"I know you're there. Come here."

Melanie flinched when Ms. Marfori, the counselor, suddenly looked through the tiny gap. Melanie gripped the curtains tightly, feeling the fabric in her hands, and decided to move them away. She sighed, revealing herself to the two. She then gazed at Axel who was currently facing the other way, eager trying to not meet Melanie's eyes. Melanie pursed her lips. She felt like Axel did not want her to see him that way—being vulnerable and honest, and she already crossed the line when she laid her eyes on him in that situation.

Melanie glanced at Ms. Marfori for the next thing she must do. The counselor had pixie cut hair, with black and red parting colors at the center of her glory. Her eyes were round, and hazel and she was dressed in a pink blazer, blue blouse, white slacks, and leather shoes. The counselor told her earlier to enter the session, but she did not mention specific directions Melanie has to accomplish upon entering that cubicle. The session was supposed to be private and intimate, and Melanie knew barging into that space would also mean touching Axel's sensitive spots. She could not imagine what would happen after the counselling class.

Would Axel treat her the same? Or would there be walls built between them where neither of them could ever cross?

The thought made Melanie's mood bitter.

"Sit down," said the counselor and smiled. "I heard a lot of things about you from Axel."

Melanie awkwardly smiled and sat down on the nearby hospital bed, "I hope they're um..." She looked at Axel from her peripheral vision, "...good things."

"Yes, they're all good things." Melanie returned her gaze to Ms. Marfori and saw her smiling. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, thank you," replied Melanie. "The doctor was nice."

"Mera knows her way best on healing fatal injuries or in your case, half-dead condition," the counselor joked. "Anyway, can you still wait for a couple of minutes? I'll just wrap up my sessions with Axel then we'll proceed with yours."

Melanie nodded. "Yes, don't mind me...being here."

"Okay," Ms. Marfori mumbled and turned her attention to Axel. She gently reached for his hands and bluish-grey light emerged from their contact. "Close your eyes, love."

Melanie stared at Axel who just closed his eyes upon Ms. Marfori's instructions and barely recognized the person in front of her. She was already expecting the possibility of Axel being able to transform to the opposite sex since the person had the means to change their biology in one way or another. However, the man listening to the counselor's whispers of comfort and advice seemed a reserved and quiet person. His dark eyes looked droopy and sunken, his lips were only a thin line, and his body was slouching like it was being pulled down by the gravity.

Melanie gazes went further down, and she stopped herself from gasping. Up close, the cuts almost covered Axel's arms and she could not even comprehend the pain of those fresh little scars on his skin. Melanie felt her insides churning just by mere looking at them—what about the feeling of having those scars engraved on one's skin forever? While every single day that comes by, new scars would only emerge from one's hatred to themselves?

"It's hard for me to believe that this is the same person who annoys me," thought Melanie. "This Axel is so fragile. One wrong move and he'll shatter. I can't even imagine bringing up a normal conversation to him right now."

In the City, whenever a person experiences extreme emotions, they had no choice but to be quarantined—locked inside a narrow white room with no sharp objects nearby and hundreds of cameras monitoring their movements. The Sanctified race believes that isolating the person suspected of infection was the best option to protect the people around them and protect the victims themselves also. Once they already calmed down, they were then released from the establishment and given a chance to return to their families like nothing happened.

On the other hand, if the person was not able to contain and control their emotions, the Government must resort to drastic measures. They would conduct methods and treatments to the person in accordance with their needs and administer thousands of attempts to fix them. These methods include but are not limited to dunking, lobotomy, electrocution, and flaying.

The worst cases led to banishment, if they showed signs of cursed abnormalities, or death, if they stayed human tainted with dark emotions, but the Government was not held accountable for their actions because people believed that it was for the betterment and safety of their City.

Melanie gagged for remembering such morbid memories. She once believed that those rules and regulations set for them were humane and lenient—that everything the Government does for them was driven by compassion and kindness.

"But they were nothing like that." thought Melanie. "They were only a bunch of egocentric sadists liars disguised as officials serving the public!"

The existence of counseling sessions at the University of the Damned enlightened Melanie the humane way of handling those people having their bad days—the simple method that the Sanctified was not even able to pull off.

"Melanie?" called the counselor, dragging Melanie back to reality. "It's your turn now."

