At night, inside the study, after her conversation with Erin ended, Izzy stood alone in their shared mind.

  She faced the familiar fa?ade of the theatre, its crimson velvet curtains drawn shut, and reviewed everything that had happened that morning.

  She lifted a hand and rubbed her temple.

  ‘What was it?’

  She could not pinpoint the source of her discomfort.

  Throughout the way, she felt an inexplicable restlessness, this tension wouldn’t go away no matter how many times she analyzed the day’s events.

  The encounter with Mary, Victor, the villager and the thugs. There was only Madam’s maid who seemed suspicious, but beside that, nothing had gone wrong.

  And yet, something felt off.

  Izzy entered the stage. As the deep red velvet curtains parted, a vast black space revealed itself beyond them.

  She snapped her fingers. The blackness receded, light slowly seeping inside. In the center of the space, a simple book stood alone on the white lectern.

  The Book of Memory.

  Izzy approached and opened it without hesitation.

  “The reason for my unease.”

  […]

  There was no answer. The page remained blank.

  Izzy frowned slightly, then spoke again.

  “My memory.”

  [“The book slowly filled with sentences of her memories, up until this point.”]

  [“She was anxious, restless about something. But she couldn’t discern what it was.”]

  Izzy flipped it back, page to page. Every page contained familiar moments that she remembered clearly, there was nothing new in it.

  “Huh?”

  Her hand stopped at a particular page.

  ‘Have I seen this page before?’ She stared at the page beneath her fingers.

  Between the last page detailing her past life and the first page of her current life, there was a blank page.

  There was nothing written on it, just a simple blank page.

  ‘Did this page appear because I died in my past life?’

  That made sense. That might be the way this book worked, to separate her two lives together for better visibility. A boundary between the person she used to be and the entity she had become, Isidora.

  But… did this blank page truly exist the first time she checked it?

  Izzy couldn’t remember.

  Still uneasy, she asked the book again.

  “Why is there a blank page here?”

  [...]

  ‘As expected, there is no answer.’Izzy exhaled.

  Maybe she was just being paranoid.

  The stress, the constant danger of this unfamiliar world naturally led her on edge.

  “Isa location.”

  A black arrow appeared on the page, pointing in one direction.

  ‘I need to reprimand her about something this morning.'

  Remember the unfinished buildings this morning, Izzy sighed. If not careful, the girl might develop some unpleasant disorders.

  Izzy closed the book, stepped back, and let the curtains fall shut.

  The lights dimmed, the stage dissolving back into darkness.

  She followed the arrow’s direction, her form lifting effortlessly as she flew toward it.

  —

  “Hey.”

  “Ah, Izzy!”

  Isa was playing with multiple disentangle puzzles in the middle of the amusement park.

  She giggled, pieces of metal puzzles scattered around her on the grassy ground. Some were already solved, their metal loops separated, while others were still in the middle of being worked out.

  ‘This many?’

  Isa had only encountered two pieces of disentangle puzzle in the mansion, yet right now, she had created many more and was solving them simultaneously?

  ‘Did she recreate some from our past life?’

  Izzy looked around the amusement park.

  The carousel spun lazily, its painted horses mid-gallop. The Ferris wheel turned in slow, silent arcs against the rainbow-colored sky.

  Izzy raised her eyebrows. The cheerful, almost saccharine music drifted through the air, a constant, tinkling melody that grated on Izzy's nerves.

  ‘tch.’

  This place reminded her of some unpleasant memories.

  ‘Right… What did I intend to do?’

  Izzy coughed lightly, pulling herself from the nostalgic melancholy.

  She crossed her arms, adopting a stern posture as she looked at the young mind.

  “Isa. We need to talk.”

  “Yes?”

  Isa’s hand stopped mid-twist on a particularly complex puzzle. She looked up, her innocent green eyes locked to Izzy’s.

  “...”

  “...”

  “...”

  “Izzy?” Isa tilted her head.

