Chapter 44: "Do you not find me strange?"

"There's no need to force yourself to face your fear." 

Larissa's words reverberated in his head. Those words are more moving than the cheer he gets from his family and friends.

"C-can I go with you?" He asked. 

  His hands were trembling because of Larissa's appearance, but he felt more safe going with her than following his family, which was telling him to jump in a pool full of snakes.

Larissa, in his dream, smiled and shook her, stretched out a hand for him to take.

Jerrod looks back at his family first before he holds Larissa's hand. He then walked away with Larissa while he held her calloused hand.

"Hmm?"

He gripped her hand again and thought his dream was so realistic that even Larissa's hand felt like the real one.

"Are you awake?"

"Huh?"

"Are you awake?"