In Stone

5: "Clothes shopping?"

5: “Clothes shopping?”

Caia wished that she could say she woke up in her bed the next morning with the certainty that the day before had been nothing but a dream. But, although Caia had fantastic dreams, she rarely ever remembered them. None were ever so vivid. And, had it been a dream, she probably would have been a great deal more articulate than in reality.

She sat up slowly in her room and looked around. Her statue, Caspian, had led her in here towards the end of the night and laid her down. It almost looked like he was going to tuck her in with a look of total contempt and annoyance on his face. She was still wearing her clothes from yesterday, her muscles were sore from clenching them so hard in fear for so long.

And now that the sun was up and she had been able to sleep, she felt a bit ashamed of the way she had acted yesterday. Caia had never pretended to be a strong, independent person capable of taking on anything, but she really thought she should have behaved better than that. A catatonic mannequin that could do little better than stare vacantly was not how she wanted to be known by anyone, even if that person was a statue.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and took stock of herself. She felt normal. Was there supposed to be something off if she had gone crazy? Her hands were still her hands, her body was still her body. If she was dreaming, wouldn't she be sexier than in real life? She usually was in the dreams she could remember.

Caia stood slowly and looked around. Her room was normal. Her bed was still her bed. Everything was exactly as she remembered it. Or maybe the crazy was making her think that way.

She shook her head and ran to her bathroom. She wanted a really cold shower. Maybe that would wake her up or snap her back to sanity. And if it didn't...well, she would deal with that later.

One shower and no break back into normality later, Caia found herself pulling on some clothes mechanically. She heard movement in the front of her house, she knew her statue was still here.

She was so unused to any other sounds in her house that hearing them now was a bit eerie. It felt wrong somehow, weird in a way. People weren't meant to be in her house. It made her scared again. But she wasn't going to hide or freak out anymore, she promised herself. She would be normal and polite and the same happy, cheery person she always was.

Maybe he was a nice statue man. She was an eternal optimist, she couldn't help but think that way. It was also probably the only way she would survive the mental stress of knowing her statue had, quite literally, poofed into life.

This was going to be great, she told herself as she pulled back her hair and looked into her vanity. She was going to make friends with the statue man. If this was a dream, it couldn't hurt. If she was crazy, then it was probably a good thing to befriend her hallucinations. And if, by some strange twist of the laws of physics, he was real, then she was going to be the happy that she got to know him. After all, who didn't want to be around something magical like that?

Which led her to her next, confused thought. Was she supposed to say hi? Maybe she should offer him breakfast. She wasn't at all sure the precedent for greeting a statue. Did he even eat food? Maybe he ate rocks. That would make sense, right?

Caia shook her head, forcing the thoughts away. She wasn't a big thinker. She would go in there and say hi and be nice and happy. That was as good a re-start to this thing that she could imagine.

With that determination powering her limbs, Caia opened her door gently and began almost tiptoeing out towards the living room and kitchen. It only took a few steps for her to smell the gentle roasting of coffee.