1 The Awakening

Fair warning: Suicide mentioned ahead. Anyone with such triggers should take note and act accordingly.

Lilly stared hard at the note in her hand.

How could she do this to them? Why would she just leave everything behind? Why would she choose to end things this way? A multitude of questions flitted around Lilly's brain, and this single envelope had the potential to answer them all.

And yet, she couldn't bring herself to open it. Deep down, Lilly didn't want to know. She didn't want to know about something so painful that it drove her friend to kill herself.

She was afraid that whatever Claire wrote in this note would forever change her image in Lilly's mind. Her laughing face and sly smile. The anger she had felt for Lilly when she was cheated on. Claire and she had grown up together. They had lived in their own little world.

But Lilly had never known about Claire seeing a therapist. Had never known that she had been diagnosed with depression and anxiety. She had never ever thought to associate her bright, fun loving friend with the darker sides of mental health.

Lilly was afraid to find out that Claire had never lived in what she thought was their world. Maybe, it had only been Lilly.

It hurt to think of all the times she had vented to Claire, not knowing that the girl was going through so much more. It hurt to think that her best friend had been keeping secrets from her. Secrets that were so painful she had to hide them from the rest of the world.

Possible explanations flitted through Lilly's mind. Could Claire have been bullied? Was she too stressed out? Did her boyfriend cheat on her? But these excuses all seemed so miniscule to Lilly. After all, Claire had always been the one to tell her to ignore other's opinions, to take a break and stop living so seriously, to slap any idiot who had the courage to cheat on a girl. Claire had always seemed so fearless, was it all a facade? Was everything just a front?

Her hands trembled on the letter. Opening the envelope slowly, Lilly forced her self to take out the sheet of paper and carefully unfold it. She was surprised to find but a single sentence marring the white with familliar black strokes.

'This is all fake, wake up.'

With a start, Lilly dropped the letter. As soon as the words had registered in her mind, Lilly's head began to ache painfully. Questions floated through her head in between throbs. What did Claire mean? Why did such a short sentence seem so important? What was she forgetting?

The world seemed to spin as pain invaded her head and took hold of her thoughts.

Everything went black.

こんばんは

When Lilly started to wake up, the first thing she noticed was voices.

"-ir, you might want to look at this."

"What? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Sir!"

"Just a minute!"

"SIR, ONE OF THE PATIENTS ARE WAKING UP!"

There was a moment of silence, then a lot of scuffling and footsteps.

"What do you mean one of them is waking up?!"

By this point, Lilly had already opened her eyes. She glanced around what looked almost like a hospital room. White wash walls with various machinery paired with an iv looking needle in her arm and a hospital gown adorning her body. Yup, seems she was in a medical facility alright.

Suddenly, the door opened. Inside strode the two men she had heard earlier, they must've been in the room outside of her door. Strange, they had sounded like they were in the room with her. Did she always have such good hearing?

"As I was saying, one of the monitors suddenly showed signs of awareness. It seems like they're going to wake up at any moment!" The young man speaking was looking at the papers in his hands and failed to notice that the person in front of him had stopped. He bumped into them. He looked up from his paper confusedly, only to stare at Lilly in shock.

The other man said calmly, "It seems they've already woken up."

What were they talking about? Did they mean Lilly? What, had she fallen into a coma? What was wrong with her waking up?

The first guy set his papers down on a table near them, smoothing them out nervously as an expressionless mask fell over his face. "So it appears."

"I though you said it was impossible for one of them to break out of it. And yet, this is the second one in a week."

"I said it was improbable, not impossible. Besides, these are the first two in 157 years."

Lilly was bewildered. What in the world were they talking about?

"Umm, excuse me?" She asked, "Could you tell me where I am?"

The two locked eyes.

"I don't really think you really need to know that," The younger of the two claimed coldly. It was the dude who came in with the papers.

The other one smiled unnervingly. He reminded Lilly of the stereotypical hidden villain anime character. She could almost imagine the slanted, exaggeratingly squinted anime eyes to pair with the evil looking grin. "Wait, wait. I think this could be interesting. Tell me girl, what do you think your name is."

Lilly frowned. What was all of this about? Think? "I'm Lilly Taline." She sounded uncertain, not because she didn't believe her own words, but because his wording was worrying her.

His smile widened. "Actually, you aren't." The tall man opened his mouth to explain, but was cut off by the younger of the two.

"Jared..." He warned, cool facade slipping a fraction as he bit his lip.

"No, no. She deserves to know." The guy, Jared, said. A hint of mischief entered his eyes. "You aren't Lilly Taline, or rather, Lilly Taline doesn't exist."

"What do you mean, 'doesnt exist'? I'm right here, aren't I?" Lilly exclaimed incredulously. The look she gave them attested to her scepticism. These people were looking shadier and shadier as time went on.

"Yes, but as I said, you aren't Lilly. You're project number 62799. Lilly is a persona we made up for you. You have also carried the name Marissa, Lucy, and Jessica." He laid this on her with an amused tone, as if mocking her ignorance.

"Wh- What do you mean?" Lilly was scared now, and confused. What in the world was happening?

