My First Collection

It was bright. It was so bright that scarlet shined through her eyelids. The girl opened her eyes slowly letting them adjust to the brightness outside. 

It was white. There was only white. 

She slowly sat up to notice she was on the floor of an empty white room. Although the room was well illuminated there were no lights in sight. There were only two doors at either end. One visibly larger than the other. 

She kept sitting down, eyeing the room, but not focusing on anything. She was confused, trying to recall where she was and how she got there. Is it a dream? She wasn't certain. 

Then her eyes drifted, with her hands, to her attire. She was in white pajamas; a set of clothing she was certain she didn't have. What's going on? She asked herself.

'Hello?' She addressed the room, but she was too scared to be loud.

'Hello?' Now the inquiry was getting louder. 

Her breathing slowly started to rise in rate. Her confusion was growing into anxiety. The next 'hello' was no longer polite, it was terrified. 

'HELLO??' 

Liz took a heavy breath in and let it out. Her eyes were locked on the mirroring lake. She pulled her hand back and then, in an instant, threw it forward. The flat piece of stone that escaped her grip bounced on the lake's surface seven times before it finally slowed down enough to peacefully sink. 

'Seven,' Liz noted, in a disappointed yet focused tone. 

She walked closer to the open water to pick up another stone and once she had her pick, she walked back a fair distance and repeated the procedure. This time the stone bounced only five times. 

Liz sighed. 'I'm never getting a ten again, am I?' 

She turned slightly and looked back over her shoulder to see if there's anyone in sight over the bank that separated the lake from civilization. Then her eyes ran to her small wristwatch. Seeing the time, after diving into thought, puffing up her cheeks involuntarily in the process, she breathed out and sat down on the grass. 

For the next few minutes, she stood gently swaying back and forth holding on to her lower legs, looking blankly into the sky, deeply in thought. When she was finally bored with that, she just fell onto the grass. 

'Oh, I got some company today,' a voice spoke from behind Liz. Supported by her elbow she turned around to see who it was. 'It's always quite the pleasant surprise.' 

'Granny Anne,' Liz recognized the stranger. 'What are you doing here?' 

'I come here most days dear. I have to get out of the house, or I'll go insane,' granny Anne replied. 'What are you doing here today?' 

Granny Anne; she didn't look very old. Other than her silver hair and slightly wrinkled skin she had a very youthful look. But from her walk and her posture it was evident that even though her eyes refused to age, she herself has accepted the slow, steady and inevitable march of time. 

'Oh, that reminds me... wish me luck,' Liz gleamed. 

'Luck?' Anne made her way closer to Liz. 'What for dear?' 

'Today's my first real collection!' 

'Oh, congratulations,' Anne replied heartily. 'That's wonderful news.' 

'Yep,' Liz giggled. 'I'm a strong independent woman now!' 

Anne chuckled loudly, looking into the distance, at the endless Lake. When Anne stopped next to Liz, she sat back up and followed Anne's eyes to the distant end of the Lake. 

'Are you excited, dear?' 

'Yeah. I've been working hard for so long for this,' Liz replied, with her train of thought now granting her face a smile. 'But a little scared too.' 

'Scared?' Anne looked down and Liz. 

'Yeah,' Liz replied. 'Expectations, I guess.' 

'Well, aren't we all a little scared of Expectations?' Anne replied with a chuckle. 'At least back when we are all young enough to expect crazy things?' 

'Well, I think we are both still pretty young enough to expect crazy things,' Liz commented. Anne laughed gently at the remark, patting Liz on the head. 

'I agree, one hundred percent, dear,' Anne replied giggling. 

'There you are,' it was a very familiar voice. 'I've been looking everywhere.' 

Jaime, in his military outfit, carrying a rifle in his hands was standing on the bank behind the two. 

'Why?' Liz asked, turning towards Jaime and then checking her wristwatch. 'There's like fifteen more minutes.' 

'Exactly,' Jaime replied. 'There's only fifteen more minutes.' 

