Whose Breasts are These?

Ayla gasped as she jolted awake to the droning of discordant bells from her left. She slammed her hand against a smooth hard box and blinked as the noise stopped. 'What is this?' She flexed her fingers in wonderment, they ached but were smooth and slender. She flipped her hands over and marveled at the pale skin and long rounded tips of her nails, colored a sparkling gold. 'This is not my hand.'

She touched the soft slick fabric that covered her chest and stared in wonderment at just how much she had... grown since she last opened her eyes. 'These are not my breasts either.' She shook her head as she looked over her body for scars and found known save the piece of thin metal in her navel.

Ayla swung her legs and moved from the soft bed. The room was lined with soft, pink carpet and foreign to anything she had seen in Alpeach with pictures attached to the walls and netting holding stuffed animal toys hanging from the ceiling. She rubbed bridge of her nose as she saw a mirror on the wall above a crowded white chest of drawers flecked with gold. She touched the glass as she stared at the woman in the glass. A young woman just out of her teenaged years with a pale, diamond shaped face, light upturned blue eyes , and curly strawberry blonde hair peered back. 'Who am I?'

'Richard came from another world. Is this his world? Did my curse follow him back?' She examined the papers of places and people she did not recognize with the owner of this body. She rummaged through the drawers and discovered a piece of hard material, plastic her memory told her, with the body's face on it. She squinted at the words until her memory processed them as a language she recognized, English.

"Roxanne Pierce." Ayla spoke slowly in a melodic voice that was higher than her own.

'Roxy!' Her memory chirped at her. Ayla raised a curious brow at this.

"Are you still in here?" Ayla asked trying to become familiar with speaking her new native language.

A sequence of events rather than words flashed through Ayla's mind. She saw Roxy crying over a small glass and plastic rectangle, a phone, with a picture of a man that had disappeared over five years ago. The man in the picture was one she recognized, it was Richard Clayton. She fought back a sense of violation as the images continued. Roxy trying to talk to Richard in high school but being ignored. Roxy crying her eyes out as she obsessively tried to find the missing man until they declared him dead and held his memorial service because there was no body to find. After the service, Roxy could not bear it any longer and put herself to sleep forever with a handful of her prescribed pills.

"You poor, deluded child." Ayla sighed. "He was not worth it." Her happier moments with Richard on their journey came back as she shared the memories with Roxy so she could at least have that sort of closure of what it would have been like. She didn't realize just how differently time moved between the worlds. It had only been a couple of years that she had traveled with Richard. Five years this woman had grown from a child into adulthood pining for a man that did not want to look in her direction. For a moment, Ayla felt guilty for taking away Roxy's chance but they both knew it was not Ayla's fault. Their worlds were entirely separate.

"You took pills, was this last night?" Ayla searched the room and found the empty pill bottle marked for Luminal. She sat on the edge of the soft pink comforter as she considered what to do. 'Roxy knew Richard. That means he should be around here if he returned to this world after fulfilling his pact with the demon.'

'I'm sorry he hurt you.' The Roxy in her mind soothed, providing a reassurance of a hug in their shared mental space.

"I'm going to ruin his life, Roxy. Will you be unsettled if I use your body for this purpose?"

'How will you get your revenge?' Roxy asked, the projection gained substance, sitting in a soft pink chair dressed in her favorite pajamas of a white teddy bear tank top and pink shorts. She sipped an icy pink drink from a white coffee house cup with a green mermaid on the front.

Ayla closed her eyes and laid back on the bed. "I think we crossed the threshold of life and death at the same time. It does not smell like any death occurred here." She pursed her lips together. "He scorned your affections since he was a foolish child. I have an idea, if you are okay with this."

'What do you mean?' Roxy sat on the edge of chair, her attention interest peaked.

Ayla smiled. "I spent the last five years of your time travelling with Richard. I know all of his likes and dislikes. He talked about his life here nonstop for the first six months of our journey. I'll seduce him this time." She clenched her fist at the thought of wanting Richard's touch after that sudden betrayal.

Roxy giggled at the suggestion, blushing profusely at the idea of finally getting to be with Richard. 'And then what?'

"I'll destroy everything he values to bring him to ruin before I kill him." Ayla smirked.

'You'll definitely need my help then!' Roxy sat up straight and nodded with determination. 'I don't know how long I will stay in this body with you but I trust you to be me!'

Ayla smiled. "Thank you, Roxy. I'll do my best to take care of us. Do you think you'll ever regain control again?"

Roxy shook her head. 'No, I don't think it works like that. I checked out. I died even if the gross parts of death did not happen. I walked through a door of light. I'm not sure if I'm really here or if it if something like a residual memory they talk about in movies.'

"You think your true soul has moved on?"

'Yeah. Philosophy wasn't my best subject but we could do more research on the theory of what happens after death. There is not anything definite since well... death is supposed to be permanent.'

"In my culture, we believe in a renewing cycle. My true self, my soul continues on even if my current body does not. So Richard killed my old body, I cursed him and my soul followed him here to this world and entered your body." Ayla sighed, it was a lot to piece together with little to no evidence. It was all just a theory to make sense of something neither of them understood.

'Right! However you got here, you are here now!' Roxy chirped. 'You must be hungry! Go to the shower and I'll talk you through how our indoor plumbing works so you do not get blasted with freezing water or scald yourself on the first day.'

"What is it that you are drinking?" Ayla commented.

'Oh this? This is my favorite summer drink. It's uncreatively called the pink drink but it is a mix of fruits strawberry, acai with coconut milk over ice. We can go to Sirens after we get dressed and showered.' Roxy beamed.

"I'm glad that you seem to be having fun with this at least," Ayla opened her eyes and navigated to the door that led to the large bathroom. A large claw footed porcelain tub with a rose patterned cloth curtain sat beside a large sink and white toilet. Baskets of potpourri sat on the edge of the sink beside a vanity illuminated by flattering lights with a chair tucked under it. A fluffy white faux fur rug tickled Ayla's bare feet as she walked over it to examine the large tub.

'I usually try to look for the silver lining in a situation but... I was not always strong enough to get through it. I lived alone for a long time.' Roxy commented softly.

"Your home is quite luxurious and lovely! Are all apartments like this here?"

Roxy beamed with pride. "Not every apartment is like this. I have the luxury of being gifted with numbers. I spend most of my time alone or on my computer, but I do not have to work a regular job. I can teach you the ropes so it doesn't trouble you but you should be able to live quite comfortably.'

"Why did you want Richard so badly?" Ayla asked as she peeled off the foreign clothing.

'I had a dream about a future with him. He was charming, and just... amazing at everything. I hated that he was being bullied and I tried to stand up for him but it made him hate me more.'