Sasha Shadows

The dim room is silent after Kayla has fallen asleep. As the yellow light is not switched off, I can see her stirring frame under the blanket. There she rolls to the other side, adjusting her sleeping position with a groan. Her eyebrows less furrowed and she looks peaceful at last.

"Time to ruin her good dreams," reminds Isabelle with a silent chirp before giggling evilly. I return the same expression except the giggle.

"So what next, sensei?" I ask, standing akimbo when she waves her hand, indicating me to follow her. We take another small step forward until something sucks us in. It feels like free falling until we land on a pitch black area safely. "Is this Kayla's dream?" Although this unknown space looks edgeless like the sea, my voice seems to echo as if we are in beneath the mountains. And I might be asking bullshit in the meantime as well.

"Not yet," Isabelle answers, sparing a short glance at me before facing the front again. She is awaiting something to appear, and her eyebrows arch upwards while the things she expects finally reveal. Yes, not only she can see the changing process undergone in this place, so do I.

Initially, the ground is unseen under our feet. But soon enough, bright green grass begin to paint it alongside with the bright blue sky and tall trees. The whole place is not a perfect grassy land as there is a cliff not far away from us, where a couple is sitting on. I wonder who the boy could be.

Before making my move, I squint at Isabelle but she has gone! Her voice vibrates in my mind, fuming me with anger. "My part to the dream is finally finished, now use your creativity and finish your fourth wish."

"What?!" Due to the anger, I stomp my feet and have totally forgotten about Kayla and the boy's existence. When I glare towards the front, I can see the two standing up and begin to face towards my direction. Their faces hold confusion.

"Who is she?" The boy asks while Kayla flips her hair. Her eyes show pure despise at the sight of me.

"Nothing, just a piece of trash," she sounds like a bitch even in her dream. I hate her. And I'll let her pay for what she did.

To the victims.

To me.

In a flash, I disappear from the place I'm standing and reappear behind the boy. Kayla's eyes bulge in shock and I really hope that they will fall out of those sockets. Before she can even utter something to the boy, I've already push the boy on his back until he slams forward and pushes her hard as a result.

Losing her balance, Kayla trips and falls down of the cliff. Her scream would be deafening if it isn't because of the trees and bushes set in this dream. I watch as she falls, reaching out one of her hands upwards to grab something but literally, there's nothing designed for her to safe herself.

"Should I help her?" I ask the boy but end up being pinned on the ground. "Get off me, Clerence," I deadpan as he smirks.

Is this how Kayla wishes Clerence to be?

To be her boyfriend; to be a bad boy; to be a jerk?

Her jerk?

"I thought you will jump down the cliff with her." Knowing that this is not the real Clerence just like in real life, I judge daringly with a mocking expression. He looks shock but the look is swiftly covered back to a smirk.

"I don't like her," he answers blatantly. "I like you."

What?!

Alright Sasha, this isn't real. This is only a dream and this won't be real!

As I've spent too much time getting lost with my thoughts, this gives enough time for the boy above me to smash his lips down on mine. Now it's my turn to widen my eyes in shock as I can feel him smirk while his tongue caresses my lower lip. Slowly getting use to his sudden love attack, I let myself melt under his grasp, knowing that it won't be easy for me to free myself from this hell.

Or paradise.

I begin to return the kiss by biting onto his lower lip gently. Our heads adjusted from side to side while our eyes are shut during the process. Until Clerence pulls away first, gasping, his face shows great hint of realization that he has done something forbidden.

My mind goes blank ever since he kisses me by force. Hence this only brings me to stare at him in daze and awe. His delicate visage is a flush of red and I believe so does mine too. Kayla's scream is muted since who knows. In order to talk to her, I shout at the sky, ignoring the fake Clerence's appearance.

"How does it feel to have your precious boyfriend taken, bitch?"

No response.

Probably dead or have awaken due to the fall.

As I'm about to shrug that feeling of being ignored away, her response is finally audible. "Get the fuck away from my Clerence, of course I'm not happy, you pigheaded frog." Appearing from nowhere, her words sound like swords to my heart but I'm not weak as she thinks anymore, since her training on me seems to be efficient to build a shield around my hurt heart.

"But too bad, he doesn't like you," I say, cooing at her mockingly until she groans. "He likes me."

"Fuck off and you know what, you better be dead before I see you again, Sasha!" Kayla hisses without even thinking twice. And I have enough of her narcissistic and selfish behaviour.

