Her forehead is red with fresh blood, the blood is slipping all the way down to her chin

"I knew I shouldn't have given birth to you sweetheart"

Sadie takes a step back

" This isn't mom, this is all an illusion, Sadie, stop imagining, please, this isn't—" her mind runs with all these thoughts

"Come here sweetie, you need a hug"

"stay away from me!"

" A hug is better than leaving you behind"

Her mom wraps her arms around her.

Sadie freezes, she doesn't move, she can't actually

"Sadie, this is all your imagination, just stop thinking and they'll go away" Sadie doesn't say that, her mom does

Sadie tries to break free but her body is not listening to her command.

She looks at Sage, standing a few feet away from her

"Bitch just stop imagining, you're creating your own problems, you always did"

Sadie almost snaps until she feels something cold and sharp pierce through her back

"I'm just glad my unproblematic baby is alright"

Sadie could feel her mom's body slowly turning cold, dead cold. Not cold like ice, but cold like bad memories.

Sage starts laughing like a maniac

"Oh mom since when do you actually care?"

She stares dead into Sadie's eyes

Sage's pupils got smaller and her mouth wide with each passing second.

"You—you...you"

"Yes sweetie?"

Her mom wraps her arms tighter

There's a huge lump in Sadie's throat. She doesn't want to say it out loud, not after she kept it to herself for thousands of days, but her mom's hands are now unbearably cold and her back is wet in red.

"You're not my mom! Not after you made me clean up all your mess! No no...no..."

Her mom laughs

" I'm your mother and the truth won't change just because you don't like it. It might, if you stopped imagining"

Sage takes steps towards her

"Yes, just stop pretending, just stop acting like we exist. Aren't you afraid that one day we might actually come back to you and be harsh on you again?"

"I'm not afraid of anything, because I've seen reality that's harsher!"

Sage grabs her by her neck

Sadie cries out loud

Tasunee's eyes snap open

"Sa—"

She gets up on her knees, grips on a tree near her and stands up, tries to take a step but falls face first. Then grips on the tree again and tries standing

"Sa—Sadie.. are—are you here?"

Sadie who was just a few trees away, who finally learnt to accept reality, was sitting on the ground, she covered her face with her hands, her sleeves getting wet.

Tasunee manages to walk to her, then slowly puts a hesitant hand on her shoulder

"Wha—What happened to you? Whe—Where were you?"