‘‘Hey...’’

She said, in a soft voice, like a whisper, which would not be heard unless the listener was beside her. However, no one replied.

‘‘... say something. I know you are here. I know you hear me’’

In a darkened room, where not even a ray of sunlight could enter, as it had no windows to allow them, she was alone.

‘‘... you brought me here, you took away the good life I was living under lies about a fantastic future, and I, naively, believed you’’

She spoke to the void while her gaze was pointed at the ceiling, her eyes unfocused by the tears that, until recently, kept flowing from them.

‘‘... now... now you can't tell me you're gone... That can't happen. It's impossible!’’

Who was she addressing? Was she expecting to converse with a non-existent being? Perhaps her actions could only be described in one way. She was one step away from falling into madness. What had driven her to it? How much had she had to suffer to end up like this? That was something that-...

‘‘Say something, damn it! Don't try to make it look like you don't exist! I'm not crazy! I know you're here, you damn author!’’

Her calm, sad voice faded away, only to be transformed into a high-pitched scream full of anger.

‘‘You lied to me. You deceived me. You betrayed me. You played with me and my emotions. I did not want this. I believed you when you told me that you would bring me to this world, to your novel, to share the same happiness as the heroine of that story that I enjoyed so much, but... but...’’

Her tone and volume showed she was about to burst into tears again. She needed to talk to someone. She needed to get an answer, so I gave it to her.

''I did not lie to you, for I really brought you into this world. I didn't deceive you. After all, you enjoyed your time with her. I never betrayed you because I gave you everything I promised. Besides, I didn't play with you either. I just enjoyed reading about the path you were walking on. So, tell me, what do you want from me now?''

‘‘... I knew it. I knew you hadn't left. At the end of the day, the narrator must always remain close to the characters’’

Wiping her damp cheeks with the back of her hands, she, with staggering steps, advanced to finally sit down abruptly on a humble wooden bed, which consisted mainly of several sticks roughly coupled together, covered by several faded sheets, which took the function of pillows and mattress.

Moreover, it trembled intensely as it supported the girl's weight. It seemed about to break under her heavy movement. But she didn't care about that, and while still looking at the ceiling, she continued talking.

‘‘... hey, I know you can do it since you proved it to me by bringing me here, but... would you revive her?’’

‘‘No’’

‘‘No matter what? Even if I offer you my life, my soul, all of me?’’

‘‘No’’

‘‘... I see... hehe, I guessed as much. After all, if you wanted to keep her alive, you wouldn't have killed her’’

‘‘I did not kill her’’

‘‘Yes, you did, as this is your world, the story you have written yourself’’

‘‘You're wron-...’’

‘‘No, I don't’’

‘‘You are wrong. This is now your story. One in which everything that was meant to happen was altered because you appeared. Due to your presence, those who were supposed to help her with her depression were not at her side. Everything happened because they fell in love with you or they wasted their time with you for another reason that doesn't matter now. Thus, it was you who killed her, not me’’

‘‘... are all lies’’

‘‘It is not, and I can prove it-...’’

‘‘Shut up!’’

Blinded by the emotions of the moment, with her frail, thin left fist, she struck the wall behind her using all her strength, causing the roof of the house to shake from the flimsy construction that supported it, as well as slightly breaking her little finger.

A low moan of pain left her mouth as her eyes once again tinged red, but enduring it by using her other hand to squeeze the wound, she responded to my words with a steadier tone.

‘‘What you have said is just nonsense. Therefore, I'll pretend I haven't heard it. So, you don't want to revive her, huh? I had imagined it, and that's why I thought of another option that you might like’’

Releasing her damaged finger, which reddened from the pressure with which she held it, she stretched out both arms at her sides while an awkward, forced smile was plastered on her face.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

‘‘Send me back’’

‘‘Where to?’’

‘‘Oh! Don't play dumb. I know you understood. After all, surely you can read my thoughts’’

All she uttered were empty words that did not get an equivalent reply.

‘‘... Well... I guess I should say it so that your readers will understand’’

She began to talk more and more about subjects beyond her comprehension, demonstrating in such a way how frayed was the rope that held her sanity. She herself did not understand what was coming out of her mouth, but that did not stop her.

‘‘Now, let's go back to the beginning...’’

Imitating the stage actors whom, in her youth, she had seen practicing backstage, she adjusted her voice by making fake coughs and indecipherable stammering sounds. Then, after a while, when she felt ready, she resumed her act.

‘‘Send me back to the past, the year I came into this world!’’

She started a play, an unfunny comedy.

‘‘Come on! I know it will be fun. Plus, I'm sure it will also be amazing and original. Just imagine it, a girl who saw her friend die in the worst possible way returns to the past so she can help her overcome her problems while, in the shadows, she helps her marry the handsome and rich guy who has always secretly loved her. It would certainly be a story like no ot-...’’

‘‘No’’

‘‘... Huh?’’

‘‘I will not’’

‘‘... Why?’’

Contrary to the energy, along with a hint of emotion, that she showed as she narrated her illusory plan, upon hearing my denial, the light in her eyes faded as her arms fell limply to her sides after she had made several gestures that were in tune with her words.

