Aeipathy's A Memory

11: Open & Closed

Nick returns to the castle where George and Darryl are waiting for him.

____~*+*~____

My mind faded from black to the groggy feeling in my eyes. Squinting at the light, I rubbed away the leftover sleep and took another look around.

I'm not dead, and everything is in its place.

Then the aroma of what smelled like a four course breakfast hit me like a door to the face. I breathed it in and felt my stomach ache. I decided to get up to see if my grogginess was lying to me. If it was, I was gonna be pissed.

Turning in the door way that led to the kitchen I saw the figure of my host cooking what looked like another bunch of a bacon and an omelette on the stove. I knocked on the wall next to me to catch his attention.

Vincent tilted his head, "Good morning."

"Morning." I replied. I decided to get a closer look at what he was making. My earlier suspicions were correct: bacon and an omelette. I took notice of the plates that had hash browns and some waffles on the side. The room swirled along with the food's smell that danced in the air. I wouldn't have been surprised if I was drooling.

"You should go wash up so you can eat. There should be extra toothbrushes in one of the cabinets." Vincent said, snapping me out of my trance. I silently left and did as told.

This time, when I walked into the bathroom I was able to appreciate the simple beauty it was. Everything about this dwelling seemed to fit that description, or maybe I'm just so used to the extreme contrast of royal golds and plain brown and grey houses of the townsfolk.

The walls mimicked the inside of a geode, a deep amethyst color that faded into a smoky white. The crystal edges were smoothed down to fit the texture of marbles, but it was more like looking through glass and seeing the raw gem itself. I looked into the circle shaped mirror and saw my bed head.

"Geez, I'm a fuckin mess." I grumbled. "A hot one." I shot finger guns at my reflection and snorted at my own actions.

I washed out my gross eye boogers and looked for the toothbrushes Vincent said he had. Finding one, I carried out my usual morning routine quickly and left the shimmering bathroom.

I came back to the kitchen to find Vincent setting the table. It looked neat as ever.

"Showing off?" I asked while taking my seat.

Vincent looked up at that. He gave an amused smile. "No, I just enjoy doing things for others. Especially troubled souls like you."

Well, he wasn't wrong about that. My head filled with thoughts replaying the events from the night before.

"You should finish quickly and begin your trek back to the kingdom. It's nearing eight o'clock." Vincent ushered. I laughed a little.

"You can just tell me to get out." I teased.

Vincent only hummed, consuming the first bits on his plate.

"I hope you know that's not what I meant. Now come on, don't let the food lose its taste. It's better when it's hot and right off the stove." He stated. I didn't want to make my stomach wait any longer and dug in.