Chapter 23: Friendship
Months had already gone by after Sasha had lost her memories as to her dream land and everything in it. It was about the same amount of time she had been friends with Alice. Throughout the months, she almost entirely kept herself from drawing anything. But, the times when she drew, she would draw the same character. Over and over again. Time to time she would have a look at her previous drawings. However, whenever she did, she felt very strange and found her own drawings mysterious. She couldn't explain it no matter how hard she tried.
July 7
It was another ordinary school day. During lunch time, Sasha was sitting on her chair and waiting for Alice's arrival. On her desk was a notebook and a pencil. As she was taking too long, Sasha opened her notebook and thought of drawing to pass the time. So, she started to move her fingers with the pencil on the notebook. While doing so, she wasn't really paying attention. After a while, to her surprise she noticed that she drew the same character she didn't know, yet again...
"Just who are you?" She asked quietly so that no one could hear.
"Sasha! Good morning!" Suddenly she heard a voice from behind her. Quickly, she hid the notebook in the desk and looked back.
"Good morning, Alice. You're late today."
"Sorry. I had some things to do."
"Oh, I see."
"So, what have you been doing?"
"Nothing much."
"Come on! I saw you drawing. You never told me you can draw. Show me!"
Sasha got surprised that she could see it. Maybe she had been there standing behind for some time before calling her. But, she didn't want to show her her meaningless drawing full of mysteries.
"Oh, it's not so good. You wouldn't want to see it."
"Come on! I can't even draw so it really doesn't matter."
Sasha couldn't argue anymore.
"Alright, fine. Here." She brought it out from the desk and showed her.
It was a character with two long ears and a long tail. It had a black stone tied to a collar.
"What are you saying? This is great! You're really good at drawing! You must totally draw me something!"
Sasha tried to refuse the fact. But, Alice wasn't going to leave it like that.
"That's for not telling me before! You can't hide from it." Alice said laughing.
"Okay..."
Finally, Alice brought her chair to Sasha's desk and sat near her. She then gave her a smile and Sasha smiled back.
"You know, Sasha, I'm really glad that I became your friend."
Hearing her say that out of nowhere, Sasha paid attention.
"My parents died when I was very small. I can't even remember them now. After my parents died, I had been living with my uncle's family. I realised from the start that I wasn't welcome. Everyone looked at me as a hindrance."
Alice continued to say lowering her voice down.
"There was a time when I wanted to die. I wanted to run away from all of it. But then... I though... what good would it do? I noticed that I didn't want to surrender."
She then looked at Sasha and said,"I wanted to stand up with my own two feet and I still do. Which is why I still haven't given up. And, seeing you continuing to fight against all odds have given me more courage."
Sasha was astonished to hear her. "Am I really that encouraging?" She thought to herself,"Alice is the one encouraging here. She has gone through so much."
"So, thank you, Sasha, for sharing with me and allowing me to share with you. I now know that life can be difficult. One can be worse than the other. But that doesn't mean that there's no chance of winning. We just have to keep on moving!"
Sasha stared at her as she was deeply touched.
"So, Sasha, no matter what happens, don't ever lose hope. There's always a way. Believe in it."
Suddenly, tears rolled down from Sasha's eyes and she didn't even realise it.
"Oh, don't do that! It's embarrassing!"
She came to her senses and quickly got rid of it.
"Sorry, it just came out..."
"It's okay."
Then Alice lowered her voice a bit more and said,"No one else knows about my family. You're the first. Do you think you could keep it a secret?"
"If you want me to, sure."
"Thank you."
Sasha looked at her notebook and picked up her pencil. She started to draw for Alice.
"I'm glad to have you as my friend, too." She said suddenly.
Alice looked at her and smiled. Sasha made eye contact and looked down at the notebook immediately. She smiled too.
As what she was drawing started to take shape, she noticed that it was exactly the same character she had drawn earlier.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
RamisaNR
RamisaNR Friends can be wonderful.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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