A part of Claire, a very small part of Claire, hoped, no, believed that her situation was one long acid trip. She had been on acid; hell, she had sex while under the influence. She knew it could be anywhere from cloud-fucking-nine to fucking the eldritch horror. 

Perhaps she would wake up in a couple of hours with juice-soddened panties from dreaming about one of the most intense girl orgies she had ever, and will ever, have. 

So, Claire, with her blasé attitude, folded her arms and cocked a brow at the girl before her. 

007869 shoulders shrunk, and her back hunched forward. Her eyes wandered, never meeting Claire's confident eyes. She raised her thumb and started gnawing on her nail. The dark circles under her eyes were prominent, absorbing the yellow-green bruise. The sheer white nightgown clung to her frame and billowed out, hiding the true size of her bust and hip. 

Claire twitched every time 007869's teeth gnawed on her nails. She remembered the girl's worn-out nails and the dull throb of pain every time Claire flexed her fingers when she was controlling the girl's body. 

With an irritated sigh, Claire approached her. The jump in 007869's shoulders did not go unnoticed by her. "Well? Am I just going to watch you destroy your nails?" She raised her hand to stop the girl but halted her movement. 

Growing up in a poor neighbourhood with a shitty mother, Claire had the luxury of experiencing and seeing many horrible acts from humans in her youth. Unfortunately, she had never escaped her status quo, considering where she worked during the nights. 

From her experience, she recognized 007869's behaviour in front of her. After all, Claire was seeing her younger self in the mirror right now, wasn't she? 

"Hey." Claire's voice softened. "I just want to know what's happening. Am I dreaming?" She had made sure she stood a respectful distance away from the girl. 

007869 hesitated as she parted from her thumb and hugged her middle in a self-soothing gesture. Her eyes moved left then right before glancing at Claire and dropping her gaze back to the floor. 

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice trembling. 

Claire felt sorry for people who went through a rough past. But perhaps she was jaded and an asshole because she wanted to shake the girl's shoulder to answer her damn question. 

Suppressing an irritated sigh, Claire was about to ask 'why' but stopped abruptly when the girl's eyes flooded with tears. Oh God, why is she crying? 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she repeated, almost babbling out her apologies. 

Claire raised her hands in mock surrender. "Listen, I'm not that mad or anything. I want to know where I am, thats all." 

Her words triggered something within 007869 as she dropped to her knees and bawled her eyes out. 

The white room contorted and started to transform into a new place. 

It was 007869's room. 

They stood in the middle of the tiny dorm; rather, Claire stood; the girl was a sobbing mess on the floor. 

Though Claire felt awkward, she shuffled her feet closer to the girl's crouched figure and lightly patted her back. "It's alright. It's alright."

She wasn't sure why the girl was crying, but girls had to stick together. That was one of the rules she learned while working at the bar as an escort. 

It took a while, but 007869's sobs slowed to a small hiccup here and a sniff there. Then, finally, she raised her head from her cupped hands; her eyes were puffy and red. 

"I don't know why you're in my body, but-" 007869 shut her eyes tight, "-I know I'm slowly fading away."

Claire furrowed her brows. "What do you mean by fading away?"

007869 wiped her eyes and nose with her arm. She took a small breath and looked at Claire. "I desperately wanted to talk to you before I," her voice shook, then she cleared her throat, "disappear for good."

"Again, I'm not following here." Claire's heart began to pick up the pace. The thumping from her quickened heartbeats almost deafened her. 

007869 stared down at her lap, twiddling her fingers. "Right now, it seems both of our minds are inhabiting my body. Sometimes I'm aware of my surroundings, but it looks like you're the main pilot for my body overall."

Claire's lips glued shut. She would not interrupt or freak out…yet. So instead, she nodded at 007869, a sign to continue her explanation or theory. 

"But, once you completed the power synchronization, I felt my mind disconnect from my body," 007869 said in a near whisper. 

"Disconnect?" Claire repeated, her face scrunched in confusion. 

007869 nodded and didn't say a single word more. They both stayed in the tiny room in silence. For Claire, her mind was racing a hundred miles a minute. But the question of how and why this happened was what stood in the forefront of her mind. 

Slinking to her knees, she sat down next to 007869. It was almost comical that the two stared off into space, trying to absorb the current situation. 

"Why am I here?" Claire asked. Her body numbed. 

"I don't know," 007869 replied. She pulled her legs to her front and hugged them. 

"You seriously have no idea? No idea at all?" Claire's voice hitched higher. Her hands balled into fists. Was she angry? Or was she shocked? She wasn't sure. 

In Claire's peripheral, a glass cup appeared on the small table. It was filled with a clear liquid. Confused, she approached the new item and looked back at 007869 for answers.

007869's eyes widened as she stared at the glass cup and hung her head. "Don't drink that." Her voice wavered, and her shoulderd climbed to her ears. 

