5

Elara knew that Cipher was suspicious. What if he is the one behind everything? But come to think of it, how was it possible that she was immediately transported to a world like this shortly after she got hit? Was it some kind of a glitch?

She wished she had answers. Just like Rue said, it could be that they were all in a coma and hanging on to a thread of life. Then, was this world that gap between life and death?

She imagined being in a hospital bed with machines all around her and an oxygen passed through her nose. Then she imagined her sister, Bella, sitting by her bedside and Marcus walking in after speaking to the doctor.

The scene played out right in front of her:

"How did it go? What did the doc say?" Bella asked, her brows pulled in concern.

Marcus shook his head and his tone dropped from the usual composed one, "He doubts if she's going to make it, but he said there's a possibility. I mean, look at how damaged her head is. Even if she recovers, she might not be the same person again."

Bella held her hand and lowered her head in despair. "She's like this because of me. After everything she did for me, I caused her pain in the end. I should be the one on this bed instead of her."

Marcus moved closer and touched her shoulder. "It's also my fault. I should never have done that to her."

"We were both at fault," Bella said and sobbed.

After consoling her, Marcus then said, "The pain will be too much for her even if she regains consciousness."

Bella wiped the tears off her eyes and looked up at him. "What are you trying to say?"

"You know too. We've betrayed her and it's because of us she is like this. If she wakes up, she'll never want to see me again. And you, she might just throw you out to fend for yourself. Even now, there's not much money to keep her here. The bills are too much. We can use the one left now to make a life for ourselves."

Bella's eyes welled up in tears again and she looked down at her body lying on the bed.

"I'm sorry Lara. I'm so sorry," she sobbed and then looked at Marcus again, giving him a nod.

NO!

Elara blinked back to reality and shook her head. Her sister would never do that to her...right? She can still expect that from Marcus at least, but not Bella.

No, it's just her imagination. It can't be real. It can't be real...

"It's real."

Elara snapped her head to look at Cipher when she heard him speak.

"The world here...is real," he continued and she looked at everyone to see that he must have been saying something before now.

"How do you expect us to believe that?" Jax asked. "None of this looks real one bit. I bet the population here is not up to a hundred."

Cipher smiled and pushed his body from the wall. "Then, have you thought about being the first set of population?" he asked.

"Bullshit!" Rue said.

"We are all fragments. Take a fragment of a plant and combine them, it becomes nature. Take a fragment of an animal and combine it, that thing becomes an animal also. Add a fragment of a human to an animal, the animal becomes human in its own sense. Now, it all depends on how they are all tamed or looked at."

Everybody seems to be digesting his theory as they all went silent.

"So, you're saying we are all fragments in this place? That a piece of us is here with something else that can function in this damned world?" Rue asked.

"Voila!" Cipher stretched his arms.

Elara refused to believe that. She doesn't feel like she's a fragment here in this world. The only thing that made a difference when she entered this world was that the whole scene changed and she didn't feel the pain of being hit by a moving vehicle. But yes, she can still feel the pain of being betrayed, the pain of those rejections, the pain of not doing much for herself and working her ass off for the ones who don't deserve it. The pain of having to be the one who takes on all the responsibilities while bearing all the harshness. It wasn't fair at all.

"I don't know about you all...but I refuse to believe I'm just a fragment in this place. If Rue is right, then I'll do everything I must to survive this place and return to my world."

Cipher sighed, as if her words had just bored him and he asked, "Let's say you survive and find a way to go back, is there really anything waiting for you back there? Are there people who are still expecting you? Even if it takes a five years? Because the time here can't be compared to the time in the normal world. You would be surprised to know how many days must have passed already."

This gave everyone a new thing to think about. For the first time, Elara agreed with him. Even if she survives and goes back, is there really anyone waiting for her? What if her imagination was right? At least, they did that when she was at her lowest and having gotten fired and rejected. Now when she's probably...dead, it would give them all the time they needed to do whatever they wanted without her turning the lights on and exposing their acts.

There was also something she noted which Cipher said. When she realized she was in a different place, it looked like it was morning. Meanwhile, a few seconds before that, it was nighttime in the normal world.

Also, if Cipher was right about them being fragments, then there must be someone behind it all, someone just good enough to trap dead or dying souls in a world of his own game. Someone she will call 'The Curator'.