Chapter 1: Olivia
Watching the roses bloom across the street with her father after school was how Olivia decided to pass the time on that particular spring morning. Spring was her favorite season, not because of the peaceful weather or Easter happening during it, but instead because of the roses and other flowers that would grow on the streets in that period. Her enjoyment of flowers came from her admiration for her father's job as a botanist. Olivia always wanted to be like him, and this was their way to bond and have fun. It wasn't the sole reason, however, as she was mainly attracted to the gentle scent of each plant and flower she came across, their shape, and their symbolism. She preferred flowers over plants because of their vibrant contrast of color with the green of their leaves. Roses were especially her favorite, being red like a burning fire or a heart. Her mother also greatly enjoyed spring, primarily because she loved making flowercrowns with the different flowers growing in the garden outside their house. It was the season that brought them all closer than ever.
Olivia was reading through her handmade herbarium while trying to contain a few excited giggles. Her herbarium was a little book that she used for storing all kinds of plant and flower samples, but she also wrote down their names, their uses in medicine, and many other little fun facts. Her father had a similar herbarium, but his was much more professional. Despite that, he would always pat her on the head and compliment her when she added something new to it, showing how proud he was of her.
Her father's face seemed more blurry than she should remember, but that is perfectly normal. It has been more than 30 years after all. Memories tend to wither exactly like flowers, losing their color slowly as they vanish. It's a shame that the human mind can be just as fragile as nature's greatest creations.
Soon enough, the two reached their favorite place to observe flowers, a bench facing flower bushes on the opposite road. It was a perfect spot to rest in and observe, but Olivia wasn't going to observe from a mere distance. "A true botanist always examines things closely." That was her motto.
Her father sat on the bench with a quiet huff, probably glad to be sitting after walking for so long. She could guess that pretty clearly. Was he always that tired? She remembers him as being so young, so strong, and so energetic. She almost forgot that he had back problems and always needed to sit after a long time of walking.
While her father watched, Olivia walked across the street to look at the flower bushes from a closer perspective, as the deep and rich red color of the roses slowly became more visible. There weren't many in one place, but she saw one in a faraway bush that caught her attention. There was blue on its surface, and it wasn't part of the flower itself. It was a blue butterfly that was gently resting on its petals. It's wings moved in an almost hypnotizing pattern, like the waves of a crystal clear sea slowly reaching for the nearby shore. Olivia recognized it to be a blue morpho butterfly, one of her mother's favorites. She had to go take a look at any cost. It was too beautiful to ignore. Her mother would be so happy to hear she saw it, Olivia was dying to tell her about it once she returned home.
She glanced at her father briefly to see if he was still watching her before she made her way towards the bush after he gave her a big thumbs up so she could proceed. She was still in her father's field of vision, and he was encouraging her to explore. Once she reached the beautiful butterfly on the rose, she clutched her precious plant-keeping book close to her chest and observed it in awe. She wanted to take a petal of the "special" rose to keep it in her herbarium and mark this great occasion as a grand feat. Her excitement made her act quite careless, however, since she accidentally pricked her hand with the rose's thorns while she held the flower's stem. Her father had momentarily grown distracted by a phone call, so he didn't notice that happening.
"Ow!" She whined quietly. She remembers that it felt quite painful, and a small bit of blood was dripping from her thumb as a consequence. She wasn't all that discouraged, since this was one of the many risks of being a botanist. However, the commotion caused the butterfly to fly away fearfully, and having it fly so close to her face frightened her. She backed away slightly and fell straight through the ground. She didn't have time to scream or process it at all, and it happened so fast that not even her father noticed. It's not like she was able to see how he'd react afterwards, and after all, she can only guess how much grief he'd experience in a matter of seconds. Her poor father and mother.
How did it happen? She still can't come to terms with the lack of a reason to this day. Why did it have to be her? Why so suddenly? If only she had stayed on the bench with her father, this would have never happened.
She was just 12. What mistakes did she make to deserve that kind of fate? To be so unaware of what would soon happen next… Olivia's regret never ceases to eat her whole.
