I woke in the middle of the night, still laying on the floor. I woke in a cold sweat; body drenched but shivering to the point of clattering teeth. I felt like crap. But it was a flue type crap, not death. I took that as a small victory. I had survived the first injection, and I was going to make damn sure I wasn't getting another one.

      Careful not to wake my mother or siblings, I crept to the kitchen. Taking a few breaks on the way to catch my breath, and careful to keep the coughing silent, I finally grasped the red oven mitts. It took a lot of maneuvering, but eventually with the mitts and tongs, I managed to move the Sphere to the safe beneath my bed. Sphere out of sight, I let myself relax. Despite the cold symptoms, I returned to bed feeling accomplished; naively believing that I had bested Mimpi at her twisted games. I really shouldn't have thought it would be so easy.

     I was an idiot.

     A few days without another visit from my foreign friend, and I thought life was back to normal. Cue the entourage of my greatest enemies, pointing, and laughing at me. It was three days after Mimpi's first appearance, that her face found itself back on my night table. How her face was projected when the Sphere was safely tucked away under my bed? I don't know. And I didn't care. I was not dealing with this. Better to run from your problems, than face them, right? I entered my room, saw her face, and turned right back around. I was out the door almost as quickly as I had entered.

      "No stopping it, Clara. Deal with it now or risk your family witness it," she spoke quietly, just loud enough for me to hear through the door.

      I stopped in my tracks. Anger churned deep in the pit of my stomach. My family had gone through enough. I would not let these people come anywhere near the rest of the Molino/Binsfield family.

     I marched back inside, slamming my door shut. Forget being calm. It didn't matter if I angered her, she was going to kill me anyways.

     "Listen," I started in an unfriendly tone. "I don't know who you think you are, but you need to stop. You can't order me around. You can't control my life... You need to get your head out of my house, and bring the rock with you, or I swear I'll call the cops".

     "Can't do that," Mimpi said imperturbably. "And it be to your benefit to keep this to yourself."

     "Why? Are you going to kill me if I don't? Cause it looks like I'm going to die, either way."

      "You're not going to die," she sighed.

       I was again thankful that she wasn't actually in my room. I don't care how old she was. I might have thrown hands.

      "That's right," I agreed. "I'm not going to die. You can't mess with me in jail."

      Mimpi rolled her eyes. "I messing with you from Indonesia, how you think anyone going to stop that?"

      Inhaling sharply and crossing my arms over my chest, before I could argue she was talking again.

      "What your first impression of me?" she asked.

      "What's that got to do with anything?"

      "Just answer the question."

     "Ok," I said. "I thought and still believe you're crazy. You are a nightmare, and clearly not in a healthy state of mind."

     She wasn't even surprised by my answer, she smiled as though she had been expecting it.

     "The Sphere has mind of its own. It never let itself be caught in wrong hands," she said.

     I stared at her blankly, still not seeing the point she was trying to make.

     "What impression you give people if you try tell them about me?"

     It hit me then. I clenched my jaw. They'd think I was the crazy one.

     "And nothing can stop the Sphere until it's job complete," she added, just to worsen things.

      Why did every sentence that came out of her mouth further ruin my life?

     "And, what's its job?" I asked not quite sure I wanted to know the answer.

     "Perfect your physical flaws, so you become perfect warrior that Eudora was."

     I shot her another blank look. There were so many things wrong with what she had just uttered. The mere attempt to keep up with her nonsense was giving me a headache.

      "Well, that's going to take a long time!" I finally complained. I'd have time to die of old age before all my flaws were corrected, that is if the injections didn't kill me first.

      Mimpi nodded. "And, we don't have much time. So, you be getting them almost every day, maybe multiple times a day."

     "Don't have much time until what?" I demanded.

      "Until Kundanskie rises."

      I had told myself I wouldn't ask questions, I wanted no part of this, but if I in fact couldn't best Mimpi, I needed to know what I was getting myself into.

     "Who is Kundanskie? And what is she rising from?"

     "She the enemy. Eudora killed her many years ago, but she swore to rise again and finish her goal of eliminating the weak."

     "What does eliminate the weak even mean?"

     "Kundanskie thinks love makes us vulnerable, makes us weak. She was brutal. Murdered thousands of people."

     "So, her plan was to kill anyone who shows signs of love?" I demanded incredulously. If you're going to invent something to mess with me, at least make it make sense. "What would be the point? She'd just kill everyone to eventually be left alone."

     "She not think that far. If you don't stop her, it will be disastrous."

      Me? Stop some blood thirsty murderer? No thanks. And what did she need to be stopped for if she was already dead? Eudora killed her... Rise? "Are you trying to say that this woman is going to rise from the dead?"

     Mimpi nodded, showing no signs of the absurdity behind her tales.

     "You're telling me that this rock is injecting me with God knows what so that I can become a warrior to kill a reincarnated murderer?" I deadpanned.

     "Yes."

     "No thank you." I still thought that she was full of it. But I also wouldn't have believed her if she had told me a rock that glowed and sought to stab me would show up in my room. So, in the odd chance, that she wasn't totally off her rocker, I wasn't going to make my refusal quite apparent.

      "Too late. Lot of work needed. No time to waste."

     Highly insulted by her belief that much of me needed fixing, just to deepen my annoyance, there was a sudden chain rattling sound beneath my bed. I shut my eyes and released a long moan. Cautiously I bent to sneak a peek under the bed. Just as I pulled back the covers, the chains flew off the safe, and the lid soared opened. I was not getting another injection. Swiftly dropping the covers, I ran to the other side of my room. Relying on instincts, I jumped out the window. Clearly my instincts weren't very reliable. My room was on the first floor, so I hadn't expected it to hurt much.

     "Stupid," I heard Mimpi mutter, as my face met my forgotten rose bush.

     I didn't even have time to brush the thorns off my face. I noticed the sharp object on my windowsill and bolted.

     I ran around my yard, in my stripped white and purple pyjama's, diving every now and then to dodge the injection. I ran till I was out of breath, which really wasn't long. I was slowing down, but the piece's speed was increasing. Not only was I exhausted, but I was getting dizzy again. The Sphere was trying to trick me, zig zagging in different directions, confusing my mind into overdrive. It finally shot towards me, and in my attempt to dodge it, I jumped backwards crashing into our tin shed. That was going to leave a mark. I fell onto my back, only realizing when it was too late that the crystal chunk had attached itself to my leg.

     I felt the pain immediately. I had to look down at my legs, to make sure they weren't on fire. Every single nerve in my limbs were ablaze. I moaned into to the grass. Rolling onto my stomach, I kicked and rubbed my legs against the ground, doing anything in attempt to lessen the pain. Surely, I looked like an idiot. Good thing everyone was asleep.

     What had my life become? It was nine o'clock on a Wednesday night, and here I was, laying on the cold, wet and muddy grass. This was pathetic. I had more dignity than this; I wouldn't lay here helpless all night. Slowly, I forced myself to a stand, only to fall right back down. My legs weren't cooperating, it was like they had a mind of their own. I was not waiting nor shouting for help. I didn't need rescuing; I'd be my own damn hero.

     Who needed to walk when you could crawl? Elbows digging into the mud, I dragged myself across the yard. At the speed I was going, it would take me an hour to reach my room. But I would make it there eventually, nonetheless.