In her small, old house, Neir lay trembling on the wooden floor. A pain like an explosion seized her head, making her breath come in ragged gasps.
She squeezed her eyes shut tight, but the vision of spiraling green light still filled her mind. Alien whispers, like voices not from her world, rang in her left ear, growing louder and louder.
"What... is this..."
Neir mumbled weakly,holding her head with her small, shaking hands. Her body felt weak, yet the voices kept haunting her.
She tried to open her eyes, but what her left eye saw wasn't the wooden floor of her home. Instead, she saw something unfamiliar—rows of dusty cardboard boxes and the dim glow of fluorescent lights.
"This isn't my house..."
she thought,fear beginning to crawl through her.
Meanwhile, Dani in the stockroom of Mr. Karyo's retail store was experiencing the same thing. He felt tremendous pain in his head, as if something had exploded inside his brain.
He collapsed onto the cold concrete floor, trying to control his ragged breathing. Spiraling green light appeared in his vision, swirling like an endless vortex.
"No way... what is this?"
Dani gasped,clutching his head with both hands.
When he opened his eyes, the sight in his left eye made him freeze. The room he knew as the stockroom now looked strange; in his left eye, he saw a different room. Old wood, a small window with a faded curtain, and the reflection of a puddle showing a worn ceiling. "What the hell is this?" Dani thought in panic.
---
An Unforeseen Condition
Neir looked around with her left eye, but it only confused her more. Her simple home was visible to her right eye, but her left eye showed a strange, different place. She flinched as she felt something touch her ear. It wasn't a physical touch, but a sound heard from afar, like a low rumble, like ocean waves.
"What is this sound?"
Neir thought,fear tightening around her small chest.
Dani was no different. He heard the faint sound of footsteps, like someone walking on a wooden floor. Yet, the sound didn't come from the stockroom where he was.
His vision was split between two worlds.
His right eye still showed the piles of boxes and metal shelves of the stockroom,but his left eye showed the interior of an unfamiliar house.
"I... what's happening to me?"
Dani thought,his body still trembling.
He tried to stand, but his misaligned vision made him lose his balance. He staggered and fell back to the floor. He tried to calm himself, but panic continued to grip him.
---
An Unconscious Connection
Neir wiped her tears with a trembling hand. Her body shook violently. "What is this...?!" her voice choked, barely escaping. She bit her lip, trying to hold back the sobs threatening to break. But all of this... was too strange. Too real. What she saw, what she heard, everything felt wrong.
Dani felt the same. His mind strained for a logical answer, but nothing made sense. He could only lie still on the stockroom floor, trying to steady his breath, hoping this was all just a bad dream.
Yet, something bigger was happening, something beyond their understanding. Their left eye and left ear were no longer fully their own. This unexpected connection was the beginning of something far more complicated, something they hadn't fully realized.
Neir lay on her house floor, her body feeling weak as if all her strength had been drained. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her breath was labored, but she couldn't move her body. Her vision was blurry, but slowly her left eye began to catch something strange.
Her left eye showed something that shouldn't be there—someone running breathlessly, panicked, as if chased by something unseen. At the same time, she also heard the sound of a man's heavy breathing.
Meanwhile, Dani ran as fast as he could, his mind in chaos. He didn't know where his feet were taking him—all he knew was he had to get away. As if chased by demons, he just kept running, not caring that he didn't know what he was afraid of.
Inside the retail store, a man at the checkout counter—let's call him Rizal—was relaxing after serving a few customers. He had chatted briefly with one of Dani's stockroom colleagues, a middle-aged man named Mr.Rudi.
"That kid's diligent, huh," Rizal said, glancing toward the stockroom.
Mr.Rudi nodded. "Yeah, he was a bit sluggish at first, but after a few days of being taught how to lift stuff, he's starting to get used to it. Doesn't talk much, but when he works, he doesn't do it half-heartedly."
Rizal chuckled lightly. "As long as he's not the type to complain over every little thing."
Their conversation stopped when Rizal idly glanced at the CCTV monitor. His eyes widened at something odd. Dani, who should have been in the stockroom, was instead seen rolling on the floor as if possessed. His lips moved, as if screaming, but weirdly, no sound could be heard.
"Hey, what's wrong with Dani?" Rizal pointed at the screen.
Mr. Rudi looked too, his expression turning serious. "Whoa, looks like something's wrong! Let's check!"
Without a second thought, the two of them hurried to the stockroom. However, when they arrived, Dani was already gone.
---
Dani finally stopped running. His breath came in gasps, sweat streamed down his temples. He found himself in the middle of a vast rice field area—far from the store, far from anyone. Isolated. The only place to rest was a dilapidated hut standing at the edge of the field embankment.
He stumbled toward it, trying to calm himself. His hand rose to his left eye, rubbing it repeatedly, but still, the sight there didn't change.
What he saw with his left eye wasn't the rice field. Not the evening sky above it. But...
"What is this...?" Dani rubbed his eye harder, hoping it was just a hallucination.
Dani couldn't see anything from his left eye, only total darkness. As if his eye was shut, but he was sure he wasn't closing it. Yet, on the other side, Neir could actually see something—a vast expanse unfamiliar to her, full of green plants moving slowly in the wind.
She didn't know what it was, but the view felt real. Far more real than the ceiling of her dining room she should be seeing now, even with her left eye closed. She was still curled on the floor, her body trembling, but somehow, her vision showed something completely different.
Dani shook his head vigorously, then slapped his own cheek. "Wake up, man! This is just an illusion!"
However, no matter how hard he tried to ignore it, the vision remained. Not only that, he also began to hear something from his left ear—the sound of someone's breathing, loud and irregular.
Dani rubbed his left ear. Poked it with his finger. Hoping the sound would go away. It didn't. The sound was still there. Growing clearer. Someone... was there.
"Who...?" he murmured softly.
The more he concentrated, the clearer the sound became—the sound of ragged, almost sobbing breaths.
Dani tensed.
Reflexively, he said, "Hey."
No response. The girl in his vision remained still.
Dani tried again, this time louder.
"HEYYYYY!!!!"
Neir jolted, her heart leaping. That voice! It wasn't her mother's voice. It wasn't anyone she knew. She froze, the hair on her nape standing on end. Her breath caught. "Who...?" she whispered, almost inaudible.
More real.
Neir slowly raised her head, her eyes widening.
Dani, seeing that reaction, felt his own hairs stand on end.
"So you finally listen, huh?!" Dani growled, frustrated. He still didn't understand what was happening, but one thing was certain—they could see each other. Hear each other.
And something far greater than their understanding had just begun.
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