Eve's footsteps were faint, like raindrops slowly falling from cracks in the rooftops, gathering into dark puddles. In the dark void, where the mist hung in the air, the sounds felt like the echoes of infinite loneliness, or perhaps the echoes of a lost inner depth. This was what Eve pondered as she listened intently to the sound of her small steps.

"The place... it's a bit cold," Eve said in a hoarse voice, exhausted.

She sat down on the cold, gray ground, trying in vain to warm her body. The mist surrounded her from every side, as if she were trapped in an endless nightmare. She tried to focus on finding a way out, but confusion and fear crept into her heart. At that moment, Eve remembered something.

"Wait... wasn't I with Otto...? My head... ah."

She began to hear the groans and screams of children, sounds that had always haunted her. She tried to resist those sounds, which seemed to come from the depths of her memories.

"Why have these screams returned? I thought they had disappeared... but they've come back... to haunt me... ah."

Eve fell to her knees from the intense pain, feeling her body changing in a strange and frightening way, but the pain in her head was overwhelming. She opened her eyes slowly and saw light seeping through an open door.

"This... is very strange... it's usually... closed."

Eve quickly stood up and started running towards the door, but the closer she got, the more her body changed. When she crossed the door, everything about her changed, even her clothes transformed from nightwear into a strange outfit.

*******

Otto was sitting, watching Eve intently. Suddenly, he heard her faint groaning, and hurried to change the CD.

"It's the right time," Otto said to himself, hoping this was the only solution.

******

Eve woke up to find herself in a strange room, filled with pictures of eyes staring at her. The atmosphere was suffocating, and the thick mist heightened her sense of alienation. She cautiously approached the door, and when she opened it, she looked left and right but saw no distorted creature as she had expected.

She continued walking down the narrow hallway, but the feeling of strangeness did not leave her. She reached a dead end, but noticed a small ventilation opening on her left.

"Finally... a passage that fits me," Eve whispered as she began to crawl through it.

Crawling was exhausting and difficult, as if her body hadn't moved in years. The strange smell stung her eyes, and the ventilation walls were dilapidated and full of cracks. Eve placed her hand on one of the cracks, and the wall broke; she quickly grabbed one of the edges, but it crumbled, and she fell into a dark abyss.

Eve woke up to find herself in a large room filled with cells. She felt her body and, fortunately, she was okay.

"Sigh... I thought I was going to die..."

Suddenly, she heard a door creak open. She slowly turned to find someone wearing a tattered cloak. He was staring at her from behind a veil of thick mist. Eve raised her head to see him; the monster was covering its face with a lifeless mask. The creature raised its deformed hand.

"What is he doing... as if it's... a signal."

Eve looked up and saw a rusty ventilation pipe collapsing toward her. She jumped back, barely escaping it.

She quickly stood up and started running, but the creature was fast, appearing beside her in an instant. Eve screamed, "You're really fast... but I'll keep up with you."

Eve suddenly changed direction toward the door, with the creature following closely behind. But she stopped when another pipe fell in front of her, making her lose hope of escape. She felt exhausted and collapsed to the ground. Suddenly, she heard a strange voice calling her. She looked to the side and saw a small creature waving at her, hiding between two cells, with an open ventilation opening behind it. It was very small, with pale green skin and a head like a moving mushroom.

Eve quickly got up and grabbed the small creature, crawling with it through the opening until they hid far from the monster.

"If it weren't for you, I'd be dead... thank you, little creature," Eve said, hugging the creature. It made a sound like a goblin, mixed with a faint moan; it had suffered a lot.

Eve continued crawling toward a light at the end of the corridor, and when she emerged, she found herself in a small room full of cracks. The creature hurried toward the nearest crack.

"Wait," Eve called, but the creature did not respond. She searched her pocket and found some candy, placing them in front of the crack, saying, "These are for you... they were in my nightwear pocket... I hope you accept them from me." The creature took the candy, and Eve smiled before heading toward the door.

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She pushed the door slowly and turned right to see dozens of copies of the entity that had tried to kill her.

"I'm really unlucky," Eve said sadly and disappointedly.

She rushed to escape from them, but they began to chase her. They moved their hands in the air in a strange way, making the walls draw closer like magnets. Even the floor wasn't spared from their tricks, as protrusions formed, hindering Eve's movement. She climbed one of the protrusions and started jumping from one to another on the wall until she reached a protrusion on the ceiling and dangled from it to jump to the opposite side.

She jumped on one of the monsters' heads and fell to the ground, and the monsters continued to fight each other, thinking that Eve was among them.

'I really am keeping up with them in intelligence,' Eve said, praising herself.

Eve got up to find a door that had suddenly appeared. She had no other choice but to dash towards it. One of the monsters noticed her movement and waved its hand to form another protrusion. Eve jumped on it and then jumped again to grab the handle, opening the door. She found herself back in the void, and turned to see that entity.

"That bastard... shaped the protrusion to help me open the door," Eve thought to herself.

She let go of the handle, and the door disappeared.

******

Eve's groaning resumed as she slept. Otto removed the headphones from her ears and connected his device to monitor her mind.

"The time has come now."

******

Eve wandered again in the void and heard Otto calling her. She quickly headed towards him.

"I'm here, don't worry," Eve shouted.

Otto turned to her, surprised, and said, "Eve... is that really you? What happened to you?"

Otto leaned in to check on her condition.

"Don't worry... I'm fine... just my clothes are changing."