'Alright! I'm coming,' Liz reluctantly got up to her feet and started walking towards Liz. 'You don't have to yell.' 

'When - When did I yell?' Jaime quietly asked himself. 

Liz paced over to Jaime who offered a friendly smile to granny Anne, who was watching the events unfold.

'Good morning, madam,' Jaime greeted.

'Good morning, Jaime,' Anne returned the smile. 

'Bye Granny Anne!' Liz waved goodbye. After Anne waved her back, both Liz and Jaime started making their way away. 

In a few minute's time, Liz was in her designated black vest and belt. Jaime and Liz parted ways once they were both close enough to the meeting for recruits. Every new recruit had long sleeved, dark colored T-shirts under their black vests, whereas Liz was wearing a long-sleeved bright pink and yellow T-shirt under hers. Most of them were young men and all of them were taller than Liz. And if none of those made Liz stand apart, the pink and white stands of dyed hair definitely did. 

To their right was a quadcopter with two men standing by its side, armed. The vehicle was standing on its four halos with its relatively small fuselage slightly above the ground. Other than the pilot, the fuselage could seem to support only four more people on its back, but the size of the four halos indicated that it could definitely carry multiple tons of weight. 

Soon Liz was lost among the recruits. Finally, when Ashley walked up to the front to address the recruits, everyone settled so they could see and listen to their commander, but Liz had to settle without the commander in her sight. 

'Alright, listen up,' Ashley announced loudly. She was standing slightly high above the rest, on the step of the auditorium building, and the recruits listening to her speech were standing at the courtyard. 'Today's event is forecasted to be a total diffusion collection event, which means once the collection starts, we won't be able to retreat until every last one of our collectors are shut down. You know the drill, stick to your formations and adhere to the instructions and let's get this done.' 

Ashley then gestured to Rupert, got off her stage at the top of the step and made way to the quadcopter that was on standby next to them. Rupert then walked onto the step and started his announcements. 

Rupert's speech separated the rookies to squadrons and ended with a motivational speech that had the usual 'go get 'em' phrases. But Liz could not focus on the speech. Her eyes were locked in on Ashley, who after addressing the two men standing in front of the avion, climbed on board followed by the men. 

The copter slowly rose into the air and turned to face away from the headquarters premises, and once in air, it slowly accelerated away, but, at a constant rate of acceleration, it soon broke the sound barrier before fading out of sight. 

Liz was lost in her own world. The excitement, fear and determination tugging and pushing her to and from taking the next step. The ways everything could go wrong circled her mind, but the excited smile never faded off her face. 

She started strategizing encounters she had no way of knowing would truly happen. Hence, she remembers being put into one of the offensive squadrons, three carriers taking them over the desolate cities of Haven to the collection site and getting properly geared up but doesn't recall how she slipped through each stage. 

By the time she became self-aware she was holding an assault rifle, holstering a heavy pistol, wearing small retinal projectors to the sides of both of her eyes, that joined together around the back of her head, over her ears. At that point her outfit was almost completely black, with only a few small patches of pink and yellow peeking through. 

'Liz,' Ashely called. Liz turned towards Ashely in response. 'When the collection starts, stick with me. Ok?' 

Liz nodded looking away. Ashley was dressed a lot lighter than the rest. She was in a black pair of pants, dark gray long-sleeved shirt and a dark green colored pair of boots. Other than that, the vest and the belt, she was wearing nothing else; no retinal projectors, no helmet and no gloves. 

'Are you- scared?' Ashley questioned with a smile sneaking onto her lips. 

'A little,' Liz replied. 'But that's ok. That's good.' 

'Yeah,' Ashley commented. 'That guarantees you won't do anything stupid.' 

Ashely felt that the statement didn't quite hit the place she was aiming for, so after a brief silence she continued. 'Don't be too scared. Nothing you haven't trained for is headed your way.' 

Liz silently nodded once again at the remark. 

'Commander, all collectors are set up,' a soldier walked up to Ashely and warned. Ashley looked down at her upside-down wristwatch. 

