[Zain's POV]

Today was another failure.

I don’t know when trying to reach her started to feel like trying to hold onto smoke.

Sometimes I wonder… does she even know how much we want to be close to her?

No matter what we do, she always keeps her distance.

As we grow older, we’ve begun to notice it more—

the quiet barrier she builds,

the way she steps back,

the way she hides herself from us.

When we were younger, we mistook her silence for coldness.

A heartless sister.

Someone who didn’t care.

It hurts to remember how many times we blamed her, never realizing she was breaking silently right beside us.

But now… we know better.

Her suffering runs deeper than anything we could ever comprehend.

Back then, Vivian was bullied in kindergarten. We were terrified to tell our parents.

One day, she arrived to pick us up—and she protected Vivi.

I never told her… but I still remember how safe I felt standing behind her.

After that day, the bullies never bothered us again.

When we learned she had kept it a secret from our parents, it stunned us.

We wanted to thank her.

Ask her how she did it.

But we were afraid that asking questions might get us in trouble.

Still, our curiosity won.

Like always, she fell asleep the moment she got home.

Mom had warned us many times not to disturb her sleep.

So we quietly snuck into her room.

We were so excited—and nervous—that we fell asleep on the floor.

Back then, we didn’t know anything. All we knew was that we wanted to thank her.

********

Urgh...

A sudden sound woke me.

I reached out for my pillow to block my ears, but it wasn’t there.

Cough…

My eyes shot open. I turned my head and saw Vivi beside me.

I immediately shook her, thinking she was having a nightmare.

“What’s wrong with you? Why are you shaking me?” she muttered.

“You were having a nightmare! I was worried.”

“Huh? No, I wasn’t. And WHY ARE YOU IN MY ROOM?”

Her tone irritated me.

I was worried about her, but she was shouting at me.

“What do you mean? You are—”

Urgh...

A sound cut me off. Vivi jolted upright, sleep vanishing from her eyes as she looked at me.

We both froze at once.

That noise didn’t belong to either of us.

Only then did we realize—

we were in her room.

We turned slowly, terrified she might be awake and staring at us.

But her eyes were closed.

We exchanged a quiet look of relief. Then we tried to sneak out.

Just before leaving, I looked back at her one more time.

She sounded like she was in pain.

But my whole body locked up. Her voice sounded strained as she clutched her throat.

My chest tightened — I wanted to scream for her, but fear swallowed my voice whole. 

My eyes were burning.

Tears were piling up in my eyes.

Ugh...

Her strained groan snapped me back to reality. I ran toward her without thinking.

“S–sis… wake up!”

Vivi almost opened the door, then stopped, startled by my voice.

“Are you stupid? What if she wakes— …Sis?”

Her voice broke as she froze in shock.

I kept shaking Sis.

“Sis, wake up! Please, please wake up!”

Despite my efforts, she didn’t respond. Her hands were locked around her throat, refusing to let go.

I turned to Vivi for help, desperate. But Vivi’s gaze remained fixed on Sis, filled with dread.

Frustrated, I raised my voice, 

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! CALL MOM!”

Gasp...

I spun back around.

Her eyes flew open, and she lurched forward with a strangled gasp, clutching her chest as if the nightmare had followed her into reality.

Sweat beaded on her skin, her breath sharp, uneven—almost broken.

“Sis… are you okay?” I whispered.

Her breathing softened, but only barely—each inhale still sharp, each exhale still trembling.

“I’ll get Mom—”

But she grabbed my wrist tightly.

“No… no. Don’t call Mom. Please… don’t call her. Please… please… don’t… don’t…”

Her voice trembled.

Her eyes were filled with pure fear.

I didn’t understand why she was so afraid… For the first time, I realized she was falling apart, breaking right in front of us.

My heart cracked.

“I… I… I won’t call her. I won’t call her. So… so… please—”

My voice wouldn’t come out. Overwhelmed, Vivi suddenly burst into tears.

In that moment, Sis returned to herself—confusion flickering in her eyes.

Without a word, she reached out and pulled me into her arms. Vivi rushed in too, wrapping herself around us.

And Sis—

who is usually distant, quiet, unreadable—

held us both as if letting go would shatter her.

Her hug felt warm, trembling, but gentle… almost unfamiliar.

Like a memory I hadn’t touched in years.

Even after we stopped crying, she kept patting our backs softly.

She kept whispering,

“It’s okay. It was just a nightmare. A very bad dream.”

*********

It’s been years since that day.

But the image of her choking, fighting for breath, still haunts me.

From then on, we started checking on her whenever she fell asleep.

But nothing changed.

Every sleep became a battle for her.

I wished I could steal her nightmares away.

We couldn’t bear her suffering any longer, so we eventually told Mom—

but that didn’t change anything either.

To this day, the scars of pain remain etched across her face—

lines carved by nights she never speaks about,

by nightmares that never stopped haunting her.

Even now, her expression holds that same quiet torment…

As the echoes of those memories drag me back,

I find myself once again in Sis’s room—

the air heavy, the moment repeating like a curse.

My hands tremble as I reach for her,

calling her name again and again,

hoping—begging—for her eyes to open.

Even after seeing this countless times,

The fear never lessens…