After getting off the bus, Dianna walked alongside that being with the appearance of an old woman. Step by step, she walked along that singular sidewalk, which she didn't remember stepping on in her entire life. There was absolutely nothing around her, everything was darkness. Nothing except for the light falling on the pavement tiles, coming from invisible street lamps.

They walked for several minutes in silence as the frigid air froze them. Air for which Dianna was not protected. Her thin spring clothes were no longer enough. Shivering, she complained. "Where the hell are we going? Can't see a damn thing."

The old woman deigned to speak after a long silence. "Don't complain so much! It's just a little cold. Traveling around here, circumventing spacetime is safe, but uncomfortable. I'm looking for something specific and had to go further back than I expected."

Dianna looked at her dumbfounded as she glanced around. "Looking for? Here? What? There is nothing here."

Abruptly, the old woman stopped in her tracks and leaned on the cane she carried everywhere. She cleared her throat insistently, looking to one side of the sidewalk. "Who seeks finds, brat. Here it is!"

Dianna turned expecting the old woman to be joking, but no. There, ahead of her, was an old roadside fast food building. A place that certainly looked familiar. The old woman started walking and urged Dianna to follow her. "Come on! This is taking me a lot longer than I expected, and I have a lot of other people to visit later."

Dianna slowly approached the building in the middle of nowhere. There were no cars in the parking area, not even cars crossing the road, which didn't exist either. "How the hell is there a fast food service floating in the middle of the darkness? And how can it be crowded? OMG!" Dianna was stunned to see a 14-year-old girl, sitting with her parents. She looked exactly the same as she did when she was her age. Before she could ask the old woman if it was her, she got a terrible shock. The old woman stepped through the walls into the building.

None of the present flinched in the slightest when she did so. "What the hell? Didn't anyone see that? I'm getting out of here!" Dianna took a step back and looked around. "Fuck! Am I stupid? Where do I intend to run to, if there's nothing here?". Terrified by what she had just seen. "What the hell is that old woman? She seems to be able to travel through time and take me with her. Shit! I just wanted to get home, do some exercise and my high school homework."

A fleeting thought that she was ashamed of, made her look sheepishly at the old woman. "I also wanted to play a few games and masturbate thinking about Ian. I guess it's not going to be possible."

The old woman walked out of the building the same way she came in, like a ghost. Dianna screamed at her almost hysterically. "What the hell are you? The old woman smirked. "In order to polish your little chickpea you'd have to be alive, and... I'm sorry to tell you that... You're not anymore.

Dianna ignored the old woman's unnecessary sexual comment. Hearing that she was dead made her feel her heart stop. "Are you serious? I'm dead?! When have I...?!"

The old woman headed down the peculiar sidewalk back the way she had come and barely turning, she blurted out. "You fool! You are not just dead. You killed yourself."

Dianna was completely devastated. "What?! When did I...?" But she quickly pull herself together. "You're lying!! You just want to torment me because you think I have something to do with everything bad that happens to that pariah."

The old woman looked very uncomfortable, as if she was rolling in the muck Dianna intended to cover her with. "If you only knew what 'that pariah' could do to you someday." The old woman seemed to bite her tongue holding back what she didn't want to tell. Though she did tell something she shouldn't. "Although, I could tell her secret friend who've been making poor Emily's life miserable."

Dianna watched her with a poker face. "You mean Ian? I don't think Ian's going to do anything to me. He gave me gum." The old woman snapped her fingers and something ethereal appeared behind her. A gaunt face covered in scars, with completely white eyes. He was dressed like a medieval man. Dianna almost let out a scream from the fright that creepy-looking being gave her. Fortunately, the figure dissipated, allowing her to calm down slightly. "Who the hell was that?"

Before Dianna noticed, the old woman had moved on, walking away from her. More nervous than she already was, ran after the old woman. "Don't leave me here. I didn't do anything to the pa...". Dianna restrained herself. It was obvious that she shouldn't bother the old woman or whatever she had seen a second ago.