‘‘Because I don't want to’’

‘‘... I understand ... it's your story, after all’’

With evident reluctance in her movements, she lifted her feet off the floor to place them on her bed without even taking off her shoes. Once done, she preceded to lay down, in the same way, her back and head so that then, tiny drops of crystalline water stained the sheets under her.

‘‘... Do it’’

‘‘No’’

‘‘Do it’’

‘‘No’’

‘‘Do it or I'll kill myself’’

Silence fell over the room.

So it was until she abruptly got up from the bed she was lying on, and, after pushing her backward as she stood up, with a hurried step, she went to a table located in a corner, from where she took a sharp pencil and pointed it at her neck, threatening to take her own life on the spot, yet before she could do so, I stopped her.

‘‘Wait’’

‘‘…’’

‘‘I will not take you back to the past’’

When she heard that, the tip of the item she was holding was brought close to her body, leading to a drop of blood sliding on it until it fell to the dirt floor.

‘‘... but I can do something else’’

‘‘… What?’’

A husky voice, very different from her usual one, originated from her small pink lips.

‘‘How about if I send you back to the world you came from?’’

‘‘... Are you serious?’’

‘‘Of course, I do not lie’’

‘‘... You're back again with your falsehoods, you shameless traitor’’

With that said, she put the sharp object back where she picked it up, and taking a couple of steps back to lean her back against the wall, she continued.

‘‘Now, tell me, what are the conditions of your offer, and don't tell me there aren't any, as I've read enough novels to know that an author can't finish a story like that. They're all bastards looking to put all kinds of problems in their creations, and you're no different from them’’

She, with a repulsive voice and a scowl, cast aspersions on a innocent.

‘‘You remain silent because you can't reply, eh... cowar-...’’

‘‘What you call a condition is something that we had already discussed the day we met, but that you, in your sick addiction to live a destiny that does not belong to you, forgot, and now you try to recriminate me for it, even though the solution to everything was always in your hands. You are the coward who escaped from a hard choice, preferring to end it all most simply. A traitor who never cared about her friend and who now suffers only from guilt but not from regret’’

‘‘Stop, what the hell are you talk-...’’

‘‘I'll take you back to your childhood...’’

‘‘… Ah’’

‘‘... if that is what you really want since if you refuse, you can still live here for the rest of your life’’

After her words, choked by emotions, ended as a simple mute scream, her eyes, in frantic movement, accompanied her trembling body that began to sweat.

The shock she suffered was severe, but that didn't stop me. So, when she seemed to have calmed down and gained enough resolve to make a decision, I went on to talk about the result that would come from her actions.

''Think about it calmly. Do not let yourself be carried away by the impulse, for on your shoulders, you not only carry the weight of your life but also those of everyone in this world''

‘‘... What did you say?’’

‘‘Think about it. This place was originally just a novel written on lifeless sheets of paper. It wasn't until your arrival that everything changed. Because of you, your friend died. However, thanks to you, she was born, as were the other living beings that inhabit this land’’

‘‘You mean if I leave here, everyone will die?’’

‘‘No, or maybe yes’’

‘‘... Damn you, how dare you joke about something like that’’

‘‘Joking? I don't joke’’

‘‘What do you mean it's not? So, if that's not a joke, what is?’’

‘‘A truth. An absolute and irrefutable truth. Girl, don't get confused. I am not a god, nor am I close to being one. Although I write the history of this place, and I can change the present or the future at will, I don't know everything, nor can I be everywhere at the same time. At the end of the day, as much as I am the author, I am also a reader, so the story that the book is not interested in telling me is something I will never know’’

‘‘…’’

‘‘In case you have not understood me, what I am trying to convey to you is that I cannot say that this world will disappear, but, in the same way, I cannot assure you that the opposite will happen, or even if the threads that govern reality will bring everything back to its natural course after your departure. After all, that would only be possible with omnipotence or omniscience, which I lack’’

‘‘…’’

‘‘In the end, it's all up to you. It will be up to you to decide if you will live here or return to your origins’’

Once the voice coming from another plane of existence stopped, not a single sound was heard again in the place. She, standing silently, only moved occasionally to wipe the sweat that ran down her white forehead. She could do nothing else because her head was concentrated on only one thing.

For a while, it was so, without any change in her behavior. It was so until, with no hesitation in her steps, she walked to leave the room, and after taking some coins that she kept in a cabinet, she did the same with the house.

Time passed, and the sun high in the sky lowered, being replaced by the distant waning moon, who, together with the light of the stars, accompanied her on her way, and when she returned, without changing her clothes, she went straight to her bed where she fell asleep instantly.

The following morning, replacing the absent birdsong, noisy vomiting greeted the dawn, coming from that girl who, in a hole that appeared to be a toilet because of the stench coming from inside, was expelling all the alcohol that had filled her stomach the night before.

Still, despite the poor state she was in, she had made a decision, one that would change her life as a turning point.

‘‘Hey... can you hear me?... I...’’