The blood that dripped from her finger was a taste of the suffering she was going to experience. A warning from a silent flower, a cruel coincidence by fate, or revenge for having tried to pluck the rose's petal. Whichever it was, Olivia held great resentment towards the flower that composed her last name and the first half of her life.
That day of spring was the day she fell in the Backrooms and the end of her life as a normal child.
Olivia found herself on the cold ground of a strange establishment. From what she could tell, it resembled a warehouse, but she wasn't too sure. Did she fall down and end up underground? But there was no hole caused by her fall. The first thing she did was sit down and wait for her father to come down and pick her up. After she waited for a few minutes, she decided to walk around and find anyone who could help guide her outside of the warehouse. She was taught by her parents to always look for a group of adults to help if she ever got out of sight for more than 5 minutes, but in this particular situation, Olivia didn't feel as if she was truly lost. After all, she remembered hearing about a construction site in the making nearby, and she reasoned that she must have ended up in an area of it.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" She shouted in French, then in English. She wanted to be sure that someone would find her, because she was starting to feel a little uneasy in such a large place.
She noticed that the lights in the establishment were quite damaged, as they occasionally flickered and often emitted a strange noise. She wasn't aware that construction sites were so badly managed. She was worried that some rubble would crash on her, so she sped up her search. That was when she spotted a figure moving as the lights flickered once more and turned off briefly. Olivia assumed it was one of the workers and immediately walked towards them.
"Hello? Sir? Ma'am? I need some help getting back up…" She timidly spoke as she reached out for the figure. When the lights turned back on, she moved her hand away in horror. Whatever that figure was, it wasn't a person. It was a monster with sunken eyes and a strange, fleshy body. Olivia screamed at the top of her lungs and ran away as quickly as she could. The lights kept flickering at random intervals, making her grow anxious.
Olivia looked behind her as she ran, seeing the creature chasing after her and reaching out to grab her. It looked disgusting and slimy. The smell it emitted was so abominable, and Olivia was crying heavy tears of terror.
"Help! Help! Please help me!" She desperately attempted to run even faster. Why wasn't her dad there by then? She was close enough to him; by now, he should have found her. Anyone should have found her. Where was she, truly?
The thing was catching up. It was dangerously close, and her legs were starting to weaken from exhaustion. It reached out with its distorted hand to grab her. Olivia let out a cry as she closed her eyes, but nothing touched her.
She felt another presence behind her. Then, a strange, slimy sound was heard, followed by a thud. Olivia opened her eyes. The creature's face had been smashed by something blunt, and it was bleeding out a clear liquid from its broken face. It looked like its face blew up from how badly it was ruined. Olivia could barely keep looking after that, because she threw up soon after and fell on her knees. Her legs could barely support her body.
When she had the mental strength to look up to see the person who saved her, she saw a man with dark skin, blue eyes, and brown hair in braids. He had a kind gaze, like her father's, as he reached out to check on her. She saw the clear blood of the creature on his clothes as he did so.
"Fucking hell… Are you okay? The thing didn't hurt you, did it?" He used some kind of cloth to clean her puke-stained mouth as Olivia flinched and looked away from him. She was shivering, and she needed to gather her bearings. She almost died, and she also saw a dead monster. It was too much for her in that moment.
The man recognized the stress growing in the little girl's heart. He gave her some space as he put away a long pipe he was holding. Olivia gathered enough courage to speak after a few minutes.
"I-I need… I need to go back to my father. Please, can you bring me back to him? I want to go home; this place is scary.' She pleads with tearful eyes. She was shaking like a leaf and hugging herself as a way to self-soothe since she had never been so scared in her life. That sight still appears in her dreams, and it's so clear and vivid that it can never truly disappear.
The man was about to answer, but he was interrupted by something else. It was another man. He had pale skin, green eyes, glasses, and black hair.
"Jeremy! Are you crazy?! You ran away without-" The man with glasses interrupted himself as he saw the dead creature, then Olivia. His expression turned from harsh to serious, as Olivia looked up at him too with her desperate face.
"I'm sorry, Eric. If I hadn't run off, the kid would have died. I know I should have been careful, but I couldn't ignore it." The blue-eyed man replied with a tender tone before focusing back on Olivia. "Listen, we can't talk here; it's dangerous. We will go to a safe place, and then we can discuss your father, okay? Please, you have to believe me. I know you're scared, but you have to listen."