'Listen up everyone,' Ashely announced. 'Everyone, report to your stations. We have less than a minute remaining. Remember your objectives and stick to them unless commanded otherwise. Best of luck.' 

The troops grew a lot quieter with the final call. The radiant shields were turned on one by one. All the weapons were locked and loaded. It was what all the training was for, and now there was no turning back. 

The sky shattered, and in the distance, the ethereal fog rushed in from surrounding, setting the bounds for fight. The collectors sprung to life and the one closest to Liz drew her attention. With every passing second grayed drops of shards deposited on every surface taking away the colors and the whirring collectors dissipated them. A world fighting for colors; it was a wondrous sight to behold. 

Soon enough the reality started shifting. Buildings that were only simply overridden with green were now in ruins. A small guard post that had no door to lock it behind was soon nothing but a door and a concrete frame. One lustrous bush of grass lilies would get replaced by a bush of Gazania and signals everyone it's time to step into action. 

A loud bang from the left draws everyone's attention as the smoke rises into the air from a distance. 

'We're hit,' a voice echoes in everyone's ears. 'Warlord pushing into our second collector.' 

Several men suddenly appeared from inside the building of which Liz and Ashley were standing in front. Turning to them, and then towards Ashely, Rupert gave her a nod and ran, accompanying the soldiers. 'Copy. Exel-eighty-one reporting to the second collector.' 

'Ma'am, we don't have the main collector,' Another voice spoke, but this time only on Ashley's earpiece. 

'Copy,' Ashley replied. She then quickly turned to Liz. 

'Liz, we are going to push into the main collector,' Ashley explained. 'Stick close and attack as we've strategized.' 

Liz nodded, holding onto her weapon tightly. Another loud explosion noise went out in the distance, this time far in front of the two. 

'Alright, let's go,' Ashely sprung to her feet and carrying her rifle in her hands she hastened towards the sounds of the echoing explosion. 'Excel-sixty-eight and raptor-one-O'-six reporting to the main collector.' 

The heat of the battle grew exponentially within seconds to its peak. All five worlds were engaging on each other, the battlefield turning into a chaos no one can regulate or predict. Thanks to this increasing entropy, on the opposite side of the battlefield to Ashley and Liz, a conflict was brewing among the strongest forces pushing into the battlefield. 

With the momentum of his push, Aion dashed against a concrete wall, hiding for cover. Few of the men pushing forward with him fell prey to the barrage of fire headed their way and flash recalled out of combat, before being able to rush into cover. 

'We are pinned down. Belet three, we need a cover fire!' Aion commanded, focused on the bullet's breaking the sound barrier all around him. A loud barrage of gunfire was initiated to the squad's left and the bullets flying in Aion's direction were retargeted away. It was his opportunity. 

Aion sprung out of cover, aiming for the party locked down behind the ruined building at the center. His squad understood the queue and started pushing forward before he could even issue the command. 'Engage!' 

The steel barriers set facing their side were on fire with the storm of bullets crashing onto them. Whatever concrete constructions remained in the center were now reduced to the steel beams that supported them and even they were melting away. 

Aion released his trigger because his instincts demanded that of him. He wasn't certain why, but something supernatural was approaching him fast. 

In a gust of wind, Aion was slammed out of cover from his left. Caught off guard he was thrown flying. To dampen his speed, he planted his feet on the ground, and he slid to a stop. Then immediately strapping the rifle behind his back, he swung the watch chained to his wrist onto his palm and unholstered his pistol. 

Now out of cover he waited for the assaulter to engage on him once again, but before that could happen, the soldiers to the center of the battlefield opened fire on him. Aion quickly casted a shield that managed to freeze the bullets in midair and immediately covered behind it. 

A silent whir: the most subtle indicator; that was all Aion needed to sense the danger. Without a moment's hesitation he swung his pistol, turned away from the stasis field and pulled the trigger. Prybax, who was now standing behind Aion, leaned out of the way and the bullet went right past him. 

'That's getting very old, my friend,' Prybax said, slowly approaching Aion, steadily gaining speed. 

