"She picked up the humongous vase that was probably worth a lot, and smashed it violently against the wooden floor. She didn't think about the guilt she would feel later for destroying her aunts' antiques; she was only focused on the red hot anger and sorrow that gnawed at her whole being. She took out her cabinet, and threw it across the wall. The harsh sound of wood crashing filled her ears, and a dark voice inside her head told her to continue. She picked up a pair of scissors on the desk and started stabbing at the mattress vehemently and ripping out all the cotton from the pillows. She ravaged through her wardrobe and tore at her dresses and blouses. She dug in her drawers for photographs and tore them all up with such vehemence that they scattered in the air. She could feel a headache coming through for turning round and round too much, and knocked some books off her shelf before she fell down onto the destroyed bed.

She wept. She cried and cried and cried, her hair matted from all the tears rolling her cheeks and soaked into the exposed cotton. Her heart thumped painfully inside, and she wanted to do nothing more than rip it out to alleviate the sorrow. She breathed heavily, panting for breath in between sobs as she stared at the ceiling above. She laid there, arms out wide and exhausted.

If you're going to take me, she thought, take me now God.

She blinked her eyes open, and realized she dozed off in the car. She saw the driver outside, filling up the tank at a gas station. She looked around, to see that they were still on the open road. 

The flashbacks still persisted. They refused to leave her alone, no matter how much time she spent pitying herself. No matter how much efforts she gave into moving on. She could still see them so vividly, in her dreams. Instead of remembering about it, she focused on her current situation.

Her aunts just suddenly came in one day and told her she was going on a vacation. They even packed everything ready for her and made arrangements without her knowing anything, and here she was. They seemed to intent on the idea that she didn't refuse. After all the worry and burden she's put upon them, it was only right of her to agree to their request. Besides, a vacation might be just the thing she needed to push herself through the boundary between pain and memories and the future ahead of her. A vacation might just snap her out of her brooding state. 

Sighing, she opened the car doors and stepped outside to inhale the fresh air. She smiled at the driver and observed the surroundings. It was just an ordinary cluster of retail businesses, with a gas station and shops nearby. She looked across the street, and she could see a small restaurant and a barber shop.

A barber shop? She gazed at the place, through the glasses at the people getting their hair cut and trimmed inside. She touched her own black strands, and an impulse rose through her. Before she could think it over, she tapped the driver and informed him that she was going to the barber shop.

When the car was moving again, she had a new hairdo. She told the hairdresser to cut it short, and the woman kindly styled a straight bob that framed her face and barely reached her shoulders. She played with her new cut, feeling short locks running through her fingers while staring absentmindedly out the windows at the passing scenery. 

"Where are we going?" She asked the driver after a while. They were in the countryside now, with the marmalade evening sky hanging nostalgically overhead like a giant carpet. She could see endless grass fields with cows and buffaloes grazing. She could see farmers harvesting and planting in the paddies, and with the evening sky, everything looked strangely regretful.

"To the Oh Mansion, miss." The driver offered, then fell silent again. At first she wondered about what kind of mansion was named Oh. Then she realized that it was probably the last name of the owner. 

"Is that where I'm gonna stay?"

"Yes, miss." He nodded. She settled back in her seat and continued to observe the country life outside, wishing that her life could have been as simple as the farmers hunching in the fields. 

Leaving the countryside behind, they drove into a secluded area not very far away with forests of trees lined up on both sides. The green passing by combined with the light and created patterns on the car seat and illuminated her new hair. If this was where she would stay, then maybe everything was for the better after all, she mused.

They finally drove through an elaborate overhang made with tangled branches of trees to arrive at the Oh Mansion. From here, the mansion was dreamy and fairy tale-ish, yet it held a st