"O-okay." Melanie stood up and walked to the seat Axel was occupying earlier. She simply turned around to look for him, but he was nowhere to be found. Melanie almost jumped from her seat when somebody gently reached for her hands. She returned her gaze and saw Ms. Marfori smiling kindly at her.

"Axel already went back to the dormitory."

Melanie nodded, eyebrows drawing close together. She knew that deep inside, she hoped to depart with Axel from the infirmary to the dormitory. She hoped not to be alone. She was so used to Axel being there with her despite the danger accompanying them and being alone once more made her anxiety creep into her bones.

She could only hope for the best and wish for her safe travels back to the dormitory by herself.

"Melanie, kindly close your eyes," mumbled Ms. Marfori.

Melanie complied with the counselor's instructions, and she was swallowed by darkness. She then held tightly to the counselor when a gentle warmth arose from their intertwined palms. From the darkness, threads of light filled her vision, and she heard the counselor's whispers across her face.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"I know that sometimes, facing the truth is painful and terrifying, especially if we find it inconvenient. There are times when we just wanted to stay inside our shells—devoid from any sense of reality and lulled by sweet and fragrant lies. People wanted to be in a place where they felt safe...and that's normal. However, choosing to distance yourself from something that can make you a better person would only provide temporary relief and lifetime suffering."

Melanie felt Ms. Marfori's soft heat flowing from the tips of her fingers to her chest. The power in the counselor's words touched her deeply. She could not even detect any malice in them—just pure concern and love. Ms. Marfori truly cared for her despite being strangers and she never desired anything, but to help Melanie to be a better person.

"This is your life now, love. You need to accept being one of the Damned now. Yes, it would take long for you to adjust and to adapt here. Yes, this place is entirely different from the luxurious and simple life you had back in the City. Yes, people here might be unkind to you or might be rude to you and from your upbringing, you might not get used to encountering such a negative attitude towards you, but always remember, there will always be people who would care for you. They might be more messed up than you and they might have their own battles they need to conquer, but they would always look out for you, no matter what. I will look for you. I will help you handle your bad days or even cheer for you in your good days."

Melanie felt tears forming at the corner of her eyes. She was truly uncertain of the emotions circling inside her chest. They were all foreign and raw. She never experienced being loved that way. The kind of love she only knew was from her parents; her parents who sang her to sleep, cooked delicious food for her, gave her comfort whenever she needed to, and praised her every time she did the right thing in accordance with their society's standards. She was never scolded nor reprimanded for doing something wrong—she was only encouraged to stay modest and beautiful and was prohibited to show the slightest of negative feelings.

She thought being happy was always a necessity.

She thought that was love.

Melanie gasped and opened her eyes. She then swallowed the lump inside her throat and looked directly into her hazel eyes, "I-it's okay not to be...okay?"

"Of course, love," mumbled Ms. Marfori. "That is much better than trying to be positive and burying your emotions. You are a human, not a robot."

Melanie could not stop herself and she quickly leaned forward to the counselor. She brought her arms in the air and wrapped them to the counselor, pulling her into a hug. She sank to the counselor's shoulders and cried her heart out.

"Oh, dear..." muttered Ms. Marfori and returned the gesture. She gently caressed Melanie's back. "I'm so sorry you feel that way. Everything will be alright, okay? This will soon pass."

"I don't know what to say, Ms. Marfori," said Melanie through her tears, "but thank you. Thank you so much."

Ms. Marfori leaned her head over Melanie. "You're very welcome, love.'

When Melanie relaxed at last, she decided to retreat back to her seat. Her purple eyes were red and puffed but her lips were smiling widely. She inhaled deeply and exhaled and felt as if all the heavy and ugly feelings inside her chest had finally left her.

"I can see you're feeling much better than before. Did my hug help?" Ms. Marfori teased.

"Yes." Melanie laughed. "It helped me a lot. Thank you."

Ms. Marfori stared at her for a moment and returned the smile. "Shall we proceed to the last part of our session?"

Melanie quickly agreed and asked, "Okay. What is it?"

"I need your consent to this," Ms. Marfori said and touched a strand of Melanie's hair. "Can I pluck this?"

"O-of course," Melanie replied and pulled a strand of her jet-black hair then gave it to the counselor. "Here."

