Florence sat in a chair, staring at Aisling, who sat at a different table.

The clomping footsteps rang from the corridor outside. The glass and porcelain clattered. The water splashed in the sink behind the cocktail station as Mai and Chloe cleaned the cups. But, somehow, Florence still possessed Stella’s body with a guitar leaning against her trembling leg.

Lucy swirled the giggle juice inside the half-filled bottle. “How do you know her?”

Aisling, with her face covered in bruises, tilted her head sideways.

“It is me, Florence… I mean Stella,” Florence said.

Aisling jerked her head back. “Who’re… you?”

“Is she deaf or something?” Lucy yawned. She pointed at Aisling.

“Absolutely not,” Florence said.

“Hey, I can still hear you two,” Aisling said.

Lucy slammed her palm on the table, standing up to her feet. The leg of a chair screeched against the tiled floor. “Wait… are you two besties?”

“Who is Besties?” Florence asked.

“Nope, we’re nowhere close to that,” Aisling said. “Seriously, when did I meet any of you before?”

Florence raised Stella’s eyebrows.

“What? Is not that weird,” Aisling said.

“We saw each other not long ago,” Florence said. She pointed at Stella’s pale face. “Maybe something is certainly different. But you should know who I am.”

“You kinda blurted out two different names. So, who’re you… exactly?”

“It is me Stella.”

“Stella… Never heard of you before.”

Florence dropped Stella’s jaw wide open, gaping at Aisling.

“Maybe you misremembered me for someone else,” Aisling said.

“Absolutely not,” Florence said. She shook Stella’s head. “How about Yuze? Do you remember her?”

“Who’s she?” Lucy, with her elbow, jabbed on Florence. “Is it your love interest?”

Florence spun around, raising her eyebrows as she stared at Lucy.

Aisling shrugged. “Don’t know. Never heard of her.”

“Pardon me, could you please ignore her?” Florence asked.

“Me? That’ll be great.”

“Not you. I am talking about Lucy.”

“Gosh… why couldn’t it be me?”

Lucy burped. She gulped the giggle juice down her throat, sighing and rolling her eyes behind her head, slipping off the chair. A thud shook the tiled floor as she landed headfirst, knocking her out.

“That’s the worst kinda blackout I’ve ever seen,” Aisling said.

Florence leaned forward, grabbing Lucy under her armpit. Every muscle fiber in Stella’s body contracted as Florence pulled Lucy without moving an inch. Then Florence gritted her teeth, glancing over Stella’s shoulder at Aisling.

Aisling lowered her chin, smacking her palm onto the table. She stood up, pushing the chair. Its legs scratched against the tiled floor with a screech. Her feet slapped against the floor as she breezed towards Florence and Lucy.

“I definitely haven’t seen you before,” Aisling said. She squinted at Florence, leaning over and pulling Lucy back onto the seat.

“You can not be serious,” Florence said. “I am not certain if you remember this. But this place is going to become haunted. But I do not know when it will happen in the future.”

“What’re you talking about? That’s not going to happen.”

“Pardon me, we have been to that place together.”

“Since when?”

“How about the occult detective contract? Do you still remember that?”

Aisling brushed Lucy on the head as she drooled, rustling her hair. Then Aisling gripped onto the handle of her sheathed dagger.

“Calm down.” Florence opened Stella’s palm, putting it forward. “I mean no harm.”

“How do you know? And I suggest that you better be honest,” Aisling said. “Unless you wanna risk your own safety. Then go ahead.”

“You told me about this occult detective stuff. And I am certain that we got forced into this position.”

“Since when did I tell you?”

“In your future. Not mine… I guess.”

Aisling’s finger whitened around the handle. The blade inched out of the sheath, glittering under the light.

“Aisling,” someone said from behind them.

Aisling wheeled around. She pushed the dagger back into the sheath.

At the entrance, a pale gal leaned against the opened door, a lily resting on her white hair. Her arms wrapped around a swaddled baby with similar features. Their red eyes glowed like the young lady in that photo hidden in Aisling’s hooded shirt pocket. The baby cried, gaping its mouth open and closing its eyes shut.

