“Ellie . . . Ellie,” Samar repeatedly called out. She then slowly entered Ellie’s room.

            She quickly found her in a corner of the room . . . all crawled up as if afraid of something. She was continuously uttering something that Samar couldn’t understand.

            “Ellie,” Samar uttered with worry. She quickly approached and embraced her. “What’s wrong? Why are you like this? Please Ellie . . . talk to me.”

            Ellie stared at Samar. But somehow her stare just passed through her. It was as if she wasn’t seeing or hearing anything.

            Fear immediately filled Samar’s heart.

            “Krizzia, Krizzia . . . Come here quickly . . . Krizzia,” Samar started to shout.

            An hour later . . . .

            Samar was staring out of the window. While Krizzia was sitting quietly near another window.

            They were both confused on what they were supposed to do.

            Ellie had somehow returned to her former mental state. She was totally unresponsive, no matter what they did or say to her.

            Suddenly . . . Krizzia started crying. She felt so helpless. She wanted to help Ellie but there was nothing she could do.

            “Krizzia, stop crying. Even if you cry a million times . . . it won’t solve our problem,” Samar uttered while also controlling her emotions.

            “But I can’t help it. I feel so useless right now. She was already back to normal. And now . . . this happens . . . and she’s back to . . . to . . .” Krizzia stopped talking. She couldn’t continue what was on her mind.

            Samar sighed. “We all know that she’s not fully recovered yet. The changes we saw before was just a façade she tried to put on. But we both know that deep inside . . . she still carries the scar of her past. Unless she learns to totally forget and forgive all the people who did those bad things to her . . . . I’m afraid she will forever live in her own dark world.”

            Krizzia started to cry harder. It was very hard for her to accept Ellie’s situation.

            “Samar, isn’t there a way we can help her? Come on . . . think of something. Maybe there is another therapy that we haven’t tried yet. Samar, I don’t think I can bear to see Ellie lose herself again. . . I don’t have the heart to see her suffer again . . .” Krizzia said in between sobs.

            Samar lightly shook her head. “Krizzia … we are just nurses. We are not doctors and we are certainly not gods. Even doctors can’t help her. Remember she has already gone to a hundred doctors. And they all say the same thing. Ellie is the only one who can cure herself. She has to learn to let go of all the pain, anger and memories. Those are the things that trigger her sickness.”

            “What do we do now? Should we tell her parents about her current situation?” Krizzia asked worriedly. “Please . . . if you’re planning to tell them. Just put it off for another day or two .  . . Maybe she will be all right by this day or tomorrow. . . Please Samar.”

            Samar sighed. “Honestly I am also afraid of calling her parents. I am sure the moment they learn that Ellie’s sick again. They will take her to an institution again. Just like you . . . I also pity her. I know she will become more sick if she goes into another institution again. But right now . . . we’re already out of options. We certainly can’t just sit around and watch her go back to her former mental state.”

            Krizzia looked at Samar with disbelief in her eyes. “So you’re really going to call them? Come on, Samar. Please don’t . . .  I’m begging you. Let’s try some other way first.”

            Samar smiled bitterly. “What other way are you pertaining to? For the passed six years, we have been trying to find another way to cure or help her. But . . . we should just accept the truth. Her condition is really way beyond help.”

            “No, I can’t accept that. She’s already like a sister to me. I love her with all my heart. And I will do everything just to help her,” Krizzia said with a serious tone.

            Samar looked at her friend. Her eyes were already filled with tears as well. Somehow she couldn’t stop her tears anymore. “So do you think I don’t want to help her? God knows I would trade my life for her . . . that is how much I love her. Just like you . . . I also treat her like my own sister. And nothing would make me more happier than to see her totally cured and back to normal. But . . . we don’t have any choice now. We can’t pretend that she’s still okay and that there’s no problem.”

            Krizzia lowered her head. “I’m sorry. I know you love her as well. I . . . I just wish that there is something else we can do for her.”

            “Krizzia . . . there is still a way . . . I think,” Samar suddenly uttered.

            “What?” Krizzia asked, quite surprised. She instantly tried to control her tears and sobbing. Then she stared at  Samar with a serious expression on her face. “What way? Come on . . . tell me. Let’s try anything . . . everything,” she said as desperation quickly registered on her face.

