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"Why a limo?" Faith asked laughing. Though the interior is huge, the four of them sat on one side of the seats while he sat on the opposite.

"I didn't think the other car would fit all of us comfortably."

"And you kinda wanted to show off." Aliya wiggled her eyebrows at him.

"Maybe." He said, looking at Caitlyn. Making the girls gasp and nudge her.

"Anyway! What happened to your face Shia? I haven't seen that mark before." Caitlyn pointed to the scar on Shia's face.

"Yeah. It looks like it'll hurt."

"What happened, Shia?"

Shia touched the mark and smiled at the memory.

"I like it. It's because of this mark that I was able to get closer to someone, so I like it. Do you guys think it's ugly?"

"No." They cried.

"You're always pretty. With the scar or not. And even with your skin, you're still prettier than almost everyone." Faith quickly spoke out.

Shia should never feel like she's ugly.

"Thank you. You're all also the most attractive people I know with the most beautiful souls." She smiled at all of them, landing her gaze on Dorran. He blushed when she looked at him.

"So?" Shia asked. "How is she?"

With all their attention on Dorran, he cleared his throat and looked at each of them in the eyes stopping at Caitlyn.

"You're not going to like what you're going to hear. Is that ok with you? Remember, I'm giving you this choice to hear it or not. You can just ignore it and walk away, not be involved. Live the rest of your life normally."

"If we do that, what happens to Kaia?" Caitlyn asked.

"Anything really. She would prefer if you guys aren't involved but we're running out of options and there's really no adult we can count on for this, so it could get dangerous. But you choose."

"I'm staying," Caitlyn said without a second's hesitation.

"Me too. Kaia never asks for help, I want to help." Aliya spoke right after Caitlyn.

"Me three. She could have left me alone and ignore me like everyone else did but she didn't and I got to meet all of you. I'm new but I want to do what I can. I'm staying." Faith spoke next, determination in her voice.

"There was never an option in my mind to reject if anyone of you guys asked me for help. But I have this question, what about you?" Shia asked Dorran.

"Me?" He asked, taken aback.

"Yeah. You didn't have to involve yourself this much but you did. So we're giving you the option to stay or leave now."

Dorran looked out the window, at the landscape with the suffocating vehicles and buildings that surrounded him all the time. He saw the little alleyways and remembered where Caitlyn took him to and all that she said.

"If- if I say I'll help. Can I become part of your family?" He glanced at Caitlyn and the rest of them, then focused on the leather of the seat.

"What are you talking about?" Aliya looked at him in disbelief.

"Yeah. Seriously. Why are you asking that?" Faith joined in.

"Are you dumb or something?" Caitlyn covered her mouth, almost laughing.

"Why would we need to accept you in the family again?" Shia questioned, making his head shoot up. Hints of tears in his eyes.

"You're already our family, Dorran." Caitlyn smiled gently at him.

"We already accepted you that day in the hospital. I thought you knew." Aliya burst out laughing now.

"Really? I'm so glad." His voice was full of relief as he sat back up, covering his eyes and little droplets flowed down his eyes.

"Hey, guys. Why don't we give him a proper welcome?" Faith suggested.

"That's a really good idea, Faith." Shia smiled at her.

"I'll do it." Caitlyn took his hand from his eyes and handed him a handkerchief. With her ugliest smile, she said, "Welcome to the family, Dor_Ran. Now that you're here, you're not allowed to leave." She winked at him.

He wiped his face with the handkerchief. "Yeah. If I ever try to leave you can do whatever you want to me."

"We won't do that, silly. Right, guys?" Faith looked around her just to see them smiling sinisterly at him. "G-guys?"

"Ok! We'll hold you to it." Aliya perked up.

"Aliya?"

"But you better give us good blackmail materials." Caitlyn leaned back onto the seat.

"Caitlyn? Blackmail?"

"I'll just kill you if you ever dare to do that, simple." Shia shrugged her shoulders.

"K-kill? S-S-Shia?!"

Dorran laughed. "Sure. To all of you. I promise."

They stuck out their pinkie fingers. "It's not binding unless it's with a pinkie promise."

"Let me guess. Kaia?"

"You know it."

"Ok. It's a promise then."

♣

"What!? No way!" Caitlyn sat up in shock, then relaxed her face to a smile. "Just kidding. I had a feeling it was something like that."

"How?! How did you get a feeling like that??" Faith asked, the news bewildering her.

"Well. I kinda already knew about that." Shia said, guilty.

"And you didn't tell us?" Faith looked at her with wide eyes as Shia shrugged her shoulders.

"She told me not to tell."

"Am I the only one that's surprised with this?" Faith exclaimed looking around her.

"No. I'm surprised too," Aliya said, calmly.

"Then, why are you still so calm?"

"Max told me that something strange is happening the night Kaia got admitted and my mind made so many theories. I didn't think of this but I thought of something weirder. So . . . this is surprising, but not shocking."

"Y'all are something else." She said, feeling like a mother with her kids right now. "What's wrong with Kaia now then? It must be bad because you called us."

"I think Kaia is losing her mind."

