The path is strewed with gravel in a zigzag fashion leading me to a snow-white gazebo hidden among shrubs of red buds. The burgundy petals stained, drawing with bloody grins my tracks left in front of the gazebo. I tried not to focus my attention on the recess, but my eyes constantly threw themselves into a narrow hole, so similar to a heel stud. Although my shoes, which I shod today to go here, are low-soled shoes. Thoughts interrupted each other, frantically seeking answers. The truth was that there was no need to look for an answer; everything was in front of me.

You just need to open your eyes and look at a ghostly girl standing near bouquets of roses, with long brown hair, luxuriously descending over fragile shoulders. The deep color of chocolate aded my soul, which was inseparably watching her actions.

That girl, shrouded in fog, just walked over, leaned toward the bud, took a slow breath, barely swallowing, extended her fingers to the silky petal, but slipped off her hand, pricked with thorns. Small drops of blood from her finger dripped onto a beautiful dress, turning it from pale blue to bright red. The girl did not have time to get scared or scream, she simply disappeared into the air.

I do not have time to react. Why my legs didn’t move, I don’t know, I just froze in place. Then I decided to come here night after night, so that one of the nights still helps the girl.

If I knew her story?

Or at least her name.

***

Her name is Yu Jeongyeon.

The real name, because the girl that I see constantly, now lies in a coma, attached to the apparatus of life, fights for every second of her existence. No one was surprised at my story that every night I see her near the gazebo. Many saw her, many wanted to help her, but when they found out what to do, they disappeared, forgetting, and when they were met by chance on the street or somewhere else near the hospital, they pretended to be heard for the first time. I became curious, therefore, I asked:

- What do we have to do?

-You are the same as those who came before you, - your parents waved away, not believing that I want to sincerely help her.

-You don’t know me, don’t judge me like that - molested them with questions, which finally surrendered to my persuasion, the elder sister Jeongyeon took me aside so as not to interfere with the staff, to carry out their work, told in a muffled voice:

- There is one way, you can use your dreams to get into her subconscious, and maybe there is an answer there why she does not wake up.

-Is there such a way? - I was surprised, because for the first time I hear about this.

-Yes, science has taken a step forward, - the sister answered ambiguously, glancing somewhere to the side. - Classified information. Our father is a developer, so I know. And you will be about it if you agree to help us.

- Hm, you can think one day? - Frankly speaking, to set experiments on myself, I was a little scared by such a prospect.

-You have plenty of time; - the girl grinned wryly, piercing me with her gaze.

- I’ll come tomorrow with the answer - I wished the very best, bowed, looked again at the lying girl, left.

***

I knew for sure that I would agree as soon as I left her room. She was finally convinced of her choice when that night in a dream, she came to me, her beautiful dark eyes looked into my soul, and, after reading the necessary information, her soulful voice said:

“Please don't leave me, Nayeon.”

After her words, I felt a kiss mark on my right cheek. My heart pounded in my chest, I decided to help her. Break out of the shackles of the sleepy maze, return to reality. And it is possible, in reality, to feel the softness of her lips again.

***

In the morning of the next day, I resolutely headed to the chambers of Jeongyeon, rejoiced that I had found my older sister there. And while my determination did not disappear, blurted out:

- I agree.

-You definitely won't regret it? This road will be very difficult for you. You may not return.

-I agree, - I repeated, clenching my fists. - What do we have to do?

-I'm so glad that… - the elder sister, unable to stand it, burst into tears in front of me, and in order to somehow hide her tears, she came up to me, hugged her tightly. - Come with me; go faster, we don’t want to lose a chance.

-No, let's make it faster; - I hurried after her, rejoicing in my heart that I had made the right choice.

***

The laboratory we arrived at was luxurious. The walls are not white, but some kind of transparent color, the ceiling is like a blue sky, and the light bulb is so much like the sun. Clean and tidy. Many people in white coats, with smart and focused faces, learned something or thought something. Many different modern, some strange machines, either related to medicine, or to computers. But most of all was struck in the middle of the room by a hand-made arch, consisting of small wires.

