Chapter 64: 3.13

I stared at the slice of pizza on the rotating plate inside the microwave.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Beep…beep…beep.

I took it out and brought it to the table by the sofa where my milk tea waited. It was a bottled one I bought from the vending machine. I didn’t have any money when I went out, so I had to go back up, get my wallet, then go back down again to the ground floor.

A hassle, but I didn’t have anything with tons of sugar in my room.

I stared at the black screen of my TV until the smell of the pizza brought me back to reality. I hurriedly ate the crust, set it back on its plate, and took a long drink from the bottle of milk tea, downing nearly half of it in one go.

I went back to looking at the TV in a daze.

Eventually, I noticed my reflection on the empty screen.

The sides of my lips slowly curled up. I breathed heavily, my shoulders shuddering. I began tapping on the floor with my right foot. Unable to control it any longer, the giggles started. I bobbed my head in a valiant attempt to stave off laughter. My efforts to stop laughing resulted in stupid snorting, which only made it funnier.

I parted my mouth. “Hehehe…Hahaha…” I was rocking back and forth on the sofa. “HahahaHAHA!”

My reflection on the TV screen looked like a total idiot. I was stamping my feet on the floor while maniacally laughing. “HAHAHAHAHA!”

I accidentally kicked the table, flipping it over. It nearly hit the TV. The plate broke when it crashed on the floor.

“Hahahah…geez…”

That made me stop.

I wiped the tears from my eyes as I looked down at the mess I made. The pizza fell face down on the floor—I guess pizzas didn’t have faces, so toppings-side down—splattering sauce and cheese on the tiles, mixing with the broken pieces of the plate. Fortunately, I had drunk enough of the milk tea that only a small amount was spilled even if it rolled on the floor without its cap on.

I still didn’t move, just staring at the floor, chuckling once in a while.

An unsettling feeling…laughing to this extent. I felt like it was another person laughing and I was just observing. It was all so stupid and funny, but the emotion barely penetrated my heart. Poetic.

I threw my head back. “What the fuck, world?” I yelled. “What the fucking fuck was that?” I raised my middle finger to the light on the ceiling. "The fuck is all of this shit?"

I knew fate was an imaginary concept. Destiny meaningless. We didn’t have actual preordained roles in life, no deity directing our path, no author writing our actions, no proverbial thread of a set future.

People just found the idea of a set future comforting.

But what the hell?

What is all of this shit happening to me?

Not just meeting the Corebrings. All of this! This couldn’t be all of SpookyErind’s schemes. How much of her power could affect what was happening in this world? Could she affect reality?

My reality?

I doubted it.

SpookyErind was likely swimming through different planes of existence my feeble mind couldn’t comprehend, but I hadn’t seen any indication that she influenced my ‘real world’.

I wouldn’t even have met her if Myra hadn't attacked and nearly killed me at Sander’s mall; and Myra wouldn’t have attacked me if I wasn’t there at the cafeteria when Kelsey threw herself outside the window; and I wouldn’t have been in the cafeteria at that time of the day if I bent to societal norms and studied in the library like all the other 1L students.

‘Why me?’ was the question people tended to ask when they felt the world was piling everything on them. And I also ask that question now, Why me?

“World,” I yelled at the light on the ceiling, knowing full well I was addressing no one, "if you’re going to bother me to this extent, you should’ve made sure to kill me before I start bothering everyone back—”

Knock, knock, knock.

I clamped my mouth shut.

The knocking continued.

Neighbors annoyed at my screaming? I was a bit too noisy and it seemed the walls weren’t thick enough. “Sorry!” I loudly said. No response. That was embarrassing, or the approximation of that emotion I could feel. “Huh. So much for a bothering speech.” I looked once again at the mess I made, deciding I should clean up first before going to sleep.

Knock, knock, knock.

Was I supposed to be expecting anyone? There were no messages on my phone. Even if it was Deen coming over for a surprise visit, she wouldn’t be able to go up without a resident key card unless she snuck into the stairwell or something. And it was already quarter to one. I never had visitors this late…or this early.

I stood up and walked to the door to see who it was.

The knocking was steady and evenly spaced out, almost rhythmic, that it made me wonder if someone was playing a prank on me.

Could it be a robber? I heard rumors of someone getting robbed when I first moved in this building, which was why they beefed up security. I had been away from my room for a couple of weeks, maybe robbers were scouting out rooms with no people. But my lights were on, they’d know someone was inside.

