==Hi! I'm back pretty early than I expected for this new chapter. Let's just say I put all I could into writing it, meaning I made myself cry just to write down how it felt and stick it in here. It's a job well done in my opinion! I hope y'all enjoy :)==

Sleeping With Sirens - "Alone" feat. MGK

Tell me what's the point in life. Is it material? Had everything I could ever want, and probably more. When I lay in bed at night, all I do is think of you. So when all this is gone, what do I have to come home to?

Haunted: Collapse into Caliginosity

Chapter 28:

By My Side

No human being should ever feel this kind of pain. It's a pain that lingers; a pain that continuously aches. It spreads across your chest and wraps itself around your heart. You don't want to move. You want to hide from the world. You want to experience those precious memories of the lost person just one last time. But instead, you're left in bed with a tear-soaked pillow.

To me, this was square one all over again. I have returned to a realm that I loathe with my deepest, darkest passion. This was where I asked myself why I still bother to be happy. Returning was inevitable, but this was definitely the worst blow I've ever felt.

Zane is dead.

The thought made fresh tears surface. I reached under the other pillow and pulled out the dog tags. I had no clue if they could be restored from their charred state. The words engraved on them couldn't be read anymore. There was no longer a purpose for keeping them, but I had to. They were all I had left of him.

I returned them under the pillow and looked up to see good ole Jen staring down at me. Dread immediately came over my mentality.

Fuck you,I said to her.

Her eyes narrowed, representing annoyance. I just rolled over. For some reason, she hasn't touched me at all since I found the destroyed monastery. Whether it was because I actually brawled with her or not was something I didn't know. But who cares? I'm already suffering enough as it is.

Feeling Jen curl up next to me, I closed my eyes and allowed my hollow soul to lull me to sleep.

I woke up to something unbelievable. There was grass all around me. Butterflies went from flower to flower and a rabbit snacked on something as its nose twitched.

"Good morning," a high pitched voice greeted me.

I turned my head to find a girl with blonde ringlets draped over her ears. A cute little tiara rested on top of her head. Unlike Jen, her eyes were bright blue and full of life.

"Who are you?" I drowsily asked.

"I thought you named me Candy a long time ago," she replied while picking off petals from a flower.

"But...what about Jen?"

"Don't worry. I took care of it."

I gazed over at the glass wall to see nothing on the other side. Jen was nowhere to be seen.

Candy tossed the flower off to the side. "Come on! Let's go play!" she urged, tugging my hand.

I was almost dragged closer to the huge forest in the middle of this realm. That was where the core of my happiness was. Candy was trying to take me right to it.

I ripped my hand away from her to stop. She confusingly gazed at me after also halting. "What's wrong? Don't you want to play with me?" she asked.

The pain in my chest throbbed. My eyes became watery. "How am I supposed to know? My friend died."

She lowered her gaze as a tear ran down my cheek. Her arms embraced me in a hug. "It's okay to be sad, Macca. If you're not ready to be happy yet, then I'll wait for you. But you also need to consider that you don't know the actual truth. The monastery is gone, and there were no casualties at the scene? Not even a dead body? You don't know if Zane's dead or not. Maybe he wasn't there when the fire started. Maybe he's okay."

At that moment, my eyes opened to my apartment. Candy's words echoed in my mind. With that came hope that it was true. Could Zane actually be alive?

I got out of bed and took a shower. A desire to spread the word led me to pick myself up. So many people can help me discover the truth. This was the key for all I've done to find him. He could still be out there. I'm just not looking in the right place.

Once I looked like Macca Soxx, I set up a video camera on the kitchen table and retrieved the dog tags. I sat down, took a deep breath, and turned the camera on.

"Hello, world," I began. "This is Macca. I'm making this video so that I can find someone–"

I had to pause because I could already feel tears coming back. The camera taped me with my face wavering and struggling to stay calm. "I don't know if I can do this," I whispered to myself, trying to wipe my eyes without messing up my makeup.

I gained my composure and continued. "So basically, I met a guy a few weeks ago in Jamanakai Village. He was really…mysterious. He was really tall, had the prettiest blue eyes I've ever seen, and the craziest hair of anyone in this entire world. His name is Zane, and he's my friend.

"Zane took me on an adventure that night, and that was how we grew close. He took me back to a warm bed after I fell asleep on him and he stayed with me until the next morning. That was when we said our goodbyes.

"Now, I don't know how much he's been thinking of me, but I've been thinking a lot about him. In fact, I thought about him so much that I wanted to find him, so I got directions to their monastery and went to see him. But after climbing that mountain all by myself, there was no monastery. There was nothing at all, but I found…" I pulled out the dog tags and rested them on the table. Emotions crazily rushed through me and made me cover my face with my hands. I completely broke down and cried as I relived the moment when my world came crashing down on me.

Candy's hand rested on my shoulder. It suddenly gave me the strength to stop crying for a few seconds. "I gave these to Zane before he left and I found them after their monastery burnt down…I thought he was dead–" more tears streamed down my cheeks "–but now I just want to know the truth. I don't think he's dead but I don't know if he's okay or not. Please, I just want to know that he's okay. Please help me find Zane. Please."

Before turning off the camera, I sat there with hopes that my message would spread and people would start reaching out to help me find the white Ninja of Ice.

Shoutout to KRR for leaving a review :)