Dianna clenched her fists and screamed. "How can I make you understand that I didn't do anything to Emily?! If you want to look for culprits, why don't you ask Beth and her little group of bitches?! Those are the ones who have made her life miserable!"

The old woman turned around very interested. "They're a lot more people than that little group of undesirables and, you know it."

Dianna realized that the old woman had already thrown her into the sack of the guilty a long time ago. She needed to get out of that sack before that horrible being decided to go after her. "Looking the other way doesn't make me guilty. I'm only guilty of not wanting to be the center of all the teasing again, like she is now. But…"

The old woman interrupted her. "You haven't even gone to see what I went to do in that building. Which means you know a lot more than you..."

Fed up of being blamed all the time, she screamed. "Shut the fuck up! Stop seeing ghosts in the wrong place! I have no idea what you've gone to do in that fucking fast food building!".

As Dianna screamed the old woman raised her left hand slightly and snapped her fingers. Within an instant, they were inside the fast food building. Dianna turned quickly, and at her right, she saw her parents again; just as they were almost four years ago. Unable to control herself, she began to shake. But, she wasn't shaking because of the fear that someone could teleport at the snap of a finger. Nor was she shaking because she could see herself when she was young, arguing loudly with her mother. Tears began to flow from her eyes, uncontrollable. Crying her heart out. All she could do was whisper. "Mom?"

The fourteen year old Dianna was screaming, drawing the attention of everyone present. "I've already told you I'm not going to eat anything they serve in this shitty place! I'm not going to eat this crap and turn into a seal. I will never be a fat piece of shit like you!".

The argument wasn't just about the food. Maybe it was about her bad school grades. About her three-month ban from going out. Because of her frustrated dreams. There were too many things that had driven Dianna to show so much hatred against her mother. But that, now, no longer mattered. It was all in the past, and the past cannot be changed. The old woman looked at her sideways, realizing why the girl didn't want to enter the fast food building.

Unconsciously shaking, Dianna took a small step forward, barely raising her hands. She no longer heard the noise of the fast food building or the shouts of the argument. She only felt waves of regret choking her. She was so devastated for so many things she didn't want to have done and did, and for so many other things she would have wanted to do and never did. Tears ran down her cheeks, full of sadness and anger. But, what is done, is done; and forgiveness, is not always possible. In an almost inaudible whisper. "Mom, I miss you. You don't know how sorry I'm for telling you all that. You don't know..."

The old woman interrupted her gently. "She can't hear you brat. She could never do it again. It's no use for you to try to...".

Dianna felt as if a rush of rage hit her, like a volcano erupting. "I already know this is some kind of fucking mirage. Also, you don't need to remind me that my mother died that very night, of a heart attack, while we were sleeping. Don't you have any feelings, you old piece of shit?"

The old woman looked at her as if all the hatred the young girl was spitting at her was slipping out. "It's funny that you, of all people ask me that question."

The old woman walked slowly as the whole stage froze, like the effect of a video pause. Everything except them. The old woman moved calmly to the next table. There, a family, visibly religious, watched with stupefaction the dispute between Dianna's mother and her. The old woman pointed to the daughter of that religious couple, who covered her ears, cowering. "This girl here, she was three months younger than you, at this instant. Just today, she just finished living a hell isolated in a kind of religious psychiatric institution for a little less than two years. Put another way, they broke her will to make her fit what her parents wanted her to be."

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Dianna watched the red-haired girl covering her ears. She was huge compared to what she had been when she was young. "She's my age? Are you kidding? She looks almost like a woman. How can she be fourteen?"

At that instant the old woman exhaled a white breath as if it were smoke, tinged with a faint blue hue. That caused something very strange and frightening to reveal itself. Something invisible to the human eye. A black hand with sharp fingers reached out of the tormented little girl's back and entered young Dianna's back. Dianna fell backwards thinking she was going to lean on a table behind her. But she didn't count on everything there being intangible to them.

The old woman addressed her haughtily. "That which entered inside you, did it because you were a perfect host, who could shelter and feed the hatred and anger of both. Two monsters."

