The Cinders of Dezu

5th: Girl in a High Tower (4)

It was hard to decide what it was at first but she decided on the thing being a kind of fish. It was headless but had a spiked fin sticking out at the top that went all the way down its back. The fins on either side of it were spiked too. The meat between them was pink and covered in a rather pungent creamy yellow sauce. The whole thing sat in a bed of rice, something she finally recognized.

Raina couldn't do it. She put the lid to the side and sat on the bed with her nose in a crinkle. She stared at it for a while and then sighed. She decided she wasn't overly hungry just yet anyway and went back to what she was doing with the outfits. She began straightening them out again and then lifted her pillow.

Underneath she had hidden all the stuff that she liked from the jewelry box as well as what she'd found in another one of the drawers from earlier.
She lifted up a necklace with a pretty light pink gem cradled in a droplet-shaped pendant. She held it in the light from the window and watched it sparkle. She also had found some earrings she was enamored with that were made of silver but were shaped like a diamond. Carved in the center in either side were small eyes and protruding from the bottom was a metal flourish that looked like a ribbon that held tiny little yellow and blue jewels. She found it quite bizarre and pretty.

As she continued to check out the different things she had collected, she heard the sound of clinking metal on her tray. She whipped her head around and to see what it was. This time she actually did recoil at the sight of her plate. On it, was a fairly large rat. It was on its hind legs, sniffing her lunch.

She screamed. The rat scurried off the tray and down her nightstand. Raina stood on top of her bed continuing to scream as she watched the creature slip under her bed. She watched the spot where he had gone under and scanned the edges of her bed for him to come out. Nothing.

"Okay, okay, okay, that was dumb, " she muttered to herself, "It's just a rat. I love rats... under my bed...."

Raina ultimately loved all animals. She wasn't particularly against any of them. Except the mean ones. She'd played with rats at pet stores. But she also knew scary stories about rats from books she read in school. She didn't like the idea of something that could maybe nibble on her at night while she slept. That was kind of a consistent phobia of hers.

For instance, she didn't mind spiders at all if she saw them outside. They generally didn't seem to harbor ill will at all. But in her room, she was scared they would hide somewhere and bite her on her arms and legs at night. They weren't completely above doing that.

Raina jumped off the bed and knelt down on the floor. She got down on her belly to look under her bed to see if she could see him. She couldn't. The bed was dark and she thought maybe there were a few other things down there she hadn't discovered yet.
She sighed and got up.

She wandered over to the window and opened the hanging curtains all the way. The view was actually very nice. She had checked it out earlier before she started looking through the dresser drawers. She was up high and therefore could see quite a ways out. She was above the trees of the surrounding forest. They seemed busy with activity, even from here. She had seen a bird or two flying over the tops of them but they were too far away for her to tell what kind. The window didn't open and she was way too high up to sneak out even if it did. She whispered close to the glass, fogging it up as she did.

"Cai, where are you?"