"Shut up bitch." It is Clerence who is talking. "I am not your Clerence, so the person who should fuck off is you, Kayla Jennings." I can't believe my own ears and eyes. This boy is pinning me down and smashing his lips on mine a minute ago, and now he is protecting me from Kayla's assault. In her dream.

But is this really a dream?

I can't help but begin to doubt. Hey, that rhymes.

"How dare you?!" She roars, now from behind us with her legs dirty with mud.

"How dare you?!" Not only this gives Kayla a great slap on the face, I am as well because this sentence is being snapped by both Clerence and me in sync. And I did not expect this to be happening once I've prepared emotionally to finish this alone. With our strong looks of anger plastered on our visages, the pair of us are facing the girl, whose legs are getting wobbly because of heart break.

"You two dickheads are so mean!"

"And so are you!" We argue in unison again. This time, even fiercer.

"Oh and is that a scratch mark on your arm, Kayla?" I ask, pointing at the red marks. Following my pointing finger, she averts her gaze to her arm and back to me, her face mixed with confusion and anger and frustration. Almost all the negative emotions you can name. "I did that to you on that roller coaster."

Her breath becomes unsteady when all her expressions are compressed into one – terrified. And then, she screams, tossing me out of her dream as I've scared her awake.

Isabelle is standing by the corner, waiting for me. She gives me a big thumbs up while her beautiful eyes hold mine. A huge smile is rewarding to me and I can't deny that I feel not only happy, but a mixture of satisfaction and excitation and more curiosity. Curious because of how Clerence has acted in the dream. A part of me wishes that all of these are real.

***

Hansel

I bounce up from the bed after witnessing the scene. First, Sasha pushed Kayla down the cliff by pushing Clerence from behind. And then, Clerence kissed her on the ground. And then, the pair of them had a tongue fight with Kayla until it is finished with her terribly loud scream.

"Do you enjoy the show, brother?" The voice startles me when I gasp and begin to look around, though the voice seems to be ringing in beneath my brain walls.

Letting out a shaky breath, I know that she has returned to visit again. "Isa?" I breathe when a giggle answers, sending shiver down my spine. Isa is my dead little sister. She hasn't reincarnated yet because of one mistake she did before her life ended in a car accident – cursing at our mum. And it's been twenty years since she died.

"My dear brother," Isa's voice is steady and sonorous. "I miss you so much."

I can feel her appearance, yet I can't see her. A bead of tear runs down my eye when the memory of seeing her school bus burnt in the news come rushing through my unarmed thinking system.

Hoping that she can hear me, my mouth trembles with the word I want to say to her so much, "I miss you too, Isabelle."

But silence happens to be the response.

ᴸᴹᴬᴼ, ᵀᴴᴱᵞ ᴷᴵˢˢᴱᴰ 🙈🙈

ᴴᴱᵞ ᴿᴱᴬᴰᴱᴿˢ, ᴵ'ᴹ ᴮᴬᶜᴷ ᴬᴺᴰ ᵀᴴᴬᴺᴷˢ ᶠᴼᴿ ᵀᴴᴱ ᵂᴬᴵᵀ ❤❤

ᴺᴼ ᴹᴼᴿᴱ ᵟᵁᴱˢᵀᴵᴼᴺˢ ᴵᴺ ᵀᴴᴵˢ ᶜᴴᴬᴾᵀᴱᴿ, ˢᴼ ᴵ'ᴸᴸ ᴮᴱ ᵀᴴᴱ ᴼᴺᴱ ᵂᴬᴵᵀᴵᴺᴳ ᶠᴼᴿ ᵞᴼᵁᴿ ᵟᵁᴱˢᵀᴵᴼᴺˢ ᴬᴮᴼᵁᵀ ᵞᴼᵁᴿ ᴰᴼᵁᴮᵀˢ ᴵᴺ ᵀᴴᴵˢ ˢᵀᴼᴿᵞ.
ᵀᴴᴬᴺᴷ ᵞᴼᵁ ᴬᴳᴬᴵᴺ ᶠᴼᴿ ˢᵁᴾᴾᴼᴿᵀᴵᴺᴳ ᴬᴺᴰ ᴵ'ᴸᴸ ˢᴱᴱ ᵞᴼᵁ ᴵᴺ ᵀᴴᴱ ᴺᴱˣᵀ ᵁᴾᴰᴬᵀᴱ 💕💕