'What can I say?' Aion did not withdraw his weapon. 'We are very old people.' 

Several shots were fired, but Prybax dodged all without losing his progressively increasing speed. This time though, Aion was at the ready. His body fast-forwarded instantly to put away the pistol and precisely deliver a punch to his face. For a person who was dodging bullets with ease, the punch did not mean much; even fast forwarded, it was not fast enough. 

Prybax tackled Aion and, at the speed they were hit, both went flying a decent distance before they hit the ground. Continuing the momentum of the tackle Prybax got up to his feet with a backflip. By then Aion had fast forwarded himself jumping up to and landing on his feet. 

The squadron which was controlling the center of the battlefield ceased fire on Aion, not wanting to accidentally land a bullet on their own commander, who was engaging on Aion, and resumed firing back on Aion's men. 

The brawl that took place immediately after was nothing but a blur, a blur of silver and gold. Fast, bullet-like punches swung back and forth. First Prybax was on the offense, Aion defending with dodges, but after Aion could land his first counterattack it was Prybax backing away attempting to dodge Aion's attacks. It only took one precisely timed punch to send Prybax sliding back a few meters. 

'Whoof,' Prybax commented, clutching his stomach, pulling out a pistol from his holster in the back. 'One of these days, buddy. But for now...' 

A black mist, that blew in from nowhere, surrounded Aion and before he could react. He pulled out one of the special grenades from his belt, but before he could release the pin, it dropped down onto the ground as Aion lost control of his own body. 

It was all black, deprived of all senses. Aion was lost in his own mind. A throne in the dark. A vast empty room. 

You can't battle the fundamental laws. Your efforts will only set a seal on your fate. A self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Aion cannot surrender. He is in the middle of a battlefield, so he fought for control. The stopwatch was in his hand, he only had to press the button. His thumb pushed against it, but he could feel nothing. 

CLICK 

A golden radiance took over and the dark black of nothingness was ripped away. He was back in the battlefield and the black mist had to fade away attempting to reconstruct into a human form. 

Aion released the pin from the grenade pulling his hand back to aim at Faide appearing through the mist, but unfortunately Prybax was already on the move. He hit Aion fast like a cannonball. The impact of two radiant shields sent shockwaves. The grass beneath their feet were lit on fire. Half of his radiant shield shattered on the first impact, the remaining half, except for the last one percent of it, shattered the moment Aion hit the wall of stone behind him. He collapsed onto the floor and the stopwatch leapt out of his grip. 

Prybax was not done, and neither was Faide. In the form of his black mist, he immediately dashed back at Prybax. The grenade Aion took the pin off was right by Prybax's feet. Prybax knew what to do. With a fast kick to it, he retreated immediately. The grenade flew into the black mist. Once Prybax had enough of a momentum to move away, he launched himself off the ground turning towards the black mist. Moment he acquired a clear shot, he took it.

'NO!'

With a blue glow from within the mist, lightning sparked away. Like thunder in a raincloud, until the black mist disappeared completely, the thunder struck within. It sparked on to the ground burning the grass, and until it decayed to sparks flying through the air, the detonation echoed through the battlefield. 

Aion was hesitant to get up, he needed a little break, so he stood sitting by the stone wall for a while, that for the past couple of seconds rained small pebbles and dust onto his head. 

From nowhere, Ashely now appeared on the battlefield. As she slid out of cover her sniper was aiming for Aion. Aion noticed her and quickly flicked his wrist swinging the stopwatch back onto his palm. Ashley pulled the trigger and Aion casted his stasis shield, seemingly at the same time. But by the time Aion casted his shield, the bullet had already passed the threshold. The casted shield stood still, but Aion's flash recall sprang into action and with a bang teleported him away. 

The squadron defending the center noticed the appearance of the new enemy. Ashely was gaining on them seeking cover. Two of the soldiers in the squadron took aim at Ashley. 