  ‘Ah.’

  Izzy snapped back to her senses.

  She had been momentarily mesmerized by Isa’s beauty…, which was also her own.

  ‘I am too beautiful…’

  Izzy grimaced. She didn’t intend to be this narcissistic, but what could she do? In this mindscape, every aspect of herself was amplified. So when faced with such perfection, even she was captivated.

  “Do you have ADHD?”

  ADHD, short for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

  It was a challenging mental condition that made people unable to keep focus on one thing, often forgetting what they were doing and instantly switching to other activities mid-task.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  It also manifested as hyperactivity and impulsivity, meaning excess movement not fitting to the setting and hasty acts that occurred in the moment without thought.

  For the record, Izzy, in her past life, did not suffer from this disorder.

  She didn’t know if her young mind might possess this or not, but to be sure, she had to ask her directly.

  Izzy shot the information to her young mind, and Isa looked up, thinking deeply.

  “I’m not, Izzy.” After a brief silence, Isa shook her head.

  ‘I see. That’s a relief.’

  It wasn’t a big deal, since right now, Izzy could take care of her. But…

  If someday, Izzy was not around, Isa might have some difficulty navigating her life on her own.

  After all, Izzy wanted her younger self to live a better life.

  As a way to atone for herself.

  “Anyhow, you should finish your first project first before doing another.”

  “Yes?”

  Izzy waved her hand. Instantly, a screen of their mindscape appeared.

  On it, she pointed at the small playhouse right next to the big building, the playing center.

  The pastel cottage with its heart-shaped smoke, sitting incomplete and abandoned.

  Isa’s hand stopped. The puzzle she had been solving dropped from existence, scattering into phantom dust.

  “Here. Finish this, or destroy it. Do not leave it incomplete like this.”

  Isa looked at the pointed playhouse. Her face contorted a bit, a strange expression crossing her features.

  “...”

  Isa looked from the building to Izzy, then back to the building.

  She hesitated, before answering quietly.

  “But Izzy…”

  Isa murmured.

  “I’m not the one building it.”

  ‘...?’

  “I’m not the one building it, Izzy.”

  ‘...Huh?’

  Izzy’s mind stopped working.

  Again. That same anxious, uneasy, restless feeling crawled up her spine like insects beneath her skin.

  “Then who…?”

  Izzy released her arms.

  Her thoughts scattered, desperately trying to piece things together.

  Yet no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t make out the answer.

  ‘Only me and Isa here, if neither of us is the one who built this, then who was it?’

  In normal circumstances, Izzy might dismiss it as her own mind recreating things because of the yearning of her past life. A subconscious projection, born from longing.

  “I…Izzy?”

  Izzy took a step back.

  She had been on edge lately.

  She wasn’t sure why, but every small anomaly felt like a threat to her.

  ‘How?’

  Recreating an unfinished playhouse? Why was it unfinished in the first place?

  Pastel playhouse? Why was it pastel?

  “Are you the one who built the theatre?”

  “Yes! I am!” Isa straightened immediately and answered without hesitation.

  “The amusement park?”

  “…”

  “Isa?”

  “Umm…” Isa hesitated, her fingers fidgeting with each other. “Isa did contribute a little, but…”

  The young mind looked around, her green eyes darting from one colorful structure to another, confusion written clearly on her face.

  “The first time Isa came here, it was already an amusement park?” She tilted her head “Isa thought… it was always like this?”

  ‘What?’

  Isa would not lie to her. That much Izzy knew with certainty.

  Then did it mean the amusement park was always in this state, empty and unfinished?

  “I…Izzy? What’s wrong?”

  But… if that was the case, why didn’t Isa tell her?

  Wasn’t it a serious thing? Finding an entire section of their mindscape that neither of them remembered creating?

  Wasn’t this something she should have known?

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  She had thought everything was going smoothly, everything was under control.

  But now, she had to deal with this unexpected revelation?

  Had she trusted her young mind too much?