Dianna ignored those words. She just wanted to look at the girl's face, which was perfectly visible from the ground. It was Emily's face. The redhead with green eyes. The high school pariah. "OMG! That's right. It was from that day that I started dreaming about...". The old woman seemed genuinely interested in what she was about to say. But Dianna kept silent, trying to hide what she believed was a secret.

The old woman waited patiently for Dianna to get up from the floor, and then, suddenly approached her. Perhaps too close. That made Dianna flinch back. "What do you want from me?"

The old woman seemed to get very serious. Her voice changed, becoming tremendously deep. "I've already told you. I have to decide, if I give you a chance to beg for a second chance." The old woman looked at the young Emily, the girl with a huge woman's body and a broken will.

Nevertheless, Dianna was still trying to avoid responsibility. "What blame do I have for...". Dianna was speechless. Clearly, the old woman seemed to transform more and more into an all-powerful being. Her elderly eyes turned completely black again and the cane she always leaned on, transformed into a tremendously sharp scythe.

The old woman pointed to Emily. "Haven't you become taller, stronger, smarter and much more beautiful? Even your hair has gotten redder and redder and your eyes will eventually turn green.

Dianna, disgusted, whispered her own thoughts aloud. "Damn it! Why the hell will I turn into her?"

The old woman explained without being asked. "No, you fool! You both look like another..." The old woman fell silent. As if she regretted what she had just said, but Dianna silently realize it. The old woman tried to dissemble. "All that matters is that you have something that was not bestowed upon you. You stole it."

Dianna fed up with the accusations, fought back. "Are you blind? I didn't steal anything. I…"

The old woman approached her, threatening. "You stole it as soon as you accepted it. Or are you going to deny that you accepted it?" To Dianna's bewilderment, the old woman reached out and touched her skin. In that instant everything vanished. Everything became darkness.

Gradually, a fourteen-year-old picture of herself appeared. She was a tanned girl with blue eyes, black hair and short stature. She was thin but very strong. It was noticeable that she exercised her body at an amateur level. In her mind was the idea of dedicating herself to professional wrestling one day, but her mother was adamantly opposed.

The girl was talking in her sleep with a dark creature in an apparently female form. Although it was very misshapen and unpleasant, it tried not to scare her. "What a coincidence! So much anger inside you! How appropriate!" The creature whispered.

The little girl was brave and didn't seem frightened. "Are you a demon? My mother doesn't like demons. What do you want from me?"

The creature walked in circles around the girl. Limping. Not coming any closer. "A demon? Me? No, not at all! I'm someone who's been hurt, just like you. Someone who is prevented from being free, just like you. But I need a host. I can't live without one and you need someone to help you. If you help me with that, I'll help you with anything you want throughout your ephemeral life.

Dianna frowned trying to hide her embarrassment. "I don't know what a host is."

The creature dodged the question with an offer. "If you help me have a place to exist. I’ll give you everything in my power, and much more that you don't know yet."

The naive Dianna didn't really think about the consequences of her curiosity. "Much more I don't know yet?".

The creature smiled expectantly as the girl thought she had the right to start asking. "Can you make my mother stop burdening me the way she does?".

The creature grew serious and turned its face, looking in a particular direction. As if it could see Dianna's mother even though it was in a dream. "Well! I cannot influence a being as stubborn as your mother, without it taking me years..." Then, the creature turned to face her. "... and I have the feeling that you don't want to wait that long. But I can scare her a little. You say she's afraid of demons, right?"

Dianna nodded reassuringly. "Very afraid."

The creature smiled. "If she's much more afraid than you showed before, I'll be able to make her see that she need to give you more... freedom."

Dianna frowned. "I wasn't scared. You don't scare me. You disgust me a little."

The creature laughed. You disgust me too, but we shouldn't be talking about that right now."

Dianna complained indignantly. "That I disgust you? Why?"

The creature explained as it waved its hands over it torso. "You have blood and filthy viscera inside you. By contrast, I'm the same on the outside as I'm on the inside. All dark matter. I can take any shape I want. But I can't now. I am too weak. My former hostess hurt me so much."

