The morning wasn't particularly her normal routine. Her door was making no sound and her body felt extremely cozy and warm. Her exhausted lids screamed to be pulled apart as she started to wriggle and stretch within her haven. She had never had a satisfactory sleep in months and the feeling was to die for.
As parts of her body were gradually turning on, she opened her eyes but a wide tired yawn closed them back and it took her some minutes to open them again.
Avice didn't open her eyes because she wanted to, her nose that had sharply caught a strange smell forced them open. Avice frowned, knowing she was either supposed to be perceiving the sickening smell of antiseptic and pinesol in the hospital or the smell of her small room but the one engulfing her nostrils didn't ring any bell.
When her ears caught something else, she jerked up. Why did that dog sound like a wolf? Moreover, whose house was she in?
Her narrowed eyes fell on the purple blanket on her body before they explored the room she sat. Her mouth hung agape as she observed.
The room was three times larger than hers but it was barely occupied. There was a fine wooden shelf resting on the wall not far from the white door and also a long chest of drawers—not above the knee length—running from the shelf to the end of the wall. There were flowers and books on the drawer top and the wall contained only paintings. There was no single picture in the large old-fashioned room and the only chair in the room was next to the window which was across her.
There were two other doors in the room which Avice supposed were the closet and the bathroom. Her granny used to say 'what describes one most is one's room. If you're dirty, it'll reflect on your room and if otherwise, it'll reflect'.
Same goes with boring.
Avice could tell the owner of the room had a boring lifestyle. Unless it was a room that was barely used.
The majestic bed was extremely soft and warm, tempting her to stay longer but she resisted as she had to see the person who helped her.
"Whose house are you now, avice". She murmured and threw the blanket off her body. "And whose clothes are you in?" She rolled her eyes and stood up from the bed, feeling a difference in her height and weight. "For how long was i lying down?" She asked herself while massaging her left shoulder.
As avice walked to the window, she realised it was not morning, the sun had began to set. It was evening already. Did she sleep that long? Avice stretched dramatically and jumped, feeling a positive energy in her veins. She knew her chinese boss would have been furious as usual for not coming to work but intentionally, she didn't want to worry about how she was going to beg for a last chance. The stressful thought was for later.
Almost getting to the window, the door opened and a girl of about five feet walked inside with a tray. Suddenly, the tray fell out of her hands, jerking Avice off. The girl's eyes watered and her hands began to shake on sighting her.
Confused, avice opened her mouth. "What-what—"
"You're awake!" Her lips curved into a wide smile admist her teary eyes as she ran to her. "Eliana". She stared into Avice's eyes for a moment and pulled her in for a tight almost suffocating hug. "Why did you do that to yourself?" She wept on her shoulder.
"Uhm..." Avice's clueless eyes wandered, not knowing what to say to the girl who mistook her for someone else. "Excuse me..uhm-" Avice tried to free herself from suffocating hug. "Excuse me!" She forced her away.
The girl staggered back with a sad frown, immediately pinching a guilty conscience out of Avice.
"I'm sorry. I didn't—didn"t mean to push you that far. I just–" She looked at her hand, at first wondering how she was able to push her farther than she intended to but then she turned her palm to the back of her hand. Avice noticed her red nail polish had been cleaned off and the little scar she had on her thumb knuckle since she was a kid was no longer there. More baffling, the fingers up in front of her didn't look a single bit like hers.
"Do you still have to rub it in my face that you're the strongest?" She bent to clean up the mess she made on the floor. "That's pretty harsh on the one person who looked after you". She murmured, feeling offended.
"Excuse m–"
"And why do you keep saying that?!" She snapped and Avice flinched at her sudden change in mood. "Do you think I'll easily listen to you? After trying to leave me alone in this world because of that je–". She stopped, heaving heavily as she glared at the window like she had a grudge with it.
Avice scratched her face, wondering why she was suddenly mad. Even as she glared, she still had an attractive face but what actually baffled Avice was how the girl managed to grow her long brown hair. With the way it was touching the floor as she crouched, it'd surely be reaching her butt on feet.
"Er–I'm sorry if I said something wrong. But er—thanks for taking care of me. I appreciate it but I need to leave". Avice watched her words as she said. She noticed the girl was sensitive and the way she jabbed the plates together meant she was still pissed.
"What?" She raised her lids, staring at her in confusion.
