"Am I- am I losing my mind?"

  The thought filled me with dread.

  I tried to think of any possible explanation. But found that I couldn't because I literally just got up! I splashed some more water on my face. I know that won't do anything, but doing so is a relief. I spent some time inside, not knowing how to make sense of what my eyes just saw.

  But I know that I can't stay here forever. Sooner or later someone will come up to check on me. Sooner or later, I will have to go down to eat. And that means the possibility of meeting faceless Cana again. But what choice do I have? Should I just sneak into the storage room and eat junk food and lock myself up inside my room for the rest of my days in this timeline I'm not supposed to be in?

  No, I will have to go down.

  To steel my resolve to go down, I convinced myself that whatever that was, was a one-time deal. That maybe my mind is a little damaged from all the trauma it had suffered so lapses from reality like that are to be expected. I turned around to face the mirror again. This time, I practiced my smiling face while telling myself over and over again that nothing was wrong. At some point, I found myself laughing at the ridiculous notion that Cana had no face.

  Properly brainwashed, I opened the door and went down.

  As I was nearing the door to the Dining Area, I've heard their overlapping voices. Cana's faceless face emerges in my mind, keeping myself from even touching the doorknob.

  "That was just temporary craziness, I told myself. "Nothing more."

  Once again, I practiced my smile in front of the door. And twisted the doorknob.

  Regret immediately consumed me because I was greeted by a crowd of faceless people. I could still tell them apart from their hair, the way they dress, and their voices that I still somehow hear despite them not having mouths. When all the faceless faces turned toward me in unison, unspeakable horror consumed me. All the muscles in my body contracted tight, to the point of immobility. My feet locked me in place, preventing me from doing the only thing I wanted to do right now: run away screaming.

  "Good morning," Mr. Marino said.

  "Hey," Cana said.

  "How's our little dum dum?" Kent insulted.

  One by one, they started to crowd me. Cana pushed her seat out to stand up and greet me. Mr. Marino placed a plate full of our breakfast in an empty spot in one of the four tables. Leo was the one to walked towards me in an attempt to put his arm over my shoulder.

  When the initial shock passed, my legs were finally able to take me away from there before I even realized I was screaming. I flew up the stairs, ran into my room, and slammed the door shut, my shaking fingers fumbling with the slide-bolt lock of my door.

  When I was finally able to lock my door, I stepped back and stared at the door, waiting for the inevitable.

  Already, I could hear footsteps bounding up the stairs.

  Knock! Knock! Knock!

  "Vergil?!" It was Cana.

  Terror and panic had gotten hold of me. My heart was pumping hard from the running but most probably, from the horrific scene. My immediate response to her voice was to drag my bedside table over the door and keep it secure by propping my chair against it.

  "Now what are you doing?" Kent said, clearly annoyed by my no doubt crazy actions for the past 24 hours.

  A barrage of questions followed:

  "Would you please talk to us?"

  "What happened?"

  "Why are you acting like this?"

  Amidst the relentless questioning, I asked myself. What should I do? Do I tell the truth? Can I pretend that I was just joking? But I will have to come out and face them if that's the case. Will they're faces still be gone by then?

  The constant pleading of the voices, forcing me to answer had left me with no choice.

  "You-you're faces..." I said. "They're gone!"

  I said the truth. I doubt I could keep acting like everything was fine.

  Suddenly, the chorus of concerns died out. All I could hear was my rapid breathing.

  "Wha-what are you saying?" Cana said. Her voice was gentle, like the tone you take when talking to a child telling you of the monster he saw under his bed. "Don't be silly."

  BOOM!

  Something slammed hard against the door, making the lock and its hinges shake.

  "Of course, we have our face," Cana continued. "Right, guys?"

  "Ye-yeah!" Kent said. His voice sounded like someone who was just caught in a lie. "What are you even talking about, man?"

  BOOM!

  The door shook violently again. But the chair and table I placed held still. They're not going to enter my room this way.

  "Oh ye-yeah..." I said. But fear had caused my voice to break. "Oh yeah!" I repeated, shouting over my fear. "Then why are you trying to break down my room?"

  BOOM!

  "It's your fault for saying such silly thing..." Cana said.

  "S-stop!" I screamed.

  BOOM!

  "It's all in your head," she continued.

  I looked around my room, searching for something that could be wielded like a weapon.

  BOOM!

  I thought of Cana's pen knife but I remembered that I told Mr. Marino and the doctor about it so I doubt they left it alone.

  "Don't you see?"

  BOOM!

