SHE CLOSED HER BLUE EYES by the time she blinked her sense of sight. Of course, you should, you weren't be blinking if you didn't move your eyelids up and down. And because she did, that act she performed was blinking.

Hannah Forteza, a girl who recently lost her eyeglass didn't know what to come next right after she did with this very blink. First and foremost she didn't plan to blink anymore. The time she opened her eyes without her eyeglass, she shouldn't close it back. Or else, she herself didn't know what to appear in the upcoming seconds.

But due to a sharp light emitted outside the ambulance that instantly reflected on the rearview mirror, she unconsciously blinked. It wasn't her fault, but because she already did, all she had to do was to brace herself for the things would come that's beyond her control.

Her surroundings suddenly became noiseless. No sounds, only that, she heard her system worked. Cardiovascular palpitation, rough kind of respiration, and food digestion. No more noises aside from that.

This would be the moment. No choice, even she didn't want to, she's incapable of turning the hands of the clock backward. She had to face this moment henceforth. With fear.

She opened her eyes in submission. This time, her sense of sight would be opened with no excuse to be made. She had to do it compulsorily. Might as well, she would remain her eyes closed forever. The second choice was favorable, but only that, she couldn't do it lifelong.

She opened her blue eyes wide enough as what she was capable to with her glasses. Obviously, she succeeded. But that's the least from the things she must felt when she should relax. For her struggle against herself was just about to begin. She remained tough as nail.

She stood by herself and saw this place again. Sometimes she wanted to be in here for a while, be alone and talked to herself. But this time, she didn't want to, all she wanted was to run away from here. As. Soon. As. Possible.

But that was impossible. Unless there was a gap between the 'im' and 'possible', she could be safe every time. What welcomed her, was what she already anticipated.

There was this third dimension inside her mind. A place where she was currently. Apparently, the time was running at its slowest ever. Slower than the turtles and maggots. She could see, but she doubted that.

Dark. Dark. Dark. Completely dark. Everywhere she turned, darkness was what she could see. Cold and dark, the only source of light was herself. In a place where the approach was darker than a shade of black. She herself glowed on it.

Hannah Forteza could only distinguish herself as the only one who was warm and alive in a place where the surroundings were dead and cold as nothing. Even though she glowed as what from her perspective, she wasn't giving off some light. She wasn't illuminating.

She knew. She'd been here already. This was not another thing to her. Every time, the events were just being playful to her, they wanted her to be swallowed by her fear. Not temporarily but permanently.

A confrontation with her deadly self always happened, but nevertheless, she made it out alive. She swore to herself: that would be the last time I will be here again, and now she's in here again. Nothing to be fear about. She comforted herself.

She feared for the every another day to come, which was an event that would surely happen once every twenty-four hours. For that, she had not lived a life to the fullest. All that passed by, yesterday, the other day and the day preceded by that, she lived those with uneasiness sat beside her. And she knew to herself today was not the day that fear would dominate Hannah Forteza. She took her first step.

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Her heartbeat started to jump. In a place where there was an absence of auditory impression in the environment, the only thing that could be heard was her heartbeat racing. Like how a stallion with its all feet left the land as it progressively advanced, that's what her heart palpitation sounded alike. And it continued to get louder. Lab dub, lab dub. Though she already gotten used by all of these. She took her second step.

It landed with noise, only that, it hadn't defeated her heartbeat when it came to the number of decibels created. She took another step. The scenario remained the same as what she had gone through since the last time she was here. Being self-sufficient, she already knew what to do.

She needed to take a number of steps based on her current age. Hannah Forteza was a thirteen years old schoolgirl. And since she already took the first three steps, all she had to do was to enact the remaining ten paces. Never mind the object that might be hiding beneath the dark. For she knew, there was none. She did it steadfastly.

Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Upon she finished her thirteenth step safe and sound, a spotlight appeared in front of her. Neither too far nor too near from her, just enough for her eyes to capture the only light that happened to be in here except for herself.

Just like she was inside the motion activated laboratory that was made just for herself. It identified everything Hannah did, which was, thirteen times she stepped the same floor at different points. Guided by her own self-awareness, she approached that source of light.

She knew. She shouldn't make an immediate stop or reduce her speed. For if she did, at the back of her, even though it was dark, the floor was starting to fall apart. The foundation of the third dimension of her memory had started to collapse. And if she had been on mobility with her legs slower than how fast the floor broke apart, she would be swallowed by the floor itself. And her greatest enemy fear won.

She already knew what would happen here and there. For she didn't want to be with her fear beneath the floor, her resolve was to make her way where the light was. She ran faster.

Aside from the thing beneath the floor which she called it fear, this was the other thing she was also afraid of. While she made her way, a yellow door appeared beneath the mirage of the light in the dark. It wasn't just a light, it was all about what it was being spotlighted. The yellow door, as her distance was gotten closer and closer, provided a sight of a solid movable piece of wood.

A decision should be made immediately: If she would twist that yellow door round handle to escape this third dimension inside her head and face another persona of herself; or be in here and let the floor swallowed her whole. Forever she would be with her enemy fear. As a girl with a dream to become a Biologist, of course, she would face the undetermined future rather be with her enemy.

She arrived at the spotlight felt exhausted with the collapsing floor was gladly caught up with her, but at least, the doorknob was within her grasp. She just had to open the door and crossed the threshold. She looked over her shoulder. She smiled scintillant and said, "Better luck next time FEAR!" She emphasized the last word as she opened the door.

She saw nothing at her back, but only that, she's able to land with the conclusion that the floor was totally collapsing beneath the dark, was that she heard the sound of a massive amount of rubble and debris descended to below.

She turned her back from it. That's why she didn't want to be swallowed by the ground whole. The sounds that came from it was already enough for her to believe that a terrible thing was living below that badly wanted her.

She was already done of thinking what might be underneath. All of those words she knew with direct to the word fear, she already thought of. And in case the curiosity might swivel her head from here to there. She kept reminding herself of the words akin to fear: trouble, danger, horror, terror, anxiety, dread and the worst from her list was death. One of those might be the thing that lived below.

With confidence, she opened the yellow door. The abrupt commencement of the passageway blinded the eyes of Hannah. On this side of the door was very dark, but on the other side was very bright. She had a chance to witness what might be happening at her back. When the eyes of Hannah adjusted to the light, she got hung on the view offered at her front.

She stared at it momentarily with astonishment. Beyond the threshold of this yellow door, a view of the big stone, not just big, but with an old kind of text was being offered. Mesmerized, later she got familiar with it. As if she and it were both connected. With her back was collapsing, unconsciously, she read the text.