Professor Layton: Love In All Adversities

14. This Is Our Cycle

20 hours ago

The woman placed her hand in the air above air, slowly wiggling her fingers to check she still had feeling. It wasn’t' possible to have feelings, she thought. Not after what happened...

Another woman approached her and smiled as she folded the bedsheets and put them into the basket.

"Having that feeling again?"

The first woman gazed uncertainly at her friend and sighed.

"Just like every other day..."

"Well, you can't let it get to you. You are who you are. Nothing more. Nothing less. You are real!"

"But I don't feel real!

The woman sat up and gazed absently into the sky. She had woken up and she was already feeling guilty. Here she was sleeping in while her friend did all the work. She didn't have to. She volunteered. This woman simply wanted to exist.

But how can one exist if they don't believe they exist?

As the second woman finished gathering all the various items, she made her way back to the other room and left her uncertain friend to once more linger in her dream world.

She stared at the sky for what felt like hours. But everything felt that way in this place. This false world in broken dreams.

Dizzy starlight assaulted the sky and a toxic haze left one feeling a dreadful sense of incompleteness.

Everything in this world was a giant mix of uncertainties.

Everything was false.

This world couldn't be; she couldn't be!

Stretching out infinitely in a thousand directions, the stars painted the sky with modest light. This dazzling world with endless possibilities. Or were they endless possibilities?

This and numerous amounts of broken thoughts went through the woman's head. The time she had spent in this uncertain world had left her to ponder the meaning, not just in this world, but in life. It made her consider her understanding of the human nature. But it was just hollow thoughts. Thoughts she wouldn't share, couldn't share.

The second woman came back onto the balcony and stopped in front of her starstruck friend. Placing her hand under the first woman's cheek, she raised her head so their eyes met.

"Come now. Keep your head away from such distracting thoughts. We have a job to be doing. There's no sense wasting our time with hopeful dreams."

The first woman looked upon her friend with watery eyes and then she shook her head furiously.

"I-I can't do this... I can't stay sane! This world is killing me! Here, you fit in.  At least, you have found something to occupy your time, but I... I can't! I'm just useless! You shouldn't be cleaning! You're not a maid!'

"I might as well be. I have a lot of experience." She raised a pillow cover and twirled it in the air. "I could never do that before!"

"What... spin a pillow sheet..." The sitting woman smiled. She would have mustered a laugh had she not been feeling so lost and conflicted.

"No, you daft woman! Have fun! By that, I mean-"

"Yes, I understand. You mean you could never have fun in this place. This place of broken dreams."

"Well... if that's what you want to call it..."

"It's not what I want to call it. It's what it is!"