"No... you've changed completely... your face... your hair... even your skin."

"What... I didn't notice that... my body is changing."

"In any case... where is the threshold, Eve?" Otto said, turning to the right.

"Otto... I crossed it several times, and I just crossed it again."

"What?" Otto said in shock.

"Yes, but I crossed one of the strange doors and found myself here."

"That doesn't make sense... how?"

*******

"I brought her here," a voice filled with terror came from behind them.

Otto turned to find the owner of the drooping face approaching them. Eve felt a deep fear and hid behind Otto.

"Return her to the real world."

"What?... What do you mean...?"

"Didn't you understand my words... or do you want me to return her by force?"

"Are you trying to deceive me?... I fulfilled your request, and here is the third child with me."

"What? What do you mean, Otto?" Eve asked in astonishment, not understanding anything.

"Didn't you understand, Otto? Zero is important to both of us... so return her... or have you forgotten who helped in creating this device you're using now... didn't my assistance remind you... and this warning is the best proof... take my advice... and you won't regret it," the Ferryman said.

"Impossible... if I return her... I won't find another child like her... I'll go back to square one... are you trying to stand in my way...?"

"Otto... what is happening -"

"...and also... you know that I will do anything... to get my sister back from you... have you forgotten that, Ferryman?... I will enter her into your world... no matter the cost."

"Otto..." The shock seeped into Eve's depths as she realized what was happening. She took a step back, her eyes hesitant to face the truth that was beginning to unfold.

"Eve..."

"So... you used me?... You just wanted me to cross the threshold to achieve your own goals? You deceived me... I trusted you... but you..."

Otto tried to intervene, "Eve... if you cross it... you won't suffer from that headache... didn't you say... you would follow my orders... to save Lily?... Isn't that right -"

But she cut him off, anger and fear overwhelming her: "I know that... but you didn't say... that you also want to save someone dear to you... I felt that... I knew you were lying from the beginning... you didn't want to tell me... thinking I would back out... I was patient... I really was patient... if you had told me... I would have agreed immediately... but... you know what?... It doesn't matter anymore... the only thing you told me... is that my salvation from the headache... lies behind that door... that's the only thing... I believe."

Eve quickly turned and began to run, trying to escape from everything, but the Ferryman moved swiftly,

appearing before her as if he had emerged from nowhere. Eve stopped suddenly, her legs refusing to move. She was frozen with fear, not knowing what to do. She slowly retreated, knowing he would do anything for his goals.

The Ferryman extended his hand towards her and said in a voice tinged with darkness, "Come on, Zero... return to your world."

Fear gripped her, but she knew she had no choice but to comply. Despite everything, she was torn between her desire to stay and the fear of what would happen. She said in a trembling voice, "I know there's no other choice... but... I promised Otto I would do what he told me... my life doesn't matter to me as much as I want to correct what I did to Alice and Lily... I wanted to take them because of me... so leave me alone... you disfigured one."

Suddenly, the eye around Eve's neck lit up, radiating a strange and dazzling light. The Ferryman froze in place, as if this light was his weakness. At that moment, the threshold appeared suddenly.

"Eve... now!" Otto shouted.

Eve saw the threshold before her and rushed towards it with all her might. As she moved away from the Ferryman, he broke free from his restraint and rushed towards her, trying to catch her. Suddenly, the threshold shattered after Eve crossed it. It was as if her strong desire to leave was the cause. The Ferryman turned to Otto, with clear anger in his eyes.

"You foolish human... without Zero."

Otto asked in astonishment and fear, "What do you mean?"

The Ferryman replied in a voice full of mystery and terror, "Zero... is she."

******

At that moment, the connection between Otto and the Ferryman was severed, and Otto's consciousness returned to the real world.

"What a shame... the connection was lost because Eve's body... I'll remove the needles."

He was removing the needles from his head. At that moment, he was surprised to find that Eve's body was still on the bed. Her body hadn't disappeared.

"Impossible... Eve didn't disappear... didn't her body transfer?... It's really her body... I'm not hallucinating... how... wait... no soul... only her soul transferred... but her body didn't... it's hollow now... why?"

Things began to become clear to Otto. He remembered the incident that happened to Eve, her memory loss, her feeling of incompleteness, the changes in her body, her contradictory personality, and her strange thoughts. "My clothes always change in the nightmare... I didn't notice that... my body changes... I sometimes feel that I'm not complete... my salvation from the headache... is beyond the threshold..."

Then the shocking truth came, "Her body didn't transfer... because her soul... transferred to that body... no... the Ferryman takes the entire child during the transfer... is it because... he didn't accept Eve... or does the Ferryman... want to keep her body here from the start... wait... Eve said that Lily and that other girl... transferred because of Eve... very important to me and him... the connection was cut during her crossing... is it because..."

Suddenly, Otto heard a knock on the room's door.

"Come in."

The receptionist entered, in a state of surprise and confusion.

"I see you are puzzled by something... What happened?"

"Otto... there's something strange... one of the children... woke up and said that the headache is gone... and that he didn't have any nightmares... I received his report at ten, and moments after reading it, I rushed to tell you. Here it is."

Otto took the report.

"What... 'Very important for me and for him'... Eve... did she."

"Did you notice something?... Wait... what are those needles on Eve's head?"

"… Transfer her quickly... she has fallen into a coma."

"What...?"

"Hurry up!"

"Yes, sir."

And after a month of Eve falling into a coma, the children no longer suffered from headaches and nightmares.