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"Sometimes you make me want to hit you," Harmonie said with a sigh, rubbing her eyebrows.

"Get up and go to her and don't come back until you've talked with her."

After finishing what she had to say, she turned and went to her room.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When she got to her room, she put her computer on her bed and got a pair of pajamas out of her walk-in closet.

She went to her bathroom with her pajamas in her arms.

20 minutes later, after putting on her pajamas, which consisted of shorts and a tank top.

She was lying on her back on her bed, her forearm shielding her eyes from the light after putting away her computer.

Then she heard a knock at the door, but she did not move or answer it.

A few minutes later, she heard the door open but remained frozen.

"Harmonie." Seeing that Harmonie didn't answer, Hazel moved closer and sat down on the edge of the bed.

She lifted Harmonie's arm and saw that, despite her closed eyes, she had a frown on her

face.

Harmonie opened her eyes, blinked a few times, then sat up and leaned on the bed's headboard.

"Harmonie."

"Yes, Auntie," Harmonie said quietly as she looked at her. Hazel smiled because it was very rare that Harmonie called her that. It was her way of showing her fragility to her aunt.

"I know you don't want to talk about it anymore, but as you were told earlier, you're going to have to tell her sometime, aren't you?" said Hazel, looking at her seriously.

"She doesn't need to know," Harmonie grunted slightly as she frowned and looked away.

"I don't understand, though it's not a bad thing that she knows. And I know that Cassandra would be there to help you."

"How can you be sure? And besides, I know she has her own problems to deal with. So why?" asked Harmonie, looking at her.

Hazel smiled and said, "Because she loves you, my dear. She loves you very much, and she proves it over and over again. And that's all the more reason to talk to her about your problems. If you have noticed that something is bothering her, it must be the same for her with you.

And she's bound to be worried and won't want to rush you. "

Harmonie looked at her silently, not intending to answer.

Hazel, understanding what she was thinking, continued to smile and said to her, "You thought we wouldn't notice, and I didn't see any intention on your part to hide it." Then she stroked Harmonie's cheek, "So tell her, okay?"

Harmonie sighed and then said, "Why are you pushing this so hard? It will just be an extra burden for her. What difference will it make when she knows?"

"It will change a lot of things, but more importantly, it will give Cassandra some answers.

Even if she doesn't show it, I know you both knew very well how much your departure three years ago affected her."

"Auntie..." Harmonie said with a sigh, "I'm trying to get through this as best as I can, but I don't want her to know while it's still there."

"You're thinking about it again?" said Hazel, hiding her concern as best she could.

"It's not something you get over overnight. But it does get better."

"And you don't-"

"No, despite the times when it's really hard to deal with, I manage. I'm getting by on my own," she said, smiling sadly.

Hazel looked at her doubtfully, "On your own? No. You know you'll always have us by your side," she said, taking her hand.

Harmonie looked down at Hazel's hand, lost in thought. Hazel watched her silently without saying anything.

Then Harmonie sighed and said in a tired tone, "Hazel, can you please leave me alone now?

Hazel understood that the discussion was over for Harmonie, she took her in her arms, kissed her on the forehead, stood up, wished her good night, and left.

Hazel's face was closed, she took her phone out of the pocket of her shorts and called someone.

In her room, Harmonie patted her thigh, her eyes on the nightstand drawer after Hazel left, then reluctantly looked away.

When she saw that the little pats on her thigh weren't working, she wrapped her arms around herself, each hand touching the opposite shoulder, and began to pat herself gently in an alternating rhythm. She did a butterfly hug to calm herself down.

A few minutes later, she lay back down and closed her eyes to better visualize what she had to do.

And without realizing it, she fell asleep.

...

"Josh?" said Hazel on the phone.

"Yeah, it's me." Then her eyes fell on Harmonie's door before she entered her own room.

"I thought it would be cool if we saw each other again. I mean, it's been a year since we've seen each other."

Hazel listened to what her interlocutor said, then smiled and said after a sigh, "Yes, I think your lessons will do the family a lot of good. Even though it is not too present, the atmosphere is heavy at the moment. Despite the party, we had yesterday to relax, even though we didn't do much after the guests left and the little-"

"Yes, that's right. Hence, the urgent need for your lessons. You are the best we know in your field. And it's mostly because you're here."

"Yes, I'm in Milee. I have some urgent business to take care of... but it's on hold for now. So today I remembered that you moved here a year ago."

"Yes, that would be great. I'll make a note of it. By the way, I apologize for calling you so late -"

"Yes, I know I can call you anytime, but you need to sleep too." Hazel smiled slightly.

"Well, let's talk tomorrow and get everything organized?"

"Okay, thanks, bye." Hazel turned off the phone, sighed, and lay on her bed.

Hazel's room was only dimly lit by the small night light. It was sparsely decorated, but she had a definite theme, everything in the room was either a dark blue or a slightly lighter blue, she wanted to keep a feeling of freshness, and all her decorating was based on that thought and for her, the color blue defined freshness best. It could be seen much better during the day.

Hazel looked at the ceiling and began to think about her agenda for tomorrow, going over everything in detail in her mind. Then she got under the covers and began to undress. She did not like sleeping with her clothes on, she found it uncomfortable.

....

Harmonie found herself in front of the child again, it did not even surprise her anymore. It had been three years since she had been tormented by this ghost.

