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Paige's eyes fluttered open from a very unsatisfying sleep. She felt groggy, distant, and not ready for this shit. That was the usual for her just as much as having trouble finding a reason to get off her bedroll was. She thought “Does it even matter if I get off my bed? It's cozy here and no one needs-”, Almost as if to answer her question with a “because someone else is making you”, her tent flap fluttered open.Who else would poke her head inside than Willow. Her pure black hair was pulled back into pigtails, her tanned skin showed months of being outside. She wore a plain pinkish-red shirt. Her black skirt fluttered around her thighs as she stepped in just like a gentle fire. The fire in her light brown eyes didn't match though. The look in them burned with the intensity of red hot metal. Something told Paige even if she felt like she was dying she wasn't getting out of anything today."What are you doing in bed?". Willow’s tone bore a hole in Paige's soul.The suffocating fog in Paige's mind choked out most of her replies like it usually did; Something that everyone around her seemed to not understand. Hell, even she wasn't sure if she completely understood it. That is why instead of conveying what she wanted all she did was shrug. This served to make Willow more angry, her glare quickly went from burning to deadly."Get up!" She barked, then stormed from the tent.With a loud groan of pain Paige sat up. If she compared herself to Willow's intimidating presence Paige would say that she'd be plain. She had light blue doe eyes, rose blonde hair that barely touched her shoulders, her skin was so pale she was sure the sun could reflect off it like a mirror. Her clothing was usually some type of band shirt covered up by her greaser jacket, plain blue denim jeans, and a chain dog collar.She got up with all the energy of a sloth on Ambien. She went to her tent flap and, as if she needed anymore reason to not want to do things, there was fighting outside of her tent. Paige shook her head, don't they know this isn't good for her mind? She sighed and gave herself one last sort of pep talk. ‘Come on Paige... Let's get going so I don't get chewed out again’.Finally, out she went. It was a bumpy road to be able to get to that point but it was done. Now here was the real hard part, surviving the day. At least that's all it felt like she was doing in both this realm and the next. Living just to survive some more. It made going through the life seem pointless on good days and flat out just not worth it on bad ones.This realm with its vast wilderness, savannahs, rockland, deserts, caves, and swamps felt empty of meaningful value to Paige. The noise here, however, was loud and full. To the untrained eye this strange place might just seem like sparsely populated woods, but everyone who was forced to live there knew better. Those bright and seemingly lonely woods concealed dark secrets. Black magic seeped into every aspect of Maxwell's realm. Whispers would drift through the winds at times with their indiscernible messages, and even the trees themselves showed this magic by baring twisted faces. It was enough to make one go crazy. There was no privacy either and it wasn't because of the people. It was because of the shadows who watched with hungry maws. It wasn't really clear what they hungered for but it felt sinister whatever it was.With all this going on you would probably think that Paige would clearly rather be back on Earth. This wasn't true, in fact she was no more happy there as she was here. It was just different hardships. The place she found herself in made her go through starvation, being attacked by other-worldly beasts, and exhaustion from being on her feet all day. Still, at least those physical ailments would go away while nothing could make the mental ones that Earth gave her go away. Even if she hadn't been hurt by circumstance, Paige felt like she was destined to be miserable anyway.At a very young age, she would have to say about six, Paige knew there was something wrong with her head. Unlike all the other children her age who played, made friends, and worried about next to nothing, she mostly opted to sit alone. What little friends she did have she would drag down with her either with a pessimistic comment or just from her aura of depression. This pattern carried out through her whole life, only intensifying and with new things being added to the list. What once was just a gloomy mood now had the added burden of impaired thoughts, broken sleep patterns, dropping all of the things that she once loved, and half the time not even wanting to live.Eventually she found herself stuck because of her lack of functionality. Stuck with her mom living amongst the thugs. No job, no real happy place, no seeable future, no hope.On one particularly bad day she was walking underneath an overpass needing to cry. She thought she could hold it in until she got home but without any warning they just slipped out. They streamed down her cheeks like rain