But before they could pull the trigger a barrage of bullets, precisely aimed for their heads, forcefully recalled them out of the battlefield. There was an intruder in their fortification. A stranger the soldiers have never seen on the field before. They couldn't open fire on a teenage girl, but this new girl had no such moral obligations. 

Liz managed to take cover by the time the soldiers got over their own restrictions and opened fire. Her keen ears noticed when the man to the rightmost end started reloading, hence she peeked only to be visible to him, to unload enough bullets and withdraw him from the field. She threw a smoke screen over the cover. The moment it went off she peeked off cover and landed all the shots on the hidden enemies in the smoke. 

When more soldiers attempted to push on her from the back, they were met with the troops that were on Liz's trail. One by one, the soldiers who had control over the main collector at the center of the battlefield, started disappearing out of the fight. 

Immediately after the stronghold was captured, a retake was in operation. One by one, soldiers trying to reach the center of the battlefield started disappearing. First the man in the middle would disappear, then the one in the back and finally the one in the front; the soldiers who were following Liz, one by one, were disappearing. Suddenly something of immense force slammed one of the men against a wall. His shield shattered and the recall teleported him back to their base of operation. 

Liz at the sight of this, now on the highest tower in the area, equipped a sniper. Her aim was perfect, but even for her, the moving Jet stream was too fast to have a clear shot. It circled the battlefield, getting more aggressive by the second; a storm brewing for the next siege. 

The speedster was moving too fast to control its own speed. Ashely knew this perfectly well. Standing on his route of travel, Ashely appeared out of thin air, from her state of invisibility, aiming a grenade launcher in her hand. The speedster noticed her, but just like a train going too fast to brake for the log across the tracks, he wasn't prepared to stop. 

The launched grenade perfectly anticipated the speedster mid-track. With a bang that quaked the earth, through the sparking cloud of smoke, Prybax was off his feet, moving fast across the air, uncontrollably. Now moving in a linear path, Liz was ready to intersect his trajectory. The sniper bullet of pure energy fired at the perfect time hit Prybax, and with a bang, he was recalled off the field. It was the fastest game Skeet Liz had ever witnessed. 

Drawing Ashley's attention, she was fired on from behind. There were soldiers of different worlds approaching them from all sides. Ashely immediately went invisible to evade the oncoming fire and Liz took position on top of the tower, pulling triggers on one head at a time. 

'Set the route,' was Ashley's first command after getting within the threshold of the stronghold and safely behind cover. Three of the soldiers nodded and gathering enough courage to peek from behind cover they started crouching towards their base of operation. One by one, as carefully as possible they tried making their way closer to their base, setting up energy shields securing the path. A metal plate stabbed onto the ground would extend to the knee height and an amber field of energy would extend further, two more meters high and the bullets would not pass through it. 

As they kept straightening up the barricades setting up a makeshift route, their allies that were shot out of the field, were trying to approach them from the other end. It was conflict upon conflict. Men who were attempting to reach the stronghold of different worlds were fighting amongst each other. 

'Commander!' A voice screamed in Ashely's ears. She immediately stopped firing and took cover behind the steel barricade she was standing behind. With a loud bang, a rocket blew up a few feet in front of them. After its echo died away Ashely replied to the call. 

'Excel-sixty-eight copy,' She answered. 

'We are losing the third collector,' the voice replied. Ashely didn't immediately respond, the decision to be made was not clear. 

They had captured the stronghold and the main collector along with it. The rules of the game were clear. Be the last one standing with the most shards fissioned for their reality. If one of the three collectors securing their place in the battlefield is taken, either reconfigured or destroyed, they would return to their own worlds, out of the battlefield. The main collector at the center of the battlefield fissions the most shards by a landslide. Hence capturing it was valuable but was optional. Protecting the three collectors, however, was necessary. 

There were two clear choices in front of her. She could either sacrifice her advantage to stay in the fight a little longer, or she could hope for the best and defend the advantage they have now. One of the two was obviously the smart decision, the other the idiotic. She thought about it for a few seconds before she saw the girl now sitting down on the dead center of the battlefield, and realized that now there might be a third option; a gamble. 