"Okay, this won't last for minutes but I need to get inside your head so I can see if you still have problems you might not be aware of."

"How exactly would you do that using a piece of my hair?"

"My power is light manipulation but unlike my siblings, my powers were not meant for battle. They're meant for other purposes—like this," said the counselor and gestured to Melanie's hair, "penetrating one's space without hurting the host."

"Oh, I see," replied Melanie. "I'm giving you consent. Feel free to um, go inside my head."

"Okay, I'll be taking your word for that," the counselor gestured to Melanie to lie on the bed near them. "You might fall asleep so it's better for you to lie down and avoid body discomfort."

The counselor then settled the piece of Melanie's hair in her hand and covered it with her other palm. She closed her eyes and muttered gibberish words, forming a bluish-grey light. Melanie instantly passed out on the bed within a second and the counselor sat beside her. A connection between their consciousness was formed and the counselor also collapsed on the stool, holding Melanie's hand tightly.

She fluttered her eyes open and saw Melanie's memories flashing in front of her on the big screen. She looked around and everything was like a cinema—inclined seats and booming speakers. She proceeded to sit down on the back row and leaned back. She stared at the big screen intently then watched Melanie's memories like a film playing at a 10x speed. She continued observing and analyzing to give the best recommendation and prescription to her patient.

However, when she was finally at the moment of Melanie's expulsion from the City, the big screen in front of her glitched and the speakers released a high-pitched frequency sound that wrecked her hearing. The counselor immediately stood up from her seat and ran to the exit while covering both ears. She did not even have the chance to see the shadow of a woman following her trails like a ghost.

When she finally grabbed the handle of the exit, it did not bulge; as if trying to trap her inside the collapsing establishment. She tried to muster all her strength and banged the door with the force she garnered but to no avail. All her efforts were in vain. There was no one going to help her out of that situation.

Ms. Marfori did not know what to do. It was her first time encountering that type of consciousness on the brink of destruction. She did not want to be afraid, but she could not deny the fear brewing inside her as she watched the cinema turning into dust second by second. She focused her head on the reason why that was happening in the first place.

Was Melanie's consciousness rejecting her? Why would it want to harm her?

"You have seen enough. Don't you ever dare touch me with your dim light again..."

Ms. Marfori's eyes widened in horror when she saw the glitching image of a woman with white hair, crimson red eyes, and fangs flashing in the cracked big screen.

"...or I'll let darkness devour your light as long as you live."

"This can't be..." whispered Ms. Marfori. "This is only a legend."

Ms. Marfori wheezed, opening her eyes in horror. She looked at Melanie who was already awake and staring at her with concern.

"A-are you okay?"

"No," quickly replied Ms. Marfori and clutched her head, "don't you remember anything?"

"I don't," muttered Melanie. "When I fell asleep, I only saw a bluish-grey light floating around me. That's all."

"What about the cinema? The woman?"

"I-I didn't," said Melanie which earned her a puzzled look from the counselor. She frowned, "I don't understand. What is happening? You're going pale!"

"It was nothing," Ms. Marfori retorted that made Melanie flinch. She patted her patient's shoulder and forced out a smile, "I must have exhausted my powers, that's all."

Melanie placed her hand over the counselor's. "Please, take your rest now, Ms. Marfori. I'm sorry for taking so much of your time."

The counselor squeezed Melanie's hand reassuringly. "It's my duty to look after you, love. Take a rest now. You may go home now."

Melanie smiled and hugged the counselor again. "Goodbye, Ms. Marfori. Thank you."

Ms. Marfori tapped her back and exhaled a sigh of relief. "Yes, take good care of yourself."

When Melanie already left the cubicle, Ms. Marfori staggered to the bed and slumped herself on it. She stared at the white ceiling and panted, trying to make up for the breaths she almost lost earlier.

"Melanie is the person Criterion was making a fuss about when he called me earlier," she whispered. "She is definitely a bearer and the entity I saw inside her head was the proof of it."

She rose up and dialed the council president's number. It rang for a couple of seconds then the line connected.

"Hello, Ms. Marfori?"

"Amirah? It's something about Melanie Faye Harlow."

"Why? What happened?"

"Gather the higher-ups and set a meeting at the conference. That's where Criterion and I will share our findings."