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A glowing pair of purple eyes were staring right at Mila. The eyes of a ghostly figure floating in front of Mila’s window. Mila grabbed her blanket and hid behind it. Her heart was beating one thousand beats a minute. It took a couple of moments for Mila to cool down. I am an adult now, I don’t believe in ghosts anymore. I am probably still hallucinating from the nightmare before. Mila slowly lowered the blanket from her head, trying to get another look. Nope, the ghost is definitely still there. Now Mila got another look at the strange creature, she noticed that it appeared to be female. Beautiful white locks ran along her shoulders, giving her an angelic appearance. Still, the ghost’s most striking feature was those deep purple eyes. Mila couldn’t help staring into them. The ghost noticed a pulled a faint smile with her puffy red lips. Without opening her mouth any further, an angelic voice echoed through Mila’s head.

“Mila my dear, please put away your blanket. There is no need for it.”

Mila listened in awe, not execution upon the celestial command. Was that the ghost talking to me? It must be! But why was her mouth not moving then? Mila tried to come up with a question, but she wasn’t able to formulate anything coherent. Luckily the ghost interrupted her.

“Oh darling, you must have so many questions, but trust me, you have no time to spare”

“Let me break the news to you without any sugarcoating. Sweety, what happened wasn’t a regular nightmare. You just experienced death.”

Death? But I am clearly still here right?

“In fact, not only you died, but everyone you hold dear. The world as you know it came to an end”

Mila looked around, and aside from the mysterious figure by her window, this seemed to be her room as she had always known it. A small, messy room on the top floor of a typical suburban family home. Various clothing items were scattered on the floor. On the wall hang some punk rock group Mila listened to. Littered across the room were various items of the various hobbies Mila’s parents made her practice. A badminton racket, ballet shoes, a violin bow, and a chessboard that had been set on its side. They now only serve as a look into Mila’s past. Reminders of the girl her parents wanted her to become. A portrait of a happy family that never was…

“Your mind wandered off again, didn’t it?”

Does she know me? Can she read my mind?

“I know you all too well Mila Kinoshita, 18 years old, female delinquent. You hang around all day with your friends, drinking or otherwise wasting your time. You only engage in self-indulgence, with zero care for others. Well, miss, this behavior of yours is what got all of us in trouble in the first place.”

Mila tried to keep her head cool while the ghost was clearly trying to get a reaction out of her. Still, she couldn’t help to get a bit aggregated, Mila was no longer hiding behind a blanket - she had now crossed her arms.

“Fufu… I think that was enough for now.”

The ghost laughed a little and then continued with her monologue.

“So sweety, this is what I want you to do. You’ll remember the big park on the east side of the city that you used to visit with your parents? Please find your way toward it and grab yourself a big piece of fruit.”

Mila was beyond confused. How would going to a park in the middle of the night help her save the world? None of this was making sense. Did one of my friends slip something in my drink? They wouldn’t do that right?

“Trust me, this will all make sense once you get there.”

Mila couldn’t handle it anymore, she lay down in bed again and pulled her blanket over her. She decided to ignore the ghost's request and got ready to go back to sleep again. She grabbed a small flask that was standing on her nightstand and chugged it down in one sip. I hope I forget all of this by tomorrow morning…

The ghost sighed with disappointment and then vanished.

Mila drifted off to sleep…

X

“Ring… ring… ring”

The alarm went off.

Mila’s head hurt a lot, she took a sip of water and fell asleep again…

When Mila woke up again, she looked at the alarm and knew she was certainly going to miss her bus.

*sigh*

She picked up her school skirt and blouse from the ground, put them on, and hurried down the stairs. She opened the fridge in the small chance there would be something to eat in there but no. Some cans of beer and some moldy leftovers that had been there for weeks. She noticed a jar of pickles in the corner, grabbed one, and put it in her mouth.

Mila entered the living room to grab her bag. Like most mornings, she found her dad sleeping in the armchair, surrounded by empty beer cans. The TV was still left on, broadcasting a memorial for some disaster that happened a couple of years ago. Wait a minute… didn’t they air that yesterday as well? Yesterday or was that a dream? Her heart jumped a beat. Suddenly, Mila remembered the deal and the ghost that had visited her room. That surely was a scary nightmare...

Mila rushed towards the bus stop and caught the next bus. She would still be in school on time - at least if there wasn’t too much traffic. She put her hand in her bag and grabbed her headphones and put them on. She pressed play but noticed the tape had to be rewound. Didn’t she just rewind it?

“--Please take off your headphones and pay attention to your classes.

I don’t want you around here for another year miss”

Said the hall monitor to Mila as she entered the school.

This all feels awfully familiar somehow…

As Mila sat down to change her shoes, her friend Hajime walked up to her.

“What’s up Mila? You look horrendous today, did you get any sleep?”

“Please get out of…”

Mila stopped halfway through the sentence. Didn’t we have this exact conversation before? She felt a little light in her head.

“Ehh… I had a strange dream today, that’s all. My head is a bit cloudy”

“I have something to keep your mind off then.

Do you remember this manga I have been bugging you about, Berserker?

They are doing an anime of that, it’s going to be totally rad! We have to watch it together”

“Don’t really care.. as I told you yesterday”

Hajime frowned.

“That’s strange, I only read about it in this morning’s magazine”

Mila was confused. Maybe it didn’t actually happen yesterday… but in the nightmare she had. Mila tried to remember what happened after this in her dream.

“Try not to look too conspicuous, but there is another confession scene playing out right behind you”

Mila looked around and suddenly remembered everything. A shiver went down her body. She stood up and excused herself.

“I have to go to the restroom”

Mila locked the door and sat down. She was panicking a little. Did all of this happen before? It wasn’t a dream, was it? Does this mean the world will end now? I should have listened to that ghost!!!

Even from the bathroom, she could hear the freshman girls screaming against each other, like in her dream. Before Mila knew the world started shaking again. The darkness, the ringing, the aggregating pain… These brief moments felt like ages… Before Mila knew the only thing left was the darkness…