Aisling clasped her hands, tilting her head. “This is getting… kinda weird. First of all, how do all of you know my name?”

“I guess… you’ll find out soon,” the pale-skinned and haired gal said. “By the way, I would like to introduce myself as Reese Nofa Thilde. But you can just call me Reese.”

“Who in the right mind gave that name to you?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Unfortunately… my mother.”

Lucy chuckled in her sleep, drooling from her mouth.

Reese pulled a napkin from her pocket, wiping the saliva off Lucy’s face.

“Thank you,” Florence said.

Aisling pinched between her eyes. “Gosh, this is not how I expected things to go.”

“I’m here just to grab a coffee or something,” Reese said. “Also, you need to check up on Yuile and Zelda.”

“Who’re you talking about?” Florence asked.

Aisling smiled, lowering her chin. She hugged herself, tapping her elbow. “What do you want, Reese? How did you know so much about me?”

“That wish you made. It didn’t go as planned,” Reese said.

Aisling unsheathed her dagger, twirling it between her fingers. She gripped its handle, turning her fingers white.

A glass fell from the cocktail station, shattering on the tiled floor.

“Chill. Other Players are watching,” Reese said. “You better hurry up. The wish you made didn’t work.”

Aisling inhaled and exhaled with a wheeze, lifting her head up. “What? I kinda don’t get it.”

“Hurry to the place where you last left Yuile and Zelda.”

“What do they have to do with my wish?”

The room trembled like a train rode past them just beneath their feet. The bottles and cups clattered, and the chairs and table rattled. Florence froze as this vibration grew into an intense quake, slowly dying down to a rumble.

Aisling sheathed her dagger, slapping her feet across the tiled floor. She fell, picking herself up, dashing through the unlocked doorway, diving into the crowd, and trudging through the corridor.

“Well, it’s just you and me now,” Reese said. “Isn’t that right, Florence?”

Florence raised Stella’s eyebrows. Stella’s eyes widened. How… Just how did Reese know Florence’s name? Florence swallowed air down Stella’s throat.

Reese sat, crossing her legs next to Florence. “So, now, we can finally talk alone.”

“Pardon me, how can I help you?” Florence asked. “Because if you have any questions, I am afraid I cannot answer them.”

“I always knew you’d come here.”

“What do you mean by that? And how is that possible?”

“Yes… I’m sure you should have already figured it out.”

“This is just getting ridiculous. How did one simple investigation dissolve into this mess?”

From the periphery, Mai pinched between her nose. She whipped out a broom and a dustpan underneath the cocktail station. She brushed the broken glass out of the way.

“Aren’t you curious about what is happening? Because I would be interested in it,” Reese said. “Like… I don’t know how you and… that other Player you called Martine got here?”

“Pardon me, how do you know her?” Florence asked.

“Isn’t it already obvious?”

“What is so obvious about this?”

A chill ran down Stella’s, shivering Florence to the core as her imaginary light bulb switched on. She leaned forward, cupping Stella’s mouth.

Reese shrugged. “So, you have figured it out. Haven’t you?”

“You were always watching us the entire time,” Florence said. “Is that correct?”

“Maybe I’m the one you’re looking for. But maybe I’m also not the one you should be looking for.”

“Pardon me, could you perhaps explain it a little better?”

The baby cried, stretching its arms out. The blankets rustled, revealing a dim blue glow underneath the skin of the baby’s chest.

Reese chuckled. Then she hummed in a soothing voice, holding the baby closer to herself. She rocked the baby back and forth.

But the baby’s cries grew.

“Wait… why did you laugh for a moment?” Florence asked.

“To answer your question, it’s a yes and a no,” Reese said.

“Pardon me, what do you mean by that?”

“I… don’t know. Maybe I’m laughing and watching you or… not.”

“This is getting nowhere. May you please give me a direct answer?”

“Why should I tell you?”

“First of all, I don’t understand how I possessed Stella’s body… maybe somewhere in the past. And secondly, I did not ask to be involved in this baloney.”

The corner of Reese’s mouth upturned. She laughed, covering her lips.