Dianna trying to be empathetic offered. "You want me to help you get revenge? I hate bullies."

The creature smiled inwardly though outwardly it looked hurt. "Later we could. So you agree to let us help each other?" Dianna happily agreed and held out her hand. The image faded and they reappeared on the sidewalk.

Dianna was puzzled and the old woman very serious. "After that, you were unconscious until the next day. It was your father who told you that your mother had died of a heart attack in her sleep. You tie up the loose ends by yourself or I'll draw you a picture."

Dianna looked like she was going to explode with anger. "What are you insinuating?! I didn't kill my mother!"

The old woman turned almost ignoring her and started on her way back. "No, not alone. You and that thing you carry inside you. Although, it seems like you're carrying a lot more compared to what went inside you back then."

Dianna didn't even hear that last part anymore. The idea that she had somehow caused her mother's death began to hit her like a sledgehammer. The old woman stopped as she heard Dianna fall on her knees. Slightly annoyed, she turned and saw her. Dianna was nearly out of breath as she began to cry. "You never came to that conclusion before, brat? I guess you're not so smart after all."

Dianna could no longer hear anything. She could only see the image of her mother in agony, because of her. Clutching her left arm as her heart stopped, causing her immense anguish. A woman with bad eating habits and a large overweight that had been gradually stoning her health. For her, the tremendous fright she must have suffered was too much.

The being with the appearance of a decrepit old woman, did not think about Dianna's pain for a whole second. She realized that she was not the culprit she was looking for. Nor was she the monster she thought she was. She began to feel sorry for both girls and made a decision she hoped she wouldn't regret. She changed her unpleasant tone to a more jovial one. “Enough whining. You've convinced me. I have to admit you're not the scum I was looking for. I'll give you the option of begging for a second chance.

Dianna screamed trying to release all the anguish she had inside. "Beg?! After that pariah fucked up my life, I'll have to beg? To whom? To you? Are you serious?"

The old woman with a feigned face of compassion sneered. " You humans, disgust me. Always trying to shirk responsibility. It's always someone else's fault, isn't it? I’m perfect and everything bad that happens in my life is someone else’s fault. There are three undeniable facts, my dear. The first is; whether it's because she was an ugly, fat, overbearing churchy, you didn't remember what it was like to love your mother until she died. That's made you feel like the shit you really are, even if you don't want to admit it."

Dianna took that like a shot to the chest. Aiming. The old woman knew she'd hit the mark. "You've always looked down on everyone around you. Perfection is only in your head. It doesn't exist. The second thing is that your perfectionism makes you value others as the shit you think they are. You are selfish to unbelievable limits. That is abhorrent to any decent being. And third and last. Whether you like it or not, you were the one who decided to get into this when you accepted that..." Hesitating not to tell her anything. "...that unworthy fragment of dark matter."

Dianna saw her resentful and furious. "So I have to beg you, all powerful Grim Reaper, to kindly give me a second chance? How do I do that? Do I kiss your feet? Do I give you my soul?"

The old woman scoffed. "Soul? Do you really think such a pathetic concept exists? You humans have a ridiculous imagination. There is nothing similar to that." The old woman seemed to hesitate. "Unless..." Then she turned to Dianna again. "Who cares! No, I don't want anything from you. It's not me who you have to ask for a second chance."

Dianna began to get anxious. "I hope you won't tell me I'll have to ask the scarred being."

The old woman looked around changing the subject. "By the way, this freezing cold is your life abandoning you." Then, Dianna realized that she was shaking. She didn't know if it was from the cold or the fear. The old woman turned and started on her way back somewhere. "A minute in here, can be as little as a second out there. So your death is slow and almost painless in here. But that's going to change in a second. The old woman held up her fingers and snapped them. Suddenly, she began to feel an indescribable pain and a total collapse of her body.

Like whispers, unfamiliar voices reached her. "We're losing her! We're losing her! Come on! Come on! Charge the defibrillator to 200! Clear!"