Olivia didn't have any choice, and as much as she wanted to go find her father in that moment, she didn't want to get attacked by another monster. She didn't know how long it'd take to get out of there, and going somewhere safe was the only solution in her eyes. She couldn't talk in this state, and the only answer to his proposal was a slight nod coming from her. She was helped back on her feet by Jeremy soon after as he helped her walk.
The other man, Eric, didn't speak. He didn't seem inclined to say anything, and Olivia was too frightened to worry about the reason for it. Her brain was stuck thinking about her safe house and her mother waiting for her at home with a warm pie ready in the oven. She wanted to run home to her and hug her really tightly. She desperately wanted to be comforted by her parents in that moment, but all she could do was let the man who saved her life guide her somewhere else, hoping that what he said was true.
Soon enough, they arrived at some kind of campsite built within a corridor of the warehouse. Several protective scrap walls that were made out of scratch were securing the campsite from outside entry to keep out the creatures like the one before. Jeremy helped Olivia sit down by a warm campfire, and then he put a warm fur blanket on her shoulders. She held it close to herself and continued shivering, but at least it was comforting and smelled great.
Eric was the one to speak this time, to her surprise. He took a deep breath and fixed up his glasses before speaking. "I'm sorry that you had to endure so much fear in such a short amount of time… We all went through this. We know how it feels, but I promise you that you'll be safe here for now." He said it in a sorry tone, almost looking ashamed.
Jeremy lightly patted her shoulder. "There's a lot we need to tell you. So before you ask anything, could you listen to us for a few minutes?"
Olivia didn't protest. She silently nodded, hoping that when they told her everything, she'd be able to go home. She was far too exhausted to keep crying, but her heart ached in pain.
Jeremy's expression softened. "Very well, let me begin first by telling you that this place you're in is part of something we call the "Backrooms"…" Jeremy told her everything about this different land that we all know far too well. A place where one ends up by phasing through the floor… A place without a purpose, inhabited by all kinds of terrible creatures. It's almost a purgatory for unfortunate ones that are lost through the bounds of reality.
Olivia couldn't believe that she wasn't on Earth anymore. Phasing through the ground? Different land away from Earth? It was all too unbelievable.
"You're lying. There's no way we're in a different place! I was just in my home town some time ago! You're just spouting nonsense! I want to go back home! Bring me back to my dad!" She looked on the verge of bursting into tears. She looked at the two men with a hurt gaze. She didn't want to accept it.
Eric frowned and struggled to look back into her eyes. Olivia couldn't tell what he was thinking in that moment, but he was probably far too saddened.
"He's not lying, kid. We both went through this in the past, and we just want to tell you the truth. There's no reason to give you false hope about returning home, and I'm sorry about it. This place is too far away, and there is no exit, no matter how hard we try. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you'll be able to keep going." He was harsher than needed, and Jeremy glared at him subtly.
"Eric is right. Unfortunately, this place can't be reached by your father, and we can't return home on our own either…" Jeremy softly spoke. He was trying to be as gentle as possible with his words.
Olivia didn't take it too well. She began crying loudly and calling out for her father and mother. She held her face in her hands and wouldn't stop crying, no matter what Jeremy or Eric tried to do or say. She was angry that a rose caused her to wander away, separated her from her family, and blamed it for everything because she desperately needed anything to blame for her unfortunate fate. Her mind wasn't able to process the supernatural events yet.
It took hours for Olivia to stop wailing in such a way. She was now huddled up against the campfire under the blanket she was previously given. She didn't stop weeping, but it was much quieter than earlier. Jeremy decided to approach her now that she seemed to be more inclined to communicate, and he also decided to bring her a bottle of what looked to be strawberry milk. He didn't know, but it was Olivia's favorite.
"You need to drink something, kid. Would you like a bottle of Lucky O' milk? It's the best drink you can find here besides Almond Water." He smiled briefly as he handed the drink to her. She recognized that he was hoping he could reach out to her heart and attempt to communicate with her. While Jeremy was trying to talk through it with her, Eric was busy roasting some strange marshmallows. Olivia hesitated before taking the bottle of Lucky O' milk in her hands. She gulped it down quickly in one sitting. The taste of the beverage was amazing.
