A lone widow

Alissa made some changes to her plans. She was no longer planning to spy Mark as a ghost, and instead, was planning to spy on him as a insider. After all… If one can't get information through stalking, the only next best method is a good old confrontation and imitation.

That is exactly what Alissa was planning to do. To take over the body of others in order to get closer to Mark. Because, once she is able to get close to Mark, she'll be able to gather more and more information about his past and present state. By knowing the difference between his past self and current self, she could perhaps wake up the consciousness with the truth. That truth being, that there are two entirely different souls in one body. Her evidence to this statement would then be, the difference in personality between the current and previous Mark.

'How am I going to do this? How am I going to do this?' Alissa tried to calculate the outcome of her future decisions, as she was hoping to find the best way to proceed with her ideas.

It was around five in the morning, when Alissa was pondering about the kind of approach that she could go with. At this point in time, Mark had woken up, and was completely unaware of the ghost that wasn't too far away from him, just like the usual. Because Mark was awake, it was the best time for Alissa to initiate her plans. He needs to be awake for her to be able to interact with him, after all.

'His neighbor!'

A solid idea had finally popped up inside Alissa's mind. There was no other person than Mark's neighbor, who fitted Alissa's exact criteria. The neighbor is a widow near her forties, and has been quite friendly with Mark throughout the days. She would often times tell Mark how he reminds her of her husband, and would also invite him to dinner on many occasions. Clearly, it would be easier for Alissa to get closer to Mark by impersonating as that woman. Of course, Alissa could only hope for things to proceed that easily and swift.

Mark's neighbor. Her name is Elena. A woman that lives alone, and who has no kids or little nephews to accompany. No friends, no family on friendly terms, and no one who looks at her with the right eye. The reason why, is because she had killed her kind and loving husband through an accident, when she was twenty nine years old. It was on a rainy day, when the accident had happened because of her clumsiness.

Elena and her husband had been hunting in a nearby forest at that time. Her husband does the hunting, while she does the gathering. They both had their own task to do, and were quite the proficient couple that knew how to work together. Their love and bond was a strong one for sure…

Unfortunately, this bond meant that they would go through live and death together. On that day, that's when death came to their proximity, to test the oath that they had made together.

The sudden rain on that day, it had caused them to retreat back to the town. But the rain wasn't just any rain. It was the kind of rain that indicated a disastrous outcome…

A bear that just had to cross their path on their way home. Not just any bear of course, but a bear that was hungry, and that had caught the smell of fresh blood.

At that point of time, the bear hadn't caught sight of them yet, and was only sniffing around, in search for the source of the bloody smell. Knowing that the bear was searching for the prey that they had caught earlier, the husband left the animal on the ground, and slowly started backing away from the bear with his wife. This is when Elena's clumsiness took over. Her left leg was caught by a deep but small puddle. As a consequence, she fell down due to her imbalance, and got her thigh stabbed by the sharp end of a tree branch.

Obviously, she let out a yelp after she had been stabbed, which attracted the bear's attention.

"Run!" The husband yelled, the instant he had heard the bear's growl.

But the husband didn't run, and it was only Elena who struggled through the ends of the forest.

"What are you doing?! Aren't you coming?!" Elena called out to her husband, after she had noticed that he wasn't running along with her. In the end, all she got as a reply, was a smile of goodbye. Her husband was willing to sacrifice his life for her safety, and was willing to cover her mistakes with his death.

Unbeknown to him, his sacrifice caused Elena's life to worsen. Everyone in the town hated her, as they all blamed her for her kind husband's death. They all saw her as an evil witch, simply because she couldn't bear kids, and because she caused the death of her angelic husband.

In the end, she has been living for more than ten years with a scar on her thigh, which reminded her of her horrible self. Her clumsiness, and her inability to receive a child… Such were reasons that made her willing to part life. But she didn't, because she knew that if she did, her husband's sacrifice would've been for naught.

Elena has managed to last many years with guilt, and without killing herself. This meant that her mind was exactly at its weakest.

She was the perfect target for Alissa to possess…