“Get out of here, Sera! Go! Run!”

“Mother!”

“Sera! Go! Now!”

“Mum! Don’t!”

Mum…

Mother…

Mum!

A girl awoke.

She sat up, her hand clutching her head and her eyes gingerly opening. As they accustomed to the moonlight that bathed the ground around her, she found herself at the edge of a busy highway. The lights from the vehicles on the roads burned her eyes and she closed them instinctively, not wanting to keep them open; even if it meant endangering her safety in this foreign land that she does not seem to recognise.

Where am I…?

She slowly opened her eyes and learnt to shy away when vehicles drive past her, successfully avoiding the lights that made her uncomfortable. Placing both palms on the moist and soft ground, she pushed herself to her feet. They wobbled for a few moments before they gave way and the girl flopped back down.

C’mon. You can do this.

She tried once more. And this time, she stood up, albeit swaying slightly but she never fell back down.

Walking steadily, she made her way to the edge of the highway. The cold, hard, and rough tar road greeted her bare feet and she winced in pain when a small pebble pressed deep into her sole. Ignoring the pain that still plagued her left foot, she continued to hobble along the highway.

Silvery moonlight illuminated the narrow path that she walked on and she sighed when she looked ahead. A long and seemingly never-ending path stretched ahead of her.

Where am I even headed to…

She stopped, for the pain in her left foot proved too excruciating for her to bear any longer. She dropped back down to