Vernal 51st, 4,364; Evening, 23:12

Firstday, Vernal 51st, 3–…4,364; Evening, 23:12 [3248522685]

"Pig girl! Pig girl! All wrapped up in ha-ir!"

"Pig girl! Pig girl! Oh so very sca-red!"

It was a day like any other within a small park along the main thoroughfare. Kids jumping and running around the playground. Parents chatting serenely on the nearby benches. And at the center of it all was one girl with blond pigtails, acting as the butt of their "game". As long as it's not my child, the parents thought. Best of all, the girl wouldn't tell anyone, making her the perfect toy to play with.

But...

Knock knock knock.

"Hey Ruya." Belle stood in front of the door to Ruya's room. Her hands fidgeted nervously, occasionally reaching out for the doorknob, yet stopping a moment before grasping it. She knew she should go inside. She knew Ruya was falling apart from the sobs echoing through the hall.

But she couldn't... no wouldn't dare go any further.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!" Ruya screamed again, tossing anything and everything across the room. Clothes, the lamp, her phone -- nothing was spared. After all, within the shadows seeping into the room...

...Ruya could see those two white eyes staring back, smiling.

And so, the glass walls shattered, plunging her into the darkness. The lens she viewed the world through had disappeared. Everyone and everything was an enemy. Ruya couldn't even recognize her own mother when she barged in, instead throwing the nightstand by her bedside at the "intruder".

Belle just happened to be there at the time. It wasn't anything special. She had only gone to check up on her friend. Suzu and Marie mentioned that Ruya had gone crazy, but Belle didn't think much of it. They probably got into an argument, she concluded, That's all. But after seeing the despair etched on Ruya's marred face, wailing....

...Belle found herself taking a step back.

An involuntary response spawned from fear. How else would a kid react, seeing such a scene? One could say it was normal, expected even.

However, Ruya's eyes widened at that exact moment, tears streaming down her cheek. A timely coincidence. She couldn't recognize the people in front of her, after all. But that change shook Belle to her core.

It made her think, at that moment, that most important moment, she was a coward.

Crack.

"How are you doing today?" Belle's words sounded hollow, standing just outside once again. There was an hour or so before the sun completely set, so Ruya was still in a partial state of delirium. If Belle were to open the door, she would see Ruya curled up in a ball, quietly crying. But she didn't, like the last time and the time before that.

"School was pretty much the same." Two weeks had passed since that day Belle first saw Ruya. Suzu and Marie, their other two friends, were nowhere to be seen. No, that's not right.

They just don't want to come.

From their perspective, Ruya was in the wrong. All Suzu did was tap her on the shoulder, and Ruya screamed as if experiencing something horrible. Her deteriorating mentality didn't matter; she was being a drama queen.

But although both of them told that to Belle, she didn't believe them. After all, seeing Ruya, feeling her cries, she knew something must've happened, something that broke her. And even if nothing did, that still wasn't an excuse to ignore Ruya's pain. It didn't give them the right to turn away when their friend was suffering, like she almost did.

Ruya is their friend, right?

"Oh! Your mother made some apple pie, your favorite. I'll just leave it right over here." Belle felt like she had to step up, to help her friend in any way she could. A false display of friendship, perhaps. However, her behavior didn't truly stem from that.

No, it was guilt. Guilt for turning away when it mattered most.

"Hey Ruya. Did you see the comet fly by? It looked absolutely beautiful among the stars." Belle continued to visit as the days turned into seasons.

"Hey Ruya. I ran into Suzu and Marie today. Don't worry, I socked them right in the face with the old one-two!" And the seasons turned into years.

Rain, sleet, or snow, Belle came by without fail. Each and everyday, she stood just outside the door, never knocking nor attempting to enter. Each and everyday, she talked about what was happening in the world beyond. It was the only thing she could do.

And slowly but surely, things began to change.

At first, Ruya couldn't understand. Everything was in pieces; she could barely tell what was going on, what she was doing. In her state of hysteria, she only did the minimum to stay alive, and only when she could no longer ignore her body's signals. Over time, the shattered pieces put themselves back together. Bits of words, at first. Then sentences. Then finally, the people saying them.

"Why?" That was the first word Ruya whispered in two years.

"Huh? Ruya?" Belle thought she misheard for a moment, putting her ear to the door.

"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? WHY?" Ruya's mutters turned into screams, reaching through the door to hold Belle hostage. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? Are you making fun of me??! Are you trying to trick me too???" Suzu and Marie already betrayed her, and she believed that Belle was no different. "I don't understand. I don't understand." She repeated those words over and over, her voice shrinking to a hush.

...well... that's because... Belle couldn't tell her the truth. It wasn't what Ruya needed to hear at that moment.

A memory flashed through Belle's mind. The kids that had once picked on her, running away in fear of a stick-wielding maniac. "Yeah you better run!" that girl yelled at their retreating figures. Then, she turned around, reaching out a hand towards Belle. "Are you alright?"

Ruya was like Belle's past self. So instead...

"It's because you always reached out a hand whenever I was hurt and down. So now, I'll be the one to help you." A sweet lie mixed with a sliver of truth. Words from the heart.

"So I'll wait for as long as you need and chase away anything that tries to hurt you."

And to do that, to save you, I'll become you, just as you've become me.