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gullwingdoorsSteel, straight through me. Blood. Blood and copper, and love straight up the spine, and -
- and I wake up with a jolt, sitting upright stiffly as my eyes snap open.
I shake my head. My stomach rumbles, and I smell something delicious from downstairs.
No, no, I know where I am, don't I? It's my bedroom. Today's my first real day in the big city, after me and my mother finished moving in from some nowhere town on Earth - bugs me a little that I can't remember the name immediately, but I don't linger on it. "Good morning," I say to my reflection tiredly as I pull an outfit together out of whatever first clothes my searching fingers hook onto.
As soon as my feet hit the floor, my mom greets me with a warm smile, and a homemade breakfast - eggs over easy, bacon, waffles, a glass of milk. I sleepily thank her - it's gone within minutes, and I'm gone not soon after.
I don't know where I'm going - instead, I wander around, taking note of the stores and the parks and the homes, wide arches holding the glass dome that kept the heavens out and the air in extending far, far, far above. The summer colors paint the world in rich greens, in the vibrant hues of colors and the warmth of the chunk of sunlight the shutters let in. The bus stop is vacant when I sit by it, and when the bus comes I climb aboard in a half-fugue. It's been... hard for me to feel all there today.
The seat I'm next to is occupied.
"H-hey, stranger." She looks to me and smiles, just slightly. "Is it... is it everything you hoped for...?"
I know her. How could I not?
"I don't know," I tell her, after a minute. "It... feels like it's going by so quickly, I guess. I was hoping I'd get the chance to... I don't know, live." She looks away, a little hurt briefly crossing her face.
"It's... all I could... could really do on such- short notice. I-... I'm sorry."
... I shake my head, doing my best to smile through the haze. "No, no, it's... still fine." The bus keeps driving, and I try to pay attention to the streets. "I'm glad I get a little more time to consider."
A little more time with you, I think to myself, smiling dreamily. I have to wonder if she can hear me.
- and a root setting in, roots setting in, along my back, into my shoulders, up my neck -
- and I wake up with a jolt, sitting upright stiffly as my eyes snap open.
I shake my head. My stomach rumbles, and I smell something delicious from downstairs.
I blink a couple times, and rub the crust out of my eyelids. I'm in my bedroom again, still the same old bedroom as ever. I've lived here a while, I think to myself - I can't remember if I lived anywhere else, really. As I stumble over to the dresser and mirror, I grumble a "Morning." out to my reflection. She doesn't respond.
I get down to the bottom of the stairs. My mother greets me, and I'm sure she's smiling, but her face doesn't really cross my mind as I stumble over to breakfast and chow down. Something still feels so... hazy, like I'm one foot in a dream, even though the world around me feels so real, now.
I head out to the park - the one closest to the house, my favorite spot to just hang out when I don't have any other obligations. She's waiting there for me, on our favorite bench. I sit, and she leans her head against my shoulder.
"Hey," I whisper gently, after a moment. "Hey," she responds just as softly.
"I think we're settling into this, aren't we? It feels like... I've been here forever."
She turned her head up to me. "... Glad it's been, um... going better than it was..."
I chuckle a little. "Maybe it just needed time to get its hooks into me. Or...?"
"Or?" Her face moves a little closer to mine. I glance sideways to her as I respond. "Or maybe you just needed time to get your hooks into me, silly." The only response I get is a giggle and a kiss on the cheek. The sun filters through the sky, through the leaves. Yellow, dipping into orange, dipping into red. One leaf lands on the far side of my face right as she gives me another on the near. I shake it off.
- like worms beneath the skin, glowing shoots of light starting to push up through the wound, starting to feel the places nerves shouldn't be, the body starting to -
- and I wake up with a jolt, sitting upright stiffly as my eyes snap open.
I shake my head. My stomach rumbles.
The bedroom - my bedroom - feels both more cluttered than usual, and yet... simpler, somehow. I pull myself up, and head over to the mirror and dresser and scattered clothes, same as ever. "Morning," I say to my reflection. "M-morning, sleepyhead," she responds.
I go down the stairs. I think someone was supposed to be here. You still remember who was here, right? Yes, I do, just not here. It's cold outside. The day passes without incident.
"How long has it been?," I ask over a nice dinner, holding her hands across the table.
"M-maybe a minute or so?"
I shake my head, grinning. "No. In here,"
"Months."
"Gimme a number.
"... um, five? Aaand a... half...?" She shakes her head. "I'm not going too fast, am I?"
"No, I..." I pause. "I think I get why the days have been slipping by, now. I can live with it."
"... Good, I-... I'm glad you're easing into it all, at least."
"I'm glad, too." I glance behind me, out the restaurant window. Shadows where people should be, shadows where buildings should be, flakes of snow like they were drawn on transparent squares of paper.
- fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, held together only by the roots, the blossoming flowers, the broad leaves, the pollen in the air, blood and agony and steel through the -
-and I wake up, slowly, easily. I pull myself upright, and gingerly lift myself off the bed.
I shake my head. My room is as neat as ever. There's nothing but the suggestion of a world outside, cardboard cutouts of human silhouettes glide across a street that isn't there. The cherry trees are in bloom. I walk over to the mirror, to my neatly-organized dresser. "I guess," the words crawl out of my mouth, "... I- I guess this is your last chance to, um -"
"- to turn back on becoming you?" My voice comes out of the reflection in the mirror, her reflection, my reflection, instead. "I... guess," she says, or perhaps I say. "You worry too much, Lotus," I tell her, I tell myself? "We would've stopped all this long ago if I wasn't good with it, right? I'm nothing but happy to be you."
"... Yeah," I say. "Yeah. S-see you on the other side, Latera."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
At this point, it hardly mattered which of us spoke first.
