Alexis lay there on the bed thinking about the virtual kiss that she planted on Vorian earlier. Though she just pecked air and not Vorian, she still felt very happy and couldn't stop smiling. Soon she fell into deep sleep, her lips slightly curled up to form a soft smile.

The next morning, Alexis woke up quite late. She just ignored all the alarms set by PIA and overslept. But she did not regret it as she felt refreshed after the long sleep in her own cozy bed. After freshening up, she quickly slipped into her academy uniform, grabbed a sandwich, and started to walk towards her academy.

"It feels so good to be walking on the familiar roads again. No dogs chasing me, no military, and no Judy." She thought to herself while smiling and moving faster to reach to the academy in time.

As soon as Alexis entered her class, she found Natalia gazing towards the door with expectant eyes. And when she saw Alexis, she jumped out of her seat and went over to hug Alexis. "Lexi! I missed you so much. Why did you miss the class yesterday? You never returned my calls or texts."

After breaking off from the tight hug, Alexis apologized to her friend, "I'm so sorry Nat. I didn't get the chance to go through the text or call you."

Natalia raised her brows and asked, "You still haven't checked my text?" Then suddenly Natalia had a concerned look on her face, "What made you so busy? Were you in the court yesterday?"

"Court? Oh yeah, I had already forgotten all about it." Many weird things were happening in Alexis's life recently and she was unable to keep track of everything.

"Then where were you?" Natalia asked with unfaltering concern on her face.

Alexis signaled Natalia to come closer and whispered in her ears, "I was in the Dead Zone."

"Dead Zone?" Natalia could not contain her astonishment and she shouted on top of her lungs. Whole class turned their heads and now the two girls had attracted everyone's attention, just what Alexis was trying to avoid.

Natalia immediately lowered her voice and whispered aggressively, "Did you just say THE Dead Zone? How did you even get in there? And what the hell were you thinking before going there in the first place?"

Alexis was about to open her mouth to answer Natalia but the Professor entered the class and started the lecture.

Natalia could not pay any attention to the lecture at all. She kept fidgeting her legs and biting her nails. Natalia could not help but get curious. She wanted to know everything about Alexis's 'adventure' to the Dead Zone.

Natalia just wished that the class would be over quickly and kept on glancing at her watch, "What? It has just been 6 minutes since the lecture started? Is my watch dead or something?" She tapped on her watch with irritation.

Alexis was watching Natalia fidgeting vigorously and gestured at her while mouthing, "Calm down."

After long sluggish hours, the classes finally ended for the day. "I thought I would die out of curiosity", Natalia said to Alexis with her eyes half closed. She sighed and said to Alexis, "Come on, I'll walk you home. You can tell me all about your adventure on the way."

Both of them started to walk towards Alexis's home. Natalia was not going to leave Alexis alone.

"It was not an adventure, it was a horror. At many points I felt like I would die." Alexis stopped all of a sudden. When she said this, her mind played a flashing image of the moment when she felt like she was about to die after getting hit by Judy. The images were very unclear but Alexis felt a pain in her heart. She closed her eyes and tilted her head trying to remember more but she could not.

Alexis was clutching the cloth on top of her chest because of the sharp pain she was feeling. Beads of sweat were forming on her forehead. Natalia panicked, "Alexis are you alright? Do I need to call an ambulance?"

"No, I'm fine. I was just feeling a little light-headed." Alexis wiped the sweat on her forehead and put on a smile.

"Are you sure?" Natalia wanted to reconfirm.

"Yes." Both of them started to walk again.

Alexis cleared her throat and began, "I have no memory of what happened in between, I just remember walking towards home and the next thing I know is I was already in the Dead Zone."

Natalia was covering her mouth with both of her hands when she was listening to Alexis's story. She would comment in between, sometimes with excitement, and sometimes with concern. And when Alexis finished telling her story, Natalia remarked, "Betrayer! I can't believe that you had so much adventure and fun without me."

Alexis laughed and said, "Yeah, if you were with me, maybe the whole thing wouldn't have been so scary. It could actually have been interesting."

By this time, they arrived at the place where Alexis had the energy burst, P-97 Street. Alexis was surprised to see the place, "Whoa! What happened here? Everything looks damaged." She did not notice it in the morning as she was too focused on walking faster to reach to her class in time.

"I don't know. I was also surprised when I saw it yesterday." Natalia remembered something suddenly, "By the way, I found your bag here. It was lying on the ground; I was worried that something happened to you here. So, I insisted to Melissa to let me see you but she would not let me."

Natalia stopped walking all of a sudden, "Wait a minute! Why did Melissa say to me that you were sleeping in your room? You were definitely not at home at that time; you were in the Dead Zone. I knew something was not right when she did not let me see you."

Alexis scratched her head and gave an awkward smile to Natalia, "Umm… my mom said that she had a feeling that I might have been lost in the Dead Zone. And she said she lied to you because she didn't want many people to get involved if her hunch was true."

Alexis felt a shrill pain in her heart as if Natalia's words hurt her. But she scoffed and brushed away the suspicion, "Come on! Why would she withhold anything from me?"

Natalia puckered her lips and raised her eyebrows as if she was challenging Alexis. She waited for Alexis to speak but she broke her silence after a second, "Umm… Hello! Not to sound rude or anything but Melissa still has not told you who your father is and where he is from. Are you sure she has not been withholding anything more than that?"

These words pierced Alexis's heart like a pointed arrow. She felt lightheaded again but she tried to maintain her posture. She whispered and asked Natalia, "She wouldn't lie about anything else, would she?"

"I would have loved to say 'she wouldn't lie' but I don't know Alexis, not anymore." Natalia blurted out the bitter truth.