Hometorius : Coming Home

chapter 50 : Pigment

Marylin POV

At first, I didn't know where I was. And I had no intention of opening my eyes whatsoever. Over my dead body. I was afraid that once again I was in a basement, hell or somewhere like that. I took a deep breath. The air didn't smell like sulfur, so I became a little calmer. I lightly tapped my foot on the ground to check its consistence. It was hard so I concluded I was in a normal room. The basement was out of question, there was no mustiness or fungus or characteristic moisture and coldness in the air. More, it was quite the opposite, the room was nice and warm.

I decided to open my eyes and was honestly happy with what I saw. I found myself in the old rooftop room I discovered when I first entered the mirror with Kate. I didn't know yet which side of the mirror I was exactly on, but who cared about that.

I took off the dusty sheet from the old couch and threw myself at it, causing a huge cloud of dust to fly into the air. I coughed, closing my eyes. I put my hands under my head and tried to sleep, but it turned out to be harder than I thought. The room was too quiet. I opened my eyes again and started to look around without making a move.

Every piece of furniture that was around was wrapped in a dusty foil or old bed sheets. The air smelled beautifully, like old books and those dusty things, slight mustiness and fresh plants. Wait. Something was off. At first, I didn't really pay attention to it, but when I noticed it, I frowned and sat on the edge of the couch.

I started looking around, looking for a source of fresh fragrance. Nothing in my close proximity looked like it would smell like a fresh plant. The only plant that I noticed were dried herbs hung from the ceiling. I stood up, my knees cracking, and I breathed in. The dust was still circling in the air, but it wasn't as heavy as before.

I moved slightly toward the bookshelf I hadn't seen before. There were many books there, but I didn't know any. They were arranged chaotically, without any pattern. Simply put, when there was a new book, it landed in the first empty spot, regardless of its size, color, author, and it remained there until now. I looked across all the ridges, some of which I didn't even understand.

Then a small, untitled book caught my attention. I reached for it, and when I took it out from between some fat romance in a leather cover and a thin biography, it turned out to be a photo album. I was beyond curious about what was inside. I thought of that saying that curiosity killed the cat, but then I remembered the other half of the saying that people keep forgetting about. "Satisfaction brought it back".

Just when I opened the album, which looked so unstable it must've been a DIY one, I heard the doorbell. It came so out of nowhere that I dropped the album to the floor out of fear. I ran downstairs to see who was insane enough to knock on this house's door.

"Fleur?" I asked, surprised when I saw her on the porch. "What are you doing here?"

"These mirrors are really getting on my nerves," she muttered under her breath, passing me by in the door.

"You've met Lynda?" I assumed because she didn't act like herself.

"Bingo," she almost shouted in a French accent, then added more calmly. "I was with Linda and Zarina in Kate's house, but it was moi that the mirror had to swallow."

She then started laughing sarcastically and got up from the couch, where she sat down for a second. She went into the kitchen, probably to make some coffee. I didn't recognize her, I had the feeling that I was talking to Lynda who was cosplaying as Fleur. What a weird feeling.

I heard the sound of a burner being lit on the stove and the clink of a cup being taken out of the cupboard. I started wondering what the girls were doing at Kate's.