- and I wake up with a jolt, sitting upright stiffly as my eyes snap open.
I shake my head. My stomach rumbles, and I smell something delicious from downstairs.
No, no, I know where I am, don't I? It's my bedroom. Today's my first real day in the big city, after me and my mother finished moving in from some nowhere town on Earth - bugs me a little that I can't remember the name immediately, but I don't linger on it. "Good morning," I say to my reflection tiredly as I pull an outfit together out of whatever first clothes my searching fingers hook onto.
As soon as my feet hit the floor, my mom greets me with a warm smile, and a homemade breakfast - eggs over easy, bacon, waffles, a glass of milk. I sleepily thank her - it's gone within minutes, and I'm gone not soon after.
I don't know where I'm going - instead, I wander around, taking note of the stores and the parks and the homes, wide arches holding the glass dome that kept the heavens out and the air in extending far, far, far above. The summer colors paint the world in rich greens, in the vibrant hues of colors and the warmth of the chunk of sunlight the shutters let in. The bus stop is vacant when I sit by it, and when the bus comes I climb aboard in a half-fugue. It's been... hard for me to feel all there today.
The seat I'm next to is occupied.
"H-hey, stranger." She looks to me and smiles, just slightly. "Is it... is it everything you hoped for...?"
I know her. How could I not?
"I don't know," I tell her, after a minute. "It... feels like it's going by so quickly, I guess. I was hoping I'd get the chance to... I don't know, live." She looks away, a little hurt briefly crossing her face.
"It's... all I could... could really do on such- short notice. I-... I'm sorry."
... I shake my head, doing my best to smile through the haze. "No, no, it's... still fine." The bus keeps driving, and I try to pay attention to the streets. "I'm glad I get a little more time to consider."
A little more time with you, I think to myself, smiling dreamily. I have to wonder if she can hear me.
- and a root setting in, roots setting in, along my back, into my shoulders, up my neck -
- and I wake up with a jolt, sitting upright stiffly as my eyes snap open.
I shake my head. My stomach rumbles, and I smell something delicious from downstairs.
I blink a couple times, and rub the crust out of my eyelids. I'm in my bedroom again, still the same old bedroom as ever. I've lived here a while, I think to myself - I can't remember if I lived anywhere else, really. As I stumble over to the dresser and mirror, I grumble a "Morning." out to my reflection. She doesn't respond.
I get down to the bottom of the stairs. My mother greets me, and I'm sure she's smiling, but her face doesn't really cross my mind as I stumble over to breakfast and chow down. Something still feels so... hazy, like I'm one foot in a dream, even though the world around me feels so real, now.
I head out to the park - the one closest to the house, my favorite spot to just hang out when I don't have any other obligations. She's waiting there for me, on our favorite bench. I sit, and she leans her head against my shoulder.
"Hey," I whisper gently, after a moment. "Hey," she responds just as softly.
"I think we're settling into this, aren't we? It feels like... I've been here forever."
She turned her head up to me. "... Glad it's been, um... going better than it was..."
I chuckle a little. "Maybe it just needed time to get its hooks into me. Or...?"
"Or?" Her face moves a little closer to mine. I glance sideways to her as I respond. "Or maybe you just needed time to get your hooks into me, silly." The only response I get is a giggle and a kiss on the cheek. The sun filters through the sky, through the leaves. Yellow, dipping into orange, dipping into red. One leaf lands on the far side of my face right as she gives me another on the near. I shake it off.
- like worms beneath the skin, glowing shoots of light starting to push up through the wound, starting to feel the places nerves shouldn't be, the body starting to -
- and I wake up with a jolt, sitting upright stiffly as my eyes snap open.
I shake my head. My stomach rumbles.
The bedroom - my bedroom - feels both more cluttered than usual, and yet... simpler, somehow. I pull myself up, and head over to the mirror and dresser and scattered clothes, same as ever. "Morning," I say to my reflection. "M-morning, sleepyhead," she responds.
I go down the stairs. I think someone was supposed to be here. You still remember who was here, right? Yes, I do, just not here. It's cold outside. The day passes without incident.
"How long has it been?," I ask over a nice dinner, holding her hands across the table.
"M-maybe a minute or so?"
I shake my head, grinning. "No. In here,"
"Months."
"Gimme a number.
"... um, five? Aaand a... half...?" She shakes her head. "I'm not going too fast, am I?"
"No, I..." I pause. "I think I get why the days have been slipping by, now. I can live with it."
"... Good, I-... I'm glad you're easing into it all, at least."
"I'm glad, too." I glance behind me, out the restaurant window. Shadows where people should be, shadows where buildings should be, flakes of snow like they were drawn on transparent squares of paper.
- fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, held together only by the roots, the blossoming flowers, the broad leaves, the pollen in the air, blood and agony and steel through the -
-and I wake up, slowly, easily. I pull myself upright, and gingerly lift myself off the bed.
I shake my head. My room is as neat as ever. There's nothing but the suggestion of a world outside, cardboard cutouts of human silhouettes glide across a street that isn't there. The cherry trees are in bloom. I walk over to the mirror, to my neatly-organized dresser. "I guess," the words crawl out of my mouth, "... I- I guess this is your last chance to, um -"
"- to turn back on becoming you?" My voice comes out of the reflection in the mirror, her reflection, my reflection, instead. "I... guess," she says, or perhaps I say. "You worry too much, Lotus," I tell her, I tell myself? "We would've stopped all this long ago if I wasn't good with it, right? I'm nothing but happy to be you."
"... Yeah," I say. "Yeah. S-see you on the other side, Latera."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
At this point, it hardly mattered which of us spoke first.