The Culzu family finished their dinner with Nancy finally loosening up after Nathan relentlessly telling her to. They proceed to unwrapping the parcels and finishing arranging everything in the living room, bathroom, the three bedrooms, kitchen, and corridor. 

After finally unwrapping the parcels and arranging them, the family was able to get a goodnight's sleep. Nathan just finished placing the umbrella holder next to the door while everyone was playing their own designated part in cleaning the house. Nathan wiped beads of sweat and said in exasperation, "We can finally call it a day, guys."

The father who was leaning against the door jamb of the parents' bedroom jerked a thumb towards the door to the staircase, "What about your sisters' room? The floor needs another layer of varnish."

Nathan's eyes widened as if he suddenly struck on something. He fleetingly glanced at Nancy who was preoccupied with writing on her unfurled paper boat hat. "Oh yes, the stains...This almost flew over my head." He said internally before grabbing the varnish tub and scrambling up the stairs, ignoring how his flannel shirt was slick with sweat.

In the interim, Nancy was writing a self-note on a green paper boat hat to hit up Harlem in the afternoon. She was doing so quite absentmindedly as her mind was elsewhere. By elsewhere, I mean LaLaland. It was normal for her to be scatterbrained that her low attention span was permanent at this rate. Nancy hummed off-tune as she finished writing her quotidian reminders where she would jot down on her green paper boat hat. The word green is being accentuated due to the significance of the pigeonholed color-coded rubric of Nancy's paper boat hats:

Red: Unwinding spot, the paper boat hat where she would blow off steam to. Any distressing and scarring even is mentioned on a red paper boat hat.

Orange: Life-changing events, the paper boat hat where she would record any major occurrences in her life, such as moving to the condo or performing piano in front of thousands.

Yellow: Personal information, the paper boat hat that provided Nancy with her own background and status data anytime she would introduce herself to someone estranged and new.

Green: Daily reminders, the paper boat hat that Nancy just utilized to write down something she was ought to attend to or carry out.

Blue: Cold facts, the paper boat hat where Nancy would document factual information to make use of in the near future.

Pink: Wistful journal, the paper boat hat where Nancy would seek to reminisce and wallow.

White: Bare bones, the paper boat hat that provides a summary of anything essential that is too long to be written down.

Nancy tended to wear either the green, yellow or white ones, and even though they looked hideous to some people, she never ceased to wear them off-handily. In fact, the only times she would not wear them was when she would shower or sleep. People's opinions on the paper boat hat extravaganza was never skin off Nancy's nose. She would wear them for her own sake and for good measures. When they were wilted, she would wear them nevertheless.

She heaved her chest as she folded the paper to its original form and kept hold of it instead of putting it back on. She knew she was about to sleep, so it would be foolish of her to sleep with the hat on. Natalia re-emerged in a laundered lilac nightgown, telling Nancy while wearing a smile, "Come on, we gotta catch some Z's. Let's head to bed."

Nancy simply hummed unanimously and followed Natalia as she ascended the stairs in a leisurely pace behind her. Nancy was climbing droopily as her eyelids were growing heavier and heavier, almost giving out. She rubbed her eyes as she and Natalia, who was humming sonorously, entered their room. The floor was as clean as a whistle and more varnished than Nancy remembered it to be, but then again her memory was faulty. She shrugged off her suspicions and headed to the bunk bed. Watching out for her head, she plopped down on the bed and kicked her shoes off. Her eyes followed Natalia as she climbed to her own bed on the top until she was out of sight. She placed the paper boat hat on top of the nightstand and fiddled with the pajama bow as she lied down comfortably.

"Nancy, please turn the lamp off." Came Natalia's ethereal yet sleepy voice as the rustling of the blanket was produced from above Nancy. Nancy yawned cavernously as she extended her hand to the lamp switch. Click. The light that flooded the cozy room vanished without a trace within the instantaneous flick of the lamp. The atmosphere was greeted with serenity and darkness, the only sounds that can be heard are Natalia's light breathing and the ceiling fan circulating the penetrable air. It was that pin-drop silent.

In a heartbeat, Nancy started giving in to the temptation of letting her brain shut down along with Natalia sleeping soundly. She forced her mind to put her consciousness and subconsciousness asunder as she closed her eyes shut. Her mind was completely dormant, and by dormant I mean temporarily passive; a din perturbed her laid back state. A faint din that was coming from inside of Nancy's mind. It got louder, louder, and louder.

Nancy's eyes fluttered open. She was completely rattled by the sudden sound hammering in her head. It sounded like someone hiccuping or coughing. She was still in the same room, and Natalia's breathing was still there. She has not been transferred to the realm of dreams. Her soul was yet to be reduced to one that is mired in a slumber. Did she have to place a "Do not disturb" sign for the continuous sound to exit her brain?

Nancy sighed. She knew the drill oh so well; she was hallucinating. Whether her delusion was a fallacy or a flashback, she had no qualms that she was now beginning to hallucinate. One way or another, she would be met with something forged or outlandish.

Nancy's face hardened as she lied there, stilled to her spot, awaiting for whatever was going to appear. Nancy is the type of girl who would roll with the punches despite patience not being her virtue. Her nerves were fraying by each passing second. Though her mind couldn't process, her heart already fathomed as it pumped more blood, sending her almost in a tizzy. She writhed in her spot. 

"It is happening yet again. But you know what you should do, Nancy? Yes, you better just lie through it. Lie through it, yeah. And loosen up, as Nathan would tell me. It is all inside of me. If it was outside, then Natalia would also be subjected to it and react. So far, she did not do anything. She is asleep. Whatever. I won't let whatever will pounce at me get to my head!"

Nancy bit her tongue. She had the urge to yell, "Identify yourself" or "Show up wherever you are", but she knew that it would be in vain. It was always like these figures ambushed themselves in order to scare the light out of the restive girl.

The series of spluttering sounds stopped. Nancy's was keyed up by the sudden cessation. She shuddered and panic engulfed her. Premonition caught hold of her racing mind. Whenever this would happen, it could indicated two things; either that her mind is being merciful on her and giving her the night to sleep without worry, or that the medicine actually worked but did not fully fix the hallucination problem.

Her head instinctively raised, and this slight incline of her head was enough for her to discern something daunting that brought an unswallowable lump to her throat; she was in eye level with a bloodied apparition of a girl with long brown hair and a blood-stained nightgown who was hovering above her. Despite being situation in the lower part of the bunk bed, the gap between the two beds was spacious enough for the ghostly figure to tower over Nancy.

Nancy's eyes widened tenfold and her brows raised until they were practically stuck in her hairline. It wasn't just a shiver down her spine or the color in her face draining, it was her soul being succumbed to the horrific stare of the bloody poltergeist. She felt every ounce of breath in her lungs being sucked out, and the thin air became dense. The figure looked like a facsimile of someone familiar. It was like Nancy knew her. Her widened eyes were locked on the bloody girl's steely stare.

Just when Nancy was about to scream and her aghast look was about to compress, the bloody girl let out a blood-curdling scream and lunged at her. Without batting an eye, blackness devoured Nancy's vision, causing her to blacken out in a picosecond. The alarms that went off her head for a very long time got shut down. She felt nothing as she blackened out. It was not like she was sleeping but at the same it was not like she lost consciousness or got knocked out.