“But if you were in my room… then… who was that girl?”

Jessica’s eyes squinted as she tried hard to think of who caused the trouble. Then, all of a sudden, she walked quickly towards her mother’s room.

Jessica stepped into the room, and the bright lights blinded her eyes. She searched around the room for some sort of evidence that would be able to help them in identifying the identity of the mysterious girl. Her eyes wandered around the room as she walked in circles inside the room. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to find anything. She walked towards the door, smothering her face in frustration after all that has happened in the past few weeks. Then, Jessica felt that she might have stepped on something weird. The smooth, wooden floor of her mother’s bedroom was contrasted by what she was stepping on. Jessica lifted her foot off the floor, revealing loose, brown, threadlike strands.

“Hair?” Jessica asked herself as she bent over and stared at what seem to be strands of hair? “Mom doesn’t have brown hair, so this must be the girl’s.” Jessica continued to think to herself.

Jessica quickly picked the strands of hair up with her hands and she kept them in her fist.

“Jessica?” Her mom called out as she suddenly appeared at the doorway.

“Oh mom! You scared me!” Jessica screamed in fright.

“What were you doing?” Her mom asked, curious.


“I was just… you know… I was just…” Jessica uttered as she tried to think of an excuse, not wanting to reveal her thoughts about what had just happened.

“What is it, Jessica?”

“Oh! Mom! I left the faucet in my bathroom open!” Jessica finally yelled out as an excuse. “I need to go mom!”

Jessica, eager to leave her mother’s presence, quickly headed to her room, into her bathroom. Jessica shut the door behind her, releasing a sigh of relief afterwards. Jessica unfolded her fists and stared at the strands of hair that were resting on her palms.

“Could it be… hers?” Jessica asked herself as she stared intently at what she was holding, deep in thought. “It… it’s impossible. She… she can’t… she can’t be… real.”

“Jessica?” Yuri’s voice called out as the girl knocked on the bathroom door. “Are you in there?”

“Y… yes! I’ll be out in a minute!” Jessica answered back.

The blonde girl placed the strands of hair inside her medicine cabinet which hung above the bathroom sink. Then, she removed the towel that was wrapped around her. Finally, she put on her clothes one by one. She first put on a very short pair of shorts, and then wears a loose shirt to go along with it.

Jessica was the type of girl to sleep with very little clothing, and no one really minded her since there were only two of them living in the house. But this would definitely bother the girl that would be staying in her house for the night.

Jessica stepped out of the bathroom, fresh from a good night bath. As she shut the bathroom door behind her, the seemingly lifeless body of Yuri met her sight.

“She’s already asleep?” Jessica thought as she looked at her roommate for the night, cozy in her blankets as she slept beside Jessica’s bed. “But she hasn’t even changed her clothes yet.”

Jessica headed over to where Yuri was. Then, she knelt beside the sleeping girl and tried to wake her up.

“Yuri…” Jessica whispered as her face came closer to Yuri’s. “Wake up…” Jessica continued to whisper.

Yuri’s eyes slowly opened at Jessica’s whispers as she hasn’t fallen too deeply into sleep. As Yuri’s eyes finally opened wide, the first thing she saw was Jessica, well, her body to be exact. Yuri’s eyes examined the other girl who was wearing very little clothing. Suddenly, her face turned red at the sight. Acting instinctively, Yuri pulled the blankets over her head, hiding her face from Jessica.

“What are you doing?” Jessica asked as she tried to pull the blankets off the other girl. “Are you embarrassed at what I’m wearing?” Jessica continued asking. “Oh come on. You’ve seen me wear less than this,” Jessica said teasingly. “You need to wash up and change your clothes before sleeping. I’ve already prepared a set of clothes for you in the bathroom.”

Having heard this, Yuri, almost in one motion, swiftly jumped off of the makeshift bed and dashed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her, not wanting Jessica to see her reddened face.

“She’s such a silly girl,” Jessica muttered.

After Yuri entered the bathroom, Jessica tucked herself in her own bed as she tried to drift off to sleep. She twisted and turned, fluffing her pillows every now and then to get as comfortable as she could be, but to no avail. She had been keeping her eyes shut tightly for more than ten minutes, but the poor girl still hasn’t been able to fall asleep when she needed to.

After a few more minutes, the bathroom door swung open, and Yuri stepped into the room, wearing what Jessica had prepared for her; a sleeveless gray top, and thin-lined pajamas. Yuri, with her hair still wet, closed the bathroom door and sat down on her sheets of blanket she had to call a bed. Jessica, on the other hand, was sitting up on her bed, unable to fall asleep as she had wanted to.

“Can’t sleep?” Yuri asked the troubled girl.

“Yeah,” she answered, scratching her head in frustration. “What about you? Why aren’t you still sleeping?”

“My hair is still wet. I need to dry it up first,” Yuri replied.

“I have a blower in my drawer. It might help.”

“That won’t be necessary, but thanks anyways.”

After those last few words, there was awkward silence between them. It lasted for minutes, but the awkwardness made it seem like hours. They couldn’t even look into each other’s eyes, let alone, find the courage to talk to each other. It went on for minutes more, until Jessica finally broke the silence.

“Is it because of your parents?” Jessica asked all of a sudden

“What is?” Yuri asked back, puzzled.

“You know… why you had to stay at somebody else’s place for the night…”

“Oh… well… yeah.” Yuri replied softly. “How’d you know?”

“Well, there really isn’t any other possible reason,” Jessica answered honestly.

“Yeah,” Yuri agreed. “I guess so.”

“So, what exactly happened?” Jessica asked.

“It’s kind of a long story,” Yuri answered. “But to make the long story short, my mom and dad fought, and they sort of blamed everything on me. So, it’s like they don’t want me in their life anymore. And I think not letting me sleep at our house is a start to try to get me out of their life.”

