The little girl is motionless, her black hair fanned out across Nadia’s thighs, her arms tucked beneath her chin. She looks peaceful in sleep; eerily so, after what Nadia just witnessed in the dreamscape. The vision of her crimson eyes and hollow voice lingers like smoke in the corners of Nadia’s mind. She stares down at her, unsure of what she’s feeling. Fear? Affection? Some strange new instinct that lies somewhere between motherhood and dread? She raises a trembling hand and brushes a strand of hair from Shino’s cheek. The girl doesn’t stir. “Motherhood…huh?”
The weight of the dream crashes down again in silence. Six paths. Six choices. One final end. A choice that involves herself, this girl named Shino, and ‘her’. All the endings always lead to her.