"What is it?" Claire asked. She lowered her face and took a small sniff. It was odourless. 

"I didn't mean to!" 007869 suddenly screamed, causing Claire to jump and almost knock over the glass. 

Claire looked back at the girl, who shrunk even further. Her hands covered her ears, and her eyes shut tight. "I didn't mean to. I'm sorry!"

Talking to 007869 was near impossible. Claire was getting whiplash from all the girl's mood changes. 

Before she could ask again for clarification, another body appeared next to Claire. It was 007869's doppelganger, except her body was translucent. 

"What the hell?" Claire stared at the translucent girl. Her eyes were downcast, and her face eerily blank. Her hand grabbed the cup. 

Trembling. 

The girl's hands were trembling. 

She took one deep breath and downed whatever was in the cup. 

Shortly after the girl placed the cup back on the desk, she stumbled and fell. However, her head never touched the floor as the girl vanished along with the now empty cup. 

"Did you-?" Claire stopped and held her breath.

"I couldn't take it anymore." 007869 said, her voice thick with emotion. "No matter how hard I try, I could never measure up to the other girls. I couldn't ask for help because I knew no one would help me." Tears slid down 007869's face as she forced a broken smile. 

"I thought as long as Master Rain was with me, I would be okay. But I couldn't handle it anymore when I found out I won't see Master Rain after graduation." 007869 said.

"Ahhhnn…" a quiet moan seeped into their room. The door was ajar, and through the tiny crack, two bodies were gyrating against one another. 

The door slowly opened on its own, and it was Mistress Dread bent over with her hands on the wall. Master Rain pounded into her, still fully clothed. 

"That night, I wanted to see Master Rain, and I walked in on them. Mistress Dread didn't notice me, but Master Rain did." 007869 said. 

Master Rain turned to look towards Claire before looking back down and continuing his deed. 

"Listen, if teachers are having sex in front of students, I'm not sure if he's the man you should've given your heart to," Claire said matter-of-factly. 

The door creaked closed, and the moans faded away. 

007869 shook her head. "Strong men like Master Rain needs to release their male essence periodically. So, I understand why it had to be done." 

Claire must've given her some sort of face because 007869 stared back, confused. "Where you come from, do men not have to do the same?"

"Well, they certainly don't have to come in a girl," Claire responded, highly suspicious of 007869's reason as to why the teachers were going at it like rabbits. 

"Wow." 007869's body slowly opened, her arms no longer holding her legs to her chest. "I have never seen the outside world beyond the Garden." She dropped her gaze. "But I suppose I never will."

Claire's mind was working in overdrive. Considering she was facing the dead girl's soul, maybe there was a reason why she was here. However, she still didn't shelve the acid trip altogether. Tapping her chin, she went through various possibilities until she reached the most plausible one out of all the ridiculous answers. 

If this was 007869's soul, then maybe it was like the movies Claire watched a couple of years ago. A lesson to be learned about herself while helping the deceased soul move on. God, that's stupid. She cringed at her conclusion. Still, it was better than nothing. 

The worst part of grasping at straws for answerless questions was that once you have reached a plausible answer, your mind refused to let go and think of another possibility. 

It makes sense. Claire's delusions spoke louder than any of her voices. Taking a fortifying breath, she walked towards 007869. Crouching down to her eye level, Claire asked, "what are your regrets?"

"M-my regrets?" 007869 blinked. 

"Yea. Your biggest ones. None of that 'I wish I could try the strawberry sundae down the street' bullshit." Claire was pissed. She never asked to be stuck in a body or live out this girl's life. She was perfectly content with her current life. Suddenly, a surge of pain shot through Claire's temple. "Ugh." She massaged her head, and the pain disappeared as suddenly as it came.

"A-are you alright?" 007869 asked, her eyes filled with sincere worry. 

Claire waved her hand dismissively. "It's fine. Anyway, biggest regrets, go."

"I-if I could ask, may I know why you want to know?" 007869's cheeks tinged with pink, and her eyes shifted away from Claire. 

"Maybe I'm stuck in your body because I need to fulfill whatever regrets you have since you…well, you know," Claire ended awkwardly.  

007869's eyes brightened, and her mouth made an 'o' shape. "That makes sense!" Her eyes began to water. "I'm so lucky to have you!" She gave Claire a big smile. 

Claire didn't have the heart to voice out a minor problem in her plan. If 007869 'disappeared,' would she know when Claire fulfilled her wish? She brushed away the thought. After all, she wasn't sure what 'disappearing' meant for 007869. Maybe once 007869 disappeared, Claire wouldn't get the small burst of memories from the girl's life and have complete autonomy over her body. 

"Then," 007869's voice cut through Claire's musing. "I want to receive Master Rain's essence before I leave the Garden."  

Claire blinked. She furrowed her brows, then blinked. She looked away from 007869, then blinked again. Finally, she looked back at the girl's hopeful face and blinked one last time. 

"The fuck?"