stood still, understanding that there wasn’t anything that he could do, and looked at the two boys climbing up the indoor stairs, while having his arms crossed.

At the end of the corridor, Stephant took the lead and quickly hurried himself towards the door towards her room, while Kenny remained behind, keeping the distance as much as he could, not wanting to interrupt nor barge into their personal problems.

Stephan knocked two times on the wooden door, but no response. Sticking his left ear inside the door’s material, he turned his eyes around, focusing on any kind of noise, to see what was happening, and heard that Kina was listening to some kind of soft and slow music, something calm and yet depressing.

Opening the room, in an instant, he found himself in the room, looking around to see where she was and understood that she was in her bed, covered in a white blanket, looking up at the ceiling with her back stuck to the wall.

“Kina?”

Asked Stephan calmly, getting closer to her

Not responding to him, Stephan placed himself, almost in the same position, near Kina, looking left, towards her, narrowing his eyes out of upsetness.

“You know… when a star dies, there are others to take its place, so it’s almost like it was never there”

Started Kina, with a sharp and quick tone in her voice, tilting her face towards right, looking at Stephen with passion.

“Every star counts, right? Look. Why weren’t you picking up my calls? You’ve been worrying me for quite some time”

Continued Stephan with a deep sorrow in his voice, trying to calm himself down with a slow pace in his voice.

She started talking, saying what happened to her, with the meeting of the stranger on the highway, a few days ago and Kenny then realized that she was the same exact girl that he found on the highway, driving the car-truck.

He panicked, and decided whether to leave or not, unintentionally creating a fidgety feeling in his thoughts.

“They will tear me apart”

Is what he thought to himself, after seeing how close Stephan was with her, but if he would leave, he would look bad inside Stephan’s eyes and make him look a little bit suspicious, but the fright to be caught to be the villain in her story got him good, making him leave on his tippy-toes, outside the corridor, down the stairs.

“Leaving now?”

Asked the father, who just woke up from a contemplation while sitting on the couch

“Oh… that (chuckles), I don’t want to barge into their personal lives like that, so I’ll just sit this one out”

With that being said, Kenny closed the door behind him, exiting the home.

The camera was pointed at the start of the corridor, from the second floor, slowly approaching the end of the corridor, towards Kina’s room, eventually stopping right at the entrance of her room, fixing the camera on the door which was slightly opened.

“Are those new?”

Asked Stephan with a massive disappointment in his voice, almost like he would cry

“Oh these? I got creative, do you like them?”

Asked Kina with a gentle voice in her tone

He sighted and waited a few seconds in silence

“I’m here to help, you don’t have to–”

“You see… I can’t resist to be like a ghost, I like feeling again”

“Will you come out?”

Asked Stephan, calmly and carefully

The camera angle slowly entered the room, fixing its position so that it would catch them both and a little bit of the room too, in a front-angle.

“Mmmm… maybe at the “Shore Party”, the girls called me too, maybe I will go… maybe I won’t… we'll see”

“I will call some help for you, I don’t want to see you like this again, you’re worrying me, Kina”

“NO! DON’T CALL THEM, I CAN’T GO, I CAN’T GO… (hides herself under the blanket and trembles (stars singing with shaky voice) *To a place of sunshine and rainbows… where I recall early that white birds flew around… incredible incredible incredible–”

Stephan sighted, where the pain could be heard in his vocal cords, mixing more negative emotions in a single gesture of exhale.

He crumbled down, sticking his head between his knees, with his head covering the back of his head, just like a childhood blanket, used to protect himself from the monsters, back then, when things were better and easier, easier and better, better…

“Red ball, red ball, red ball”

Repeated Stephan, with a crying voice, drowned in sorrow, and melancholy, staying in the same position, but reaching for something from the back of his pants pocket, a red ball

With a loud huff, Kina raised herself from inside the blanket, just like a cat that got scared by a dog much bigger than her.

Stephan threw the red ball away from the bed, which Kina jumped after. The ball was elastic and thick, so it jumped in every direction, hitting the TV, the edge of the bed, the floor and the roof a few times.

Just like a cat to a laser pointer, Kina tried catching it. She had such an innocent and simple look on her face; joy and enjoyment, and not depression and chagrin.

“I will get you”

“No… but here, ball!”

“Got it, Stephan, I got it, Yahaaaa!”

Laughed Kina, joyfully squishing the rubbery ball between both of her hands, then jumping back on the bed, making a slight wave of recoil on the entire bed.

Meanwhile, Stephan remained in the same position, sniffing his nose a few times, not moving an inch, then slightly taking out slight moaning noises, which were small “openings” of his heart, unintentionally letting them out, in which the fright took over him.

In the background, Kina continued playing with the ball, jumping after it and throwing it, letting it bounce in every direction, targeting the ball with her eyes, with a very curious and interested look in her eyes, understanding its movements.