A Fiery Romance

Stray's New Encounter

Stray's POV
Something was wrong and not just wrong, something was terribly wrong. Something is amiss. Where is Lea? Why is he not here? I thought he said he was going to change? It's been three hours. He had better not skip out on me. What about blondie? Oo, she had better not be there either. If I find out he's just playing around and skipping out on me, I'm making him do the rest of the apartment all on his own! Where is he though? What if something terrible has happened? I hope the thought of him playing around, would be what was going on. I think it's time for a well deserved break. Two walls have already been done; only two left. I'll leave those for Lea. Make him work a bit, like he's not doing now. I stop painting and lay the roller out on the papery, rollout. I think I should go investigate. After all, he's my neighbor. I have a right...sort of. I hurriedly head towards my door and walk out, making a right turn. I immediately see that Lea's door to his apartment wasn't closed. He wouldn't forget to lock his door, right? I cautiously push the door open wider. If there was an intruder inside, I wouldn't want to alert them. What I do want to do is see if Lea is alright. With caution, I silently crept through the apartment. I make it to his room and peek around the corner. Aha! I find Lea laying down on his bed. So he was skipping out on me all along! I walk toward him. Now that I get a closer look, I don't think Lea would lay down flat on his stomach like that. I don't think anyone would. Did he collapse?? I scurry towards his body on the bed. I lift him up and turn him on his back. Nothing seems exceptionally unusual. Except...wait a minute. Has he always had those markings under his eyes? I never noticed them! They looked to be purple, tear shaped markings. Except they were upside down. I lean in closer to his face to get a good look at them. "Eeeeeeeek!!" I shriek jumping backwards and end up falling off the bed. His eyes just opened! Lea rises to a sitting position on his bed. "Don't just suddenly do that! You scared the bejeezus out of me! I didn't think that you would be awake. I thought something terrible has happened to you! Don't worry me like that!" He just looks at me nonchalantly. No feeling, no emotion. Just apathetic. He looks down at himself and glances back up to the mirror right in front of him. "Uhm...Lea?" I say to him, trying to understand what was going on. He turns back his attention to me. "Lea's gone. The name's Axel, now. Got it memorized?" He says pointing a finger to his temple. "Uh, I guess?" What was going on with Lea? He gets up from the bed and walks over to where I'm sitting on the floor. "Gooood. So, now that we're beginning to know each other," he reaches out a hand towards me to help me up. I take his hand and get back on my feet. "you can leave now, or I will be forced to fight you." My eyes grow wider. Oh Mommy and Daddy, adjustments to my new life have just gotten weirder.