The Figuran

A medium blue-painted room, a soft bed, a collection of dolls of various shapes, and a dressing table that reflected the image of a girl with an unfamiliar face that strangely followed her every move. It wasn't her face, the color of her pink hair matching her eyes wasn't her, this room wasn't her room, all of these irregularities drew her to the most reasonable conclusion. She was dreaming.

But everything was too vivid to be called a dream. The texture of the dresser, the mirror, and the softness of the mattress were all too real. Even the citrus scent that filled the room.

A knock on the door was heard, followed by a female voice. "Miss, wake up. You'll be late for school. I'm coming in." The shiny black painted wooden door was opened. A girl appeared with a suit of clothes on a hanger. Her blonde hair was tied back.

"I've ironed this uniform," she said as she hung the clothes on a hanger on the wall. "Mrs. Jessie said that if Miss Mayuno wants to leave together, you have to be at the dining table by half past seven," she babbled. "But if you goes with Miss Bianca-" The girl's sentence was cut short when her shoulders were turned and she was forced to face the lady.

"Mayuno? I'm Mayuno?" the pink-haired girl asked with a serious look. "Answer!" she snarled as she shook both shoulders.

The bewildered maid nodded fractionally. "Are you okay?" Her question was not answered, but the opposite.

"Your name is Ita? Is it 2012? Our country is called Halixer? I go to Halix High School? Mrs. Jessie was my mama? Bianca is my friend?"

The questions just poured out of her. But Mayuno didn't care if she was seen as strange. What she needed right now was information, and the most appropriate person to ask was Ita if the person in front of her was indeed Ita. The 19-year-old girl would answer everything, no matter how random the questions were. Mayuno would just have to make excuses later.

If true, she had entered the world of one of the novels she read the day before her death. The novel is set in a fictional country called Halixer that contains people with rainbow-colored hair and eyes, but the language used is non-standard Indonesian.

Mayuno wanted to laugh, it was that easy to come to another conclusion that was beyond reason and fantasy. Was she becoming narcissistic as the trials of life began to eat away at her common sense? She might not have died then.

Ita herself was stunned, but despite her confusion, she still tried to answer. "Yes, I am Ita. Then yes, yes, yes ... Miss, what did you ask? I forgot," she answered while counting the number of times she answered 'yes' on her fingers.

Mayuno scratched the back of her head that wasn't itchy. "Uh ... I forgot too ... But the point is, they all said yes, right?"

Ita nodded again. "But why did you ask that?"

Bingo! To hell with the other conjectures. She would just go with it. Whether it was a dream, or a hallucination caused by losing her mind, that was a matter for later.

It was time for Mayuno to rack her brains, she was not a smart person and Ita was actually an innocent person. But her reasoning still had to make sense. "It was... I had a very real dream! I dreamed of being a poor person, with a loan shark banging on my door every day. Anyway, it's not good! Then it felt really long! That's why when I woke up, I wanted to make sure that I was back to being Mayuno, so ...," she explained in a tone and manner that was dramatized to be convincing, though she honestly cringed a bit considering it was her own life story.

Ita nodded. "Oh ... so ... take it easy, Miss. Dreams are just sleeping flowers. Anyway, I'm going to the kitchen first." She bowed slightly before walking towards the door. As he was about to exit, Ita turned around again. "Oh, yes. Who will you be with?"

"Jes- I mean Mom. I'm with Mom." Mayuno turned her back on Ita to pat herself on the mouth for almost saying Jessie's name out of turn.

"Then I'll tell Madame." The door closed again. Before leaving Ita looked at the door for a moment, feeling strange about Mayuno's more talkative attitude and not being jutting at her anymore. But it wasn't her place to ask too many questions, and Ita thought it was for the better. Perhaps, her lady was just having fun.

Mayuno let out a sigh of relief. It still felt dreamy but somehow it just flowed. Even though it was her first conversation with a fictional character that had only been in written form. Between still not believing and starting to believe, Mayuno would see it later.

After Ita left, Mayuno wanted to think more but the clock was already 6:00. "In half an hour I have to be ready if I want to be with Mother, meaning Mayuno's mother. But I'm Mayuno now, but how long will I be Mayuno? If I'm obviously dead, then where is the real Mayuno? How can I be her?" she monologued. She shook her head, patting both cheeks to once again confirm with pain. "Just get ready first. Let's think later."

