Refuge Area | Seventeen

5.

Alessia was unable to sleep. The sick feeling in her stomach was a cherry on top. Firstly, she had lost one of the butterfly earrings which she had not realized until she changed her clothes to comfortable ones and secondly, a while ago she got her period as well. She blamed everything going bad on her lost earring because she always considered it her lucky charm, just like KitKat. Ever since she had died, these earrings became her lucky charm. Alessia had informed Lucila about the same, and they would be going to the racing arena again after classes tomorrow to look for the same. She also informed Lucila that she wouldn't be going to the classes tomorrow since she knew very well it would be hard for her to fall asleep knowing she lost her lucky charm as well as the only thing that was a reminder that KitKat was still with her.

Alessia got up annoyed as she sat up in her bed. She knew she would not be able to sleep with the heavy feeling in her heart. She listened to songs for a while but that didn't help either so she decided to watch her comfort show. While it wasn't exactly her go-to comfort show, there was a certain sense of solace that came from watching it. Whenever she settled onto the couch and turned on the television, KitKat would inevitably wiggle her way over and snuggle up beside her. It was comforting to her that it felt as if KitKat was herself seated beside her whenever she watched the show. 

Alessia got up from her couch as she opened the snacks cupboard to find it empty. She cursed under her breath as she recalled that Lucila and her binge-watched at her dorm last week and finished all the snacks. Her period cravings made it impossible to sit in one place and just watch the show without any snacks so she made herself get up from the couch change her clothes and sneak out to buy some snacks from the convenience store down the lane. She had to sneak out since it was over the curfew time but, since she did it quite often it was just a piece of cake for her. As always, she found the dorm lady not at the door so she ran off wearing her black hoodie so that she could not be identified. 

❝ And one can of Pringles. Is that all, ma'am? ❞ The retailer asked Alessia as she nodded before pulling out her purse along with the money for the payment. ❝  Thank you, ma'am. Do visit again! ❞ The retailer said smiling before sighing and sitting on his chair as his smile instantly dropped. Alessia noticed that which made her frown as she walked out with the plastic bags in her hand. She had always been annoyed at people for faking things and most importantly emotions. She nodded her hand in disagreement before crossing the road to reach her dorm.

 As soon as she reached the other side of the road, she heard a loud blast which made her turn around to find the shop she was in a few seconds earlier had blasted into thin air. Her heart dropped as she started to sweat a lot. ❝ The retailer...❞ She trailed off to herself as the bags in her hand dropped to the ground. Her legs gave up as she fell to the ground, she was shivering. It was as if the fire in front of her was making everything worse. Everything starting to hit her again. Alessia tried to get up and was successful but then suddenly she felt dizzy as her eyes closed, she was internally ready to feel the impact but it never came.

A black-haired guy held her in his arms before she could collapse on the ground. His brows were furrowed as he saw the fire in front of him but the girl in his arms was more worrisome for him right now. He couldn't even see her face as she wore a mask and sunglasses to not be identified by the dorm lady this time of the night. Her sunglasses had come off, as they fell off before he caught them too, keeping them in his pocket. ❝ Miss, are you alright?? ❞ He asked softly as he pulled her over his shoulder and tried to find a place to sit. He was confused as to why a girl was out this late in the night. She didn't look much younger to him, maybe she was either in high school or university, he could not observe her for much longer as he felt her move. ❝ Hey, is everything okay?❞ He asked again as he saw her eyes opening. To him, her eyes seem very familiar. It was as if he had seen her somewhere, and he couldn't pinpoint much just based on her eyes.