Pilot

It was the fifteenth of fall. Two weeks before her eighteenth birthday, and two days after the one-year anniversary of her grandfather's death.

Katie stared down at the dirt covering Wallace's grave, biting into the tip of her tongue to push away the tears. Even after a year of grief, she was still sad. And now she was leaving Sugar Village behind, along with the Sunny Garden Café.

It was a little painful, but she tried to put up a shield to fight back the feelings of guilt. This place had died a year ago with Wallace, and there was no point in staying any longer.

She had already had the café boarded up and closed down with the help of Ronald, and any second now he'd be pulling up in his truck to take her away, just like he'd promised yesterday.

As she thought this, she heard the enormous roar of his noisy old truck pull up behind her. She closed her eyes, taking in one more gulp of air, taking in one more breeze of Sugar Village autumn.

Wallace had once told her that she should "explore possibilities" and "go out to see what the 'real' world is like." This is what was she was doing, right? She'd received a flyer in the mail about a new café—Café Callaway in the next village over—and figured working there as an assistant baker was her best ticket out of town.

The smallest smile crossed her face. "Bye," she whispered to the wind, before turning around and walking towards the truck waiting for her.

Ronald eyed her from the open driver's seat window as she passed. "Ready?" he grunted.

She did her best to smile a little wider, for him. "Ready."

He nodded at her, and she walked around the truck to climb into the passenger's seat beside him.

The truck lurched forward, and Katie turned her head and pressed her face to the window.

--

Dia's eyes flew open suddenly. Her mind was blank. Where was she again…?

As she sat up, she put her hands back to support her, and she felt something beneath her palms. She blinked, looking down at the ground. It was grass.

She was sitting in it, in the middle of the forest, surrounded by trees. She blinked again, and again, trying to get rid of the image. I'm just imagining it, she told herself, in attempt to free herself of her bizarre dream. It didn't work, and soon she found herself getting to her feet and starting off at a rather quick pace through the forest.

A wave of nausea passed over her and she almost fell flat on her face, but she managed to catch her balance by grabbing onto a tree. As the nausea faded, Dia turned her eyes to what was in front of her—the Goddess Spring. Somehow she'd just inherently knew this, although she was positive she hadn't ever left the sanatorium since her first day, except to go on short walks in the village.

A woman was kneeling at the water's edge. A dark curtain of hair blocked her face, but there was a familiar aura about her that caused something to stir within Dia.

"Excuse me," Dia called out, taking a stumbling step towards the woman, but the woman ignored her, keeping her head down. She seemed to be focused intently on the bundle in her arms, and her shoulders shook slightly, as if she were sobbing…silently.

"Excuse me," Dia said again, now almost right next to the woman. She stepped over another tree root and stopped behind her. She put a hand on the woman's shoulder, unsure of what she was doing. "Hello? Is everything—?"

Before she finished her question, the woman turned her head. Dia recoiled in shock.

Piercing eyes.

Then…

Black.

Everything—black.

Dia awoke with a start and immediately sat up, clutching her sheets in a cold sweat. The room came into focus. The same white walls, the same blue curtains. She was back in the sanatorium, and everything was dark and quiet. Yet, the darkness seemed to shine in comparison to the veil of black that had previously consumed her.

She sighed in relief, and then drew her blanket up around her tightly. A chill had come over her, and she couldn't quite shake it.

"A nightmare," she murmured to herself in comfort. "A nightmare…a nightmare…"

But as she closed her eyes and pressed her hands to her flushed face, the same frightening eyes leered out at her. She gasped and opened her eyes again. Too real. The feeling stirred in her again. What was it? She couldn't put her finger on it.

Dia then shivered a little, thinking of the right word.

"Hatred."