Snakes in my hair? It’s more likely than you think. - Chapter 17：Your Sister Is Alive

She actually follows its advice.

She does.

“Not really.”

“How? My whole family is in danger. My sister’s… gone. And me, I’m-I’m stuck here. I’m just sitting here waiting to be killed. How can I believe you? And to think that for a second I thought I could save her, when I won’t even be able to save myself.”

“Is that supposed to sound reassuring?”

She doesn’t say anything in response. Of course she is! But she doesn’t want to say it out loud. She doesn’t want to think of the possibility of them being dead.

Juno freezes.

Your sister is alive. No one has said it. Not even her moms. Everyone’s been saying we’ll find her. But, will we find her alive? Or dead?

Only this snake has said that she is still alive.

She starts trembling once again. Hearing all of that was not as reassuring as the snake thought it would have sounded.

Juno is just an ordinary girl.

She’s the one who’s the most scared.

She’s the one with everything at stake.

“Do-do you really believe w-we have a chance of saving her and ourselves?”

“And when will that be?”

“Eve…”

Eve did give her this hair tie.

But is a magical hair tie enough to trust someone?

Doubts in her heart and unrest in the mind. It’s all irrelevant because Juno is desperate.

For now she will hope that Eve does help.

“Since we’re ugh, stuck together, what should I call you?”

“Yes?”

“C-could it be you don’t remember?”

It makes a loud hiss that makes her shiver,

Juno didn’t think it could be so violent.

Almost hesitating she asks, “Well, um why don’t I call you something else until you remember?”

She thinks for a moment before coming up with, “Noodles.”

“It sounded like you were trying to say noodles.”

“Also, for some reason I’m craving them.”

“I am and it’s only temporary, right?”

She lies back down and sighs deeply.

“What can I do now?”

Getting better huh? Juno doesn’t want to go back to sleep nor does she want to eat more of this crappy hospital food.

“Can I ask why you showed me those broken memories? Or was it unintentional?”

“It did feel like there were parts missing.”

//Was that why it felt like I was there but in the wrong body?//

“Does this mean th-that this thing is our enemy?”

Juno let’s all of that sink in.

Juno has no idea when she’s going to show up but she vaguely recalls her saying tomorrow. All they can really do is wait. She turns on the television but there’s nothing interesting on, she wishes she still had her phone.

She finally settles on a show to watch but doesn’t really pay much attention, she’s too focused on thinking about everything that has gone wrong in her life. She’s startled out of her thoughts when she hears a light knock.

“Hello? May I come inside?”