A warm wind brushed lightly over her face, making her uncomfortable in the rising heat. Stretching out an arm to turn on the air conditioning, Arilla's hand came in contact with something sticky, a spiderweb?
Her eyes flew open with surprise, 'why is there a spiderweb in my room?' She lifted her hand, trying to keep it as far away from her body as possible. There was something strange about the size, it was smaller than she remembered, a complicated feeling washed over her as she examined her fingers.
Dropping her hand down, she stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling, it was old and covered in water stains, nothing like the white painted ceiling of her room. 'No, of the hospital', she could vaguely remember the sweet singing voice of Arden and the shouts.
She sat up suddenly, sending her head spinning. Stopping to analyze the situation, she thought back carefully, 'Did I die? No…The doctor didn't seem worried about any risks.' She shook her head at the foolish thought, even if they were worried, she was still only seventeen, there was no way they would say anything.
Sighing she bowed her head, looking at the floor covered in trash, debris and various questionable liquids. Holding in the nausea she felt, she tremblingly struggled to her feet, hoping to leave the dump of a room as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, she had overestimated the strength of her body, collapsing to the floor as soon as her weight was put on her feet. She wasn't sure how she got here, but she was going to leave even if she had to drag her body out. A moment longer in that revolting room and she would faint, she had never come in contact with anything as dirty before.
After what felt like hours, she managed to pull herself out of the room to the top of a staircase. Her hair fell forward, it was a dirty purple shade probably due to a lack of washing, 'Is this even possible? Is there even the possibility of switching bodies?' despite her thoughts she couldn't deny the large difference between her real body and with what she was experiencing, this was definitely not a dream. Pushing the grimy hair over her shoulder, she held onto the railings for support, and got back to her feet.
A fly buzzed past her, alongside it a strong stench of decay wafted into her nose. Her eyes burned and she lifted her small skinny arm to her nose to gain relief, only to be struck by the sour smell of her skin.
'Disgusting!' Gagging internally, she turned away taking in tiny increments of air with her mouth to cover up the stench. 'Even if I transmigrated, why did it have to be somewhere like this?' she shivered at the thought of being in this dump for much longer. She had always been fixated on cleanliness and having been raised as one of the top young mistresses, everywhere she stepped into was always thoroughly cleaned. For her, this was a drastic change of environment.
Holding her breath, she looked down over the banister, following the direction of the flies. They were swarming around something, she squinted to see more clearly, her mouth opened to let out a scream and she quickly lifted her hands to muffle the sound. 'I can't scream, can't scream, I don't think that's a human body.' Her breathing sped up as she stared in horror at the creature below.
Sitting on a rocking chair, was a corpse, the hair was matted down to the skull by the rotting juices, some parts of the body were infested with maggots. The chair rocked back and forth, creaking loudly, the body seemed to be falling apart, but its dull lifeless eyes were the only thing intact. The line of sight seemed to be directed right at her, but she was sure it wasn't staring forward when she first set eyes on it.
Scrambling backward, she hurried down the halls, her hands running against the dirty wall for support. Her feet stung, as she hurried away, dismissive of the multiple sharp objects laying around on the floor.
She soon got to a larger room, getting in, she barricaded the door with some broken chairs. It didn't matter whether or not something was chasing her, she just needed to feel some security. She listened carefully for any sign that the creature was approaching but there was no sound others than her little puffs.
'It's okay…I'm okay. There is no possible way a corpse would be capable of movement.' Came her logical reasoning. Convincing herself she was free from the horror she had faced, she heave a sigh her body relaxing, and she became aware of a burn in her throat. Her muscles throbbed all over and checking her feet, she found tiny glass and metal shards digging into her flesh.
Wincing, she carefully picked out each shard, deciding that dirty cloth was safer than the bare floor, she tore two strips off her clothes and wrapped her feet with them. Looking around the large room, she saw a large pile of broken shelves, a smashed vanity and many other things right in the path to a huge balcony.
Her curiosity peaked, and she reached out for a large mirror shard, holding it above her she looked at her face. Lifting her hand, she traced around her dull lavender colored eyes, mesmerized at the change. Her body was that of a five year old, a sickly one with yellow blotches dotting her skin, dark circles and sunken cheeks. 'The owner of this body had indeed suffered' was the first thought that came to her.
Gathering her strength, she used the leg of a chair as a makeshift walking stick, maneuvering her way through the debris, she headed for the balcony. Pushing the already fractured doors open, the fell with a loud crash, making her jump in fright.
She sucked in a deep breath of the warm breeze that blew in, standing under the morning rays, she closed her eyes tilting her head up. She wasn't sure how she had come into this world, but she intended to return home someday, and for now she would focus on how to survive.
-----
Wiping the sweat off their faces, three companions trod through the decimated city, underneath the burning heat of the sun. They were dressed in similar camouflage bodysuits, all but their distinctive hair and matching tattoos, which showed they were anything but protectors of their countries. The man in the lead stopped in his tracks, looking to the right, his ears twitched sensitively.
The others caught up with him, a woman with crazy looking red hair and a green bandana keeping it out of her eyes stepped forward. Following his line of sight, she squinted. "Do you sense something?" using her right hand to shield her eyes, she reached into her brown knapsack her hand ruffling through it to search for something.
"Something was smashed over there just now." He replied, his eyes seemed to glow as his gaze remained focused on where the sound came from.
"Oh c'mon, can't you see how many smashed buildings there are here? One of them was probably not able to hold on anymore." Groaned their other companion, a lazy looking white haired guy, he tipped his face cap forward further blocking the sunlight from his eyes.
The girl snorted, "Idiot!" she turned away from him, ignoring his confusion at the insult. She took out her binoculars and looked through them, soon she caught sight of a small frail figure on a balcony.
"It's a kid out there Jeremy." The dark haired man nodded at her, and started toward the direction she pointed at. They followed behind him, occasionally stopping to share a water canteen.
They soon arrived at the house where Arilla was staying, it was nearly noontime, and the warm breeze had already stopped blowing, leaving them no reprieve from the scorching heat. The lazy guy walked toward the balcony and looked up, catching a glimpse of Arilla, he cupped his lips and called out "Hey kid!"
Startled, Arilla stumbled back into the room, she carefully peeked out from the side of the wall. Watching the man and his companions, she contemplated whether or not to communicate with them.
She opened her mouth to answer from the safety of the room when she felt a familiar scratchy pain. Her throat hurt, it hurt too much to make a sound. Her eyes widened, it was no wonder no sound came out when she wanted to scream, it seemed that her vocal cords were either injured or unused.
'I'm mute!' her mind screamed, the situation was definitely not in her favor. It didn't matter how this world was, it was easy to take advantage of a child that couldn't speak, too easy. It was impossible for her to survive if they tried to harm her, clenching her fists tightly on the edge of the wall, she felt her body shaking with growing anxiety.
Forcefully pushing down her rising fear, she tried to focus on the moment. 'Voice or no voice, this body is too weak to escape If they decide to take me by force.'
It didn't matter if her situation was dangerous, there was no guarantee that staying in this house would be safe, besides there was no sustenance. Her hand went to her stomach, despite her worries over starving, she felt no ache in her stomach.
Resigned to her fate, she came out of her hiding place walking to the edge of the balcony, facing her guests who were waiting patiently. "Ooh what a pretty thing." Mumbled the red head bouncing on her toes. Hearing her words, Arilla's heart shook as she shifted her gaze to meet the woman's eyes that seemed to glint with excitement.