Page 6 of Finding Her
The warmth on my skin was becoming uncomfortable, and I squirmed against the sensation, rolling my shoulders to shrug it off. My heart rate was accelerating for no reason; there was nothing to be afraid of.
My stomach turned over as the discomfort rapidly became intolerable. I broke into a soft jog, motivated by the vague hope of finding the woman and asking for help.
“We miss you.”
I missed her too. At least, I thought I did as I sought her out for relief. The twist in my gut was reminiscent of some unidentifiable emotion, and I felt it pulling me in her direction. If I could just get to her, I would feel so much better.
“Come back to Earth.”
I was awoken by the eerily familiar neigh-shriek of Graysen’s Silvates coming from outside. My heavy lids took their time opening, but my awareness that I was in an unfamiliar home provided motivation. Although my dreams had felt as though I was supine, I was curled up on my side, gazing into the fire Graysen must have prepared for me overnight. It still crackled with life; maybe he’d recently tended to it.
Rested and somewhat relieved of my physical agony, I was able to investigate the details of my environment. Light poured through the white lace curtains that hung over a square window to the left of the couch. As with everything else, they looked in need of a scrub. There was a grandfather clock angled in the corner of the room and a moderately sized pendulum clock mounted to the wall. Both were a cherry brown with golden trim.
The spacing and quantity of marks on the clock faces were odd, but I could easily see that their times didn’t match. One angled its wider hand to where 5:00 would typically be, while the other was around the usual 12:00. I was inclined to think that if either were correct, it would be the latter. I certainly was tired enough to sleep until the afternoon.
A golden fire poker leaned against the wall and reflected the flickering light from the fire. Atop it sat the figure of a woman with her legs crossed and hands rested on her knees. Intricate engravings covered her form, and golden tendrils wrapped around her to create the cage of a spiracle handle.
I turned my attention back to myself. The bruises on my arms had turned a sour yellow overnight, and the scrapes onmy hands were now fine white lines with subtle crusts of blood flaking off around them. Had I been asleep for a few days? I’d healed more than I should have after one night. I pressed a hand to my lower stomach and felt the immediate urge to use the bathroom. Surely, I would have needed to get up and pee at some point if I was asleep fordays.
I began to question my reality again. Everything familiar to me was riddled with oddities: weird clocks, rapid healing, strange creatures. Was I dreaming? I closed my eyes and tried to wake myself up, only succeeding at accelerating my heart rate and feeling asawake as ever. Could it be a coma? That was something between dreaming and reality. I gave my arm a tight pinch to further test the theory that I was in some degree of unconsciousness. The pain, at least, was real.
I braved wiggling my toes to find they didn’t scream in protest as I thought they might. Shifting my weight to sit myself up, I gingerly squeezed my foot with both hands. It didn’t feel great, but to my relief, I didn’t need to grit my teeth and whimper as I would’ve the night before. “Ok. I can work with this,”I thought as I set my feet quietly onto the ground. My bladder was full, and I knew I needed to find my way back upstairs.
Despite some soreness, I was pleasantly surprised by the ease with which I could stand. A little limp was far better than what I had been prepared to deal with when I had fallen asleep last night. My right foot required some babying, as that ankle didn’t support my weight as well as my left side did. I braced myself against the wall and used the stair railing to hobble up to the bathroom. Noticing the closed door of the upstairs rooms, I thought maybe Graysen was resting nearby, since I didn’t see him about the small house. I would be quiet just in case.
In the bathroom mirror, I saw that the cuts on my face had similarly improved. The only wound that still had the potential to bleed was the gash on my forehead, which had started stitching itself closed overnight. I touched them each in curiosity, before remembering how badly I had to pee and making it over to the toilet.
I was quick to wash my hands and get back to inspecting my face, splashing water onto it to remove the crusts of dried blood. I was pleased to feel decently attractive, despite believing my appearance was the least interesting part of myself. Hobbies? Skills? Personality? Not a clue. But hey, at least I was pleasing on the eyes. Maybe that was working to my advantage, since a strange man had offered me his care and home for the time being. The rest of myself would have to be discovered and rebuilt over time.
I cringed at the creak of the door as I opened it, trying my best to remain unimposing on my potentially resting host. Going down the stairs was awkward, but I quickly adapted to moving carefully and accommodating my injuries. The door in the entryway was cracked, and a peek inside revealed piles of boxes and a desk, implying a combination office storage room.
I looked over my left shoulder and found my eyes locked on the red front door. It was hard to believe that just beyond that barrier was an entire world of strange creatures—people. Neglect aside, the house felt normal enough. The few glimpses I had caught out of the back windows revealed a standard enough yard. Hell, despite the whole fire thing, Graysen was basically human. From where I stood, it was easy to convince myself that I had imagined everything abnormal. I couldn’t comprehend the notion that the only thing separating me from the supernatural was adoor.
My fingers undid the locks nearly on their own accord. I needed to see another claw, fang, scale, or snarl. My sanity felt tenuous at best, and this was a quick way to test the waters. I twisted the doorknob, pulling so that the cool haze of daylight flooded into the warmth of Graysen’s home.Sure enough.
The streets were busier than before, with more variations on humanity than I was able to take in. It was difficult to identify the newer species from a distance, but I could at least recognize the features of what I had already seen. The reptilian people were immediately distinguishable by the way their scales reflected the daylight. The spiked people also stood out, particularly those with horns twisting well above their heads, causing their sharp tips to rise over the small crowd. Those with plasma markings were less obvious, but I caught the seafoam green “tattoo” of a standardly attractive humanoid man standing towards the edge of the grouping—he turned his back before I could confirm the subtle features of ear holes and a black tongue. Everyone else was a blur of flesh or fur, and I would have to get a better look at those novel to me once my feet were in better shape for exploration.
“What are you doing?!” An unexpected roar from behind me caused my blood to run cold, my shoulders tensing up towards my ears.
I felt several sharp stings on my arm before immediately being thrown back into the hallway, nearly losing my balance and crashing to the ground. My only saving grace was the demi-lune table below the hall mirror, which held strong as I braced myself on it with buckled knees. I raised my head to peer through my scattered hair as Graysen slammed the door closed and twisted its locks.
“Whatthe fuck?!” I screamed, lifting my arm to see drops of blood swelling where the pain had been.
Graysen’s back was to me. His ribs were visibly contracting and expanding with heavy breaths beneath his fitted black turtleneck. His corded arms were flexing under his tight short sleeves. His hands seemed to be shoved into the pockets of his gray trousers, imposing a rigidity to his stance that felt moments away from erupting, like a rubber band pulled taut before snapping.
“Where were you going?!” he spat. He didn’t turn to face me.
“Going?” I laughed in horror. “I wasn’t fucking going anywhere. What is wrong with you?!”
He didn’t reply, his back still rising and falling, his breaths controlled.
“Graysen?!”
Against my better judgment, I grabbed at his shoulder and attempted to pull his body to face me with all my might. He was unmovable, his muscles swelling into an agitated flex under my grip and then ripping from my hand.
“Go to the couch.” His voice changed to an inhuman growl, reverberating within the small space. It was both his andother. As if ascending through the throat of a beast before exiting between clenched teeth.
“I don’t—”
