As Shio enters the house she was surprised by how neat the house was. If you look on the exterior of the house, it looks like a house abandoned for more than 3 years, webs are laying everywhere, woods are damaged, paints are almost worn off and the windows look foggy for some reason. But the interior of the house is clean and tidy, there's no much dust in the furniture, all of the lightings of the house is properly working and you can see that the furniture was in a good shape.
"Never judge a book by its cover I guess..." Shio said as she follows Sam to the living room
"Why? do you think its a scary place? I'm not able to maintain the exterior cause I don't find time doing it." Sam replied
"I'm not saying anything" Shio said in a friendly tone
"If you say so..." Sam replied "Stay here for a while, wait for me as I prepare some drinks" He continued
Shio sat down and she patiently waits for sam to come back. While sitting down she continue to look around the living room, she was amazed by how old the design of the furniture was but still, it looks like it was newly bought. Suddenly she felt very comfortable in the area, too comfortable that it felt a little weird. She thinks that she already saw the area once before but she can't remember when specially because she can't remember going on that street even once.
"Weird" Shio said as she tries to think why everything looks so familiar, she thinks and thinks until she noticed Sam standing still in front.
"Are you--- alright?" Sam asked as he slowly walks towards shio with a tray of food
"Uhmm---yeah. I--am fine" Shio replied
"Okay.. here." Sam said as she gave shio a cup of juice and some sandwich "It is pretty late to serve some coffee so I think juice is good enough right?" Sam asked
"Yah---- yah, your right." Shio replied as she took the cup and take a quick sip "is this lemon flavour?" Shio asked
"Yah.. it was lemon flavour with a little bit of honey. To give a sweet taste" Sam replied with confidence
"Really! That's my favourite flavour of juice! You're lucky you got that right.." Shio replied with an energetic tone
"Yah... I just got pretty lucky." Sam replied
"So, what are we going to do now? Are you going to train me or something..." Shio asked calmly while giving Sam a smile
"(Hmph) No...theres no training that can help you, except some basic survival skills like if you saw a bad guy then you better try to hide or run... but that's not the reason why we are here..." Sam calmly said in a friendly tone
"Then what?" Shio asked
"I'm here to explain the things understand. The things that can help you---survive" Sam replied
"Like what?" Shio asked as she continues eating the food given to her
"Uhmmm--- let's see... the thing you are experiencing right now is called The Darkness Trials. Its pretty simple, in order to survive you must face all of your fears. Once you've done that, you live." Sam explained calmly
"and if I didn't?" Shio asked as she stopped eating
"You get stuck in their world with the fears you can't overcome. You will live there with it and if you are not strong enough----then----- you'll die because of it." Sam replied with a calm tone
"WHAT!...why do I even experience this, I didn't do anything to connect myself into your incident... why me?" Shio asked with a confused tone
"I know the reason why you are here, why you have to experience this. But for now, you are not ready yet, you will know the truth once you are ready for it. But for now ill keep it as a secret, for your safety. I hope you're not angry with me. But this is the best thing I can do to help you" Sam calmly explains as he tries to calm shio
"What if I can revert it, is there any way to reverse this thing and just forget whatever happens? Like---come on--- I'm here for a reason, I did something that I should have not done.." Shio replied while she starts to panic
"Relax shio..." Sam replied as she tries to control shios emotions
"RELAX!? you said that I'm going to die if I'm not strong enough, How will I know if I'm strong enough to face whatever is out there----huh sam? How can I relax if I know that my life is at STAKE HERE!" Shio replied in a slightly raging tone
"Fine..to give you a little peace of mind I'm going to tell why you are experiencing this, okay?" Sam replied in a calm tone
"Speak.." Shio said as she sits down and listens
"This is the only thing I'm going to say to you, you have to discover everything for yourself..."Sam replied in a calm tone as shio listen
"Okay just say it" Shio calmly replied
"You are here because he picked you, he chose you to survive rather than the other. He is experiencing the same thing we are experiencing right now, and at the end of the trial, he had two choices, its either let you die and move on with the other person or let the other person die and save you.
But ---- if he chooses to save you, then everything you know will be erased, all of those who are with him will remember nothing, the time will go back to where it all starts, and all of us will experience everything again but he will be the only one who will be able to remember everything.