fall on a window and her legs wouldn't allow her to stand anymore after that. She sat down on the cold cement slope that formed the highway above her.Seemed like she forgot what side of town she lived in. A place where a special kind of... “candy” seller would wander in search of scared rabbits to prey upon. This was the situation Paige was about to find herself in. She was approached by a scruffy man she barely remembers the face of. Not that it mattered what this nameless stranger specifically looked like, what was important was the fate he would coax her to."Hey pretty lady. What's got you down?" He asked.Paige didn't quite look at him, an uncomfortable smile crossed her features, and she answered, " I don't want to talk about it,"Mr. Shadey, as Paige referred to him, smirked in a way that should've showed her his clear lack of care for what could've happened to her. With her being a naive young adult she mistook it for an empathetic smile. She smiled back."I have something that could make you stop crying.", He told her.She was a little curious. What could he possibly have to help? Rationality tried to pull at her thoughts to make her do the smart thing and walk away. Paige's feelings got in the way though and unfortunately she felt like she was at the point where she was willing to do anything just to feel okay. That made her let go of that small branch of caution for a second."Oh? And what might that be?", She asked.The man said nothing but he produced a bag of “sugar”. Paige eyed that white powder with a skeptical look. A long time ago she had promised herself that she wouldn't go chasing white rabbits for relief.Mr. Shadey interrupted her own thoughts to say, "I will allow the first time you touch the sky to be free..."It took another moment of hesitation before she could grab the bag from him. This sandwich bag was the first one ever in her life that she gave a funny look. Doubtfully she opened the ziplock to examine the deceptively sweet substance."How much should I take? Is it going to kill me?"Shadey gave her a highly dismissive shrug. Shocking considering the probability and serious nature of the question. This made her think more about what she was doing. It did smell awfully a lot like gasoline. She didn't trust that something that smelt that way didn't even have a slight chance of killing her. Could she hold her life to the low standard this man seemed to...?Paige forgot about her life and her promise. She pressed one of her nostrils down and lowered her head to the bag. She ate a fair amount of the dangerous sugar with her nose and let her brain digest it. What happened next was lost to the ages, Paige didn't remember. It must've not been too much because when she sobered up she was still under the overpass. Shadey was even there, but he had moved a few meters away. Soon enough he noticed her focus on him and smiled."Hey look who came back to Earth!? Did you have fun in space?" He beamed.Paige nodded.That devious smile he wore since the beginning didn't leave his face, "Heh, I'm glad! However I can't allow you to have anymore samples... If you were willing to buy though..."Her facial expressions told of what little consideration she took as Paige got her wallet out. This was the final mistake she made that put a nail in her coffin. It fooled her into thinking the opposite for a while because it seemed to cushion her when she fell. Soon enough though she stopped feeling that high and it was just about addiction. She kept using because if she didn't then the withdrawal made her feel worse than she did before.The last bit of security in her life she called her place and friends came tumbling after as well. Her friends had all gradually dispersed when they learned of her “sugar” problem. It was painful to watch them all basically tell her “get clean or I'm gone”. It was like a big “fuck you” after all these years of her faithful companionship. It made her not want to make another friend in her life. The way she saw it, how can she ever trust anyone else? It seems that others would willingly drop her when she needed their support.As for what happened to her place; on another uneventful day when she was coming back from basically doing nothing, she found all her stuff left at the door. The moment she saw it she had a miniature heart attack. Her mom had been telling her for a long time at that point that she was going to kick her out. Was she finally doing it!? Paige tried the door, it was locked. Frantically she then knocked, it was a while before the screech of her mother came through the door."I'm tired of taking care of you Paige Dianne Rose.... You are a 23 year old woman... Find someone else to drain resources from!"She swallowed the toxins that she could taste in her throat. This could not be happening, as much as Paige and her mother were constantly at each other’s throats, she never could picture her just saying, “bye daughter... have fun on the streets with the creepy people!”