"It seems like you really liked it! I'm glad." Jeremy seemed satisfied by her reaction. Eric scoffed lightly at Jeremy's statement as he handed the roasted marshmallow pile to Olivia, which he made sure wouldn't be too hot to eat. "Since you were thirsty, you must also be hungry. Take these Greasy Marshmallows. They will be enough for your calorie supply right now." He seemed to be embarrassed about trying to act sweet. Jeremy chuckled at his partner's behavior.
"You look so cute when you try to soften your grumpy attitude." He was pretty smug about it. Olivia saw that Eric was blushing pretty visibly. "Quit it. I don't think the kid wants to see us act lovey dovey." He muttered, but not loud enough to hear properly.
Olivia couldn't help but find the two men to be strangely entertaining. They were kind and they acted just like her mother and father together. She felt a bit at ease when she saw them act this way with each other.
"Thank you." She uttered it with the little strength she had recovered. Then she ate as many Greasy Marshmallows as she could until her stomach protested.
There was silence between the three for a very long time, only occasionally interrupted by the background chatter of other people around the campsite. There were also children, just like Olivia, but they were all a little older than her. That place truly resembled a town in her eyes, even in its conditions.
After what felt like an eternity, Olivia decided to break the awkward silence and attempt to get more answers. "You've said that this place is part of the Backrooms… Does it have a name? How many other areas are there?" She still didn't give up the idea of finding an exit. If the Backrooms had finite numbers of areas like Earth, then she'd probably be able to eventually find an exit over the years. Wouldn't she?
"This area is labeled as the "Habitable Zone". Despite the promising name, it's particularly dangerous." Eric explained to the best of his abilities. He briefly summarized the basics of the zone, telling her about its resource filled crates and entities. Olivia saw a hint of excitement in the man's eyes as he seemed happy to be talking about something he clearly knew well.
"I don't think you've been to the "Yellow Maze" zone before this one, have you? While that one lacks "entities," it's incredibly dangerous and isolating. I was one of the unlucky ones who ended up there first, but you were a bit luckier than me." He was writing down something in some kind of notebook as he spoke. It reminded Olivia of her herbarium, and because of all that commotion, she didn't realize she still had it with her. She remembers clutching it really tightly to herself while she walked around in search of "workers." She thought she had lost it when she ran from the creature, and having it with her made her feel some kind of relief.
"Hah! I was one of the extremely unlucky ones who ended up in that "Pipe Area". I was immediately attacked by one of those dog-like creepy people entities. I think we settled on naming them "Hounds," yeah? It was a crazy experience, but thankfully I was strong enough to pack a punch. If it wasn't for the pipe I used to swing at it, I would have died." Jeremy seemed to be quite nonchalant about his story. He could only joke about his unfortunate entry into the Backrooms. After all, it seemed that he had been there for a long time. Olivia recognized that this must be normal for him.
Hearing them talk about their experiences made her grow closer to them. She felt in the wrong for having judged them and gotten angry at them. It wasn't their fault that she was stuck there, and they weren't lying about the nature of the Backrooms. In the end, everyone in that area was exactly like her at one point. Olivia directed her anger towards fate itself, which allowed such a cruel place to take all these people away.
"But yeah, that's only a summary of the more documented areas. There are probably many more that we explorers still haven't discovered, so I can't exactly answer you fully." He put down his notebook after he finished his speech.
"I understand…" She managed to say. Tears were begging to form under her eyes once more, and the pain and grief returned to her heart once more, along with realization. The tiredness made her numb from the loss of her normal life, but now that she was feeling less drowsy, the despair took over her again. She wondered how her mother would react to her going missing, how her classmates would react to seeing her empty desk at school, and how her parents would suffer and search for her endlessly to no use. It hurt her, and it made her feel guilty about a pain that she didn't cause willingly.
Jeremy gently caressed the top of her head, perhaps as a way to comfort her. His hand felt like the paw of a large, docile bear. It was big, heavy, and warm, just like her father's hand. Olivia closed her eyes and leaned closer to it, as she allowed herself to be comforted by him for a few minutes before he pulled away.
