Old Lu slowly stood up.
"I must leave now," he said gently. "But we may meet again. This should be my last farewell… after that, I believe I will have fulfilled my purpose. Soon"
The words lingered heavily in the air.
Sera and Eli walked him to the gate. After saying their goodbyes, they watched as his figure disappeared down the muddy path. Only then did they close the gate and return inside the house.
The rain had stopped.
The silence that followed felt deeper than before.
Eli noticed it immediately.
Sera's mood had changed. She looked thoughtful, distant, as if her mind were trapped somewhere far away.
When Old Lu had been leaving, Eli had asked him the time. He had glanced at the sky briefly before answering.
"Six thirty-nine," he had said.
Then, without explanation, he had handed Eli an old wristwatch.
Now Eli lifted her wrist and stared at it.
Maybe this will be useful, she thought.
Eli hated silence.
Not because she was uncomfortable with Sera—never that—but because silence made her overthink. Especially now, with this unfamiliar face and unfamiliar body. Whenever she sensed that someone might misunderstand her quietness as rudeness, she felt an urge to speak.
Even though Sera was her sister, that strange feeling still crept in.
Trying to lighten the mood, Eli smiled and said jokingly,
"Wow! At least now we don't have to deal with strange looks and weird reactions after coming home from school. Maybe this really is a fresh start for us, huh, Sera?"
She blinked exaggeratedly.
Sera looked at her.
She knew Eli's habits too well.
But Old Lu's words refused to leave her mind. It felt as though he held answers to mysteries they had carried since childhood without ever understanding them.
Still, Sera nodded. "Yeah."
Eli's stomach growled loudly.
Both sisters froze.
Then they laughed quietly.
Only then did they realize that they had been searching for food earlier, before Old Lu and the village woman had appeared.
They opened the package the woman had given them.
Bread. Only bread.
Sera sighed. "Let's see if we can find something to eat with this."
They went into the kitchen and searched through the small space. After a while, Sera found a few wild potatoes and some basic spices stored in a corner.
They boiled the potatoes, mashed them, and mixed in the spices, somehow making it taste better than expected. Eli sliced the bread open and spread the potato paste inside like jam.
That was how they ended up eating potato sandwiches.
They ate slowly.
As Sera chewed, her eyes lingered on their hands, their arms—their bodies.
These bodies were weak.
They had barely walked around since waking up, yet they were already out of breath. Even searching for food had left them breathing heavily.
There was no doubt these bodies were beautiful.
But they were fragile.
When they finished eating, Eli checked the time.
7:30 p.m.
Darkness had fully settled outside. There were no lights in the house—only candle stands and a few candles. They lit them carefully.
Eli took the plates to wash them while Sera returned to the rooms.
The room they had woken up in felt more like a storage space than a bedroom. She opened the cabinet—it was filled with plastic-wrapped items, mostly clothes. The bed was in poor condition, the blankets thin and old.
It didn't look like a room meant for sleeping.
She stepped out and entered Grandma Mary's room.
The difference was immediate.
The room was clean and spacious. The bed was large enough for four people—maybe even six, considering their current bodies. The blankets were neatly folded.
Eli entered behind her.
"Sis," she said, looking around, "that other room doesn't feel like someone lives there at all. It's more like storage."
Sera nodded. She felt the same.
They began searching the cabinets in this room.
Inside were clothes belonging to three people.
The older, traditional ones were clearly Grandma Mary's. The other two sets likely belonged to Lily and Mily.
In one corner, Eli found two schoolbags.
They opened the textbooks.
Grade eight.
Fourteen years old.
Two years younger than them.
The books were worn, and the handwriting inside showed little care. It seemed Lily and Mily hadn't been interested in studying at all.
They exchanged a look.
"So all three of them lived in this room," Eli murmured. "Then why were Lily and Mily sleeping in that storage room?"
Sera had no answer.
Perhaps after their grandmother's death, the girls had avoided this room. Or maybe there was another reason.
Fragments of memories surfaced briefly in their minds—blurred, incomplete—but nothing clear enough to grasp.
Maybe it takes time, Sera thought.
They decided to sleep in Grandma Mary's room. The other room was simply too uncomfortable.
The night grew deeper.
The clouds slowly parted, and the moon revealed itself little by little.
Sera fell asleep first.
Eli struggled for a while. She was used to playing games before bed, and it was only 8:59 p.m.—far too early for her. But exhaustion from the weak body eventually pulled her into sleep.
Sometime in the night, Sera's body began to tremble.
The headache returned.
She was dreaming.
The same girl again.
The child who looked like a wax doll—her face blank, her mouth sealed shut. Only one finger moved slightly.
A faint voice echoed.
Save me.
Eli, half-asleep, instinctively reached out and touched Sera's hand.
In the next moment—
She was pulled in.
Both sisters found themselves inside the dream.
They were hiding behind a door.
Eli whispered instinctively, "Sera… what is this?"
"Hush," Sera breathed.
The scene sharpened.
Behind the doll-like girl, a man sat on the steps of a door—two or three steps high. He was sitting directly in front of it.
Sera's heart pounded violently.
She grabbed Eli's hand.
Eli felt it too—the suffocating pressure.
The man slowly turned his head.
He was looking straight at them.
"I'm helping her," the man said calmly. "Give me some water."
At that moment, both sisters felt as if their hearts had stopped.