Now I'm waiting outside my house. The door is locked, and there's no one to let me in. I picture my mother—well, my sister—arriving and demanding to know why I ran away from school...
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I think about it and smile. I can't even imagine her face.
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But seriously, I didn't care whether I was inside or outside. What I really wanted was to get my body back—and my niece.
How was it possible that I was inside Daniela's body?
The crash.
The crash had to have everything to do with it.
I wait at the door, not losing my patience, but for some reason, the empty street starts to... unsettle me.
The adults passing by look at me, and suddenly, I start to feel vulnerable.
The afternoon sky darkens, and soon it begins to rain. I stay at the entrance, drenched.
Hours later, my mother arrives.
With a sharp brake in front of the house, she parks and rushes out, crying, to wrap me in her arms.
"Dani, why do you do this to me? I've been looking for you everywhere for hours! Are you okay?"
I let myself cry again, this time in the embrace of my mother-sister.
We go inside, and I take a bath in the tub.
"Hurry up and come downstairs for dinner. You must be starving, sweetie."
"Yeah, Mommy."
I sink into the bathwater until absolute silence surrounds me, only broken by the tiny bubbles of air and soap popping on the surface.
Then, fear creeps in.
Again, I feel watched.
Accompanied.
A gnawing sense of anguish takes hold of me, and I decide to drain the tub, dry myself off, and get out of there. As I slide open the acrylic bathtub door, I notice a series of hearts drawn in the steam, each with a letter D in the center. I smile, thinking of my little niece making them while she bathed, leaving hidden messages for the future. But my nostalgia—my sweet memory of her—is shattered by sheer terror when, right before my eyes, letters begin forming on the bathroom mirror, one by one:
D
A
N
I
E
L
A
A scream of pure fear escapes my throat as my sister bursts into the bathroom, flinging the door open and wrapping me in her arms.
"Are you okay, honey?"
But I—Daniela—couldn't answer. I just stared at the mirror, trembling uncontrollably.