“Sarah?” uttered Gray Stewart as she saw Sarah Lewis hugging little girl El. Sarah turned to her. “Gray? You were the one who found her?” Gray stood up from having squatted down by the corner. “Y-yeah.” Sarah put both hands over her chest. “Oh, thank God you found her.” Then she squatted down to level with El’s height. “Elreese.” She put both hands on her shoulders. “I told you not to get out of the staff break room, right? But you disobeyed me. Why?” she said in a stern but calm tone. Elreese started to quietly sob. “S-sammy.” She sniffed, big drops of tears falling from her eyes. “It’s alright, El. Sammy’s not angry.” Sarah gently rubbed her frail shoulders. “Just tell Sammy why you went out.”

In a highly respected suburb on the outskirts of the city stood the two-storey house of Theresa Scott. A vintage house in calming shades of wood with a spacious front lawn surrounded with waist-high wooden gates. In the early waking of the sun, Theresa was mowing her lawn. She was a woman in her late forties, medium size with an average height of 5 foot 4 inches. She had shoulder-length straight blonde hair and ocean eyes. She wore a vintage clothing style and stood like a mighty oak. And even as her age was evident in her facial features, it could be agreed that she was an attractive woman in her youth with oozing charisma. As she was pushing the lawn mower, a sedan pulled over at the gates. Her attention shifted to the person who climbed out of the car. “Sweetie!” exclaimed Theresa as she saw Gray approaching t

Zia’s heart skipped a beat when she heard her mother calling her by her real name while looking at her. She must think of an excuse already or change the subject but she could not think of anything. Her mind went blank. Theresa slightly tilted her head while still eyeing her, then she said, “You’re…Zia…” She paused. Then she tucked the photo back in the pink album and abruptly tidied up and put the albums back in the box. “Oh, look at the time.” She looked at her wristwatch. “I better start preparing dinner.” She smiled uneasily at them. “I’ll be in the kitchen. You kids just stay here. You can watch tv if you want.” She rose with the box in hand and seemed to be in a hurry. When she left, Zia and Gray shared a bewildered glance. “Do you think she knows?” asked Zia.

“What?” said Colleen with furrowed brows and trembling eyes. “He put poison on your drink, Col. I saw it,”declared Belinda. “What the hell are you talking about?” asked the man, visibly feigning ignorance. “When you put your hands on her back I saw you pour some kind of powder in her drink.” Belinda pointed at Colleen’s glass. The commotion that occurred had turned quite a few heads even amidst the roaring music over the ginormous speakers around the club. “What powder, I have nothing on me.” The man held out his palms in front of him and showed them to the people witnessing their argument. “Stop giving false accusations, will you?” he added. Belinda glared at him with seeth

“Gray, sit down. You’re rocking the cart,” said Sarah cautiously. Gray's eyes opened wide from the shock. She was having a deja vu again. She looked around and realized it was happening again, her very own hell loop. “You don’t tell me what to do,” said Gray with a menacing tone although she did not mean to say those words. “W-what?” asked a puzzled Sarah. “I’m just telling you to sit---” “SHUT UP!” roared Gray. “YOU’RE NOT HER!” She could not control herself again. She was bound to get to the bottom of this dream again and suffer until she would be able to wake up. Countless other nights she would try and escape before the ending she dreaded happened, but to no avail, she was yet able to do it.