Long story short, after exclaiming in awe an unknown number of times at everything in the room; the large window with a balcony and a view of the city, the collection of dolls, then what pleased her the most was the computer complete with printer, and the bathroom, which included a shower, a rich man's bathtub, and other things, Mayuno was ready.

She is currently twirling in front of the full body mirror, to see how good the uniform with the black blazer and matching plaid skirt looks. The final touch is a ribbon tie in the same pattern as the skirt.

Mayuno wanted to style her long, soft hair, but there wasn't enough time as she spent her time looking around at the details and ornaments in the small room. In the end, the long hair was simply tied up.

At the dining table, there were two plates of sunny-side up eggs, sausage, potatoes, a glass of milk for Mayuno, and a cup of coffee for Jessie. Mayuno sat in a chair directly facing the woman who had the same pupil color as her but a different hair color, black. Again, Mayuno was amazed. In the novel, Jessie was described as an ageless-looking 40-year-old woman. But she didn't expect to look this young. Like she was in her late 20s!

"Let's eat."

They both picked up forks and knives and ate their breakfast without speaking. The atmosphere made Mayuno wonder about the mother-daughter relationship between them. She wanted to start a conversation, more precisely a question about her unique name, but it seemed that the woman was the cold type who would not respond well. Hence, the silence persisted.

Fork and knife was not a combination of cutlery that the fake Mayuno was used to. So her movements were a bit clumsy. Feeling annoyed, she put the knife back and ate only with the fork. But just a fork to eat a sunny-side up egg was also difficult.

"Huh ...." A heavy sigh escaped his mouth. Her stomach was hungry, but she was struggling just to eat. Mayuno gasped as her pink eyes collided with Jessie's piercing gaze. She hurriedly looked down, cursing her own carelessness in forgetting the existence of her mother who could have been suspicious.

"Ita! Get May a spoon!" Jessie ordered after seeing her only child in trouble. "I'll give you a break because there's not enough time," she said flatly.

Ita quickly came over with a spoon to hand to Mayuno. "Here, Miss."

"I know, for those of you who have lived in the village with your grandmother for a long time, it's not easy to eat with those cutlery. But if you want to be able to mix with the upper class, you have to learn until you can, table manners are important," Jessie said again.

Mayuno's eyes blinked, new information! It turned out that Mayuno used to live in a village! That fact was new to her because there wasn't much info about Mayuno. She was only described as a girl who was obsessed with popularity so she would do anything, including becoming Hildan's girlfriend who was known for changing partners. But the unique name 'Mayuno' made her always remember the character.

"I'll wait for you in the living room. Finish up before seven." Jessie put down her cutlery before wiping her mouth with a tissue. After that, she went to the living room with her coffee cup.

The cell phone in her pocket vibrated, making Mayuno pause to look at the notification that popped up. Since it was just a vibration, she couldn't tell if it was a text message or a call. When she looked at the screen, it was a call from an unknown number. Mayuno hesitated to answer. From her bad experience, most of the people calling were loan sharks or scammers.

She thought again, it shouldn't be. How could a loan shark call a Mayuno who lived a debt-free life. Her mother was a doctor. There was also never a sentence in the novel saying that Mayuno lived in poverty. In fact, she was able to hang out with Bianca's hedon gang. But how did Mayuno live in the village?

Mayuno shook her head, trying to dismiss her bad thoughts. She then pressed the accept button on the screen. "Hello?"

"This is my number. As promised last night, I'm picking you up this morning. Let's go together." The phone was switched off by the other party-who was male from the bass voice-immediately after saying that.

Mayuno didn't move. As if not given time to think, a car horn sounded from the front, followed by the doorbell.

"Who?" It was Jessie's voice.

"Excuse me ma'am, I'm May's friend. We promised to go together." The one who answered was a man.

"An appointment? But May said she wanted to go with me."

"But May said she wanted to go with me last night, ma'am."

"That's fine. I'll ask her later. You go in first. She's having breakfast right now, do you mind waiting a bit?"

"No problem, ma'am..." The man paused for a moment, "By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet, my name is Hildan."