"TASHIA, Tashia!" When someone called her name, Tashia flinched and turned around.
"W—Why?" was all she could ask.
Her companions could only sigh.
"Don't you feel well?" You've been out of it ever since we got here." One of her companions remarked.
Tashia shrugged; sometimes, she couldn't stop her mind from wandering.
"Sorry." All she could do was ask for patience from her companions.
"We need to sleep; it's tiring. There's not even a vehicle here." One of her companions complained.
"Tashia, are you okay sleeping alone in the room?" one of her female colleagues suddenly asked.
She looked at her; she only nodded in response.
"Tash, you need to rest." It even patted her on the back.
She knew her colleagues would drink again, so she wouldn't join them. Tashia went straight to her room. Their bed is clean now, and it invites them to come up and rest.
Tashia changed into her pajamas and cleaned her body. She didn't know why she was no longer her usual self; she couldn't focus on what she needed to do, wondering why she was back in town.
She sighed; he could hear the laughter of his companions enjoying themselves outside. Even though her body was tired, she couldn't sleep, and her head started to ache from lying down. She moved to the side; there was a study table there.
Tashia wanted to start writing the narrative report that she couldn't get around to earlier. She took her notebook; she would start drafting first. She took her phone then.
She was afraid to open her phone and look at the pictures.
You need to do this, Tashia. She scolded herself. She gathered her courage and went to her gallery to look at the photos she had taken earlier; she only saw normal pictures now.
You're just overthinking things, Tashia.
She started working on the narrative report while her companions were happily chatting outside the room. She didn't notice that the surroundings were gradually becoming quiet.
Maybe they're already drunk. It just thought to itself, continuing with what it had observed earlier, its fear disappeared, and it was able to focus now.
She heard the door open and footsteps entering her room, but she didn't look back, assuming it might be a friend who had crashed there due to intoxication.
Tashia just let it be; she would finish her narrative report first before going to sleep. There were eyes watching her; maybe it was just a classmate, quietly observing her as she worked. Her brows furrowed when she noticed the strange look being directed at her.
She quickly looked at it; darkness engulfed her. She is here again, watching her grandmother Felicia in the cage.
"Granddaughter, Tashia." They called her.
Tashia didn't answer; she looked at the young Ashley, then she approached, moving away from where her grandmother was.
"Child, don't be afraid of me; I won't hurt you." She even reached out her hand to her.
"Grandma, Sister Sharlene told you that she would help you after she finds out about all your past." She calmly explained the situation to the elderly woman who stood in front of her.
"Until when will we wait, Tashia? Ashley, in particular, may not be able to reunite her soul with her body."
Her ears perked up at what she heard, her brow furrowed, and she stared at the old woman. "Grandma, please stop lying. I know you want to be free there."
"I'm telling the truth, Tashia. There is a possibility that Ashley's soul won't be able to return to her body immediately." Felicia's voice became serious.
"What do I want to do?"
"Please tell your sister Sharlene to hurry with what she's doing before it's too late," her grandmother just told her.
She noticed that she was hiding something. "What secret are you hiding from us?" she asked, staring intently at the old woman in front of her.
Felicia didn't immediately respond. "What I was doing back then was for you to survive and improve your lives." She saw the rising anger in her grandma's eyes.
Tashia could only sigh.
"Why didn't you help Carmela?" she asked her grandma directly. "Why didn't you help her? Why did you hide that, Grandma?"
It didn't answer immediately, seemingly alarmed as it looked at one of its companions.
"W—What do you mean?" The man suddenly asked her, none other than the brother and eldest of the Santiagos.
"Do you know Carmela, Felicia?" Manuel's attention shifted to Felicia, whose face clearly showed many questions.
"I don't know, Carmela." She denied it further. Tashia's grandmother scrutinized her. "Please tell your sister Sharlene to hurry, or she might regret it later."
She then returned to the Santiago house. Suddenly, she heard a loud slap, followed by several more.
"You damn woman!" You have no decency! His voice was extremely angry.
"Child, Carmela, you're still so young; you're still finishing your studies." A woman said.
"Dad, I'm going to get married." A woman, clutching her injured cheek and on the verge of tears, cried out.
Her father was about to slap her again, but her mother stopped him.
"That's why I don't want a daughter! It brings bad luck to the family!" The man in his 30s exclaimed while angrily staring at Carmela.
The surroundings of Tashia changed again. She has given birth, and the baby is a girl.
"What do you want to name her, Carmela?" the man asked her.
Carmela only smiled as she looked at her beloved newborn baby.
"Sharlene Ellena."
She was surprised by what she heard.
Sharlene Ellena? She was staring at the two.
Tashia was transported back to the past; she clearly saw the little girl.
A—Ashley? She wondered in her mind.
"Ellena! Mommy has something to give you!" A person calls a child, approximately three or four years old.
She saw that the child had a bracelet on her hand—an expensive one.
"Child, take care of that, because that's all I can give you for now."
S—Sis Sharlene? She found herself in a state of confusion, questioning herself. Was this part of our older sister's past?
She was shocked to discover that their mother, Linda, had found Sharlene and adopted her as their sister, despite their lack of blood relations. In her journey to the past, she saw that her grandmother had hidden this bracelet.
Grandma really knew Sister's true identity, and she even hid it. She thought to herself.
The darkness drew her back, and she caught Leah's gaze.
"Do you know the truth too?" Tashia asked the soul.
It didn't answer her. Leah walked away from her.
"You are nearing the truth; understanding the reality will enable you to reconstruct the events."
It disappeared like a bubble from her sight, and Tashia woke up. She fell asleep at the study table, and when she looked around, she saw her other housemates sleeping on the bed, smelling of alcohol. She could only shake her head at that moment.
I need to go to Grandma's mansion. Tashia thought to herself.
I'll finish my work first; afterwards, I'll find out the truth. I won't allow myself to hide Sister Sharlene's true self from her. Determined, she thought to herself.
She couldn't sleep then; she looked at the narrative report she had made. Vivianne, her older sister, needs to know what she sees first.
Maybe she knows something about the incident.