Chapter 0 | An ordinary girl

"Mommy...mommy..."

A girl ran down to the study cheerfully and her sweet shout fills the quiet afternoon.

She stopped in front of a fair-looking lady and asked .." Mommy, when was the last time I said 'I want a baby sister.'?"

The woman didn't seem to care and answered abruptly "I don't remember."

"Oh, I thought I haven't said it since Jack's birth." the girl said with a laugh.

"Mom, she said she wanted an older sibling not long ago." a young boy's voice cut off her laugh.

Girl: "Yeah. I want a big brother...". "You know, if I had a big brother we can go out together, he would buy me delicious food and who knows he would buy me many beautiful dresses and bring me surprise birthday gifts, and one of my friends has an older brother and he...he..."

"But she's no longer my friend...yeah...friend, I don't have a friend...", she murmured under her breath.

She looked up and saw that the attention was not on her. She put on a big smile, laugh a little, and ran back up the upstairs until she reached her room, leaving behind the mother and son still focusing on their businesses.

Once she is in the room, she locked the door and jumped into the bed.

She hugged her pillows tight and rested her small face in them.

Soon enough, the pillow sheets start to become wet and they were soaked in tears.

She calls out to someone she, herself, doesn't even sure exist. "Love..." as she cuddles deeper into the pillows.

Vague voices start to wash her mind.

"Hey don't act childish and play innocent, that does not make you cute at all!"

"You know what? You are annoying."

"Come on, she is dumb."

"It's that bit**." "She looks easy. I bet she will say yes with just sweets..."

A dark voice: "you don't have friends," "no one likes you or even notices you"

"Pretty? Cute? Friends? Hahaha..fake...they are all fakes. They don't care about you."

Terla tries not to care about it and stays positive.

She imagines herself cuddling in the embrace of a man and she can vividly hear his voice whispering to her

"It's okay baby, it's okay. You are beautiful and I love you."

And she answers " Yes, I'm pretty. I am gonna be a beauty. I am gonna become what I want and what I dream to be. Yes, they said my blessings are coming soon. I am gonna meet my best, best friends and you, my love."

The man: "Yes love, we are going to meet soon. We will meet and fall in love. So don't give up baby, I'm waiting for you, and your besties are waiting for you."

The dark voice comes up again "What..love?Haha...ha what a joke...come on TT you are just joking to yourself. There will never be someone called love... because no one will ever love you..hahaha... hahaha...h"

The girl suddenly gets up from the bed and walks toward an old dressing table.

She stares into the mirror and inspects her image carefully.

She is in a nightgown which is already yellow showing its old age.

Her midnight ruby hair falls under her shoulder and the classic curls are seemed to be a little too messy. It hasn't been brushed well for a long time for sure.

Her skin looks fair with a pink touch on it and, on her face are blemishes that appear to have faded and cured.

She's got upturned eyes with golden yet ruby-like eyes which feel like a sunset and sometimes a blazing fire.

Her small bow-shaped lips look glossy and tempting although they have never been tinted.

She smiled and then laughs. She speaks as if the dark voice would give up and disappear by her words.

"So what if I am just imagining, in a world with millions of population, I will find him."

"So what that I am not pretty, as long as I have a desire, I will beautify it."

"So what when I am not with a talent, with a living body and a heart, I will learn it."

"I am an extra of this world thus, will never be controlled. I can write my own chapters and be the protagonist of my life."

A dream and a desire will fuel me to the unknown.

The dark voice: "Oh, what a naive little girl."

"Of course, I was once a naive little girl, childish and stupid..., a simple-minded ordinary girl as she should be," Terla says as she stares into the depths of her eyes.

"But look what she has made me become..., I hate her but somehow love her..."