The child was curled up in a corner, the chains on their body more present than the other times. It was the first time she noticed that the child was chained, but a feeling deep inside her told her that the child had always been chained from the beginning, and it was only now that she noticed.

The child raised their head, their eyes slightly red. The tears on their faces had dried and stopped flowing. But the pain was still there, somehow magnified tenfold.

"I want Mommy." They began softly, in an almost uncertain voice.

"I want to join, Mommy," they repeated more confidently as she looked at Harmonie.

"I'm tired of all this pain." Harmonie heard the tone of the child's voice grow sadder and sadder.

"I just want to go," they finally said as a kind of conclusion, despite everything the child felt, tiredness took over.

"Do you understand what you are asking? Do you understand what it means?" asked Harmonie quietly as she came closer.

The child looked at Harmonie crouching before them and smiled sadly, but their eyes showed determination, "I too want to become a star that will shine brightly in the darkness."

Harmonie looked at her doubtfully, "Very poetic. It's recycled, but it's still poetic," she said, wondering if she was using the right words to describe what the child had just said.

"I know it sounds silly, but that's what I'm supposed to do," the child said with a smile,

"Unfortunately, it's only getting bigger, and I have to stop it and make it stop."

Harmonie felt deep inside that she knew what the child was talking about. But she still looked at them doubtfully, silently asking the child what they were talking about.

The child then continued, seeing her expression, "This darkness. It eats away at your everything - your mind, your heart, and your soul - and it's getting bigger and bigger..."

The child suddenly stopped in front of the dark look Harmonie gave them.

The child looked at her sadly, their eyes full of sadness and pain, "I know, and you know that you need help."

"You have to free me Harmonie. Don't lock me up anymore. I will be your hope." Harmonie's eyes went wide.

"So I'm the one who locked you up?" she said surprised, then her expression suddenly hardened, and she added coldly, "Then why do I have to free you?"

The child shook their heads, "No... no... no..." they repeated over and over. "I must be your hope! You can't keep me locked up like this! You have to release me! Please set me free!..."

The child's cries grew more hysterical as they tried to break free from their chains.

Harmonie stood up and watched as the child lost themselves in their sobs and hysteria.

Faced with this scene, she felt nothing. Or perhaps she felt everything at the same time that it inhibited everything.

Harmonie's eyes opened suddenly and rested on the alarm clock, which showed the time.

04:30

Her hand rose, and her fingers brushed her eyelids. Her eyes then rested on the tips of her fingers, which were wet.

Seeing this, she sighed, then curled up and buried her head in the pillow.

Suddenly she grunted and lay on her back with her arms at her sides, "You just can't leave me alone, not even for a moment," she whispered.

...

A few hours earlier

Chloe stopped a few feet from Sylvia's house so that she could see her porch but not be seen. This way, she took a few moments to calm herself.

She was stressed, but she needed to do this. After several deep breaths, she turned on the ignition and drove to Sylvia's house.

At first, she noticed that there was another car next to Sylvia's, but that didn't worry her.

Suddenly, the door to Sylvia's house opened and a man in a suit stepped out.

He turned back to Sylvia to talk to her again, but Chloe didn't know about what.

Then they hugged, and the man walked to the car, which happened to be a luxury sports car.

Chloe parked in front of the house got out, and wasted no time knocking on the door.

She heard footsteps and then the door opened, "Did you forget something..." Sylvia started, smiling, then when she saw Chloe her smile froze, "...something?"

Her smile faded, then an expression quickly crossed Sylvia's eyes, then disappeared, and a questioning look formed on her face.

"Chloe? What are you doing here?" she said with a smile.

Despite Sylvia's quick reaction, Chloe, who was used to hanging out with a very observant person, had some of Harmonie's quirks, so she didn't miss anything, no change escaped her, and she had a little idea what the expression was instead.

"I need to talk to you. Can I come in?" she asked, smiling slightly. Sylvia watched her silently, then stepped aside and let her in.

She couldn't know what was on her mind because Chloe hid her emotions very well.

...

06:00

The alarm went off, and Harmonie stopped it. She opened her eyes and unconsciously stretched out her hand beside her, feeling nothing, she suddenly rose up.

Then, remembering that Adelaide was at Cassandra's house, she lay back on her stomach and hit her forehead on the mattress, and grunted. Then she stopped and rested on the bed.

A few minutes later.

Finally, she decided it was time to get up for fear of falling back asleep.

She went to take a shower to wake up well. After finishing all her hygiene. She looked at herself in the mirror for a moment.

"I'm a mess," she said softly with a sigh, seeing the dark circles under her eyes, luckily it wasn't too visible, then she left the bathroom and went to her walk-in closet.

Her style didn't change that much for school, she always wore jogging pants, a t-shirt, and a hoodie.

But for once, she wanted to wear something different. It wasn't that she didn't have other clothes, it was just that she didn't want to wear them.

A black cargo, with a black beanie, a black turtleneck undershirt, then a black leather jacket and black leather boots was what she was going to wear, and on top of that, she was going to wear one of the silver necklaces her sister had given her, a wheat necklace. She left her hair the way it was: curly. Very curly.

After getting dressed and putting on her cologne, she put on her silver watch and then took her bag and left her room. With her boots in her hand, which she took out of their box, and slippers on her feet.

After greeting everyone she passed on her way, she arrived in the dining room and took her seat.

"What do you want, my dear?" asked Grace, smiling.