"I see you carry a herbarium with you. Are you an aspiring botanist?" He had a cheerful tone as he spoke.
"I am… My father is a botanist, and I want to be like him." She seemed to be happy that someone recognized the kind of book she was holding onto. Although thinking about her father again didn't help her feel any better,.
"What a coincidence! I'm also a botanist! And as a professional, I can say that your herbarium is top notch!" He seemed beyond joyful and excited at what she said. Olivia was glad to meet someone like him in that moment.
"You really think so? Do you want to take a look at it?" Olivia was always very protective of her belongings, but she trusted the man enough to be careful with her herbarium. After all, he was an expert botanist. He would know how to handle it. Jeremy gently turned the pages and examined the various samples Olivia had gathered. She had quite the collection for a child.
"It's wonderful! It may be a little messy, but that's part of why it's unique. I really admire how many samples you've preserved so far!" He beamed in joy as he returned the herbarium to her. Olivia felt sheepish at his words, having never been complimented by anyone else regarding her herbarium besides her father and mother.
"Let's see. If you promise that you will try to keep going and find a reason to be happy again, I will teach you everything I know and make you the best botanist in the Backrooms. What do you say?" His offer made Olivia's eyes glimmer with a newfound hope. She was still reluctant to show relief and happiness, but was willing to try for the sake of the offer. She truly wanted it, even if she was struggling with her emotions in that moment.
"I will try… At least, I think my dad would want me to try." She knew he would have encouraged her to do so, as her kind and caring dad wouldn't want her to continue blaming herself and grieving. She had to be strong for him, but it was so difficult to do on her own. She was grateful that Jeremy was trying to help, and perhaps she wouldn't heal immediately, but she would manage over time.
Eric was watching the two of them silently. He seemed to be admiring his partner, and Olivia could see that he wanted to contribute. "I will also teach you a thing or two about survival and exploration. We will need to travel a lot between places, and we can't leave you here alone, so you'll have to learn. I know it may sound scary to move around at first, but I assure you that you will need these skills when you'll become an independent adult." He was able to sound more gentle than usual. He hid a little smile that was growing on his face. Olivia doesn't blame him for having been so cold before that moment, as he was a good man at heart. He really shouldn't have gotten attached, now that she thinks about it.
"You'll really do that? Thank you." She struggled a bit before smiling briefly. Eric was taken by surprise and looked away. "Well, it's the least I can do as a fellow explorer. That's what we do here in the settlement. Teach skills to newbies." He justified.
"What Eric really means is that he is looking forward to teaching you about his favorite things, but he refuses to admit it and frames it as something professional!" Jeremy whispered to her. Olivia couldn't help but chuckle. Thankfully, Eric didn't hear.
"You mentioned explorers. Are there any of them here? What kind of things do you do?" She assumed that there was a group of people who willingly went through the different areas of the Backrooms and discovered all kinds of new places. Eric confirmed her assumptions soon after with a lengthy explanation of his job in the Habitable Zone. He enthusiastically rambled about the various teams that are found in the zone, their routines, and their feats.
Olivia was surprised that the people of the Habitable Zone were so organized. She was genuinely impressed by their dedication, although she was frightened by the idea of venturing into unknown places. She didn't want to stay in the settlement alone, so she would have to follow them eventually, but she didn't expect it to be so soon. "Since your turn to explore will be tomorrow, can you tell me where you are going to travel next?" She sheepishly asked.
Jeremy was the one to answer this time. "We will know once the other group returns, but it will take a few hours until then. I suggest you take a nap while we wait. You must be exhausted. We can talk about what to do when you wake up." He reassured her and tucked her in the blanket further. He put some kind of crumbled up pile of clothes under her head, acting like a pillow. Olivia didn't protest about her early bedtime, because she was, in fact, tired. The energy she gained by drinking the Lucky'O milk bottle was drained quickly, so she closed her eyes and passed out soon after. The last thing she saw were her two new companions looking at her with sad faces.
Olivia found herself in a strange, blank void. She realized she could barely breathe and couldn't utter a single word. It was terrifying, suffocating even. She reached out for anything to help her, but there was nothing.