  I opened the drawer of my table as the door shook again, making me flinched. But I recovered quickly and pull the drawer open. Just as I thought. All that was left was my copy of the haunted's handbook. The pen knife nowhere to be seen.

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  BOOM!

  "Come out and see."

  "Leave me alone!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. With nothing to use as a weapon, I pulled the drawer out of the table and held it by its knob like a rectangular club.

  Bracing for another slam, I was met with another voice instead.

  "Major Coleman!" Demi cried.

  "What is this?" He said. "What's happening?"

  I hear them fill Major Coleman in about the situation.

  "You're al-you're faces...are gone!" I said after they finished explaining.

  "I see," Major Coleman said. I see shadows under my door, growing bigger, and closer.

  "You're scared," Major Coleman said. "You're confused. Just come out and you'll see. You're safe here."

  "NO!" I said. "Stay away from me!" My throat was tightening. I was on the verge of crying.

  "You know I cannot do that," Major Coleman said. "Even if I did, are you going to stay there for the rest of the month?"

  A recent memory resurfaced in my head.

  "L-last night," I started. "I heard you and Dr. Barnes talking. You asked if I know. You, the doctor, Cana, you're all plotting something! You're making sure that I don't leave this place."

  My accusations hang in the air as there was no immediate response that followed.

  "You were under heavy medication," Dr. Barnes said in a calm voice. "What you heard or rather, what you thought you heard, was nothing more than a dream, induced by sleeping pills."

  "Yeah, Vergil," Cana said in the sweetest voice. "Please come out. Talk to us. You'll see"

  "If you come out," Demi said. "You can have the red gummy bears."

  "Look, man," Leo said. "Clearly, you're going through something. No one will hold this against you. Just come out."

  "I noticed you didn't deny being there last night," I said.

  "I cannot deny it," Major Coleman said. "Because I was there. It is my job to take care of you kids. Nothing happens here without me knowing about it. Or did you forget your briefing?"

  "Then you admit," I said. "You were plotting something. All of you!"

  "Okay," Major Coleman said. "Let's say that what you are saying is true. What happened next?"

  "W-what?" I asked. I was caught off guard by his sudden interest.

  "In your dream," Major Coleman said. "Sorry. Not dream, you said. What happened next after hearing us plot against you? Do you remember?"

  "W-well," I hesitated. Because actually giving the answer—the Shade killing me—would prove his point.

  "Vergil?" Major Coleman pressed on.

  "T-the Shade killed me in my bed..." I said in a low voice, knowing how it would sound like.

  "Louder," Major Coleman ordered.

  "The Shade killed me in my bed!" I shouted in frustration.

  "The Shade killed you in your bed," Major Coleman repeated in a much lower voice.

  "That's dark, man," Kent commented. "No wonder you're acting like that."

  "And are you dead?" Major Coleman asked.

  "That wasn't the only thing that happened last night," I said.

  "In your dream," Cato reminded.

  "Think what you want!" I said. "But in my dream, not-not dream, whatever!" I snarled. "I saw Reina. She told me to say this phrase."

  TALE HET IIIGWA REVIAK HET DIGGENHA

  Suddenly, the door warped. The table. The chair. Everything became transparent. I could see them all behind my door for a split second, all their faceless head turned towards me as if they could see me too.

  I screamed and back further away from the door until my back hit the window. When I looked back, everything was normal again.

  "So you know?" Major Coleman said. "You see."

  "We have a lockdown situation on the second floor," Major Coleman said. "Bring the thing."

  "Copy." The guy's voice buzzed from the walkie-talkie.

  "What do we do now, Major Coleman?" Demi asked. The innocence in his voice was replaced with steel coldness. It's like it's not even him anymore. "Now that he's aware."

  "Aware of what?" I thought.

  "We make him stay," Major Coleman said .

  "Stay where?!" I asked. "What is this place?"

  "This place," Major Coleman said. "Is your inner most desire come alive."

  "W-what?" I said. "What does that mean!?"

  "Major," A new voice said. Probably the one he was talking to on his walkie-talkie earlier.

  "Ahh, here it is," Major Coleman said. "Get back, kids."

  The door shook again. But something's different. It doesn't sound like the violent thud earlier. It sounds like something much smaller.

  I got my answer when I saw the axe head hacking through the door after the second blow. The new gap on my door served as a window outside, allowing me a glimpse of Major Coleman and the lack of his face.

  I screamed and grab the drawer again. This time, brandishing it at my faceless tormenters. My back pressed hard against my window.

  "I need a team to go through the window of Room 6," Major Coleman said to his walkie-talkie.