Liz was kneeling down by the main collector, the biggest egg of them all, trying to reconfigure it with the tab computer she had in her hand. She would rewire and try once again with the tab. Bullets were flying over her head and when an explosion hit too close, she would duck, but the reconfiguration would not cease. 

Ashely smirked from the corner of her lips finalizing her decision to make. The bird never thrown off the nest would never learn to fly, but the one thrown out too early would plummet to its death. Hopefully the gamble would be in their favor, and this would not be the bird to slam its face on the pavement. 'Raptor-one-O'-eight responding.' 

Hearing that, Liz jerked her head straight, alerted, and turned her head towards Ashely. Ashely undid her smirk and nodded her head affirming the command. 

It was a massive two storied building. The bottom floor had a very spacious lobby bounded on one side by glass walls that had all been shattered to pieces at that point. The receptionist android that was still sitting in the reception was riddled with bullet holes. At the middle of the building, mounted straight on earth through a demolished hole in the foundation of the building, the third collector stood whirring away. 

Valerie walked into the building accompanied by ten soldiers behind her. The frontline that had pushed past her had already cleared the building clean of the enemy. She turned to one of her men and gestured with her head to attend to the collector. He understood the assignment, hence he ran to the collector pulling out a short baton from his pocket that extended horizontally into a tab computer. 

'First floor clear,' a voice alerted Valerie's ears. She did not reply in confirmation. 

'Hold here,' Valerie commanded. 'And everyone to your positions.' 

There were explosions going off in the distance. Valerie could clearly differentiate and hear the noise of her men taking down enemy soldiers. Those pops of flash recalls were music to her ears. 

The pops, however, seemed to be getting louder. Valerie listened in close. Was she mistaken? Was it her ears adjusting to this new level of silence? The noise got closer, but it was upstairs. The ceiling was shaking, and debris started collapsing onto the lower floor. 

'What is going on?' Valerie's voice spoke over the comms. 

'Madam, they are pushing in. There's a -' the message broke off mid transmission. 

'Hello?' Now everyone on the lower floor started arming up once again. 'Somebody say something!' 

Nothing other than segments of voice lines broke through the comms. 

'Madam, there is a super soldier approaching the third collector,' the voice that cut off earlier replied. 'It's a new girl.' 

Suddenly one more loud bang from the floor above shook the ground. With the noise, cracks ran across the ceiling, and following the cracks, a heavy piece of the ceiling collapsed onto the ground. Standing on top of the chunk of concrete was a very confused Liz who had her arms and legs spread wide, slightly bending over, attempting to regain balance without moving too much. Her eyes locked on with Valerie's. Uncertain of how to proceed next, Valerie frowned at the surprise and Liz grinned mildly in return. 'Hi!' 

Without requiring a command, everyone aimed and started shooting at the girl who just jump-scared them. Liz, with an audible screech, leapt behind the receptionist table. Two soldiers tried peeking around from either side to get her out of cover, but they were no match for Liz's precision. A grenade was tossed over the table to land at Liz's feet, but Liz, understanding the risks of staying put, still crouched, ran across the lobby seeking cover behind one of the massive pillars, before the grenade went off. 

'Guys, go in now!' Liz screamed. There was a storm of bullets raining down on the pillar Liz was hiding behind. 

Soldiers of Haven, understanding the assignment, jumped off the second floor, landing behind Valerie's men who were engaging Liz. A couple of men were popped out of the battlefield by the time Valerie noticed these enemies on her flank. It was too late to retreat. 

As soon as the flanking soldiers drew the enemy's attention, Liz swung out of cover taking the opportunity. 

Valerie had nowhere to retreat, hence in the barrage of fire, she took cover to the side of the reception's table. 

'Sparkles,' Valerie screamed through the comms. 'We need you right about now!' 

The soldiers, once done with Valerie's crew, gathered around Valerie, holding their weapons up to her face. She couldn't wait for the soldiers to pull the trigger. So, she pushed a couple of buttons on her belt, and before she was fired on, recalled out of the field. 

