THEY DON'T BELIEVE.

"What?"- Flores and Lavinia screamed together making us break apart from hugging each other.

"You still believe her? Ann, are you mad???"- Lavinia said. Ann looked at her. She blinked off her tears and replied.

"Yes, I do. I witnessed it myself. No wonder she didn't turn up again. My friends over here were protecting me." She said, looking at us and cracking a smile.

"Don't be foolish, Ann."

"I'm not being foolish, Lavinia. They are telling the truth. They.....I...All these days. I get it now. Everything. I understand it, Sara. But, why did you do this for me?"- She looked at us, her eyes filling with tears again.

"Oh, come on silly. You gotta be tough. We, we need to go to Father Candido again, right Sara?"- Chris replied.

I nodded back at her and returned my gaze towards Lavinia, who was still standing furiously. She looked at me sending a silent message- 'You are the reason.'

I looked away from here, suddenly feeling an urge of guiltiness.

'Was this not the right time?'

'Did I go wrong, somewhere?'

"Sara, you okay?"- Ann shook me. I shrugged slightly, trying to act normal.

'This is not right.'- Someone told inside my head.

"See, Lavinia let's just leave this topic. It is your wish whether to believe or not. Let's just go to sleep." Ann said. Lavinia smirked back and shook her head as though to say 'What a fool', and walked towards the toilet. Flores just like her spoke nothing and proceeded to her bed.

Ann looked at us once more, smiled and walked towards her bed. And we followed the same.

*

That night, sleep seemed to be cautioned enough, not to come near me. Something kept on haunting my thoughts, making me worried more than ever. This isn't any child's game. This was real. This is not like some fairy tale. I was really living through it and if I'm not vigilant, then the game would be over. Thoughts kept on popping in and out of my brain. I looked towards my side, to see Chris, who had shut her eyes tightly. Evidently, that showed that she was just pretending to be asleep and was not asleep. But, Ann was fast asleep, and so were the other two. I returned all my thoughts to myself.

"Lavinia and Flores...why didn't they believe?"- I asked myself. What would have been the reason? I thought so deeply about it, that I didn't realise that I had fallen asleep.

**

Early the next morning, I took a quick shower and hurried towards my study table. Few minutes ticked by and Chris woke up. She too like me, freshened up. Seeing that the others were still asleep, we ran into heavy discussions.

"Hey, whom do you think, this Nicole will be?"- I asked, munching on some biscuits that found inside my bag.

"Ummm, probably Bella's prisoner. She told it herself, didn't she?"- She replied.

"But, how can we believe her? What if she is just...a follower of Bella?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Chris...It is just...I feel that. My heart says like that."

"Well, then that's wrong. She is truly a cursed servant. Nothing more than that."- She replied.

"Chris...How can all this be true? Belladonna? Nicole? What's this, Chris? Is this all true? Who will believe it? What if it just a bloody prank? What if there's nothing like this? Chris, what if we are just imagining all of these? Chris, what if Chris and Lavinia are right and we are wrong. What if all these are just stupid things and we are over imagining? What if-?"- Chris cut across my words and said.

"What if all this was just a silly, stupid prank and we took it so seriously? We should stop fighting and doing all this, Chris. You were going to say this, I believe." I nodded my head in agreement.

"You know what made you think like this?"- She asked.

"I don't know. But-"

"It is Bella..or heck it...someone is just trying to manipulate you. No spirit can possess you directly, because of that thing."- She said pointing the bangle on my hand.

"But the bangle cannot stop anything from slipping such thoughts into your mind. The thing that will protect you from these thoughts will be your heart."- She said

"What are you even trying to tell? My heart, what-?"

"Yeah, Miss.Sara Alves. Your own heart. You can't fight thoughts with a sword, you can only conquer it with your will. See, Sara..there might be some reason in life for ending up like this. It can be anything. If all this wasn't true, then why didn't you feel it right from the beginning? Why did you jump forth, and try to fight this? Why did you take such risks?"- She asked.

"I...."

"I can understand your answer. Let's just wait and watch, what our future is waiting with...Go on, get ready, the others are waking up, too..."- She patted me on my shoulder and walked away. I looked at her. What was she? She had answers for everything. She knows the perfect strategy for every problem.

'Maybe she is more sensible than you, Sara!!'- said the voice in my mind. I agreed to it and turned away to get ready...