So he knows what will happen and he might know how to prevent it, and I know he tried, but he failed and now we are doing it all over again, so please calm down, okay?" Sam explained thoroughly
"Okay... but how did you know this?" Shio said as she tries to interrogate Sam
"He--- told me... actually..." Sam replied with a nervous tone
"Don't make fun of me Sam, it's you right?" Shio said as she tries to interrogate Sam
"No, I'm not..." Sam replied with a confident tone
"Then where is he?" Shio said as he continues on making Sam admit it
"He's dead.." Sam replied
"Uhuh... then wheres the body I want to see his grave" Shio said as she tries harder on making Sam confess
"He's on the other side. Do you want to see it? I'll bring you there if you want" Sam replied in a frustrated tone
"What!? No, I'm sorry.... but-- how did he end up dying there?" Shio replied calmly in a friendly tone
"The bus accident, he's with me. He tells me everything he knew, and he said if ever something bad happened to him, at least we got a Plan b." Sam answered calmly
"I'm sorry..." Shio calmly replied
"Okay.. so that's it for the basics, can you stay here for a day, I have spare clothes if you don't have any spare." Sam asked in a friendly tone
"Oh since you offer sone clothes then why not right, ill just make a quick call to inform my parents I won't be home for today" Shio answered in a fluttered tone
"Okay.. ill just go upstairs to fix something, the television and the game console is already turned on--- so just help yourself if you want something. If you want to look around just go, okay?" Sam replied calmly as he stood up and went to the staircase
"How are you so sure that I'm not going to steal anything from your house?" Shio asked in a taunty tone
"Because I know you wont.. and besides, there's nothing for you to steal here. Except if you are addicted to video games which I'm sure you're not" Sam replied also in a taunty tone as he walks upstairs
"Lucky to have you in my side..." Shio said as she suddenly realizes what she said and flattered"what am I saying.." Shio instantly realizes something and he immediately asked Sam
"Uhmm SAM! HOW MANY BEDROOM DO YOU HAVE?" Shio shouted
"ONLY ONE! WE MIGHT NEED TO SHARE IT!" Sam replied calmly
Shio starts to imagine things for some reason "No... I'm here because I need his help. Not to do that" she whispered to herself as she starts to lose control of her self because of her emotions
"UHMM HOW ABOUT THE BED? DO YOU HAVE EXTRA BED?" Shio asked as he starts to blush
"NO, BUT IM FIXING MY BED ON THE FLOOR SO YOU CAN USE MY BED" Sam replied
For some reason, shio felt a little disappointed but at the same time, she felt some relief. She called her dad to inform them that she won't be home for one day.
And because Sam allowed Shio to wander around, she didn't waste any minute and she starts to walk around the house. He noticed that even though the exterior of the house was totally damaged, the garden at the back of the house was perfectly maintained like the interior. There she saw her favourite types of flower planted across the garden, she felt in love with the design of the garden because for some reason it was so close to the design of the garden she wanted to have.
A garden filled with sunflower, lily and daisy with a small bird pond in the middle. After exploring the garden she cant explain how comfortable the house has become after a few minutes, she starts to think that if Sam was able to maintain the exterior of the house then that will be a perfect build house. It is too perfect that it almost matches her dream house.
"It must be a coincidence..." Shio said to herself
But deep in her mind, she knows something is wrong with the house, it was is too perfect for her that its almost like it was built by her. It is not that it isn't possible to consider someone's house as your dreams house after you see it, because she knows that it is normal to feel that way, but everything in that house was the things she wanted in her house without copying anyone's idea, it is her original dream without anyone's influence.
The only thing left is the bedroom, a medium-size bedroom, enough to fit a bed good for two persons, a baby crib and a cabinet for all of their clothing. The colour of the room must actually match the garden and even the living room, which means it must be a mix of light colours. She always wanted it to be neat so no unnecessary posters needed. After she thought of it she immediately went inside the house. She went to the staircase and slowly went upstairs. There is a part of her that tells her that Sam is not a person to trust specially because of how much he knows about what is happening which is pretty weird, but there's also a part of her that tells her that if Sam is really a bad person, why would he even wait before he hurt her comparing to the shadow she experience last night.
"Hey, why are you here?" Sam asked calmly while catching his breath
"I---just want to check the room and see if you know, if it's comfortable or not because I can actually sleep on the couch if not. Your couch is pretty comfortable, I like it" Shio calmly replied
"Oh... okay, you can check, but please don't pay attention to anything unusual okay?" Sam replied as he leads her inside the room
Shio went inside the room and she felt a little relief on seeing the look of the room, yes the colour of the room is a mix of two light colours and the size was accurate, but the look of the room is too unorganized for her taste, posters are placed in every wall, the bed is too big for two-person, which left no room for the baby crib.
"May I?" Shio asked calmly
"Sure... no problem" Sam replied
Shio went to the bed and she enjoys how comfortable the bed was.
"I'll just go to the kitchen and cook for dinner okay? If you are ready we can talk more about the things okay?" Sam kindly asked
"Yeah, ill be right there" Shio replied calmly
Sam went to the kitchen and left shio in the bedroom. Shio felt some relief as she saw the bedroom, maybe its all just a coincidence, maybe she just overthinking it.
But on Sam's mind, it was different.
"I can't make another mistake----leading you here is already a mistake, I didn't know that you will regain your memories that fast just by looking at some familiar sceneries if you knew what is about to happen then it means everything that happens before won't happen again, which mean I can no longer know how to prevent it from getting you, the only important thing is for you to go in there. I promise once your in there, ill tell you everything you need to know, everything I know... I will not let go of this opportunity anymore, this time---- you will be free" Sam softly whispered to himself as he prepares the food there going to eat
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