2. Realization

The sounds of an ambulance could be heard from outside, perhaps another patient will be entering the place where men and women in white coats are rushing here and there. The smell of antiseptic or disinfectants lingers in the air, one would easily recognize the place they step into because of that.

On the side of a hallway filled with doors opposite to each other, benches carrying visitors wearing solemn and tear-filled faces are present. Some are sobbing quietly while few are even crying out loud.

On the far end of another hallway, a middle-aged woman wearing worn-out clothing and mismatched slippers is shaking and sobbing while being supported by a younger woman, whose face is filled with tears as well. She was trying to focus her mind on what the man in a white coat was telling her.

When the man bowed and excused himself, the aged woman no longer stopped herself from crying loudly. She fell on the floor helplessly, while the younger one no longer minded her mother's situation and just stood there blankly.

The sight of the two women, one elderly and youthful, both crying loudly and silently, was so pitiful and heartbreaking. The cries reverberated on both sides of the hallway, and the double door, on which the transparent window reflected the illuminated facade of the witness, a lady only wearing pajamas and barefooted, suddenly stretched out from the hands that tried to grab the two crying women.

The white and clear surroundings of the place suddenly became dimmer and the wails of the visitors as well as the smell of the air can no longer be smelled or heard.

The witness tried to open her mouth and scream, but no words seemed to come out. She closed her eyes desperately but only darkness greeted her once she opened it again. She was terrified. She thought of a dream beyond a dream, or a nightmare upgraded to a worst level.

She thought that being beheaded in an unfamiliar place, with no one her acquaintance or no one to recognize her was far better than witnessing her two beloved people in the entire universe collapsing like that. She thought that it would be better to just disappear without leaving any traces than to be buried by them.

That's right. Mona knew.

She had died.

She thought all that had happened to her was merely a product of her dreams, for who would believe a reality where her soul would be thrown out to some world? Those are simply unbelievable and no one has yet proven the existence of parallel or other worlds. Those are simply a result of imaginative and creative minds, mostly belonging to authors and writers.

So, Mona could not bring herself to believe that. Not until she heard a voice after thinking she had been beheaded and before witnessing her family in the hospital.

".... exhausted...I am too exhausted..."

She remembered having a cruel dream, and she thought that she'd wake up after that but what she witnessed when she opened her eyes was a beautiful lady wearing ragged clothing, kneeling on the cold bricked floor. Her long black hair is messy and sprawled on her sides, her eyes are black as the night, and only the dim lights from the lamps are reflected on them.

Because of the bit of light they had, Mona saw the state of the woman's body. She gasped at her sight. Hands and feet were tied with a rustic metal handcuff connected by a chain where the other ends were hinged on the backside of the cell, the body covered in bruises and dirt.

But what made Mona's heart shaken were the gentle eyes of the woman, filled with nothing but weariness, reflected nothing but a yellowish light, and shed no tears.

It was dead.

Tired.

And lonely.

Mona took a step closer; it seemed that she was unnoticed. She tried to grab the steel bars that separated them. In her heart, she wanted to touch the lady. She might be a lazy, languid, half-hearted, and indifferent person sometimes, but she has a heart, which can be moved and be touched, a heart that cares sometimes.

And Mona thought that whoever witnessed such a sight, even the coldest person would want to share his remaining warmth with this lady.

But surprisingly, her hands only went through the bars, making her realize she was transparent like a ghost. Delighted and amazed, she stepped inside the cell and approached the lady. The woman's head bowed, looked above then bowed again, resembling a doll whose head is being played by a child. Her hands are clasped together in her front and she was mumbling something Mona could not completely comprehend.

"...be...me.... yours.... claim.... whoever..."

Mona wanted to touch her, but since she seemed like a ghost, she just watched her silently. Then all of a sudden, the woman lifted her clasped hands and separated them. The sounds of the chains hitting the ground scared Mona. She thought it sounded like some horror movie. But she had no time to recall which movie was it when the woman suddenly wrapped her chain on her left hand to her neck and crawled towards the steel bars. The chain has a length that only reaches two meters, but the cell is spacious and the distance to the bars is more than that, if one were to try to pull it forcefully, it would really wound them.