            “We haven’t really tried our very last option. But this will be very brutal and too drastic for Ellie. There is a big chance that once we do this . . . she will never forgive us,” Samar uttered.

            “What? What are you saying? I don’t understand. What are you suggesting we do?” Krizzia asked, quite puzzled.

            “Remember . . . there was once a doctor who suggested that one way of curing Ellie’s phobia would be to subject her to all the things that trigger it in the first place. . . sort of exposing her to all the things that she’s afraid of,” Samar answered.

            “What? Are you serious? But that would be total torture for her. And how can we possibly do that?” Krizzia asked again.

            “I’ve already consulted a doctor about this. And the way he suggested is . . . we must first talk to Jaejoong . . . We have to first make sure that he’s really the friend that Ellie had a few years ago,” Samar started to explain.

            “Jaejoong? Why do we need to talk to him?” Krizzia asked with a raised tone.

            “Because . . .  if he’s really Ellie’s friend. . . then we need his help too. And the other guy’s help as well . . . the other one named Micky,” Samar continued.

            “Now I’m getting confused. Why do we need their help? I’m not really getting what you’re saying,” Krizzia said with a more confused look on his face. Somehow all her tears had disappeared and were now replaced with a serious expression on her face.

            Samar sighed. “First step, let’s make sure that Jaejoong is really Ellie’s friend. If he is, the we move on to the second step. . . which would be to reveal Ellie’s real identity . . . and everything about her from the moment of that incident to the present. After that . . . . we go to third step which is to make Jaejoong confront Ellie again. We have  to help  them make amends with each other. Somehow both me and the doctor I consulted agree that there is a chance that Ellie’s condition will somehow change once she forgives him. After we solve the problem regarding her best friend, we can then move on to the fourth step which would need the help of Micky. The doctor said thinks that Micky will be able to help cure Ellie’s phobia. We can ask Micky to interact more frequently with her. We can then make use of the fact that Ellie doesn’t respond violently to his touch. More physical interaction with a man will somehow lessen the degree of her phobia . . . little by little up to a point that she will be able to handle it already. . . or even to a point that it will be totally cured,” Samar explained thoroughly.

            Krizzia stared at Samar with wide open eyes. She was shocked and amazed with what she just heard. She then slowly shook her head. “I really don’t know what to say . . . Is that really necessary? I mean . . . you’re going to tell Jaejoong about Ellie? I know there’s a chance that she’ll start committing suicide again after she learns that you’ve told Jaejoong about what really happened that night. You know how hard she tried to hide the truth from everyone. She even changed her name and face just for the sake of hiding it.”

            “We have no choice. We have to make Jaejoong fully understand Ellie’s condition. And the only way to do it would be to reveal everything to him . . . to Micky and to their other friends,” Samar answered.

            “What?” Krizzia exclaimed. “You’re also going to tell the other three guys about Ellie? What for? Isn’t it enough that you will be humiliating Ellie infront of Jaejoong and Micky? . . . Why do you need to tell the other guys too?”

            “Because Micky and Jaejoong are their friends. And the way I see it . . . all of them are very close. So to make this plan work, we will need the cooperation of everybody around Ellie . . . and that includes them,” Samar answered.

            “But . . . but that would be . . . Aaaahhh!!! I don’t know what to think anymore,” Krizzia uttered as she bent down her head and started to rub her forehead as if she was having a headache.

            “I told you this last option would be brutal, and quite painful for her. And we might end up being hated as well,” Samar said sadly.

            As Krizzia slowly looked at Samar again, sadness also filled her eyes. “But it’s for her own good right?”

            “Yes, we will try everything just to help her,” Samar replied.

            Krizzia nodded. “All right. Let’s do it . . . for Ellie’s sake. I don’t care if she ends up hating us. At least, I can proudly say I did everything I could to help her.”

            Tears quickly filled Samar’s eyes. “Krizzia, don’t worry. We’ll get through this again. . . We’re going to help Ellie no matter what . . .”

            Krizzia stood up and went to Samar’s side. Then she lovingly embraced her. “Yes, I know. We will certainly get through all of this. . . We will still be together . . . you, me and Ellie.”