05
A dark figure appears in front of her. A low whisper fills her ears.
"Katora..."
"Katora..."
"Katora..."
"Stop," she says through exhaustion.
They stop.
She opens her eyes and is greeted by a pitch-black abyss.
"May God have mercy..."
Her body heats up. The growing heat never stops and she instantly kicks and squirms but nothing seemed to work for the growth started to become unbearable. Her body levitates. A glowing white light covers the entire ceiling. Then a ceiling covered in different renaissance paintings appears. The paintings connect to each other like a timeline.
"You ready?"
Katora looks down from the ceiling at Invidia dressed in a burgundy suit. His hair straight rather than curly and the tips of his hair reaches beyond his shoulders. He turns around and walks off. Katora swiftly follows behind despite the beige marble floor freezing her bare feet. He stops in front of a painting. Katora walks up beside him. The painting showcases a swarm of angels falling from the sky. A mix of demons and angels clutter together at the very bottom. The painting gets bigger. Swallowing up space and other paintings on the wall. Gravity grows heavy and all of a sudden she can't move from the growing painting. It gets bigger and her vision is covered in nothing but the details.
"Katora!"
Katora's body springs up. Sweat rolls down the side of her cheek and her heart pumps out of her chest.
"Are you okay?"
Katora swings her head to Invidia, the only word that could fall out of her, "You?"
Invidia sighs, "Look, I'm not sure what dream you had, but we really need to figure out what we're gonna do?"
Katora groans and wipes the sweat off her forehead, "What time is it?"
"4:30 a.m."
Katora looks to the clock on the nightstand on the other side of the bed from her.
"I've already gone out and bought some clothes for you, you can-
"Buy or steal?" She blurts out angrily.
Invidia stares at her calculating what words to use, "I got you some clothes to try on and if they fit, you can wear them."
"No," she blurts harshly, "I want to go home now."
"But-
"Now," she says in a more demanding tone.
He sighs before saying okay.
Katora gets out of bed.
"You remember where the bathroom is?"
Katora nods her head.
Invidia says okay before leaving the room and rushing downstairs.
Katora goes into the bathroom and sees that there is already a pile of folded clothes sitting on the counter right next to the sink. She looks in the mirror and realizes how dead she actually looks. The bags under her eyes grow deep and hangs low to half of the dorsum of the nose. Cracks formed at the bottom of her lips. Her hair appears disheveled and matted to her sweaty forehead whose skin now appears lighter than yesterday's.
'All of that from just one nightmare,' she thought to herself. She turns around and hurries into the shower. She turns the knob to let the hot water hit her back while her forehead rests on the wall.
Invidia walks out of the apartment and walks up to the apartment right next to his. He digs his hand into a flower pot and picks out a key. He wipes away the brown soil before pushing it into the keyhole and unlocking the door. He walks in and quietly shuts the door behind him.
"You know how I feel about people coming in without me knowing first!"
Invidia pauses and curses before walking into the kitchen.
"I need to talk to you about something."
A man turns around, his back towards the stove. His expression remains nonchalant, but his voice runs deep and cold when says, "You got 30 seconds."
"She's here. And I think she knows."
The man turns around to turn the stove off, then he moves the pot to the counter. Invidia stares at him waiting for him to give his advice or reassurance or at least a response.
"Did you ask her what she wants?" He says keeping his back turned to Invidia.
"I kept the facade."
Everything falls quiet. Invidia holds his breath and the man still standing in front of the counter has stopped moving altogether.
He slams his fist against the counter, "Dammit, Invidia!"
Invidia stays unmoved by his sudden outburst but now breathes in oxygen.
He turns around facing Invidia with glaring red eyes, "What is she doing now?"
"Taking a shower."
He nods his head and walks past him. Invidia turns and follows behind him.
Katora steps out of the shower and dries herself off with a red towel that was folded by the sink along with her other clean clothes. She hangs the towel over a white rack on the door and proceeds to pick up her clothes. When she picks up the clothes, she finds a toothbrush and toothpaste laying on the counter. She sighs, 'Probably stole that one too,' she thought to herself. And right when she puts her shirt on, she realizes that these clothes are going to be too big for her. She sighs again, this time louder and more annoyed. She puts on her pants and pulls it all the way up until the very ends of her pants meet the tips of her toes. She bends down to roll the sleeves up, then gets back up. She looks in the mirror one more time. The same disheveled hair and cracked lips stare back at her. She pushes her back and licks her lip. Satisfied with looking somewhat decent, she opens the door and walks into the living where she is greeted by another stranger. He's leaned back on the sofa with his arms sprawled out on top of the sofa. His icy white hair is lazily put together, unlike his clothes that consist of a white button-down shirt and black cotton pants that hug his thighs. But one thing that stands out the most, that Katora can't seem to figure out for the life of her is his eyes. His orbs are so red, you'd think they were glowing. No human being could possibly have those eyes. It's just not normal. Right?
Invidia clears his throat catching Katora's attention. The man smiles knowing that her curiosity will never leave.
Invidia gets up from the couch. "Katora, meet Kaahil." He turns to Kaahil, "Kaahil, Katora."
Katora looks to Kaahil. Kaahil remains slouched on the couch unfazed by her presence. Katora looks back to Invidia expecting him to break the silence.
Invidia acknowledges her impatience, "So, what do you want to do?"
Katora begins to think. If she goes to school now, the principal will report her to her parents saying she found her and her dad will throw a massive tantrum and probably put his hands on her again, but if she goes back to her parents' house, her dad would throw a massive tantrum and probably put his hands on her again. She thinks of the last option brought up to her last night. How exactly would she be able to pull a disguise for the rest of her life?
"Take your time, it's still pretty early."
"What happens if I do choose to run away?"