“Just forget about it,” Florence said. She waved Reese off.

Reese slumped her shoulders. “You’re really that lost. You can’t even begin to comprehend what the Wellor System is doing to all of us.”

“Making our lives miserable is certainly the case.”

“Yes and no. You’re just like all of them. This will be interesting to watch.”

“Who are them?”

Reese bolted up. The leg of the scratched against the tiled floor. Her arms were still wrapped around the baby.

“Where are you going?” Florence asked.

“It’s about time.” Reese turned around towards the exit, scratching the baby’s chin. “That’s enough for today. Isn’t that right, Renee?”

A rumble shook the room.

An itch in Stella’s eyes tickled Florence. She blinked, rubbing it. Then she stretched her hands to Reese. But Reese vanished in front of Florence without leaving behind a trace.

Lucy groaned next to Florence.

“Reese, where did you go,” Florence said.

Lucy rubbed the side of the head. “What? I was… in alcohol heaven just now. Bring me back there.”

“Pardon me, how is this the first problem you think of?”

“Is that a problem?”

Lucy slammed her forehead against the top of the table. She let out a muffled scream reverberating across the room.

“To be fair, you can certainly speak your mind out if you want to,” Florence said. She rested Stella’s palm on her lap. “Believe me, that will help very much.”

“I need another drink,” Lucy said. Her face was buried in her forearm. “I can’t… do it like this on stage.”

Mai waved the glass cup over the cocktail station. “Hey, Lucy, fetch this.”

“Ya are not going to do that,” Chloe said. She gripped Mai’s wrist. “She is going to die from an overdose before any liver-related diseases cause trouble for her.”

“What do you mean? I’m not… even close to overdose or being drunk,” Lucy said.

Florence leaned over the table, covering Stella’s face. The air thickened around her, weighing down on her shoulders.

“Come on,” Lucy said. “Nothing is going to happen up there when you start performing.”

Florence inhaled and exhaled. “This is certainly not the problem. It is… something else.”

“Look… I’m sure that you’ll unpossess Stella? I don’t know how and when it will happen, but if you still can’t do it… might as well enjoy your time here.”

“Absolutely not.”

Lucy sloped onto Florence, jabbing her on the side. An alcoholic scent wafted from Lucy’s body, embracing Florence like a hug. The saliva watered out of Lucy’s mouth, soaking through the fabrics of Stella’s blouse.

Florence shook Stella’s head, rustling her hair. Then Florence pushed Stella’s bang upwards, revealing her forehead. What happened… None of this made sense. Florence tapped Stella’s foot on the tiled floor.

The legs of a chair that Lucy sat on screeched. She kicked her feet, slamming her heels over the table. She poured the giggle juice down her throat.

“You do realize we could hear ya from here,” Chloe said. “And, by the way, what’s with that paranormal-possessing nonsense? I’m sure ya are old enough not to believe those things.”

Lucy spat a stream of giggle juice out of her mouth. “You can hear it from there.”

“Of course I can. After all, I’m not deaf. But I might be one after you say those things so loud.”

“Why’re you like this?”

Mai elbowed Chloe’s side, waving the dripping wet cup dry.

Chloe shrugged, rolling her eyes. “What do ya want?”

“Focus,” Mai said. “Finish washing up the cups before the customers come here.”

“Do ya mean our manager?”

“No… but also yes.”

The room rumbled. The legs of chairs and tables clicked on the tiled floor, and the glass and porcelain clattered.

Mai stopped washing the cups. “Is it just me, or does it feel like Lucy’s stomach was rumbling?”

An array of bottles on top of the cocktail station floated.

“Got it,” Mai said. She continued cleaning, but then she peered at the floating bottles. “Wait… what the—”

Everyone and every object in the Coffee Bar and the corridor outside was lifted off the floor. They flew, smashing into the ceiling. The cups and bottle shattered. The chairs and tables crashed, breaking apart into pieces.

The lights flickered.

Florence rubbed Stella’s head. The screams and shouts rang in her ears.

The sirens sounded, warning the Players… about an evacuation.