. Her chest tightened up as she picked up her things and walked away from what was once her only home.A few months after that incident, she was underneath her blanket laying near a dirt path at a park when she thought, “Why am I still doing this?”. She thought over her whole life at that point and all that she could remember were the bad things that happened one after another with no break between. Whether that was a rational thing for her to dwell on in anyone else's opinion held little importance in her mind. They didn't have to be her so what did they know about how much it hurt? That was why she was going to carry out something that may be a huge mistake. Even if it was though she didn't care. She was tired of losing, tired of suffering, tired of living.The next few months were of careful planning. She scrounged together some money for the things she needed. This consisted of a shotgun, a way to get to the next state over, and a motel room to rent. Then it came the day when she would finally put her plan into action. She went to the two family members that she still had contact with which were her dad and brother. She gave them both final goodbye messages making sure to disguise them as casual conversation and then skipped town.When she had arrived at the motel she had picked out, she checked into a room under a fake name and made sure to park directly outside the room she was given. The next few hours consisted of heavy smoking and rereading the note she had written. Eventually she just gave up on fixing it, she wasn't going to be happy no matter what it said and she went out to her car.The car door opened with blinking lights and a click as she approached it. She pulled open the back door to grab hold of her final solution. It gleamed menacingly on the floor in the darkness of her back seat. Even though it should've seemed threatening to her, Paige would hug it in the moment that she pulled it of her car. There was an itching in her soul to hurry up and just be done with everything. She slammed her door shut but before she took a single step back toward her room, she saw something unexpected. A tall man who wore a snappy shouldered suit, with two emotionless, dark eyes, his black hair in a suave cut. He loomed over her. A scream almost slipped from her lips but she caught it before it happened."Say pal. Where you going with that gun in your hand?" He asked his gaze never unfocusing from her even when she looked away.“Should I tell him?”, Paige wondered to herself, “I mean... It doesn't matter anyway does it?”"I'm going to... Hurt myself with it," She flat out told him.He tsked, "That would be such a waste. Why you have so much potential dear girl,""Potential to what? Fail more?" She shot back."Oh come one, don't be like that. You can do a lot of amazing things! If you check out now you will never do them though,""Who are you and why do you care?" She was impatient now, she wanted this guy out of her face."I, am Maxwell. And I care because it would be terrible to lose a young woman to a bullet from her own gun. Tell you what though I can help. I have a way for you to stop feeling all that you're feeling now,"Paige snorted out a laugh, "I fell for that routine once! I'm not doing it again,""Well, all I'm asking is that you go somewhere. It couldn't hurt could it? I mean you are ending it after all what would be another hour to go and check out what I'm offering?"That was a good point, what harm could tacking on an hour do?"Just, where do you want me to go?" She asked.Maxwell talked with her long enough to give her coordinates and then he had left her sight. She tossed her gun back in her car and climbed in the front seat.The coordinates led her to the edge of a wooded area. Looking in she could see a shack that she presumed “Maxwell” wanted her to go to. It looked like something directly out of a horror movie she would be murdered in. She was beyond caring about that though, maybe at least then it wouldn't be her fault. Without anymore thought she went up to it and went in.When she entered she could see that the shack was barren. Save for one strange machine the likes she has never seen before. It was large enough to touch the ceiling and it looked like a jumbled together trash pile to her. What stuck out about it was a red lever that was just begging to be pulled. Paige was a naturally curious person so she heeded that call. She gripped the red handle and yanked.The machine whirred to life and the mechanisms seemed to develop a face similar to the man she saw. The menacing look it had made her want to cower because she felt small. Before she could do that she felt hands grab her ankles. They pulled her back making her fall with her chin colliding upon the ground.Then everything was black. Paige knew she was still conscious, but there was just nothing around her but darkness. It took a while before she was shot up into the air from the ground. She landed on her hands and knees in Maxwell's realm for the first time. The first day she tried to survive she was hoping that maybe she could find a way to make this place better. Well it turned out to be about the same.How she got