In the distance, she saw her parents surrounded by a warm light. Her eyes filled with tears of joy as she desperately tried to crawl towards them. She struggled to move, but put all her effort into reaching out for them. The more she crawled, the more her parents seemed distant. She desperately hit the ground with her fists in frustration, as she was unable to scream and let out her anger and pain. Her parents vanished into nothing, and the light swallowed her whole.
She opened her eyes in a hurry. Gradually, she realized that she must have had a nightmare. Her entire body was trembling uncontrollably, and she couldn't stop weeping. Jeremy immediately went to her aid as he attempted to soothe her to the best of his abilities.
"Hey, look at me. It's okay. Deep breaths, do you understand? Take deep breaths and calm down. You were having a nightmare…" He tried to comfort her with a gentle tone as he rubbed her back. Olivia gasped as she tried to breathe properly. Her stomach felt tied in knots.
Gradually, she was able to calm down. It took a very long time for her to stop weeping again and realize once more that she wasn't home and that it wasn't just one big nightmare. She was still in the Backrooms with Jeremy and Eric. It was exhausting to gather her bearings.
"There, there. Are you feeling better? Drink some Almond Water… It will help." He assisted her in drinking a sip of the aforementioned drink. Olivia didn't really like almonds, but the drink did help calm her. She let out a breath and stopped shaking.
"That's better now. It's going to be okay. Take some time to calm down, and I'll tell you what we're going to do next once you're in a good mindset. The other group returned from the exploration just 10 minutes ago." Olivia placed her back against the wall behind her, as she rubbed her eyes and gradually got accustomed to the warm light of the campfire near her. She held her herbarium close and poked at the pages containing her special rose samples. It made her feel better.
Eric returned to them after a while. He was probably discussing it with the other explorers and got caught up in the discussion. When he noticed that Olivia had woken up, he seemed glad. "Great news, kid- Wait, it's been this long, and we still haven't asked your name. We can't just keep calling you kid, can we? What's your name?"
"Olivia, I'm Olivia." She didn't notice, either, that she didn't reveal her name until then. It escaped her mind since she was so focused on everything else. Eric gave her a nod and resumed his explanation. "Okay, Olivia, these news won't be too bad for you. We're going to be settling down in a place called the "Infinite Valley". The previous group discovered it by complete accident. That's where we come into play. We need to document it thoroughly for a month! It's a peaceful-looking place, and as far as the other group said, it doesn't have any entities that could pose a danger to us. However, the way to get there can be a bit of a hassle."
She wasn't excited about having to trouble in unknown places to get to this Infinite Valley, but being in a place without any of those scary creatures was enough of a compromise to convince her. She trusted that her two companions would protect her on the way. "Okay, but promise that you won't leave me behind, please. I don't want to travel alone." She shivered in concern at the thought of getting lost.
"Don't worry, Olivia. I'll make sure you stay safe. I'm quite good with my pipe." Jeremy reassured. Hearing that reminded her of the ruined face of the creature he killed. She almost threw up again, but tried to distract herself. Eric decided to step in and continue talking. "The road to the Valley is simple, we must first go to the Pipe Zone and find a door that will lead us to the "Office Zone". Then, we must go up a staircase in the office zone to reach the "Terror Hotel". Once we are in the hotel, we must find a picture of a river surrounded by mountains and touch it. That way, we will phase through it and reach our location. Is it all clear?" Olivia seemed to understand the plan, but Eric didn't mention how they'd leave to reach the Pipe Zone, so she was curious to see how that would go.
When Jeremy and Eric began packing resources into a bag, Olivia also borrowed a bag to put her herbarium inside it. After the preparations were ready, she followed the two adults outside of the campsite. The road to the following area didn't take too long, although they had to avoid a few other creatures in the distance. Olivia tightly held onto Jeremy's sleeve and kept her eyes shut. She was too afraid to look at them.
The Pipe Zone was much different, and it made her feel quite claustrophobic because of how tight the hallways were. There were pipes scattered around its walls, and the entities inhabiting it seemed more frequent than before. One of the creatures that Jeremy spoke about before attacked them, but he quickly disposed of it and rushed ahead with Olivia.
