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Max looked at Kaia sleeping on the bed. The light from the moon shone down on her face, illuminating it. Though she was supposed to be resting, she doesn't look peaceful at all.

She kept gasping and thrashing around in her sleep; so scared of everything, even if she tries to hide it.

"Excuse me, sir." A nurse entered the room. "Visiting hours are over."

"Ok. I'll be out in just a minute." He patted her in her head and walked out the door.

Once he was out of the hospital, he took out his phone and made a call.

"Hey. I know it's late. I need to talk to you about something. Yes, it's related to Kaia. Ok, tomorrow."

Time to tell the others. She shouldn't have to go through this alone.

♣

Kaia woke up to a ton of messages on her phone from Shia, Aliya, Faith, and Caitlyn. All telling her that they were on their way to the hospital.

That was sent three hours ago.

She scrambled up and fell out of her bed, straight onto the floor.

"Kaia! Are you ok?" Her father jumped from his bed and rushed to her, carefully picking her up. He must have entered sometime during the night.

"My friends are coming." She looked at him in panic.

He smiled at her. "What are you so worried about? If they're your friends then I'm sure they are good people."

Kaia stared at the pile of flesh with eyeballs who sounded like her father and wondered what he did to him.

By now she was more or less used to those faces. She found out that the worse they looked, the more lifespans they used. She still felt uncomfortable but not scared anymore.

"I have to go to work now. I'll see you later, ok? Eat the breakfast they provide you ok? When I come back, there's a surprise for the birthday girl."

He wore his grey coat and walked out of the door with a wave.

I really can't get used to this.

Ding.

She reached for her phone and saw a message from Dorran and another from Caitlyn.

Caitlyn's message:

"Kaia. Where are you? We arrived ten minutes ago but Aliya forgot your room number and we went into too many wrong rooms we don't trust her anymore. We're in the waiting room."

Dorran's message:

"Kaia. I'm on my way there. I have something to tell you."

Maybe it's time to do something nice for Dorran.

She messaged him back telling him to go to the waiting room.

She was excited to see them again. Things were very tense at this time in her previous life but there doesn't seem to be any problem so far and she's happy.

Her thought went to Max, she didn't mean to say all those things the night before but she just felt so angry at him suddenly.

Still, I shouldn't have said all those things to him. He's just worried. I would be too.

I'll clear it out with him later on, for now, I have to get to the waiting room.

♣

"Do you think we should message her again?" Faith asked, nervously playing with her hair.

"I'm sure she'll see it, don't worry," Shia said.

"We could peek into another room. It's 243. I'm very sure this time." Aliya insisted.

"That's what you said the last four times, Aliya" Caitlyn giggled, munching on a packet of chips. "Don't worry, Kaia will come."

"Hey girls," Max called out to them from the hallway, he entered the room with a well-dressed, black-haired boy.

"Hi, Max." They chimed in unison.

"Who is that?" Aliya pointed to the boy behind him.

"I ran into him on my way here. Let me introduce you to-"

"Ran!" Caitlyn cried out, her mouth full of chips. She skipped to him and laughed. "How are you? I missed you so much. Where's Dor?"

"I'm here." Dor came out. "How are you, Caitlyn?"

"I'm good. You know Max?" She pointed to the boy beside him.

"Yeah." He grinned.

"That's great! We can hang out too. You'll hang out with us right?" Caitlyn got closer and closer to him as his cheeks burnt looking into her golden eyes.

"Y-yeah." He managed to stutter out.

"Yay! Guys, this is Dor-Ran. He's my favourite person in the world, besides you guys."

"Hi, Dorran!" They waved at him, a knowing look in everyone's eyes. But he was too busy procession what Caitlyn had just said to hear them.

"F-f-f-f-f-favouri-i-i-i-te. P-p-p-p-p-per-s-"

Max looked at him with disappointment. He acted so high and mighty whenever he met him but now, he's like a six-year-old with a crush.

When is Kaia coming?

He looked at the girls, talking and laughing amongst themselves. A faint smile came across his face when he watched them.

If I was in Kaia's shoes, I would have done the same things she did. Maybe I was being too hard on her.

Wait.

"Faith. Did you do something to your hair?"

"Oh yeah. I was meaning to ask that but couldn't find the opportunity." Aliya looked at her eagerly.

Everyone turned their attention to Faith with her blond hair in dreadlocks. Shia touched her shoulder and offered an encouraging smile.

"Shia's mother did them for me. What do you guys think?"

"It looks so good, Faith." Caitlyn gasped. "Can I touch it?"

"Sure."

"Wow~ you're so pretty, Faith."

"Thank you so much, I'm getting a little embarrassed with all these compliments." Faith covered her face in her hands.

"Why? You're so pretty, Faith. I love yours and Shia's hairstyles so much. It's always so pretty. I think I said pretty too many times." Aliya stuck out her tongue and shrugged her shoulders.

"You look beautiful, Faith," Max remarked while Dorran agreed.

Faith gave a wide grin to them. "Thank you so much. I'm so happy you think so. Oh! Kaia is here. Ka-"

As Kaia walked to the door of the room, they saw the bandages that covered her neck, hands, and legs. Shia, Caitlyn, and Faith gasped at the same time when they saw her face.

"What happened to her?" Shia whispered.

"Kaia!" Faith smiled and walked up to her, attempting to hide her dismay.

But Kaia couldn't hide hers. She stopped at the door and when she saw Faith, she felt all the air get knocked out of her lungs.