The man suddenly stopped smiling, a serious look entering his eyes. "You see, 'Lilly', my race finds it amusing to see how humans used to live before we took over. So, we messed with your brain a bit and created dream- like scenarios where you lived out different lives. I have got to say, it's incredibly amusing to see how you human beings play everything out as if it is reality. How you body responds to pain that isn't even real. How you cry tears for something that never happened in the first place." His hand trailed closer to her face, rubbing a dry tear trail she had earned earlier while crying over her friend's passing.

"STOP! Please, just stop!" Lilly covered her ears and shut her eyes, blocking out the world. She didn't want to hear this. Regardless of how unbelievable the situation was, a bell rang in her ear for each word he spoke.

"Oh, don't worry. You won't have to deal with me for long. Soon, you'll be wrapped up in a new world altogether. Seeing as how you didn't know any of this, it must've been the other one who instigated this. If I remember correctly, 'Lilly Taline' was her 'best friend'."

Lilly looked up for a moment, she hadn't even realized that she had curled into a ball and started crying. "C-Claire?"

The man nodded. "I believe that was her name, yes."

Lilly remembered the note. Was this what Claire had meant? Had she known all of this? Was that why she was depressed and killed herself? To escape?

The door opened again and a group of people in white coats entered the room. Lilly was shocked out of her reverie as one of them grabbed her arm. They inserted a needle into it and injected something into her. Revulsion entered her mind as a liquid was pressed into her blood stream. She started to feel woozy. "Wha-"

"Ah, there they are. Well, 'Lilly', I guess our time has ended. I hope you have a good life, or rather, lives."

Lilly was strapped to her hospital bed and people attached something to her head. "Wait, what are you-?!"

She felt a sharp pain in her head, similar to the one that brought her here. A single sentence escaped her mouth in a burst of strength. "What happened to Claire?" If she had escaped, what happened? Was she okay? Was she going to go back to live out new lives as well? Would they see each other?

The man, who had just turned to leave, stopped. He glanced back at her, and she could just barely make out a mocking smile on his face. "You're friend? Well, she ruined the show! It would have been fine, but now that she caused another patient to wake up... Let's just say her next life isn't going to be as pleasant as yours is going to be."

Horror filled Lilly, and she struggled in her bonds. She tried to scream, to yell for them not to touch her, but no sound came out. People started working over her. Cords were attached to her arms, legs, her head, everywhere. The pain in her head grew worse and worse until Lilly could only wish for the sweet release of slumber.

No, you can't sleep. Not yet. Not unt-

She blacked out.

はじめまして

"Bella!" A voice called out angrily. An image of a mother tapping her foot and glancing at her watch would fill one's mind after hearing this.

Bella hurriedly shut her laptop after publishing her short story on Amino. "Ah, crap. That was today, wasn't it?"

She raced downstairs where her mother was waiting impatiently for her. "What took you so long?" Came the expected scolding. Bella simply sighed and looked down.

She didn't answer. Anything she said now would just be an excuse anyway, and her mother did not appreciate excuses. They ran out to the car, her mom getting into the driver's seat.

"Lilly?"

Bella turned around. There was a little kid with purple hair staring at her from down the street. The girl looked filthy and malnourished. Her clothing was torn and her hair was obviously self cut. She seemed to be around 10, but should be older since she was malnourished. Maybe around Bella's age herself, 12.

Her mom yelled at her, "Hurry up! We have to get going!"

"Yeah, I know. I just."

Her mom glanced at where she was looking. Obvious disgust filled her face as well as an expression of pity. "Ugh, another beggar. I swear they're everywhere nowadays. Poor kid, her parents probably left her here 'cause they couldn't afford to take care of her anymore. Too bad nobody here has the money to take her in either."

It was true. Everyone in Bella's neighborhood was struggling in the recent war time. There was no way one of them would take in another mouth to feed. Even Bella's laptop was a gift from one of her wealthier friends. The girl would probably just join the other kids on the street and pick pockets or beg to survive. Such a weak and hungry girl would never make it in such a place. How sad.

"Well, are you coming?"

Bella's mom shook her out her thoughts. "Yeah, coming!" She ran the rest of the way to their beat up car, getting into the passengers seat and quicly buckling herself in.

As the car pulled out of the driveway, Bella couldn't help but glance back at the little girl. Suddenly, the name she called entered Bella's head. Lilly? Why had she responded to that? It must've been the short story she had just wrote. It was messing with her head. A dull headache made her frown.

Her mom glanced at her in worry. "You know, you can't help everybody. I know you feel bad for that little girl, but there was nothing we could do. There's no use beating yourself up about it."

Bella glanced at her, confusion clearly written across her face. "What little girl?"

私はカヤさん

Hallo! This is my first story publishing on Wattpad,  I hope it wasn't too terrible? It's just a short story, and it was actually my first short story ever, something I started around a year ago? Anyways, I only just got back to editing it. I have always enjoyed the concept, and it was my very first story, so it felt fitting to be my first published work on Wattpad, lol. Anyways, lots of love it you liked it! <3 シ