“But why don’t you seem too affected by it?” Jessica continued to question.

“Well, I’m sort of used to it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Their fights, it’s like an on and off thing. They fight one second, and make-up the next,” Yuri explained. “I’m pretty sure they’ll call me back sometime soon.”

“Wow. That’s pretty complicated.”

“It is. For other people. But I don’t think of it as much,” Yuri answered as she sighed. “How about you? I’ve never met your dad before. I’ve revealed something about my life. Can’t you tell me something about him?”

“He… well… he,” Jessica uttered as she smiled at the thought of her dad, tears starting to form in her eyes. “He was the best dad in the world.”

“I’m sure he’s better than mine,” Yuri commented as the two of them looked at each other.

“Well, he’d always be with me and mom all the time,” Jessica narrated. “He’d spend time with us all day, and after he tucks me in bed at night, he goes to work… you know… to support our needs.”

The mood started to change its tone as Jessica narrated the story. Yuri, as she hears the serious words of Jessica, started to lean in closer, folding her arms on top of Jessica’s bed and placing her head on top. Jessica continued to tell the story, as Yuri continued to listen closely.

“A night never passed that he didn’t tell us that he loved us. A day never passed that he didn’t make us feel that he cared for us,” Jessica continued. “He and mom never quarreled and we’d be smiling every second of the day when he was with us.”
Just then, Jessica stopped talking. She turned her head towards the window in her room, and she stared at the tree branches that were swaying with the wind. Suddenly, she got up from her bed, and walked towards the window. Yuri, on the other hand, just watched her with confused eyes as she slowly made her way to the window.

“I miss him so much,” Jessica whispered as she continued to stare out the window.

Once more, there was a moment of silence between the two. No one spoke. Jessica reminisced all the good times she had with her dad, well, as far as she could remember. Meanwhile, Yuri, not knowing what to do, just sat still and looked at Jessica with curious eyes.

“What’s the matter,” Yuri asked, finally breaking the silence.

“Oh… n… nothing,” Jessica uttered as she snapped back to reality. “Do you want to go outside?”

“Wha… why outside all of a sudden?” Yuri replied, the sudden suggestion catching her by surprise.

“No particular reason. I think… I… I just need fresh air,” Jessica reasoned as she looked over her shoulder, into the other girl’s eyes.

“Sure. Whatever you wish,” Yuri finally agreed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The cold breeze caressed the two girl’s bare arms and legs as their hairs stood on end. The cold wind blew the fallen leaves across the even colder ground as its rustling broke the dark evening’s silence. The bright, full moon lit up the dim atmosphere as the two girls sat on the front door steps, both staring into oblivion.

No words came out of the mouths of either of the two for a few minutes or so, and even though they sat beside each other, it was as if each of them was alone.

“So, you weren’t able to finish what you were telling me a while ago,” Yuri spoke, finally. “So, where’s your dad now?”

“He’s… some… somewhere,” Jessica began to say, her eyes starting to fill up. “Somewhere out there.”

As Jessica said those last words, tears overflowed from her eyes, and she finally broke into tears. She cupped her face with her hands as weeping echoed in the silence of the night.

Yuri, still clueless as to why Jessica was crying, didn’t know what to do at the moment. Her eyes widened at the sudden tears of Jessica. She was completely taken aback at what had happened.

“I… I’m sorry,” Yuri apologized as she hesitated to move or even speak as she was unaware of the reason behind the girl’s tears. “Did I say something wrong? Is it about your father?”

At these words, Jessica’s sobbing grew louder and Yuri panicked at the thought that she was the reason why the other girl was crying. And afraid that someone might hear Jessica, Yuri suddenly grabbed her into an embrace, a tight one.

Jessica’s face was buried into Yuri’s shoulder as the two hugged each other, both of them oblivious to the reason why they were doing so. They stayed like so for minutes more and as seconds passed by, Jessica’s tears grew fewer.

As Jessica’s tears finally stopped flowing, her embrace with Yuri loosened and the latter sat back down beside the other girl.

“Thanks,” Jessica exclaimed as she wiped the last few tears from her eyes. “That… that felt good.”

“It’s nothing. I’m sorry I had to bring it up,” Yuri apologized.

Their eyes met each other’s and they smiled as well. Finally, the night was peaceful once more.

The night grew deeper, but it was silent between the two. They didn’t talk to each other for another span of time. But this time, it was for good reason.

As Yuri stared at the ground, something suddenly put weight on her shoulder. As she looked to see what it was, the closed eyes of Jessica met her eyes. Jessica fell asleep and rested her head on Yuri’s shoulder. Finally, she fell asleep.

“She fell asleep while sitting down,” Yuri said to herself as she giggled at the sight. “She’s still the Jessica I know.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Let go of her!” Jessica ordered as soon as she had a clear view of the two girls. “Let go of her right now!”

“Jessica!” Tiffany screamed back, with much hope in her voice.

The mysterious girl was briefly kept speechless with the surprising appearance of Jessica.

“I said let go!” Jessica ordered once more.

“Jessica?” Tiffany called out as the girl suddenly vanished from her sight. “Jessica!” Tiffany continued to scream out.

“Your Jessica ain’t here anymore,” the other girl told Tiffany with a menacing tone. “I told you she wasn’t reliable.”

Tiffany looked behind her, and she saw that the other girl was still there. Very much still there. And those eyes that showed an obvious sign that she had bad intentions for Tiffany? They were staring right into Tiffany’s eyes.

With much fear as well as longing for Jessica, Tiffany sprinted forward, heading farther away from the girl. The other girl started walking swiftly after her, calmly following behind.

“You can’t run from me, Tiffany. Not until she comes back.”