Madotsuki steels her nerves. She has to get out of this room... This self-imposed prison. Or else the dreams will continue. This demented, perverted excuse for a life, in a backwards and imaginary world of old memories and old terrors.
The time has come to move on.
She turns her back on that accursed door and walks across her room, legs shaking, tears in her eyes and streaming down her face in utter terror, yet an odd sense of peace...
The time has come to let go of the past.
She walks out onto the balcony and climbs onto the railing, the wind blowing around her. She can hear a distant music being carried by it... the soft melody of a slightly out-of-tune piano.
The time has come... The time of acceptance.
Madotsuki outstretches her arms and goes limp, allowing gravity to take over. As she ever so slowly begins to fall forward, that out of tune piano seems to pick up. A soft whistle now accompanies it. The whistle of a flute.
The time has come for the dream to end.
Madotsuki opens her eyes... She doesn't even remember hitting the ground. She must have, though. She is in the hospital, once again in the same room as after the accident... And her bandages are in the same spots.
Her brief confusion is quickly forgotten as a female figure hugs her. Her sister! Her warm, loving sister is back! Her face is still bandaged, but it has healed greatly. But how?
That's what happens in seven weeks of recovery, is her sister's tearful reply.
Several hours and tearful family reunions later, Madotsuki finally learns that the car crash had not just taken her child, but it had also nearly claimed her: The impact had put her into a coma for nearly 2 months. She wasn't expected to wake up for a long time, if at all... It would seem that her leap of faith had paid off. But would it be just the first of many? She may be alive, but her sister is likely permanenetly disfigured. Monoko is dead, and Monoe will likely never speak to her again. Perhaps like in her dream, Monoe will avoid her... And perhaps like her dream, the avoidance will inevitably end... And perhaps she'll be able to pay off the hospital bills... and the accident she caused, there's legal trouble there, for sure.
But after the tearful reunions and explanations and nightmares have all ended, none of that seems to matter right now. And for the first time in weeks, Madotsuki finally manages to lay her head on her pillow, a little easier. Soon, she has drifted off into a somewhat peaceful sleep, the faint sound of a piano lulling her into slumber... and a few hours later, waking her up with the sunrise.
END
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