Sunlight peeked through the curtains of Tessa's room. On that morning, she had woken up before the blaring sound of her alarm would ring. Blinking a few more times, Tessa saw someone near the table. Although their back was turned, she knew in an instant the person in her room was Emilia. The only thing she questioned was why Emilia was in her room in the first place.
The bed squeaked as Tessa sat upright. The noise made Emilia spin around on her heel and look at Tessa. In the moment when their eyes met, Tessa felt something different was going on with Emilia. Something didn't seem right with her today.
"Good morning Tessa. I thought I would welcome myself in on this fine sunrise to make you a a little surprise." Emilia flashed a smile and pulled a small plate in front of her. The plate held a small cake with a round top. In years before, people called them cupcakes, but Tessa could never see why they had to add 'cup' in front of 'cake' if the actual object didn't resemble the appearance of a cup.
At first, Tessa was suspicious of the treat. "What's the occasion? It's not my birthday as far as I'm aware." Even if it were her birthday, there wouldn't be a celebration. Some citizens thought birthday parties could cause a disturbance in the peace and therefore, there were no large celebrations on the day a child was born.
There was a pause and an audible exhale from Emilia. "This is my way of apologizing for the way I acted out yesterday night. I know you were sided and didn't think much more of it. I tried to move the conversation somewhere else and then everything fell into its place but not in the place I had hoped it would fall into." Emilia held the plate towards Tessa, but to her dismay, Tessa didn't immediately take the plate. "I wanted to apologize and this is my way of showing it. Please accept my apology."
"Your apology has been accepted." Tessa nodded. "What's in the cupcake?"
Emilia placed the treat on her lap before handing it over to her friend. "It's vanilla with cream frosting. Nothing out of the ordinary. All flavors I assumed you would enjoy."
Peeling away the wrapper, Tessa sank her teeth into the pastry and let the taste of the cupcake take over. She had never tasted anything like it, and it was absolutely delicious. Emilia sat beside her, but soon stood up and said, "Well, I'll let you continue to eat that and I'll be in my room if you need me."
Then Tessa's vision began to become blurry. The world around her was tilted and spinning in a circle. She started to see two Emilias, two tables, and two of everything. "Emilia, wait!" Tessa shouted. She stood up which wasn't the best decision in the universe. Her eyes wandered back to the cupcake she still held in her hand. There was a black liquid leaking out of the soft cake.
Emilia looked back at her friend and saw Tessa drop the treat she had brought over. The plate shattered as it collided with the ground. Rushing to Tessa, Emilia assisted her friend back to her bed.
"There are two of you. Who are you?" Tess murmured under her breath. She was pointing to a dark shadow standing behind Emilia. The shadow seemed to be wearing a long dark cloak over his head and was releasing a set of smaller figures similar to himself. The small figures danced around the room, covering every object in the dark substance that made up the figure.
Emilia shook Tessa's shoulders, freeing her from the hallucination. "Tessa!" The shaking made the figures disappear. All the dark substance was gone. It had all vanished. The largest shadow was no longer lurking behind Emilia. She sat up in her seat and her eyes darted all over the room looking for the shadows. "Tessa, what you looking for?" Emilia inquired with high levels of curiosity.
"They were everywhere. They were these small shadows that were spreading blackness all over the room. They were dividing and creating one big mess of a shadow. Then the biggest one was standing behind you. It was the face of death." Tessa trembled with fear. Her hands were shaking and so was her whole body as if she had a mere cold.
Emilia chuckled nervously and held Tessa's hands. "What are you talking about? There's no one behind me." After saying those words, Emilia cautiously looked over her shoulder in case someone was truly behind her.
Tessa shut her eyes and shook her head. She pressed her hands against her temples, trying not to let the possible thought slip out. "What did you put in that thing I ate? Did you try to poison me?" The volume of her voice increased with each word. Her own friend could've possibly turned on her. It was the feeling of betrayal. Tessa had heard of it in stories but never did she expect to experience in real life.
There was a moment of silence. A gasp escaped from Emilia. Her legs staggered as she backed away from the accuser. "How could you possibly ask me that? All I wanted to do was make it up to you for our disagreement last night. You don't trust me anymore, do you?"
Eyes were shooting glares across the room. Neither of them spoke for a minute. During that time, conclusions formed in each of their minds. None of those conclusions were spoken out loud, but even without words, both girls knew what each had to say.
Emilia gulped and tears were being built up in her eyes. Her voice cracked as she spoke the words. "You don't trust me. You don't trust me anymore." Now Emilia had allowed the tears to run freely. Her hand covered her mouth to hold back the emotional cries.
"No, it's not that. I just thought-" Tessa began to say.
Emilia shouted, "That's your problem! You think too much!" Her hips turned to start walking out the door. At the last second, she spun around. The puffy, red eyes were now apparent to all who would cross paths with Emilia. "Don't bother trying to tell me otherwise. You're not who I thought you were, Tessa Carslett."
The door slammed behind Emilia when she left. Once again, Tessa was left alone in the darkness. She began pacing around her room to release some of her anger.
"It's not you. It's not you. It's not you!" She chanted before she swiped everything off her table and saw all the items crash on to the ground.
When Tessa came back from her own little world, she saw the mess and immediately began picking up the pieces of glass from the broken plate. She cleaned up the remainder of the mess before pushing herself up. No one was around and her classes weren't supposed to begin for another hour. To pass time, Tessa decided she would be to return to the Healthy Livings building and run off all the bottled up emotions.
YOU ARE READING
Alternatives
Science Fiction[discontinued until further notice, finished chapters will remain published] In 2137, a new society was born and they called themselves the New Union. Their world had fallen to ashes, but they built upon the idea of division based on age. Another v...
