I press my lips against Mako’s as if it was the most natural thing to do. Something inside of me was telling me that this was the only way to save her. As soon as our lips touch I feel my entire body being sucked into a void. I didn’t know what was happening but as soon as I open my eyes, my entire surrounding was full of white.

But something immediately catches my eyes, floating a few feet away from me are three bodies. Walking closer I can see that all three of them resemble Mako with slight differences. The first one has spider-like threads surrounding her body, the second one has a silver light floating around her, and chains wrapped around the third Mako. I don’t understand what is happening but the three of them are unconscious and as pale as snow.

“Hmmm, so you’re Jude.”

A voice suddenly appears behind me and I turn to see a little girl floating in the air. I shouldn’t know who she was but she looked familiar.

“Mako? W-where am I?”

“Hi, Jude. I wasn’t expecting to come back like this but it seems like my daughters are in trouble.”

I don’t understand what she means by daughters but the little Mako floats towards me and begins inspecting my entire body. Her gaze was inspecting every inch of my body and it feels like everything is visible to her.

“I see, my daughters chose a good man.”

“What’s going on? I need to save Mako, she’s dying right now!”

“Hehe, you’re a really nice boy. Even I would have fallen for you during my time alive.”

The situation was still confusing to me but I remember the urgent matter that needed to be solved. Mako was at death’s door and I need to save her before it was too late. Sensing my urgency, the little Mako smiles before grabbing my hand as we float towards the other three Mako.

“I was only going to be able to save one of them but I’m glad that you came Jude. With this power of yours, you’ll be able to save all three of them.”

“What power?”

“I’m obviously talking about the power of love, Jude!”

Her words didn’t make sense to me, how could the power of love save Mako? I thought she was joking around but her eyes were serious.

“You might not understand it, but emotions are a powerful tool, Jude. Especially the emotion called love, and I can tell yours is especially strong. This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone go through ascension because of love.”

“So how can I save her?”

“You already know what to do, Jude. You’ve already done it once.”

She doesn’t say what I have to do but my body already knows how to save them. Contrary to little Mako’s looks, her words contained the wisdom of someone who has lived a long life. Her identity was still a mystery but her gaze towards Mako was one filled with affection. I can trust her.

Without hesitation, I approach the Mako covered in spider threads and her condition was as bad as I thought. Her skin was ice cold and her lips were blue. It was now or never, I gently kiss her cold lips and color returns to her face. I was filled with relief, and that was when images begin to rush into my mind. It didn’t long for me to realize that they are Mako’s memories.

“You dumb bitch, how can you get an A- in math!? You’re doing this just to spite me, aren’t you? You and your goddamn whore of a mother are exactly the same, you don’t treat me with respect.”

“I-I’m sorry, Father. I’ll do better!”

“You’ll never learn if I don’t teach you a lesson!”

“STOP IT!!!”

I reach out my hands but I couldn’t do anything. I could only watch as Mako’s father took off his belt and whipped her back. The little Mako continues to cry as she begs her father to stop but he doesn’t listen. In fact, there was a smile on his face whenever she cried out, he was a twisted person who enjoyed her pain.

“Stop it, please. Don’t hurt her anymore.”

Rage was coursing through my veins that I couldn’t help her. Tears were flowing out of my eyes but no matter how much I begged, Mako continued to get beaten until her back was bleeding. That was when small arms wrap around my neck from behind trying to comfort me.

“Mako’s father was a terrible person who abused Mako almost every day. No matter the reason he would come up with some reason to control her just like a doll. He’s the worst father anyone could ever have and this continued for 8 years.”

“H-how can someone be so cruel to their own children?”

“I don’t know, Jude. But promise me one thing, no matter what you see please continue to love Mako.”

There was concern in her voice but there was no hesitation in my answer. My feelings toward Mako have always been complicated, but I know what it is now. No matter what she has gone through, I will always love Mako.

“I will.”

We return to the white room and I can see that life was already returning to the Mako covered in spider threads. I look towards the Mako covered by the silver light and I brace myself as I kiss her lips. Once again memories begin to flood my mind.

