Hometorius : Coming Home

chapter 26 : Room 13

Marylin POV

I opened my eyes. It was dark around me, but I figured I was standing on a bus stop. Behind me, a street lamp was blinking lazily. Time and again, large cars and loud motorbikes passed the wide street. Some guys passing by me in a big black van honked and whistled loudly at me. 'More exhibits for my silly collection of silly men?' I sighed heavily and took a few steps back, hiding my face in the dark. Like Anri did at home.

A moment later, a cold rain began to pour. I tucked my shirt down tightly around myself and sat on the bench as it was dry enough. Only then did I begin to look at the faces of the people around me. Every few minutes they looked between their watches and the street, awaiting the bus. I didn't see their faces. Everyone was dressed in black cloaks long to the ground and had big hoods on their heads. And everybody had a black rose attached to their chests. This raised my suspicion.

Suddenly, the moment some woman with a blue rose pinned to her clothes passed me, I felt someone's eyes on my back. I turned away quickly, but only saw my emaciated reflection in the glass. So I turned back to the street to wait for someone to talk to me (because why not talk to some unknown girl at the rainy stop, huh?) and for a few seconds I stopped breathing. A very oddly dressed girl with intensely long blue hair stood right in front of me. And I'd like to point out: the fact that she looked strange, doesn't mean that she was ugly. It was the opposite.

"Marylin," she spoke with a joyful half-whisper and flung me over her shoulder.

Too stunned by the behavior of a stranger, I didn't put up any resistance. I was too stunned to connect some obvious facts. Very obvious.

* * *

Not knowing when, I fell asleep. It wasn't a good night's sleep, but it was at least something. These days I was getting more and more exhausted easily because of my illness.

Suddenly, the blue-haired girl strongly kicked the old door, and I nearly slipped off her shoulder. We found ourselves in a gray room with windows covered with cardboards. The girl put me down on the floor, took a few steps back and examined me head to toe.

"I'm Lynda," she said when I didn't make any sound for a long time, and held her hand out.

"Lynda..." I repeated and added in a lively voice. "Keenly!"

"I thought you'd already guess that at the bus stop," Lynda smiled, squeezing my bony hand and heading towards the old stove. "Would you like something to drink?"

"The strongest coffee you've got there," I replied with my eyes fixed on the floor.

I sat on an old and torn greenish sofa and watched Lynda looking for a clean cup. A brief description of her appearance. Her hair was arranged in an artistic mess (probably as always). A black sleeveless shirt that was very loose on her, on which she put a leather jacket with rolled up sleeves. Leather gloves without fingers. Short pants (which were definitely not short at one point), she tucked the front of the shirt behind the belt. Black stockings made of a fairly transparent material clipped to those pants with leather belts. Black platform high-heel boots decorated with studs. And, of course, piercings and tattoos everywhere.

"How did you know you'd find me at that stop?" I asked, slowly sipping the hot coffee Lynda had given me a moment ago.

"Have a look over there," she pointed to the small mirror hanging on the wall above the stove. "I turned it into a window. I saw what you were doing. The last thing I saw was you talk to some guy, your argument with Kate, then how you left the house and disappeared. And then you came to the bus stop. Fortunately, it is not too far away from this apartment, so I decided to come pick you up, so you wouldn't sit in that rain for too long."