A few feet from the door, I suddenly darted to the side and crouched low.

What if these were enemies? Did the 2Ms finally know about me and what I did to their operations, someway, somehow? I didn’t want to be in their line of fire if they decided to pump my room with bullets. If I was going to kill someone who I suspected was an Adumbrae, I’d riddle the upper half of the door with gunfire when they came to answer it.

But why would they knock in a weird way?

The knocking stopped. Only the ticking of my pink wall clock could be heard.

I crawled from my hiding space to check. The shadow beneath the door shuffled away. I peeled my ears to try to discern how many people were outside, but I couldn’t clearly hear. It seemed to be just one person who was walking away.

Should I go and see who it was?

No. The world was out to fuck with me, I should be more careful of my actions.

Even if there was no more knocking, I returned to the side of the room and didn’t move from my position. I sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, playing random games on my phone. I was thinking whether to turn the lights off, but maybe people were still outside and then they’d know for sure I was awake. I’d rather they assume I was asleep and attack me now that I was aware of them.

But absolutely nothing happened.

It was 1:01 a.m. when I stood up, switched off my lights, and went to bed.

Bummer. The time I was being super careful, it turned out to be nothing.

 

---

 

Run! Faster! Faster! I picked up speed as I neared the left end of Serenade Bazaar’s transparent rooftop. I forced myself not to look down or my legs might turn to jelly. I kept my focus on the roof of the next building.

Jump!

I soared over the gap between the two structures. It was about a couple of car lengths, but the neighboring building was lower than Serenade Bazaar and I gained a lot of speed before jumping.

That roof is going to be fucking hard, was the last thought in my head before I landed…not so gracefully. I rolled across the rooftop, getting caked in dust, feeling the searing concrete baked under the hot afternoon sun on my bare skin. I stood up and continued running, whatever grazes and bruises I incurred healing almost instantaneously.

I was grinning with my wolf snout, savoring the excitement…the rush…the thrill of getting caught.

I had the weird urge to start panting as I ran.

Faster! As fast as I could until my lungs burned, my muscles got sore, my body taking the toll of my superhuman speed, running and jumping over the buildings. And then my regeneration kicked in so I could push my body to the limit all over again.

The shadow of the police helicopter covered me. More sounds of rotors joined in; drones were following me too.

Building after building and soon I was about to reach the end of the block. A gap ahead. A busy street; two lanes wide. Should I stop now and find a way down?

No! I should press on. My destination was further along, somewhere to lose myself in the crowds. Could I make this jump?

I could!

I believe I can fly!

I arched across the air, several stories above the jam-packed traffic. The building across was coming nearer and nearer, its wall not looking very inviting. There was no way I was going to reach its roof. I braced myself for impact.

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BAMM!! I hit the face of the building. I slammed my claws into wall as my body was about to bounce off, grabbing on for dear life. My brain was rattled, I was seeing double, triple, everything was shaking, I probably broke a couple of bones and injured some of my innards, I was even hearing a knocking sound. I closed my eyes to stop the world around me from swirling.

Focus!

Climb! Climb up and continue running on the rooftops!

The drones might try to shoot me down; I could hear them whizzing closer. I hoped the police would exercise restraint for fear of hitting the people inside the building, but anything goes when trying to stop an Adumbrae. Sirens from police cars were getting louder, converging on my location—

Knock, knock, knock.

Knocking?

What?

I opened my eyes and found that my claws weren’t latched on to the side of the building. And my claws were missing! I had my hands, my normal hands! When did I transform back?

I was falling!

“AAAaaaahh!”

I sat straight up so fast my brain almost got left behind.

Can’t see shit.

I felt around me. Blankets, a soft mattress, pillows, I was in bed. I blinked until my eyes adjusted to the light, or lack of it. It was still dark except for a thin line of moonlight squeezing itself through the small space between my two heavy curtains covering the wall windows of my bedroom.

Just a dream.

I couldn’t recall the last time I dreamt so vividly. It was about my time escaping from Serenade Bazaar. That wasn’t even a nightmare because that was a very cool memory. Too bad something woke me up.

Was it knocking? I couldn’t recall.

…

…

I couldn’t even recall what my dream was. Something about jumping.

I reached for my phone on my bedside table to check the time; I already threw my smashed alarm clock in the bin.

Weird. I was trying to get my phone, but my hand couldn’t seem to reach it, just slowly inching towards it. After several seconds watching the impossible scene, I was finally able to grab my phone.

