Eternity's Eclipse

Chapter 2

    After an excessive amount of convincing and begging, I finally managed to get Sachie off the stand and drag her back to my apartment. She agreed to stay with me for tonight, even if just because she has to stay somewhere until the government decides which members to assign to the quest and we either get to leave for it or she has to finally give up and go home. And because hotel prices are actually disgustingly high in this city...

    I quietly lead her through the city, staring up at the stars as we walk in a pleasant silence. After a few minutes, we finally reach my apartment and shut the door behind us. We both collapse onto my couch and lay there for a few moments, soaking up the silence together, enjoying the darkness of the night.

I eventually stand up from the couch and adjust my skirt. "Uh...I-I'm gonna go to sleep now..." I mumble, struggling to come up with proper words in my tired state. Sachie simply nods in response, visibly tired as well. The two of us slowly make our way back to my room, silently walking hand in hand.

One we both reach my room, I sit down on the edge of my bed and start gently unbraiding my long, tangled mess of dark brown hair. I really should get a hair cut, but I just haven't had time recently. I always just braid it in two, somewhat uneven, plaits and hope it doesn't get caught on anything. My hair is almost down to my waist now. As I slowly untwist the strands of my hair, trying not to pull too much of it out, Sachie turns off the several lamps I have scattered around my room. I have quite a few lamps, probably upwards of 20 in total, sitting in my room. I'm not sure why. I don't particularly mind sitting in the dark, nor do I have some kind of unusual fascination with lamps. I simply...have quite a lot of them. Floor lamps, desk lamps, table lamps, wall lamps, even ceiling lights. It's a bit excessive, I'll admit, but the added visibility of such an excessive amount of lights certainly makes writing and reading easier, as opposed to trying to do those things in the pure darkness,

After a few minutes of struggling, I finally manage to get my hair ties out and set them on the edge of my bedside table. I lay down and pull the blankets over my body, looking around the room one last time before I go to sleep. I'm trying to memorize as much of my room as I can before tomorrow, just in case, you know...I don't get to come back. I have a strange feeling that tomorrow, whatever else happens, I'm going to be selected for the quest I never wanted to sign up for in the first place. I have no idea why...but I know I certainly don't want to. I don't want to go. To leave everything I have now behind. As much as I love to complain about my life...paying rent, working a job I hate just to pay the rent I didn't want to pay in the first place, and doing household chores to keep the apartment I pay rent for at least somewhat decent-looking. If, no— when, I leave, I'm going to miss it. I don't know when I'll return, if I will at all, but I don't want to leave all of this behind. The 10,000 or so fake succulent plants I have on every flat surface of my apartment, the constant dripping of water I always here because my upstairs neighbors won't fix their pipes, the always too-hot or too-cold temperature because our heating and cooling system is eternally broken...as inconvenient as it all is, I actually don't hate it. This is my life, and I want to keep it. It's safe, pretty easy, and monotonous. I can just...shut off my mind and function on impulse and memory alone.

I stare at the collection of sketches pinned up on my walls, trying to make out the complex designs I only vaguely remember drawing. Each one of them was custom-made for a company that had personally reached out to me and asked me to design them...it feels wrong to think that I might never have to do that again...at least not for a long time. The amount of money from this commission, should I succeed, would be enough to pay for everything for several years. And honestly, with the way I live my life, I'm not sure if I'll even live another several years. I doubt I'll even live one more year...but enough of that. No point thinking about things like that. If I die, I die. Nobody even knows exactly what happens after death, so it's pointless to think about. I'm...too tired for these things tonight anyway. There's more important things to think about. Like the quest I'll probably be starting. I really, *really* don't want to do it, but it's probably too late. I can't exactly just walk all the way to the Commission Board and take my name out of the box....

I continue to stare at the ceiling, silently thinking about tomorrow. What will I do if I actually do get chosen for the quest? What if I don't? Do I have to pretend to be disappointed if I don't get chosen? Do I have to pretend to be excited if I do? Too many things to think about, too complicated of thoughts...

I glance over at Sachie lying next to me, my eyes lingering on her peacefully sleeping face. I envy her innocence, her trust in everyone.  The fact that she can sleep so peacefully, so calmly, in a total strangers apartment, in a strangers bed, no less. I can't imagine being able to sleep in the home of someone I don't even know. I'd be afraid they'd kill me and toss my organs off the city streets like I do with the rocks...just the idea of my own organs falling through the clouds makes me shudder. I don't want to think about that either. The chances of that happening are low, but unfortunately not zero.

And with that final thought, I fall asleep, my body relaxing as I slip into the cozy darkness of sleep.