Ninth Millennium Navigator

29

The hooded figure in the entryway did not register to either mind. Not a first. 

Indeterminable time passed between brief, fading realizations of her presence.

The one mind broke free to address the nagging issue. It steadied the body long enough to properly see the person near the entryway. 

The room was light enough to make out facial features, though it took a few moments to understand what his eyes could see. 

Calissa stood with both hands clasped against her face. Matthias could see the mangled black remains of an eye as well as her one good one on the unblemished side. He could not make out the yellow mark around that eye. Her body spoke of utter distress and anguish at the sight; yet, her eyes spoke a constant, pressing message to him. He did not understand—not immediately.

One mind continued to fondle and manipulate Katrina, who showed no signs of acknowledging her sister's entrance. Katrina was louder than ever and satisfying Matthias's other mind.

Calissa's eyes flickered slightly. The black one seemed to indicate doom. The other seemed to foretell coming rapture. He surmised a meaning in their motion. They were guiding him to something. As he continued moving within Katrina, he followed her gaze across the floor of the lome. 

Time slowed down to a trickle.

He strained to look back at Calissa as he shifted on top of Katrina. When he managed to see Calissa again, she maintained the same horrified composure. He saw a reminiscent tear guide its own way as though to emphasize the moment. Yet, the origin of that tear was the eyes that continued to direct him to the same spot. On second glance, he saw what she saw.

Not too far from his head, where the floor met the wall, Matthias could see the irregularity. Something was wrong with the floor. It was not perfectly smooth. 

There were divots in the lome floor. 

As his eyes became better focused, he identified the yellowish stains around the divots. Slight and close to imperceptible unless one knew what they were looking for.

He stopped all movement. Time normalized. 

He felt his sickness catch up to him. He felt worse than ever. But he remained focused and conscious using what he saw to buttress a growing rage. Both minds became engaged on something other than his emotions. All the sexual emotions seemed to fade, but the intensity remained. And, what that intensity now embraced was utter disgust and anger.

Katrina caught her breath. She opened her brown eyes to look at him.

"Matthias, what's the matter?" Katrina asked.

She turned to follow his gaze. Her eyes never caught the imperfection in the floor. Rather, they stopped midway when she recognized the presence of Calissa. 

"Oh, her. Don't worry, Matthias," she said in a consoling tone. "She's over you."

Matthias knew the pain existed, but felt none of the discomfort as he sat up onto his knees. He directed his burning gaze down at Katrina.

The thought of Katrina's dismissive treatment of her own sister sparked the fuel which had been accumulated for longer than he knew. This same fuel had been powering his recent fit of passion, but he could not control the shift from passion to fury.

He shoved down on Katrina's neck with his right hand. Katrina managed only the first syllable of his name before he shut off the sound from her throat. 

From the corner of his eye, he saw Calissa jump as Katrina's head thumped the floor. 

The solid floor reacted by adjusting its texture and tautness and forming a pillow beneath Katrina's compressed head. As she struggled, Matthias redirected her head to the side where no pillow had formed.

Katrina eyes grew wide, but more in surprise than fear. This raised his level of frustration.

"Did you kill him?" Matthias bellowed, his full attention on Katrina's eyes and not her hands that began to fail to push against him. He released his grip enough for her to speak and she grabbed at his arms.

He felt some level of satisfaction that she was showing the basic signs of concern for her own life.

"Matthias," she choaked. She coughed twice. Matthias slapped her hard across the face. Her eyes became wide as her touse flared. He had never been so violent, which continued to surprise her as much as him.

"Answer me!" He slapped her again, harder. 

Calissa issued a short whine from the corner of the lome, but she did not move.

Katrina's eyes remained the exposed full circles of emotion, but an odd smile formed on her lips when Matthias released some of the pressure. Katrina reacquired some composure along with her breath.

She looked up at him. 

And smiled.