“Stop fucking crying! Those bastards keep berating me at work and mow I have to come home to some fucking crying kid.”

Mako tries to stop her tears but she was clearly in pain after she had been abused by her father. Angry at her sobs, her father forcefully yanked her arm before dragging her towards the basement. Fear was apparent on her face as she promises her father she would be a better daughter and begs him not to take her down there.

A door opens and Mako was thrown into a pitch-black room. The remaining light from the outside disappeared as the door was slammed shut. Mako cries as she pounds at the door but no matter what she did, her father never opened it. This went on for a long time and at some point, Mako just laid down on the ground and cried herself to sleep. Her hands were bruised and she was still obviously hurting from her father’s abuse, but there was still hope in her that her father would open the door.

I didn’t know how I could feel it, but Mako still believed that her father would open the door and it would be the kind father that she once knew. Reality was cruel and hours passed, even days without any sign of her father. No food or water was brought to her and when she had to use the bathroom, she did it in the corner. She had become a prisoner in her own home.

“It wasn’t uncommon for Mako to be thrown into this room for 3-4 days after being abused. With nothing to do all she could do was play with her imagination. Imagining that someone would save her, maybe an alien would crash into her house and abduct her to a land far away, or maybe she’ll gain superpowers and beat her father up. Her love for stories and fantasy originated from her time in this pitch-black room with nothing to do.”

I couldn’t say anything. The things Mako has experienced were terrible and there was more that she had suffered through. We were back in the white room and the Mako covered by a silver light was looking much healthier.

“If only I had arrived sooner, that thought always goes through my mind whenever I was with them. Maybe I could have prevented all the suffering they had to go through.”

Her voice was filled with sorrow as she thought about Mako’s past. I prepare my heart as I walk over to the Mako covered by chains and give her a kiss. My heart twisted at the memories that flowed into my mind.

“W-what are you doing, Father!?”

“Shut up, bitch! You went and cheat on me, I’ll show you whose dick is better. How is it Chi, just like our honeymoon, I’ll make you climax more times than you can count.”

Mako was lying on her bed as her father was trying to assault her. He was completely nude with a beer in one hand and the other reaching for Mako’s pants. This Mako was a little older than the other memories but she was still too weak to resist her father’s strength. His body was pressed up against her and Mako’s emotions begin to flow into me, fear, hopelessness, and weakness.

“Stop it, Father! Stop!”

He didn’t hesitate to slap her but Mako didn’t submit to his abuse like all the other memories, she fought back. She grabbed him by the balls and twisted with all of her strength before pushing him off. Her home was no longer safe so she ran out onto the street. She didn’t know where she was running to but she just ran. Her body was shivering at the thought of what could have happened to her. There was always a tiny hope in her that her father would one day return to the kind father she once knew but that hope was gone now. She was willing to go through the abuse but this was too much for her.

She broke down on the sidewalk and began wailing. It wasn’t long before the police saw her and brought her into questioning. She told them everything, the abuse and even the fact that her father tried to rape her. Mako’s father was arrested but that didn’t make her feel any better. She had been living as his puppet for so long that she didn’t know what to do know. All she could feel was emptiness even when she was sent off to live with relatives.

“It was a year later that my soul joined with Mako. Everything you saw was something I also saw the moment I entered her body. By that point, she was already an empty husk who blocked off all emotions. I felt pity for this little girl who had suffered so much and never had the chance to flourish so that is why I created this White Room for them. This was a space where they could do whatever they wanted without anyone controlling their actions, it was my way of giving them a taste of freedom. By the time I woke them up, there were three of them and I didn’t know why. But that didn’t matter to me, I decided to spend the remainder of my life raising these three girls.”

She walked by each one of them and caressed each of their heads like a loving mother.

“As I spent more time with them, I realized that Mei 2 and Mei 3 had blocked out many bad memories of their father. Only Mei 1 knows their past, but even then, they have a misunderstanding about me. They think I’m the real Mako Mei, but all three of them are the real Mako Mei.”