From what avice could deduce from her expression, she chuckled unbelievably and muttered to herself. "So you want money?".
"What?" The girl sprung on her feet and stepped closer. "I want money?" She pointed at the bed. "For taking care of you for a week?"
"A week?" Avice bit her lip, not expecting less. She couldn't believe she'd have to start looking for another job. "So what? You don't want money? Is it gold you want? Look, i don't hav–"
"ELIANA!"
"Oh shit." Avice jerked, almost losing her stance at the sudden scream that left her mouth. "Why the hell do you keep screaming like that?"
The girl observed her for a little while before shifting close. "Are you okay?" She shot up her arm and placed her palm on Avice's forehead.
Avice shifted back, finding her comfortability weird. "I'm fine. I need to go back home". She walked away. "About the money...I..I don't really–"
"What are you talking about, Eliana? Why do you think you should pay me?" Instead of looking pissed, she looked extremely worried.
Avice closed her eyes as she pulled up her hands to stop her from walking close to her. "Wait, hol'up. Er—what?" She opened her eyes. "Eli what? Eliana?" Avice's lids swept up and down the girl's body, wondering why she asked if someone else was okay when she obviously needed to be treated.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I should be asking you that". Avice almost screamed. "Look i have no time for this. I appreciate your kindness or whatsoever and I promise I'll pay your money if you can hold on for a year 'cause I have far more bigger debts to settle". She turned to start looking for her shoes. "And you should wait two years if you can. That's if I'm not dead by then". She walked to the drawers and started pulling them out but most of them were empty. "And my shoes? Please?"
"Ana". The girl breathed out, her eyes now teary. The way she stood across Avice made her seem helpless and sad, disrupting Avice's senses the more.
"I told you, I'm not Eliana. You can't just assume I'm someone because you helped me. I'm Avice. And stop staring at me like that".
"Wha—what did he do to you? Did he hit your head or something? Tell me, did he go as far as hitting you?!" She wailed.
Avice cursed, getting tired of her drama. She looked around, wondering if it was a prank and probably there was a hidden camera somewhere but found none. Not even the smallest camera was in sight.
Frustrated at the way she wailed, she ran her fingers through her hair which was supposed to be short but surprisingly wasn't.
Avice jolted when she remembered paying less attention to the hair touching her arms as she jumped earlier. Springing up to her feet, she brought the long hair which was very similar to the girl wailing in front of her. It was brown and coarse and was almost touching her waist. Her hair wasn't long...it was short...and red!
"Are you–". Hoping it was a wig, she pulled the hair abruptly but ended up screaming at the pain she brought her scalp. "The hell". She massaged her scalp and walked to the girl. "What's this? Why the fuck did—how in the world do I have this". She dangled the hair in front of her the girl. "How did you do this?"
The girl stared back at her cluelessly. "What are you saying? Did you really hit your head?"
"Can we stop with the pretence now. You're really getting on my nerve. This is so creepy. How did my hair turn into this?!" She snapped.
The girl shook. "Eliana". She called softly.
"And can you stop calling me that?" Avice whose head couldn't contain how she could still be feigning ignorance cursed again. "Okay can i have a mirror? First, my fingers. Second, my hair. Who knows what you'd have done to my face? Get me a mirror"
"Mirror?" She swallowed and looked around before hurrying to the bedside cabinet. Shuffling a little, she stood up and hurried back to Avice with the mirror.
Avice took it.
At first glance, she dropped the mirror to scratch her eyes. She spread them wide afterwards and made sure they were clear before bringing the mirror up again.
When she brought it up and saw a face that wasn't hers, she flung the mirror away in horror as her body started to tremble in fear. "Wha–what–what the–who the hell was that? Something's in the mirror. The mi...the mirror". Her lips shook as she pointed her shaky finger at the mirror.
"What do you mean? Eliana are you okay?" The girl held her to prevent her from falling. "What are you talking about?"
"That's—that's not my face. That's not me". Avice stammered, hoping she was in one of those nightmare that seemed too real. "Who...who am I? Who was that?"
^^
♡♡♡
—About the names [Avice and Eliana] Incase you don't understand, I use AVICE when she's talking about herself and ELIANA when someone else is talking about her. As you read on, you'll understand.
And if you probably still don't understand after reading on, you can slide into my dm anytime on insta [@lilysan] and I'll explan better for you. LY♡♡—