How we meet

Chapter 35

You were horrified as the festival date drew closer. Your anxiety flared as the companies started visiting the gym to make sure everything was ready. The halls were filled with rows of marigolds and daisies. Zinnia petals stuck to the floor and the bottoms of your shoes. You had a packet of fertilizer and a pair of scissors in your bag at all times.
The leaves looked as if they were aflame. Crimsion, ocher, and yellow leaves had engulfed the trees. They burned in cool frigid air. It wasn't let like a crisp apple, the leaves did not have a satisfying crunch under your step. Yet their colors were vivid and bright.
You carried your things to the little research area of the gym. You hadn't really used it, but now that all of your samples and notes had been delivered from Professor Juniper you finally had a reason. You sorted through them by yourself. In a bland lab void of any soul or warmth, you worked. A notebook in hand and an array of half dead pens laying across the counters. With a scalpel you cut into the plant's stems. You dyed their samples, you drew diagrams of their cells and counted them. With vials of solutions and walls of elements you were lost in your own mind.
A mushroom puffed when you least expected it. You coughed, waving your hand in front of your face. Your worn shoes slipped as you stepped back. Pain stabbed your back, knocking air from your chest when you landed on the ground. Pain pooled from your temples when you tried to move you tried to blink away the pain. Your fingers clawed at the collar of your shirt. The silver bell slipped from its ribbon, rolling across the floor with a faint ring that made you wince.
It all faded away from there. Your hazy thoughts had been scrambled. You were left wandering in the void of your thoughts. A door stood in front of you. The handle was cool against your hot skin. The hallway outside your room looked just like when you left. Your hands gripped the small bag tightly.
A woman spoke your name, a maid stood in her uniform, her arms were crossed. Her eyes were cold and you were petrified. She looked between you, your clothes, and the bag. Her expression was well trained, her eyes never told you a thing. She closed her eyes and turned the other way. Her heels clicked across the wooden floors, she stopped just before she turned down another hall.
"Don't stand there, hurry before he comes back." She was gone, her skirts flowing behind her.
You listened, your feet ran down the hall and when you left through a gap in the large wall around the estate you didn't stop running. Your feet continued to move, you avoided the streets, you traveled through trees and bushes. You would escape, you had nothing connecting you to the world behind you.
But as you ran through the forest of your mind, through the memories you had, you ended up before the mahogany desk. Your hand held your blood dripping arm. You looked at the floor, you avoided the eyes of the man and his cat. A maid stood behind you by the door. She waited patiently for her orders. When the man and his cat left, the woman placed her hand on your back. She led you back to your room. Her hands bandaged the scratches and bites. She left a kiss on the crown of your head as she stepped out the door. A note rested in your hands.
"There's no cameras looking at the lower east windows of the library."
With a blink of your eyes you laid in bed. Sweat pooled down your neck, yet you shook and shivered. You pulled the sheets closer to you. The maid pressed her hand to your face. Her hair wasn't streaked with silver. Her hair was tucked up in her signature bun, a hair stick embellished with a lotus held it in place.
"Sleep, I'll bring you something to eat."
You closed your eyes, and you were back in the lab. A pounding headache, and a slight fever. Virizion resting with your head against their side. They opened their eyes at your groan.
"Stay still," they warned, "you'll make it worse."
Yet when a tear slipped down your face, they pressed their nose to your cheek.
"Sleep now."