'Is that all?' Liz, still on guard, asked her allies. 

'Yes, ma'am,' one of them replied. 'Now, how should we proceed?' 

More and more soldiers returned to the site of the third collector taking their assigned position as the ones standing by Liz were now awaiting her orders. 

'Are you asking me?' Liz asked, confounded by their insistence on her making a decision. 

'Yes, ma'am.' 

'I -,' Liz lowered her weapon, now in thought. Even though her voice lacked confidence, it had an encompassed excitement in it. 'Well, I guess, prepare defenses before they regroup and let's plan our offense. Let's – uh... start with setting up the barricades.' 

'TAKE COVER!' A warning was declared by one of the soldiers at the frontline of the defense, and even without the comms the panic in his voice pierced through every eardrum. There was thunder, an unmistakable discharge of electricity. 

Liz's head turned towards the chaos and her body was turning in response as well, but she was too slow to dodge that which was headed her way. One bullet, as amber and bright like the setting sun, was headed towards her. Discharging thin yet bright blue streaks of lightning out of it, it illuminated the relatively dark interior of the lobby. It was a glorious sight to behold; a glorious sight that took place in the span of a few milliseconds. 

Breathing heavily, terrified, Liz popped back in their base of operation. There were few soldiers who were about to head out, and one of them was Rupert. He was a lot more of a welcoming sight than the charged bullet heading straight for her eyes. 

'Oh, back already?' Rupert asked, loading a magazine into his rifle. 

Liz was still in shock, but in her face a smile was brewing. She slowly started to make her way out of this well-defended room, almost as if in a trance. 

'Are you ok?' Rupert asked. 

'That. Was. AWESOME!' 

Liz, clutching her rifle, ran out. Rupert was confused about the interaction, but knowing Liz enough he didn't wait long seeking an answer. 'Kids,' he chuckled derisively.

Even hours after the collection, Liz could not simply get over how exciting it was. In her mind, she could not have made a better choice. After everything wrapped up and the day was concluded, everyone headed home. It was a successful collection to say the least. And hence with the first victory under her belt, Liz was soon in her torn denim pants and vest, huddled up in her garage. 

There were no lights turned on for miles except for in the garage. All the doors were open to let the chilly air breach in. It was dark, very dark all around. In this ungodly hour, in the middle of the night, only Liz dared to challenge the darkness. 

'What a day,' she was still smiling. Sitting on the floor, attempting to tighten a screw with a wrench, she was daydreaming. Next to the engine being put back together, the usual book stood opened, not being referred to as frequently as it should. 

Once the screw was tightened enough, Liz didn't want to continue with the rest without a break. Even with the chilly air, she was still sweating. 

'Phew,' she jumped onto her feet. With a heavy sigh, she finally looked away from the engine. It was a very calming night. Screeching cicadas could be heard miles away, but that ambience was almost drowned by the wind rustling against the leaves. Liz slowly stepped out of the garage to breathe in the chilly atmosphere, and then she stretched, relieving all the stress she could. 

'Jill,' Liz requested. 'Can you play 'Hold me close'?' 

'Sure,' Jill replied. 'Playing 'Hold me close'.' 

The music started playing. A piano took the lead before an acoustic guitar joined in. A perfect ending to a perfect day. Liz closed her eyes letting the night and the music take her in its embrace. 

It was a grave mistake. Few seconds into the song, even before its first word sung, a buzzing noise approached Liz. It approached her fast, she didn't have enough time to even open her eyes. 

It was bright. It was so bright that scarlet shined through her eyelids. 

Liz sat up in a panic. What had just happened? The music had died. The darkness was no more. 

She was now sitting down on the floor of a white room. She was wearing white pajamas. Did she wake up from a dream? Or is she in one right now? She couldn't clearly recognize. 

There were other girls, all in white pajamas now circling around Liz to welcome the newcomer. Liz had never seen these girls before and she wasn't certain how to respond. 

'Where are we?' Liz inquired, turning her head all around. 

'Where am I?'