9

" "Ok, let me just say hi to her." The woman smiled at Sibylla as she headed to the other side of the room where a young girl was sitting. "Hey L'isaisa, your guest has arrived." The girl, who was apparently named L'isaisa, turned to face Sibylla, smiling sweetly. Sibylla nodded in return.

"Hi, welcome to my humble office." The older lady motioned towards the chair opposite hers. "Please take a seat. Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Tea? Water? Or do you prefer to stay seated?" Sibylla hesitated for a moment, wondering whether she should ask or not. She decided that she could try something out and decided to speak up: "Could I please have a glass of water please?" Mrs. Terezi raised an eyebrow and nodded. She left the room and returned after a minute with two glasses full of water and handed them to Sibylla. "I've ordered a bottle of wine for your friend. Please drink it up, we can talk later." With that the old woman left, leaving Sibylla alone with L'isaisa.

Sibylla took a sip of the water and tried to think of something to say. She had a lot to say, but none of her words felt right. The most she could manage to say was a quiet 'thank you' before putting the glass down onto the table and fiddling with the edge of the blanket. L'isaisa smiled. "You don't have to thank me. I'm happy to help you." Sibylla nodded slowly as L'isaisa smiled at her.

"Now then, Sibylle…" She paused. "You seem to be a pretty interesting girl. I would love to hear how you ended up being stuck here." "Well, you see…" She trailed off, unsure how to continue, but L'isaisa interrupted her: "Do tell, it will make me feel much better knowing what happened, and why you're here." Sibylla hesitated for a moment, debating whether to continue, but ultimately decided against it. She took another sip of water and began: "So I was walking home one day. My mom said that she didn't want to go out and that she wanted to spend some time with me. But she forgot that I still lived by myself so she sent me to pick up some things, but by the time I got back home she wasn't there anymore. So I looked around everywhere, thinking that she had gone outside or something. But I couldn't find her anywhere." Sibylla stopped talking, taking a deep breath as she stared at her lap. L'isaisa waited patiently for her to continue.

"Then I noticed that my parents' bedroom door was slightly ajar, so I cautiously opened it just a bit and peeked inside. I could barely make out my mother's form lying on the bed, completely silent and motionless. Then I heard footsteps coming closer and closer and realized that whoever was coming was sneaking up on us. So I ducked inside our room and hid under the blankets. They entered the room. I held my breath, listening carefully as my father talked to my mother in a quiet voice. I thought he was just saying comforting words, you know, "it's okay honey, it's going to be ok." But then he suddenly started screaming. He was shouting about how horrible everything was, how we deserved to die. That it was all our fault for bringing evil into our world.