I'm in a dark room. The light shuts on not to reveal David, or a stone room. It's a white room, with a table in front of me. There's a pencil and a piece of paper on it, both white as snow. 'Things that never left me' is the title. I take the pencil and begin writing. I first write down David. Then I suddenly start hearing his voice. Talking to me. "This is only the beginning." I still wrote down more things. Those voices appeared. The voices of the people who never left me alone. The voices of the police. The voice of the demon in Sophie's body. My dad's voice.............. The last thing I write down, despite all of these different voices, is 'Cleverbot'. All of the previous ones disappear, replaced by a new one. "Hello, Alice. Did you enjoy your day?" I recognize the voice. I recognize it.........from........from the guy in the theater! So it was the winner! "Well, no matter. Prepare yourself. Prepare.......prepare.........prepare....." I'm ready to wake up. Any moment now.......But I don't wake up. The voice keeps repeating that. Just repeating the word 'prepare'. Prepare.........prepare........prepare................The other voices join in, creating an unusual, weird-sounding voice. It doesn't leave. It doesn't. I try shaking it out of myself, but it doesn't work. I glance at a window in the room, that just appeared. My exit! I brace myself, then jump out, through it. I fall......falling........falling...........while I fall, I think of only one thing. Freedom....................

I woke up in the morning groggily, not remembering my nightmare. I didn't remember falling asleep the night before, but I know that I'd fallen asleep very late. It was all of these disturbing thoughts I had. The TV was on, so I was guessing that my mom was already awake. I confirmed this when I came into the living room. My mom had a cup of coffee in her hand and she was watching........Christmas movies again. I mean, this is getting out of hand. But then again, it's Christmas in, what, two days? I haven't had a perfect christmas since......twelve years ago. Me and my mom had celebrated nicely, though. Eleven years ago, when I didn't have dad, Tara, we celebrated alone. Well, not really celebrated. I was such a mess back then. All I did was sit in my room. Just sit. I sometimes read, but I mostly just sat there. The only times I saw my mom was when I ate and when she woke me up. I went to Elementary at the time. Being so quiet didn't help me. I got picked on a lot, even when I was seven. It didn't help me a lot, which explains why I am sometimes socially awkward. Before my dad.....died..........I had some friends, but when he died, my friends were constantly telling me that 'it'll all be alright'. Bitch, is it alright today? If they could see me now, would they say everything's alright?

Yeah. Like hell they would. "Alice, are you just going to stand there forever?" My mom asked me. I realized I'd been standing there awkwardly the whole time.

"Oh, sorry." I murmured as I took a piece of bread from the kitchen. I wasn't that hungry, I just don't skip breakfast. "Good Morning, mom." I said to her, sitting next to her to watch Rudolph with her.

"Good Morning! How did you sleep?"

"Pretty well." I answered, automatically. It's not true at all. I really slept only a bit and my school sleep schedule affects my brain way more than it should. The nightmare was slowly coming to me, and I held my head. Remembering that devious voice......prepare....prepare.....it's unnerving. I tried to ignore it by watching with my mom. I couldn't, though. The voice of that....winner.....was following me. It wasn't the devious one from before. It was the winner's voice. He's associated with David. I know it. I know it.........and I could find out someday.