No. No. No. No. No. Nonononononononono-

Why is several lumps of flesh with Faith's brilliantly brown eyes smiling at her? Why is her hair blond? What's going on here?

She fell against the door, hands on her mouth. Her breathing became shallow as she felt her chest burn and her eyes blurred.

This can't be Faith. This is definitely not Faith. No, it can't be.

"Kaia?"

No. This is Faith.

With trembling hands, she reached out and cupped her face. When the flesh smiled at her, she broke down.

Kaia fell to her knees and cried, holding onto Faith.

She was so busy with finding Dorran that she completely ignored Faith.

How could I do that? How could I not be there for her?

With a voice that's never been used, she tried to say "I'm sorry" over and over again.

Her plan wasn't as foolproof as she wanted it to be but it was made to avoid things like this. She failed Faith while saving Aliya and she'll forever hate herself for this.

♣

Kaia sat on one of the chairs in the waiting room, curled up into a ball.

The rest of her friends were huddled in a corner and talking amongst themselves as they kept glancing her way.

Is there even still a chance?

Yes. She hasn't completely done it yet. She isn't dead yet, I can still fix this.

"There are four men another man in the parking lot." A nurse shouted as she came into the waiting.

"Do you know the man getting beaten up?" Another replied.

"No. I couldn't see his face. I just know that he's wearing a grey coat."

"Call the police. Let them handle it. Don't get involved."

Kaia got up from her seat and ran to the parking lot. She could hear people calling to her but she didn't care with her heart beating in her throat.

It could be any man with a grey jacket.

Yeah, but what bothered me is that I found him dead on the morning of my birthday and today is my birthday, but he was supposed to die the day before and he's still alive up to a few minutes ago.

He isn't dead. He just started to change. He isn't dead.

She kept repeating those words to herself even when she saw his body slumped over on the ground, blood pooling around it. A man stood beside him with a bloodied knife in his hand.

Kaia and the man made eye contact as she looked from her father to him then to the knife.

She ran to him and grabbed the knife as he slashed her with it while she grabbed it from him. With the handle of the knife, she hit him on the head, knocking him out.

The other man was more difficult.

She walked up to her father, his face no longer repulsed her as she held his head up.

He looked at her and smiled. "You know? You look just like your mother. You should smile more. She always smiled and was ready to help anyone that needed it, whether she could or not.

But she never smiled as brightly as she did when she had you, Kaia."

From birth, Kaia's face was so deformed that she couldn't even breathe properly. Tubes had to be attached to her body for her to live.

"What I, and everyone else, thought was disgusting about you, she loved those about you most. The deformation on your face, the fact that you are mute, she loved every little part of you."

Kaia's mother, Diana, was always praised for her beauty. Whether they were natural or she traded her lifespan for them, he didn't know nor did he care.

She was the light of his life and she cared more for her child than she did for him. He could never look at Kaia properly because of the bitterness he felt to her. His own daughter.

"When Diana died, all the light in my life got snuffed out and all I saw was emptiness. I saw no point to my life anymore. A life without her. But then I saw you that evening, with the exact same face as Diana. I was so dumbfounded I didn't know how to react." He chuckled, blood coming from his mouth as he coughed. Kaia pressed onto the stab wound, trying to stop the blood flow.

"The only thing I knew was that I had to get out of there. Every look and movement you made reminded me of her so much that I had to leave."

He reached for her cheek, brushing the tears away from her face. His face returned to normal as he smiled at her. "I'm sorry, Kaia."

"Kaia! There you are. Yeah, I found her." Dorran ran to her with the phone to his ear. He stopped when he saw the body on the ground. "We're in the parking lot. Come fast."

"Kaia?" He bent down to her but she couldn't see anyone at the moment.

She blinked her eyes and saw his lifespan decreasing rapidly.

Dorran.

"Kaia?"

She grabbed onto his arm placed it to her chest. "Do it. Come on."

"On him? Kaia. You have only three days left to live." Dor tried to reason with her.

"Take two then. Hurry!" She pleaded with her eyes but this time he wasn't giving in.

"No. I can't control how much I take. You're not dying on my watch." He glared at her and Kaia knew, he wasn't going to do it no matter how much she begged.

She let go of him and crawled to the man knocked unconscious. Taking the knife she discarded from the floor and looked at Dorran.

"What are you doing, Kaia? Put that knife down."

In a quick movement, she stabbed the man through his head, killing him instantly. Her lifespan increasing to nineteen again.

Kaia smiled at him but Dorran just shook his head, looking at her in disappointment. "Kaia, he's already dead. We can't bring a person back from the dead."

Clinching her teeth, Kaia crawled back to her father's body as it slowly grew cold. She looked at his peaceful face and felt anger rise in her.

Coward! Coward! Coward!

She started hitting his body, screaming incoherent noises as her anger just kept rising.

The rest of them entered at that moment silently watching Kaia hit her father's body. Until her bandages came off and revealed all the other bruises and cuts she had on her body, still bleeding from the cut on her face.

If you're really sorry, you would try to live! You would try to build a life with me, a good one! To the end, you're just thinking about yourself! You never cared about me! Never!

"Kaia!" Max walked forward and grabbed her hands. Some of her wounds had reopened were bleeding down her arms. "Enough ok?"

She looked at him with her empty eyes, a bitter smile making it to her face. She pulled her arms from his and signed at him.

"Happy? You were right."

She laughed as tears flowed down her eyes, staring into nothingness.

September 25: Thirteenth birthday.

Dad died today.