Other than that terrifying encounter, they were able to reach the door to the Office Zone quickly. She found it to be quite bland and monotonous, as there was barely any kind of furniture in the rooms, but at least Eric told her that there were no entities outside of those in the windows. Olivia made sure to avoid those like the plague until they went up a staircase to get to the next zone in their plan.
The Terror Hotel was much more majestic than the previous zones, and Olivia even found herself in awe at the beautiful architecture and paintings. She bottled up that excitement for her own self preservation. Avoiding anything that she found interesting, she followed her companions in a straight line throughout the hallways. After much searching, they spotted the painting they were looking for.
Eric was the first to touch it, phasing through it like he was sucked in by a vacuum cleaner. Olivia was afraid of how it'd feel at first, but Jeremy encouraged her to touch it alongside him to give her some confidence. The passage to the Infinite Valley was so quick that she didn't even notice.
As soon as she regained her bearings, she was stunned. The Infinite Valley resembled the countryside of a typical region on Earth. The air was fresh, the clouds were as white as snow, the grass was soft and pleasant to walk on, and everything was familiar and reassuring. It was finally a place that Olivia could fit in normally, as it wasn't abnormal or fantastical, just a regular countryside like the ones she visited in the past.
"Wow! This place looks awesome! I must draw it as much as I can… Time to work!" Eric began frantically sketching out his surroundings and writing notes about what he saw. Jeremy seemed more relaxed than him, as he was merely walking around and occasionally yawning, almost like he felt sleepy.
Olivia didn't know how to feel about that place. On one hand, she liked the familiar feeling, but on the other, it reminded her of home, and it only made her more upset. Despite that, she didn't want to bother her companions about it any further, so she kept it to herself and continued following them silently.
The trio eventually reached some kind of establishment that was unknown to Olivia. There was a large billboard near it that marked it as a "Welcome Center". She didn't know what that meant.
"Alright. Now we have reached the Welcome Center. We're going to be checking in and getting a temporary house to stay in. There are plenty of empty ones we could locate ourselves in, as far as I can see." Eric went ahead and made the other two wait outside for him, and it didn't take long for him to get the keys to a new abandoned property. The house itself wasn't all that ruined. Eric reassured Olivia that he and Jeremy would be cleaning it up and fixing anything broken, so Olivia wasn't concerned about the dusty surfaces.
Her two companions were working on cleaning the insides of the house, and she merely sat down on the grass and looked at the sky. It was exactly like the sky back home—clear and sunny. She wondered if her father and mother were looking at the sky just like she was doing in that moment. Were they looking at it in hopes of seeing a shooting star? It was probably late where they were. She wondered how many stars were in the sky at that moment…
"Mom… Dad… If you're looking at the sky, please know that I'm also doing it. I'm still here…" She whispered, as a few tears dripped from her eyes. The melancholy in her heart was bigger than anything else she could think of. She missed her warm bed and her mother's singing. She missed her stuffed toys and her special place in the garden outside her house. She couldn't bear to think about everything she lost again. It never went away from her mind.
She wasn't sure if she would be able to settle into this new life. She didn't want to have a new life at all, but she didn't have another choice. She had to get used to it, or she would end up dead. Her willingness to stay alive was greater than her sadness. With a heavy heart, she looked away from the sky, now looking at her own legs and shoes in silence. Her boots were covered in dirt and were pretty messy now. She didn't like how dirty they were because they were a gift from her mother, but what could she do about it? She hoped that Jeremy and Eric would help her clean them.
"Olivia! Come over here! We finished cleaning up the kitchen!" Jeremy called out for her from their new house. He was waving slightly with a welcoming smile. Olivia didn't find it too bad to be living with these two men. She knew that she needed to trust them to survive, and she was growing slightly attached to their presence by her side. She was going to follow their advice and try to keep going, even if her heart was in great pain. She had to be strong for her mother and father. Even if it meant growing up without them.
Olivia got up on her feet and walked back towards the house, taking one last glance behind her as she did so. She saw a bush of roses in the distance, a reminder of what brought her there in the first place, but she turned away at their sight, increasing her pace as she left them behind. She wasn't going to think about it, not in that moment.