  “Uuuu… Isa…” Isa touched her two fingers together, her head drooped down.

  “Isa… Isa didn’t want you to worry more…”

  “ISA!”

  “Hiiikkk!”

  Izzy clutched her arms, her breath catching in her throat.

  ‘Hah, hah, hah…’

  The world became tangled, and dizziness washed over her vision.

  Izzy fell back, she lost her balance.

  “I…I—-!”

  The strange voice became distant, muffled by something.

  A craving surged through her mind.

  'I need nicotine…'

  Distress. Anxiety. Pressure.

  They crashed into her all at once.

  ‘Hah… hah…’ She clutched her chest.

  This was the first time that she felt this much pressure upon awakening in this world. Even more so than when she dealt with Benjamin.

  At least then she had an enemy she could see, clues she could investigate.

  ‘I don’t understand.’ Izzy closed her eyes.

  She dug her fingers into her arm, a sharp pain rising within her, and cleared her head.

  “...”

  There was nothing.

  Her restlessness was building up in her chest, yet Izzy had no idea why.

  Her thoughts felt submerged in thick fog.

  She struggled to push through it, to the surface, but every direction led nowhere.

  There was no information, nothing to back up her anxiety.

  Just an irrational, persistent feeling that overwhelmed her.

  If she didn't know what was wrong, then how could she investigate this?

  A deadlock.

  And now even Isa was saying that this place was not something they had created.

  What did that even mean?

  Was their mindscape truly their own?

  More and more questions poured into her mind, flooding her thoughts until she could barely think.

  “I…Izzy, Isa… sorry.”

  A sobbing voice pricked into her ears.

  She gradually recovered her vision.

  In front of her, another “her” was crying.

  Izzy looked at the girl with her head lowered, tears dripping onto her cheeks. A warm feeling rose up in her chest.

  "..."

  What was she thinking?

  Did she just yell at Isa?

  Blame Isa for her own incompetence?

  “No.”

  Izzy shook her head and reached out, gently stroking Isa’s head.

  “Sorry. I shouldn’t yell.”

  “Izzy… Izzy… hic… is not incompetent… hic…”

  Izzy had expected too much from her young mind.

  Isa. The competent young mind. A genius.

  Because the girl had shown those traits too often…Her expectation of Isa…had become higher than it should be.

  Sometimes, she forgot that, this is still her younger self, the naive, childish mind.

  “Isa… so sorry… hic…”

  Isa lunged forward and buried herself against Izzy.

  Izzy felt the warmth of her young mind seep into her, easing the tension around her heart. Her breathing gradually lifted just enough to breathe.

  “There, there,” Izzy murmured, hugging her back, one hand rubbing along Isa’s back.

  ‘It’s my fault,’ Izzy thought.

  ‘I should have checked.’

  ‘It’s because of my neglect.’

  ‘How could I blame my fault on others?’

  “It’s not your fault, hic, Izzy…”

  ‘…’

  Izzy shook her head while soothing her young mind.

  Her gaze drifted outward, around their mindscape.

  Their mindscape, their own safe haven.

  The place where they retreated from reality, where they could be themselves without fear or danger.

  Yet now, in Izzy’s eyes, it had become an eerie place.

  Who built this place? Was this truly her mindscape?

  Or was there someone else? Something else…here?

  What was the nature of their existence?

  Why was she here?

  Izzy sat within the amusement park, surrounded by sights that felt both nostalgic and hollow.

  A surreal and vibrant world.

  The amusement park’s colors sparked, its music sprayed through the air, and a rainbow river flowed overhead.

  Somewhere, silhouettes lingered.

  Somewhere, laughter echoed, distant and familiar.

  Yet, despite all its brightness, Izzy found herself lost.

  Just like how “he” had lost his dream.

  Just like how “he” had held her hand, dragged her away.

  Just like how “he” had lost her warmth.

  Once again, she felt like she didn’t belong here.

  She was lost. Truly.