"Tori! Come down and eat breakfast!"
Woken up by her mom's voice, Tori replied, "Later," with hoarse voice. Tori tried to open her heavy eyelids and glanced at the clock hanging on the wall not far from her bed. It was only 7 in the morning. She could hear the sound door being closed from downstair, signaling her parents have left for work. Tori then decided to go back to sleep since it was still early for her.
"What a lazy lady you are."
Who would expect the reaper to show up this early in the morning. He was the last person Tori would like to be nagged by. Tori pretended to be asleep because she didn't want to talk with him.
"Pretending to be asleep?"
No answer, he was ignored. The girl really fell asleep. He was amazed by how she could fall asleep instantly. He then approached her and lifted the peacefully asleep sleeping beauty in his arms and a few moments later, the sound of loud splash was heard.
Splash!
Tori was woken up by the sensation of cold water and the pain from being tossed.
"WHAT THE HECK? DID YOU JUST TOSS ME INTO WATER?"
"Yes, I did. It's a perfect morning waking up at beach with the view of sunrise, isn't it?"
"Beach wh-" Tori stopped halfway when she heard the sound of waves and it crashed onto her when she turned her head.
Byurrr!
"Good morning," he said at the drenched Tori. He waited, expecting her to storm off and curse him as usual but silence was the answer he got.
Tori stared into the horizon dumbstruck. She was too surprised to comprehend what was going on. The sight in front of her was clearly the view of beach. She was prepared to be engaged in any ridiculous things when it came to Erebus but she never expected that he could teleport.
She stood up, stared at the scenery then closed her eyes and felt the wind. She could smell it, the smell of the sea, the tinge taste of saltiness from the water, the sand tickling her legs as it got washed over by the waves. Just as he said, she could see the sun rose slowly, watching the sky changed its color magically from deep blue to pink, then orange . She was enchanted by the beauty of the nature. Never had she thought that she would be able to see such magical view.
"How beautiful," she whispered softly, unheard by Erebus.
Byurrr!
"Did you just kick me?!" Tori glared at Erebus. She was thankful that he brought her to beach despite being tossed like a garbage bag but now she didn't think she should express her gratitude because this guy didn't need it.
"I did."
"Can't you at least let me enjoy the view for a while?" she said with clearly annoyed tone and frowned.
"You looked like a fool dazing off, I can't help myself to not kick you," he answered then turned his back to Tori as he walked away and took off his cloak. Tori followed him and just when she was about to curse him, Erebus suddenly threw his cloak to her face which blocked her vision, pulled her by the arm and lifted her up then walked few steps before tossing her on her bed. Tori tried to break free when he lifted her up, but Erebus's grip was too firm.
"What did you do that for?" she shouted at Erebus as she took of the cloak blocking her vision and saw that they were back to her room which caused her to go silent for a moment because Erebus was gone.
"Eres…?" she called out to him, but there was no answer. She stood up and searched for him but he was nowhere to be found.
"He disappeared again," she slumped her shoulder and sighed. Another unanswered question piled up in her brain. She let out another sigh and decided to take a shower then cleaned the mess. Her bed was sort of wet. She cursed him for tossing her on the bed out of so many places he could have picked.
----------
"Argh, I'm bored. I ended up waking up so early because of Eres. Damn it, I wanted to sleep more but I couldn't sleep at all." I said out loud then grabbed a glass of water and right when I was about to gulp it down, I choked because he suddenly appeared, seated in front of me after I blinked.
He laughed again. Watching me jumped whenever he showed up must be entertaining for him. I hated to admit it but I had been dancing in his palm since I got revived, I ended up entertaining this guy with my reaction over every little thing.
Argh, dang it.
"You just cursed me, didn't you?"
"W-who? What? Curse you? You must be imagining it."
Damn it. Why did I stutter?! I wanted to slap this mouth of mine. He would laugh for sure! See, the corner of his mouth was going upward.
"You are bad at it." He grinned mockingly.
"Ah, shut it! Can't you pretend to not notice it?"
"Nope," he grabbed my chin, still wearing that mocking grin on his face, "you are my toy."
Hearing that ticked me off which resulted in me biting his finger to cover my embarrassment.
"Ouch! Are you a dog?!"
"Yes, crazy dog which you picked up! I bite, so don't you dare to touch me!" I growled at him.
Rather than replying back, he chuckled. He must have some loose screws. I let out a sigh and decided to take a deep breath and calm myself because there was something I wanted to ask.
"Eres."
He looked at me with widened eyes, his pupils shook for an instant. It was a strange sight, not once had Tori ever seen him like that, but she wasn't sure because it only happened for an instant.
Did he not like being called "Eres"?
Erebus soon opened his firmly closed lips.
"…Eres?"
"Yeah, Eres, it's easier to say than calling you Erebus. You know, pet name. It doesn't sound like dog's name, so don't think of turning my tongue into steak for your lunch."
"Heh, so you're actually afraid of losing your tongue."
Seeing Eres acting like usual, I dismissed my thoughts of him being weird a moment ago. As I felt that this was getting nowhere. I called out to him again and he finally stopped laughing when he saw the look in my eyes.
"Ask away," he said uninterestedly, then turned his back and began to look around the room.
"You can teleport right? Can you do me a favor?"
"No."
"You haven't even heard it."
"No."
I sighed in defeat. Did he read my mind or what? I know he would turn me down, but turning me down without hearing me out first was a little too much, wasn't it? Damn Eres.
"Let's visit her."