INT. - CAR - DAY

"Honey, are you sure we should turn there...?

- Of course I'm sure! Annie is never wrong.

- Ah you think so? It was not the case, the time when...

- Will you stop questioning everything I say? Shut up for God's sake! Keep driving!"

The trip did not really happen as expected. With Karen, it was not even surprising. She always was the hotheaded, easily riled one. If Karl stayed with her anyway, it was only for the children. Life with Karen was hard enough, no way to let go of the kids! Behind his hypocritical smiles, Karl Davidson only dreamed of the day Nils and Neyla would have reached their majority and could thus stand on their own. Maybe they will be more fortunate and meet someone trusty...

https://youtu.be/xYTWPHHA_BA

 Sighing, the blonde took out her mobile phone from her pocket.

"It's Nils, he just arrived, he wishes us a good weekend."

Nils, Neyla's twin brother, had insisted on going to his best friend's house to celebrate his birthday. His sister had (as often) no word to say. "The Loomis' have two daughters, it will make new friends!" What the forty-year-old woman had omitted to say was the age of the girls: nine and eleven.

"Friends", Neyla already had enough. Between Dumbass-Zoey and her gang of degenerate "gals", it was right enough to have to endure them at university. Well, anyway, Neyla basically never had a choice ...

To avoid hearing the umpteenth quarrel of her parents, the girl adjusted her earphones, putting the volume to the maximum, escaping reality.

https://youtu.be/KlDHbX7aUIM

She closed her eyes, trying to focus on the lyrics. She didn't succeed. She thought back to different episodes of her bland and monotonous life. And it was only there, in this old-fashioned car, that she understood: in more than twenty years, she had never really lived. All her emotions were nothing but smoke and mirrors. As far as her memory could go back, impossible to find any trace of joy, passion, life.

It was as if she were trapped in her own body. As if she looked at the world without even being part of it. As if a part of herself was dead.

She let out a slight sigh of despair before falling asleep to the sound of the music. Besides, something was missing. Was not she supposed to shed a tear? The lyrics, the melody... everything was so sad. Yet nothing seemed to touch her. It wasn't the first time she had thought about it. Whatever the circumstances, she almost never cry. No sadness anyway. She would shed tears of rage, but that was all. On the contrary and in a rather ironic way, Neyla was able to sob on cue. Gift, which, for a almost twenty-one years old girl, was of questionable utility.

The truth was, Neyla had no reason to feel sad.

Sadness was an unknown feeling for her.

Just like happiness.

And all the rest.

In fact, Neyla did not feel anything.