  Immediately, I scrambled away from the window. A moment later, my window shattered when two guys rappled down from the roof and broke the windows with hammers. One of them tried for the lock. But I was quicker. I threw the drawer at his hand. The faceless man screamed. I quickly ran forward and grab the drawer and hit his hand again. Over and over.

  "Stop fighting," Major Coleman said. The gap grew wider with repeated blows. I saw the rest of the haunteds eerily quiet beside him, making their faceless appearance all the more terrifying. "It's going to be all right. You're safe here."

  "Says the guy axing my door down!" I said. The soldier's hand tried for the lock on my door. So I gave him the same treatment as the soldiers behind.

  "Stand down," Major Coleman ordered. The guy didn't try to open the window again.

  "This is what you want, isn't it?" Mr. Marino said. "All your friends still alive. The Shade not transforming. Everything is right in this world. Why leave?"

  "You have no faces!" I said. "Wait-this world?"

  "Yes," Mr. Marino said. "This world you've created."

  All the fear and panic was immediately replaced with confusion. "What-what do you mean?"

  "Honestly, why even bother going back there?" Eris said. "Was letting me die once not enough for you?

  My jaw dropped.

  "How...ho-how did you know?" I asked. "I've never told anyone. Not even Mr. Marino."

  "Oh, we know," Darius said. "You created us, after all."

  "Not exactly," Cato clarified. "We've always been part of you. But now, you've given us, us."

  "You're not making sense!"

  "Just come out," Major Coleman said. "We'll explain everything. We'll talk over Nilagang Baka you liked so much."

  "N-no..." I said. "I'm going back."

  "Back to the world where you're guilt of causing my death eats you alive?" Eris said.

  "Stop..."

  "If you go back," Demi said. "I wouldn't be there. And you would blame yourself for my death."

  "I said stop!"

  "You left me for dead," Indigo said. "What's to say it won't happen again?"

  "No...I'm sorry..."

  "Come on, man," Kent said. "Who are you kidding? You? Going back? You still have to seal the seal. You still have to defeat the cult. That's too much for us kids!"

  He was right. The daunting task before me crushed what remained of my spirit, so much so that dread enveloped my entire being.

  I dropped the drawer.

  "How did you know?" I slumped on the floor, tucking my head between my knees.

  "We've always known," Cana said. "After all, we've been with you, every step of the way. We saw what you saw, feel the fear and shame you felt."

  I scoffed. "How? Are you guys all in my head or something?"

  "Bingo!"

  That made me look up. "W-what?"

  "We're your unconscious," They all replied in unison. The hairs on my arms stood up. I felt a cold chill ran down my spine. I gaze into where their faces should be. Shock overridden my fear.

  "This world..." I muttered. "Isn't a different timeline..."

  "It never was," Cato said. "You only think of it that way because it was most convenient for you."

  "No...that's not true..." I whispered.

  "It's the one that makes the most sense."

  "No." I said.

  "Makes it easier to justify staying here."

  "NO! Stop! Please..." I broke down sobbing. All the guilt, the shame, the fear, the confusion, all the feelings I've been repressing since Kent died burst out. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to-I-"

  "It's okay," Eris said.

  "We understand," Demi said.

  "It wasn't your fault," Kent said.

  They took turns comforting me. Saying that I did the best anyone could. That nobody should expect anything from a high-schooler. That the adults in the real world was the ones in the wrong for putting so much pressure on me, when the adults were the one who started this mess.

  To be honest, they got through me. I did want to stay here. But there was still one problem.

  "You're still faceless..." I said.

  "I'm sorry?" Caprice said.

  I ignored her. There was a piece of shattered glass lying on the floor next to me. I picked it up and gripped it so hard that it cut my hand.

  "Vergil!" Cana said. "What are you doing?"

  "Don't even think about it," Major Coleman said.

  "Think about what," I asked. Because really, I have no idea why I picked it up and pointed it at my neck. I guess I'm just tired of it all...

  "Vergil," Cato said. "Drop it."

  "What?" Leo said. "You think if you kill yourself, you'd wake up in the real world?"

  "Maybe," I said. I don't even recognize my own voice. It felt so detached.

  "And if you're wrong?" Major Coleman asked. "If you killed yourself and actually died inside this world instead of going back? Is that a risk you're willing to take?"

  "Honestly, no," I lowered the knife. That made them less frantic.

  "Then come out," Cana said. "No more of this talk about killing yourself."

  "But it's better than spending another second in this hellscape!"

  Major Coleman eyes popped wide open. He slipped his arm through the gap and slid the lock open. But it was too late.

  The shard was already deep in my chest.