For a few minutes, she only saw white. But then something began playing out in her mind, almost as if she was watching a film.
•••
A red-headed girl of about ten years old was walking the dark and empty streets, alone.
It was way too late for a child her age to be outside, but her mother wasn't home, and even if she was, the girl was sure she wouldn't care.
And her dad? Well, she'd simply never known him. Neither his name nor what he looked like.
The girl shivered from the cold and her unspoken fears. She didn't believe in ghosts, but she knew evil people existed.
Her stomach growled, a reminder of why she was out there in the first place.
Her mom had 'forgotten' to leave her anything to eat, and she had decided it wasn't her time to die yet. Especially not of hunger!
She was going to make it to her friend's house and maybe her parents would agree to help her.
"... Stop being such a pain, Darien. Ugh! We need to get home now!"
The girl heard, then saw a woman and her young son by the street. The young boy stood completely still, glancing around nervously.
His mother on the other hand looked antsy. She ran her fingers through her blonde hair impatiently. She looked like she'd been to some sort of party.
The red-headed girl knew this because that was how her mom looked most of the time.
Short dress, heels, dazed eyes, uneven makeup, uneven movements, messy hair, and of course a very short temper.
"You are Thirteen Darien, stop acting like a child!" The woman complained trying to get the boy to walk.
"But mom, I saw—"
"I don't give two f*cks Darien! Get moving damn it!" The woman shouted angrily.
The boy, Darien, finally moved, but it wasn't because of his mother's unrestrained cursing or yelling.
It was because he saw her.
"Are you alright?" Darien ran over to the girl, looking worried. He'd seemingly forgotten about the sight that had terrified him so.
She looked up at him, her eyes filling with hope. "No... I—"
"Who are you speaking to?! Let's go now!" His mother stormed over, cutting her sentence short.
"She's my friend. Her parents aren't home. Can she please stay with us tonight? She has nowhere to go."
Darien lied, knowing his mother would leave her out in the cold if he didn't say he knew the girl.
"Fine fine! Whatever, let's just go!" The woman shrugged, already walking past them.
"Thanks." The girl whispered as they walked.
She figured it would be a better idea to walk with people instead of walking alone to her friend's house. Plus, her instincts reacted positively to that boy.
"It's fine. I'm Darien by the way." He smiled.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Irene." She smiled.
"So, where were you going at this time of night?" Darien whispered so his mom wouldn't hear.
"To my friend Sandra's house," Irene replied.
"May I know why?" Darien implored.
The girl seemed to hesitate for a while.
"I... Well, it's a long story."
Darien smiled encouragingly at her.
"Well, it's a good thing I'm here to listen then."
•••
The vision faded, and Rena opened her already watery eyes.
She looked up at Angel, whose reassuring smile was now replaced by a somewhat anguished look.
Not anguish for herself, but for Rena.
A gentle knock on the door sounded.
"Rena?"
Rena looked up and saw Diamond. Her face told that she came with importantly joyous information.
Diamond's expression however soon darkened on seeing Rena's teary face.
She quickly walked over, kneeling in front of Rena, and took her hand in hers.
A heartbroken look crossed her face.
"I miss him too."
Rena knew Diamond had most likely assumed that she had been weeping over Leo's sudden demise.
Rena just nodded, the vision still fresh in her mind, not willing to explain anything for the moment.
"Irene," Diamond's face shone with hope.
"I came here to tell you that... Your father is here, along with your sister Grace."
♦
Once she was downstairs, she found her father seated in the living room area. He was listening keenly to someone. It was Darien.
As if sensing her, Ethan, her dad, looked up.
His warm and happy smile vanished on seeing her tear-stained face.
Rena ran into her father's arms, faintly recalling the first time she'd met him.
The tears fell wildly from her eyes again.
She wept for a lot of different reasons, but mostly because she was happy to see her father again.
"What's wrong?" Her father asked, cordially while wiping her tears.
Rena controlled herself and looked up at him, smiling.
"I'm just so happy to see you again." She hugged him again.
"And what about me?" Someone spoke from behind her.
"I guess I don't matter as much anymore, huh?"
"Oh, Grace." Rena embraced her sister. Technically, Grace was her stepsister, but Rena never bothered about that technicality.
"Always with the dramatics." Rena pulled away, gazing affectionately at her seventeen-year-old sister.
"You're one to talk." Grace raised a conspicuous brow.
"Fair enough."
"Darien's been kind enough to let us stay here with you for a while." Ethan smiled, glancing at her husband.
Rena wondered what on Earth Darien had told her father that made him act so calmly. As if his daughter hadn't just gotten married out of the blue...
"Oh... I think I remember you also had a childhood friend named Darien, right?" Grace suddenly asked.
Practically the whole house fell into a graveyard silence.
"Did I?" Rena asked, her gaze fixed on Darien.
She wanted to see if he would dare lie to her face, now that she'd seen that vision.
The only thing that bothered her was that even though she could feel that the vision had really happened, she had no memory of it...
She didn't recall ever meeting anyone named Darien in her childhood, or even as a teenager.
...
