Amanita: Poison Shot

Chapter 94: A Candle For Rost

My new bedroom was a small room in Amanita's basement, right next to Agape's bedroom, her office, and a small, rather depressing bathroom with an oppressively low ceiling. K8 showed me the premises as if she was a kid excited to get her first slumber party. But she understood my current state of affairs and tried to tone her excitement down.

Our bedroom was decorated in a revamped art deco style. Dark turquoise, beige, and gold lines formed rectangles and diamonds in an abstract pattern on the black walls. The edges of the furniture were nicely rounded. There was a mocha-coloured parquet on the floor. The bed cover was in dark gold.

We had a small window. I looked through it and stared for a long moment at the night's sky, at the Neon Sea and its deadly, turquoise hues.

"The lounge area is right above us, in case you're wondering," K8 said.

I left my black backpack on the bed. I couldn't help but frown and let out a whispered groan due to the ache on my right shoulder.

"Are you OK, D?"

I sat on the bed and patted right beside me to tell K8 I wanted her close to me.

"Today's the worst day in my entire life. I want to go to sleep and never wake up." I was fighting the urge to give in and cry a river.

"Now, don't say that. Things shall get better. You're not alone."

"I know, I know. It's just..." I sighed. "I can't deal with any more shit at the moment. These last few days have felt like a rollercoaster," I replied, and I soon realised I couldn't hold the tears back anymore. "But today... today was the worst of all. Everything's changed for me, drastically, ever since I met Sigi."

Mentioning his name brought a brief smile to my lips.

"But you don't look like you regret it."

"No, I don't. It's just that nothing is as I had expected. Being free from the clones' mental surveillance system has turned out to be a lot more fucked-up and deadly than I imagined." I suddenly panicked and started to speak really fast: "What if... What if I screw it up one of these days? What if I can't take it anymore? What if...?"

"One step at a time, D. One step at a time," she said while putting a hand on one of mine. Her tender smile felt comforting as her hand held mine.

Then, a soft knock drummed on our bedroom door.

"Who's there?" K8 asked.

"Sigi."

K8 made a silent 'ah' with her mouth while staring at me with naughtiness.

"As I expected, lover boy's here to comfort you, D." She stood up from the bed and let Sigi in.

"I heard that!" Sigi exclaimed as if he was mildly offended while coming in.

She was still holding the doorknob when she added playfully: "Now, don't do anything anatomically pleasing that I wouldn't do, sugar cubes."

I let my jaw fall in bewilderment. She winked an eye at both of us, and then she closed the door and was gone.

"In her own style, she can be worse than Gabi when she wants to," Sigi said then as if he had had enough of those two for a hundred lifetimes. "Besides," Sigi went on blushing all over. "I'm not here for... that. I just..." He cleared his throat once.

That was when he showed me a small candle in his right hand. I stared at it, sighed, and nodded just slightly.

"Really thoughtful of you. Thank you, Sigi."