here half a year ago didn't matter anymore though, she was there now and had to function. Well... More like struggle as the first activity of the day would prove. She was immediately asked by Willow to go and get more logs for fires. They battled for a little while since Paige knew Willow was the reason they were short. With her need to make fire so high they burn Jesus’ toes! In the end threats of lighting her hair on fire made Paige go. Too bad that she would be the worst person to ask.The sluggish energy levels she had made it so that she cut only one down before giving up to rest. She knew that the others would ride her ass for that but it wasn't as if she liked letting them down! When she tried to work it felt like her head was being kept under water with an anvil. Honestly, she'd like to see them even cut one tree down if they felt the way she did. They would never know though, that is why without any thought they can all make her feel useless and not worth any of their supplies. She wished that she wasn't so sensitive and didn’t believe all they say. It only made her situation that much worse.As expected, when she dragged her pitiful amount of wood back to camp Willow was quick to pounce on her, "Wow, you've been out for a whole day and that is all you have?"Paige looked down in shame and said nothing."Ugh! Now we're going to have to worry about the darkness swallowing us! Nice one!"She didn't know if it was because she was sick of it or if it was Willow's tone but this time she snapped back, "Why didn't you ask someone else if this was fucking important!?""Because you should be a functioning survivor but I guess not!" Willow shouted."I would like to see you get on well if you basically felt sick all the time!", Paige shouted in return."Excuses excuses! How about you just admit that you're lazy and don't want to do anything because you're a moocher and that's all you'll be!" Willow spat out the final blow.That hit too close to home, even before this realm she felt like a leech to other people. Her eyes felt heavy and her sinuses felt plugged. No words escaped her, if they did then the faucets she didn't want anyone else to see turn on would as well. She spun on her heels and ran quickly back to her tent.That was when she sat down and cried on the ground in her tent. It was being under the overpass downtown again. Or that was what it seemed to Paige until a soft male voice rang into her ears like a soothing melody."Paige? Are you alright?"Wilson! He seemed like an angel to her in that moment of sadness. He waited outside, priding himself on being a gentlemen he would never go into a lady's personal space without her permission. Even if she was as uncouth as Paige."C-Come in," She said quietly.He stepped in at her invitation and the moment he did she looked at him. Her eyes were red from the results of the short fight with Willow. Wilson pushed all his feelings to immediately comfort her aside, because he must always know the full story before making a hasty decision."What happened?" He asked, taking his spot next to her.Paige swallowed all her sadness so that she could give him a straightforward answer, "Willow asked me to go get wood but it wasn't a good day for me so I only got a small amount done. Then she said basically that I killed you all. Even though I didn't!"Wilson frowned. Although he believed that Paige should've pushed through and worked to her full potential, that didn't mean that people had to make her feel responsible for deaths that she wouldn’t have caused. Suddenly he got up and left. Paige was about to be even more upset. Did Wilson think that she was being a pansy?Relief set in when he came back, so much so that she failed to notice that he seemed to holding something in his hands. When he came up to her and started putting it around her neck she noticed immediately though."Huh? Why? What is it?" She asked confused."Well, think of it as a reminder that someone does care if you feel like this. I know I understand, I've had a bad day before too and I know that it can hinder performance," Wilson said.He moved his hands to show a necklace with a hound’s tooth and a stunning blue gem attached to a gold chain. She cradled the charms in her hands gently as a small smile spread across her face. Her brain was nagging her with the thought that he didn't truly understand like he claimed, and it was obvious with his singular use of “bad day”. She wished it was only one day. However, for once in forever she could push those thoughts out because he was at least trying.Paige let go of the necklace and jumped forward suddenly to give Wilson a big hug, startling him. He didn't mind so much though, hugs from her always were nice because of how you could feel her genuine feelings through them. He hugged back and before he knew it she was crying happy tears into his red vest. Paige thanked him deeply between her sobs.This was just one day in Maxwell’s Realm, though, and she knew that even if this one ended on a high note almost none of the rest would turn out okay like this one.