1:01 a.m.

There was something wrong here. What time did I fall asleep again?

Then it clicked.

I was still in a dream. I'd experienced several instances of a dream within a dream when I was a kid, and maybe a couple of times when I was in high school, but none recently. Maybe I was just tired as hell now.

Knock, knock, knock.

My heart seized. I recognized that sound.

As soon as I heard it, my hand went up to my face while summoning my mask before even turning to see who it was. It wasn’t the same knock I heard when I was awake. That wasn’t the sound of the door to my unit. That was the sound of the door of my bedroom!

Fucking hell! The gold liquid wasn’t coming out of the crystal on my palm. And my hand was moving at a snail's pace!

The light in my room flicked on.

“You,” I said. I wanted to do the gagging and gurgling sound Trepanner loved to make because it seemed apt with the situation.

SpookyErind had the knuckle of her index finger against my open bedroom door. Knock, knock, knock, she said with each rap on the polished wood. Are you awake?

“Is that a trick question?”

No?

“Sounds like one. Am I still asleep?”

I was asking you, now you’re asking me? Meyo—

“Meyoumeyoumeyoumeyou,” I interrupted. Her eyes widened with surprise. “Just messing with you.” I stuck my tongue out to her. “I’m allowed to do that, right?” I hastily added, hoping she wouldn’t get angry.

She laughed and walked to the side of my bed. Of course, you are, she said as she jumped on my bed and crawled to me.

“Hey! You know I don—”

You don’t like anyone else climbing on your bed. I know. But this doesn’t count…because you and I are the same. She grabbed the lower half of my face before I could speak and forced my mouth shut.

Her grip was hard, my jaws were getting squished. I could feel the squeaky texture of her leather glove on my skin. I wanted to try to peel her hand off my mouth but I moved as if in slow motion. The previous time I met SpookyErind—in that different dimension fashioned after Deen’s house—the whole setting also had a dreamlike quality where everything seemed foggy and distant. This time, it was that annoying dream thing where moving was slow as fuck and distances appeared to warp and distort.

She flashed me a knowing smile and whispered to my ear, Meyoumeyoumeyou, her breath almost ticklish, then she released me.

"Actually, I was going to say I don't want your boots on my bed."

Really now? If I take off my boots, it's going to be fine with you?

I rolled my eyes at her. “I was wondering when you’d show up,” I said, massaging my cheeks and chin, my hand having reached my face at last.

Why is that?

“There’s so much that happened today, I was expecting you to be the icing on the cake.” My phone was in my other hand. It still said 1:01 a.m. even though I was sure at least a couple of minutes should’ve already passed. “I guess this is already the next day.”

I see that you’ve been pretty busy.

‘Very.”

You’ve even made sufficient payment of the delivery fee.

I raised a brow. Did she mean the heads inside my snake mutant buddy? I had no idea what those were—some sick experiment of the 2Ms—but it seemed I made the right choice eating them as they had something in them that SpookyErind was looking for. “Does that mean I can now use that face you showed me?”

Yes, but only for a short period of time. A few hours of your time with the delivery fee you paid.

“Oh,” I said, slightly disappointed. “I was looking forward to playing with that one. Is it different from the first face you gave me?”

Lent.

“Lent?”

I lent you that face. You borrowed it. The one you’re calling Blanchette?

“Right.”

Anyway, for this second face…you see, it’s extremely difficult for me to send more power across dimensions.

I nodded as it somehow made sense to me, recalling the Cocoon in the arena beneath Eve and the two BID agents mentioning that it was Bridging or something into our dimension by eating the heads. “So, I could only use it each time I’m able to gather enough…to pay the fee?”

Bright girl! She smiled at me and our eyes met.

I didn’t break eye contact, drawn in by her demonic pupils. Her gauntleted hand reached for my face, a single golden metal claw parted my hair and tucked it behind my right ear. Then she trailed the tip of her claw by the side of my face, down to my throat, and up again, following my jawline to my chin. A shiver crawled down my spine. I hated being touched, but I didn’t say anything because I knew what her response would be.

She opened her hand, showing me the huge crystal on her palm. Now that I saw it up close, I realized it wasn’t one crystal; there were seven of them, the six arranged in a circle around a central crystal. You’re going to need this. SpookyErind said as the golden liquid from her gauntlet turned silver and formed into the next face I was going to use. Do you want to try it on now?

 

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