Stella…

The whispered voice was both unfamiliar and familiar. Stella pulled the blanket over her head, as if she hadn’t heard anything.

Tap! Tap tap!

The sound tapping at the window was very faint.

On windy days like this, it was the kind of noise one might think was just leaves brushing against the glass. However, Stella consciously turned her body away from the sound.

Tap tap! Tap!

The noise persisted.

The presence standing outside the curtained window repeatedly called Stella’s name, hoping she would notice.

With round, black eyes, it quietly watched Stella hidden beneath the blanket.

Even without looking, Stella could sense it. The presence seemed to multiply, seemingly protesting her lack of attention, increasing in number as time passed.

Stella.

Stella.

Stella…

The voice shifted from one to two, then to dozens, echoing in her ears.

Go away.

Her grip on the blanket tightened. But Stella’s voice was swallowed back down, unable to escape her throat.

On her tenth birthday, which was painfully lonely with no one to celebrate with, the sudden voice completely changed Stella’s life.

“Who are you?”

“Who are you?”

“Why are you copying me?”

“Why are you… copying me?”

The presence that had sneakily appeared outside the window at dusk mimicked Stella’s words, grinning like a child learning a foreign language.

It was too small to be human, yet too human-like to be an animal. Though its mouth was unusually large, its delight in mimicking her words made it seem almost cute.

With a height of barely a handspan, short limbs, a round face, and eyes as black as berries, they never revealed their names. They simply mimicked Stella or listened quietly.

Even though they couldn’t engage in a proper conversation, Stella felt incredibly happy just to have someone to make eye contact with and smile at her. She finally had friends.

“Mother, look at this! I made friends!”

Stella cradled one of them like a treasure in her hands and ran to her mother’s room.

As she opened the door, a foul smell of perfume, alcohol, and vomit assaulted her senses. The smile quickly vanished from Stella’s face.

In its place, worry, anger, exhaustion, sadness, and despair tangled messily, much like the acrid smell in the room, setting her mouth in a firm line.

Stella hid her rising sorrow and fear beneath an awkward smile and slowly walked over to the bed.

The bed was a mess, as if a battle had taken place.

Her mother lay sprawled diagonally across the large bed, her beautiful blonde hair cascading over the edge like a waterfall. Her hand, clutching a bottle, hung limply, and the spilled alcohol soaked the white sheets and silk pajamas.

Leftover fruit, vomit under the table, broken glass, and her mother, asleep in a drunken stupor.

She slept peacefully, as if she had nothing to do with the chaos surrounding her.

“Mother.”

“Mmm…”

Stella…

When Stella cautiously called out, the figure lying prone on the bed twisted like a snake. She glanced around for others, but the spacious room contained only her and her sleeping mother.

Initially planning to call her mother again to wake her, Stella changed her mind, turned around, sighed, and walked back to the bed. The closer she got, the stronger the scent of alcohol and perfume became. Yet, Stella didn’t grimace even once.

Despite the many days when her mother, drunk, would get angry, cry, or hit her, on the days she wasn’t, she would brush Stella’s hair, make eye contact and smile, and sometimes even hug her.

Stella placed her small friend on the table, then carefully removed the bottle from her mother’s hand. She fetched a dry towel and pressed it firmly onto the soaked blanket. The small friend sat on the table, silently observing Stella’s actions.

“Mmm…”

When Stella put her finger to her lips to shush the friend mimicking her mother’s groan, it did the same, putting its short finger to its lips and grinning with its wide mouth.

At that moment, her mother’s voice, cracked and harsh, came from behind.

“What are you doing here?”

Startled, Stella turned her head towards the bed.

Even with her face contorted in pain from a headache, her mother was as beautiful as a painting. As if waiting for this moment, Stella proudly held up her small friend, sitting on the table, with both hands before her mother.

“What is it?” her mother asked, looking down at Stella’s hands with a frown.

“I made a new friend. I asked for its name, but it didn’t tell me, so I’m thinking of giving it one.”

Stella eagerly awaited her mother’s reaction. Her mother always scolded her for being alone, so she thought she would be praised for making a friend. She hoped her mother would like this friend as much as she did. But…

“So you’re ignoring me too.”

Her mother’s response was nothing like what Stella had hoped for.

As Stella, flustered, struggled to find words, her mother suddenly stood up from the bed. Still unsteady from the alcohol, she stumbled, brushing her disheveled hair back before roughly pushing Stella’s shoulder.

“Aah!”

Caught off guard, Stella fell to the floor with a thud. Even then, she cradled her small friend to her chest to protect it. Knowing her mother would get angrier if she didn’t get up quickly, Stella scrambled to her feet immediately.

As her mother’s hazel eyes, so much like Stella’s own, bore down on her, Stella instinctively took a step back.

“Say it again. What did you say you have?”

Her mother’s breath, still reeking of alcohol, stung Stella’s nose.

“A… friend…”

Her mother’s gaze fell on the small friend Stella held to her chest. Stella once again held out her small friend to her mother.

“This is it, but I don’t know its name.”

Her voice, squeezed out with difficulty, trembled with tension. Her mother, who had been staring at Stella’s hands, chuckled and then mercilessly slapped her cheek.

Slap!

The brutal slap swung Stella’s small head to the side.

As her vision, which had gone dark, slowly brightened, she saw her mother’s face, filled with anger.

“There’s nothing there. Just because I’m drunk doesn’t mean you can ignore me. How do you think I’ve raised you? What kind of life do you think I’m living because of you?”

Her mother’s voice grew louder and more strained with each word, escalating in anger.

“It’s not true. It’s really here. Look!”

Though her cheek instantly burned red hot, Stella didn’t even feel the pain. It hurt more that her mother misunderstood her.

It’s not true, I’m not ignoring you. There’s really a friend here.

“It’s really here…”

But the more Stella spoke, the angrier her mother became, eventually even starting to hit the maids who rushed in belatedly.

“Can’t you see?”

No one who entered the room could see the being on Stella’s palm. As Stella’s gaze slowly shifted from her mother and the maids to her small friend, she asked again.

“Can’t you see?”

The small friend mimicked Stella’s words, stretching its lips wide. Its eyes, round like buttons, shone as black as onyx.

“Gasp!”

Startled awake, Stella found herself drenched in sweat. She pulled the blanket up to her neck because of the cold sweat, but the chill wouldn’t go away, and her body trembled.

Perhaps because of the dream she hadn’t had in a long time, it felt as if a cold wind was blowing right through her bones.

It was a dream she always had around this time of year. After realizing that no one else could see the small beings, Stella started pretending she couldn’t see them either.

Seeing something no one else could wasn’t normal, even to young Stella’s mind. Moreover, if she was caught talking to them, her mother, who considered her the only daughter, would cry as if the world had ended, convinced she had gone mad.

Though her mother was more often unpleasant than kind, Stella hated seeing her cry because of her.

Even when they jumped around in front of her or called her name, ‘Stella, Stella,’ she pretended not to hear or see them. As months passed, the small beings gradually disappeared from Stella’s view.

But when the season when she first met them returned, Stella would occasionally dream of that day.

Not fully awake, she still felt as if she could hear her name being called from somewhere.

A month ago, after her mother, who had been wasting away with a bottle in hand, passed away, Stella moved into the castle by herself. Though a week had passed since she moved, the room still felt unfamiliar, as if it belonged to someone else, even the air felt strange.

Knock knock!

Stella, who had been staring blankly out the window, was as startled by the sudden knock as she was when waking from a dream, and quickly turned her head.