"We're here, young master."

♣

The four of them sat on the couch in the living room. Admiring the marble work and the decorations.

"Hey guys, you came." A very tired looking Max appeared carrying a bundle of cloth in his arms.

"Max! This is where you disappeared to? With no calls, Aunt and uncle are so worried." Aliya scolded him.

"Tell them that I'm sorry. I'll come back as soon as I can." He placed the bundle down on the couch and they saw Kaia's head peek out.

"Kaia!" They cried and rushed to her.

Startled, she buried herself in the blanket again as Max stepped in front of her, stopping them from reaching Kaia.

"Hey. What gives?" Aliya shouted at him.

"Listen, be very careful when talking with her. She is startled very easily and will suddenly start screaming and throwing things at different parts of the room. She'll zone out and came back surprised to see you again. And do not, whatever you do, do not let her see her reflection. The last time we did that, she punched it, until only little pieces of it were left. It took so long to remove those little and not so little glass pieces. Hopefully, she won't see you guys as a threat."

He slowly moved away and they smiled at Kaia, greeting her softly. At first, she didn't seem to see them but when they spoke she moved out of her covers and jumped on them, holding them tightly.

They hugged her back with so much relief that they all began to laugh. No one wanted to move out of the hug but they had to.

Kaia still had a very empty look on her face but she is a little brighter. She clung onto the edges of their clothes, so very afraid that they would disappear like they always did in her dreams. She would also keep poking their skin to feel if they were really there.

Caitlyn sat next to Kaia, holding her in her arms as she leans onto her and promptly fell asleep. Shia sat beside her, looking at the ever-increasing wounds and bruises on Kaia.

"Why didn't you take her to the doctor?" Shia asked.

"I did. They told me that she is insane and need to be admitted to a mental hospital. The only reason they didn't was because I didn't allow them to." Dorran spoke with the voice of one at their last resort.

"We tried everything we could. The adults we talked to took it as a joke and just told us to admit her to the hospital. What do you think your parents will feel if you told them, Shia?" Max asked.

". . . They'll definitely tell us to admit Kaia to the hospital." She replied. "What about Faith's parents?"

Faith shook her head. "Do you think they'll believe when I say, 'Mama, something is happening to Kaia. It could be because she died and went back in time and is living through everything again.'?"

"Yeah. Your right. Even we barely believe it. It's just because we know Kaia that's why we believed. Otherwise, if anyone else told this to us, we would have laughed it off." Aliya said. "Man. She looks so tired."

"Oh, you have no idea." Ran said just as Max collapsed onto the couch and fell asleep.

"Sae! Blanket! He's been taking care of her for the past days. Sometimes she would suddenly wake up at night screaming and he's awake. He will run to her room and help her sleep then go back to his room."

"Here, young master. Would you all like some tea and snacks?" She smiled sweetly at all of them.

"Thank you and yes. That'll be great. We'll be here a while too, can you make sure no one comes here?" He opened the blanket and covered Max with it, carefully tucking it at the sides.

"Except for the snacks?"

"Yes, Sae. Except for the snacks, no one can come in."

"Ok, young master. I'll go to prepare it." She gave a little bow and walked out.

"Thank you." They chimed.

"Uh . . . Maybe the wrong time to tell you this, but I already ate." Faith raised her hand and spoke.

"I think all of us have." Aliya looked around at all the nodding heads.

"She'll never take no for an answer. Especially when it comes to making snacks for my friends." He coughed.

"Could it be because you never had friends before?" Faith teased him, while the others laughed.

"Well, no matter. He has us now and we have him, right?" Caitlyn smiled up at him.

"That's true. Wait, does that mean we can come here any time we want to?" Faith looked at him with sparkling eyes.

"Yeah. Come anytime you want to." Dor said. "I'll show you around when I can."

"Yay!" Aliya and Faith cheered. "You're the best person in the world."

"You're just trying to butter me up aren't you?" He remarked at them.

"Na."

"Not really."

"Because if we wanted to use you, we just have to-"

"-use Caitlyn. Right, Caitlyn?"

"Will she allow you to just use her name in vain like that though?" Dor asked.

"Sure." Caitlyn permitted them with a gleam in her eyes.

Dorran fake gasped when he heard her say that then laughed. "I knew you would say that. But you don't have to use Caitlyn. I'll still help you guys when you ask. But not for trivial things."

"Ok. You're still the best." They both said in unison.

"Are you sure they aren't sisters?" He asked Caitlyn and Shia who shrugged their shoulders.

"So, what's your plan?" Caitlyn asked him.

"What we need to do first is to get into Kaia's mind and try to figure out what's going on in there."

"And we can do that?"

"I called for a hypnotist."

"No. Nononononono. I'm not allowing Kaia to be hypnotised. What if he makes her do something she doesn't want to?" Caitlyn held her protectively to her.

"He's a trusted family friend. Don't worry, he won't do anything."

"Can I check him first?" Shia asked. "Mum taught me a trick. Will you trust him after I do that, Caitlyn?"

"Fine. After he gets Shia's approval."

"I'll go get him."