Everything You Left: A 69Falling Adaptation of Anohana

(1) 69Falling

Ally turret has been destroyed. A resounding voice echoed into her headset as an angry orchestra of mouse clicks dueted with the whirling blades of the fan blowing a blizzard of air from a corner in the dim room. The blinds were shut, and the curtains drawn. Surrounded in a sea of darkness was the soft glow of a computer screen—its changing graphics drenching what it touched in a colorful strobe. The only other source of light that radiated its brilliance into the space came from beside her. From him.

Tapping atop the glass of a phone before glancing up, the figure that stood behind her drew his eyes toward the desktop. "For what reason are you tower diving that Aatrox with less than half your health?" he shrieked above her ear, causing her to hold down the volume button on the headset's sound card. He then placed a hand on the apex of her chair and looked to her, "why did you surrender at fifteen?"

She released a sigh as she got up, tossing the audio device aside as she began making her way toward the kitchen with him on her trail. Her eyes were down-turned throughout. Gaze cast on the floor with another pair of feet padding along behind her. Damn, she thought, this summer beast. 

Her pursuer observed the ingredients that had been splayed out across the counter top as the corners of his lip tugged up. "Ayo are you making applesauce, cuh?" he asked while reaching for the knife set atop a cutting board. "Can I help you slice the apples—"

Wordlessly, she took the knife from him and began peeling the fruit. She focused her gaze on her task while a bead of sweat ran down the length of her forehead as she willed herself not to steal a glance at the figure next to her. Gripped within her hand was the knife glinting the licks of light it stole from a window back toward her. Light was not all that was seen while she stared into the metal. She also saw her reflection. The image of a disheveled woman stared back at her. It was the only figure in that reflection.

Looking away from the lonely mirror, she ignored another offer of help from the figure leaning against the counter at her side and allowed her thoughts of the past to speak louder than the present. Summers weren't always like this. Ripples of memories came flooding into her mind while the image of another dark room swam into view. Though there was little light emanating in the room, this scene was no where near as dismal as her gaming session a few minutes back. She was laughing and the sound of other people's laughter bounced back at her. A wide smile spread across her face as she minimized her Minecraft client to check a ping message from her friend, Brian. It read, "Cuh, I have a wish I want to make."

To tear her away from her thoughts, she tuned into the flurry of knocks making a series of hollow noises that then carried across the expanse.

"Huh? A visitor?" she set down the knife and began walking toward her apartment's front door, smoothing out her wrinkled shirt on the way. No one visits me...I live alone and there's no one else to visit here...

Expecting some lost stranger of sorts as she pulled open the door, lazily turning her gaze up to meet the individual. However, in place of an unfamiliar face, the sight that stood before her caused her to take a step back and immediately dart her eyes away. This was no stranger. I knew this girl...

"Erin? Who's at the door?"

Erin nervously glanced back at the male figure padding straight toward her before looking back to the doorknocker, eyes wide. "Uhh, hey Laur."

The girl that stood parallel to Erin was clad in a black tube top and a matching shade of short-shorts. Perfectly manicured acrylics painted in a nude hue grew from hands clutching onto a cup of boba and a thick stack of paper. With a flick of her neck, the girl flipped the blonde hair cascading down her shoulders away from her face while training her eyes, now made green at the presence of contact lenses, at the person whose door she just knocked on. A slight furrow of her eyebrows indicating some reactive emotion...perhaps disgust?