A little later, I realized where I saw such an arch, in science fiction films, which describe the passage to another dimension. Pleasant relaxing music sounded, to be honest; I really wanted to sleep from it. The eyes became heavy, the rhythm of the heart calmed down, the breathing became moderate, even, as if I had been sleeping for a long time, I only saw a strange dream.

The surprise did not end there, when the elder sister Jeongyeon called a man sitting near the computer. It seemed strange to me that the girl addressed him by name, usually they don’t communicate with her parents like this:

-Jungyoung, dear, I brought her last link for our experiment. She herself came to me, or rather, she came to Yu Jeongyeon.

What struck me even more was how the girl hugged the man by the shoulders, stood on tiptoe, kissed his on the lips. Then I began to suspect something was amiss, but it was too late, my body was no longer subject to me. My legs weakened and buckled, I would have fallen to the floor, if it were not for the chair, which was helpfully put up by some worker. I sat down, stared at them, my mouth opened, but nothing was said.

- My medicine has already begun to act. It was so easy to deceive you by offering to drink water from my bottle. I poured one powder in advance there, do not be afraid, it is harmless, you just won’t be able to move or talk for some time.

-Eh ... w .. h ... o ... y ... o ... u ... - managed to squeeze out words with difficulty. My throat was torn inside, one word became hellish torture, I coughed, clenching my hand on my throat.

- Who am I? Hm. I am not the elder sister of that girl. I'm the one who made her like that. And not only her, 8 more gullible girls like her - she laughed quite enough, hugging the man at the waist, leaning her head on his broad chest. - He is also my servant, like those who work here - gently rinsed his cheek, then pushed him away; he swayed and fell, not rising. She did not even rush to his aid, she simply stepped over him. - No, wait, they don’t work, but they serve me. Yes, they are all my slaves!

“...” only the inseparable vowels came out of the letters.

-What I seek is to take over the whole world. You are all my experimental mice. You and 8 more girls, it is you who will become my standard of greatness. In your example, I will show all the ignoramuses how the “temporary space machine” system works. I was missing another element, and now, you appeared. Ha-ha-ha what luck! You told me that Jeongyeon came to you as a ghost to the gazebo - she waited for me to answer something, so I just nodded my head. - It wasn't a ghost who came to you, but a real Jeongyeon. She is still alive, and not in a coma, she is in my experiment.

-?!

-The sleep experiment, of course. My qualification is to study sleep, from the first stage, when a person falls asleep to the last stage, when he wakes up - the girl stopped with explanations, when a woman came up to her, whispered something. - Excellent, - she clapped her hands, I didn’t like her smile, and from that smile I realized I was finished. - Everything is ready; your desire to help Jeongyeon will come true in 7 minutes. You will find yourself in the place where she is now. Get started! - She ordered.

I could not resist, I was weak and helpless. I could only limply watch me being led to the arch, where a chair with wires and a dropper was already prepared. They put me in, strengthened my arms and legs, and fastened something like a helmet on my head. They put a dropper, using a syringe they introduced a tube into my vein; they began to inject some kind of liquid. My eyes tried to find a solution, at least some solution to get out of the situation. They frantically searched for at least someone to show compassion, but all I could find was indifference and soullessness. They didn’t care.

- Look in the opposite direction - the girl advised me, I did so and almost gasped, there, about 15 steps from me, Jeongyeon was sitting in the same chair with wires.

Her eyes were lifeless, but the monitor showed a steady pulse heartbeat. She is here! She is still alive!

- Yes, she is alive, like the other girls. But after, I will send you to sleep, you will die. Not right away, gradually your brain will die, fall asleep and not wake up. But, you will help me become famous all over the world! Thank you for being so gullible and helping me - the last thing I heard from was: - Turn it on!

***

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a vast universe with planets built in the letter "T".

The first thing I heard was a voice that asked me: And who are you here for?

The first thing I realized when my vision returned to normal is that I saw no planets, I saw girls sitting, holding a ball in the shape of a planet.

The first thing my mouth could say is was: Jeongyeon here?

And finally, I heard her beautiful voice in reality; it was almost next to me: I'm here. Forgive me; you were here because of my selfishness.

Her voice has not changed, it's the same.

The first and last thing I thought before disconnecting: I'm glad to be here next to you, Jeongyeon.