Mona panicked and reached for the chain to pull it towards the wall instead, forgetting she couldn't touch anything. She was bewildered. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to save the lady, but she didn't know how or even know if what she was seeing was real.

In the end, she just stood behind a struggling woman.

Struggling not to survive.... but to die.

At last, the body slumped on the floor. But Mona did not try to approach it. She was frozen on the spot. Seeing a dead body is nerve-wracking, but witnessing a suicide attempt right in front of your eyes, unable to help or save the victim is horrifying. Something that will haunt you forever, and point at you for being helpless. Even if that person is undeserving of your thoughts.

Those are Mona's thoughts; she didn't know if the lady was undeserving or not. The fact that she was tied inside a dark cell was enough proof that she was a criminal, that she hadn't done well in her life, but those gentle eyes of the woman flashed on Mona's mind.

She pitied the woman. Even without knowing who she was.

Mona inhaled deeply. And let it out loudly. She started to approach the dead body of the woman but stopped when she heard footsteps approaching. Brightness covered the dimly lit room by the lamp the man carrying. Three men emerged, one holding a lamp, the other carrying a bucket, and the last, walking upright and expressionless.

Mona recognized the faces.

They were the ones in her dream. She looked puzzled and came closer to them.

When the expressionless man began to speak. "Drag her to the guillotine."

"She wasn't moving, sir." The man carrying the lamp stepped forward and examined the slumped body of the woman.

"Wake her up. It wouldn't be fun executing someone who's sleeping."

Then the man carrying the bucket poured the water on the dead body.

The body, which Mona thought was already dead, shriveled and slowly opened its eyes. The eyes that were once filled with nothingness were now full of confusion and disbelief. The face of the beautiful woman who exhibited elegance was now sported with sheer stupidity.

The look in the woman's eyes extremely shocked Mona. She was petrified. That same look she always sneered at the mirror was the same look the woman was giving.

The unfolding events in front of her were exactly what she experienced in her dream!

They dragged the woman and she planned to tag along but she was pulled by a force that covered her vision with darkness...

When the light came back...she was nowhere near a smelly and dark dungeon, but a bright and colorful field of flowers. The wind breeze is fresh and the reddish leaves of a huge tree are dancing in the air, falling freely on the ground filled with green grass. Upon the shade of that huge tree, lies a young child, who seemed at the age of seven, holding a book in her hand while leaning on the tree roots. The child has long silky black hair waved by the wind, her eyes decorated with long eyelashes, her small nose sculpted perfectly fitting on her pretty face, and her lips shaped like a perfect bow. In Mona's eyes, the image of the child is so elegant and noble.

But she also realized who that face belonged to.

"Lady Evangeline!"

An older lady came out and called the child. But the child was focused on the book she was reading.

"My lady, you have to return already. The Marchioness will be coming back soon. She would be mad if she knew you went out."

But the child did not budge or even glance at the older lady. The woman, whom Mona thought was a maid, sighed with frustration. She grabbed the book the child was reading. Due to that, the young child looked at her.

"Finally, my lady! You look--", The maid's words froze on track as she realized her surroundings, which was a field with green grass started to dry up and decay slowly.

The maid trembled in terror. And before Mona could react, she was once again pulled into darkness and got pushed somewhere.

She wanted to ask why these things were being shown to her, but she had no one to ask. It was too much for her. She simply wanted to wake up from her dream. But it got longer and weirder. Now she was beginning to be convinced that this was perhaps someone's reality.

She pursed her lips and prayed desperately. She wished that this time, she would be opening her eyes to her bed.

But if she only knew that the next thing that would greet her are white painted corridors, solemn and tear-filled faces, and loud ringing noises of an ambulance from afar.... she would have not prayed at all.