"Did you know that Homer's Odessey and Illiad were actually epic poems? Like all that information we have about Greek gods and goddesses comes from poetry," Twyla rambled as she bounced around their pretentious, obsidian apartment. 

"Hmm hmm."

"I can't stand poetry but these older ones are much more like stories, you know? And there's so much information! It isn't just feelings and thoughts."

Twyla twirled around hugging her book.

"Oh yes. Mm."

"Sof…" Twyla whispered, dropping down until she was face to face with her friend. "Hi!"

Sofia burst out laughing and got up from her granite slab-of-a-desk.

"Alright. Alright. I'm listening. Greek gods and poetry. Anything else?"

"You study too much."

"You're the one gushing about classes," Sofia said, sticking her tongue out.

"What's for dinner?"

"Argh. What's in the freezer?"

"We could cook? And by we I mean you…"

"Um… No."

Beep. Beep.

The room was silent as they both checked their phones.

"Another one," Twyla mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I can't believe all these people are getting…" Sofia's voice dropped to a whisper. "Murdered."

"Yea… And no one is seeing anything? Like no trace of anything? Did you see the police's report?"

"I did. It was a whole lot of nothing. Just a bunch of political talk. 'We are doing all we can. We are following leads.' Psssht," Sofia said roughly. Her big eyes sparkled with the hint of tears. "Can we talk about something else? My plants don't like the negative energy?"

"There's a pizza in the fridge?" Twyla changed the subject.

"The fridge? When is that even from?"

"Hey! It has stuff growing on it. Here, you like things that grow…" Twyla tossed the box to a squealing Sofia.

"Woe is me", Sofia lamented and fainted onto the couch.

Twyla popped a healthier-looking pizza into the oven. 

"You used to be normal," Twyla considered, sitting on Sofia."

"Yes! I was! But you happened! And get off." Sofia wiggled out from under Twyla."Wait. Did you just put a pizza into the oven?"

"Yea… Why?"

"But! I mean… That one… You just saw!" Sofia gestured wildly to the pizza with "extra toppings" that was still on the floor. "How can you still want pizza?"

"Do you not want pizza?"

Sofia's mouth opened and closed.

"That's a good fish impression."

"Shut up Twy. Fine. I still want pizza. And we're watching Who Gardened Best," Sofia grumbled, grabbing the remote.

The next morning brought icy temperatures and winds that howled against their windows.

"Good thing everything is stone in this damned apartment," Twyla mumbled, as she dragged herself out of bed. "SOF! Sooofffff!"

Twyla wandered into the main room to find a cup of, now freezing, coffee and a note from Sofia.

Twy

You're taking ages to wake up.

I'm off to class. I have biotech at 8, remember?

Love you,

Sofia

Twyla had not remembered.

"Someone studying history should probably have a better memory," she muttered to the empty apartment.

As she sipped the cold coffee, she started meandering back to her room. She caught sight of her eyes in one of the many mirrored surfaces. They were stormy grey today. She wished they would choose a colour and settle down. Sometimes they were more silver, almost glowing. Sometimes they were so dark, they looked black. And sometimes, they looked like they were little storms inside her. Eyes aren't supposed to change colour.

"Maybe it's a day for sunglasses," she sighed as she drew a bath. The one nice thing about this impersonal, carved monstrosity they lived in, were the bathtubs. Twyla spent way too much on bath bombs but it was worth it. Especially on cold days like today. Sinking into the glimmering water, she forgot all about what colour her eyes were and just relaxed. The bath was also the place where she planned her day.

Besides her Greek mythology class, she had Latin and revolutions today. She always found it amazing how bad she could be at Latin. Revolutions weren't her thing either. At least, she always got lunch with her friends in between lectures. She checked her messages and they were trying out the new pancake house today. Dessert for lunch was definitely what today needed. Dinner would have to include a vegetable but even burgers had those…

Twyla stepped out of her warm bath and onto the marble floor. She would have preferred iced floors.

When she let Sofia choose the apartment this year, she thought her friend would go for something warm and cosy. Sofia was the sweetest person and, sure, Twyla wasn't always the most helpful but she had hoped she didn't come across as a big hunk of cold, black stone. When Twyla asked Sofia, Sofia said it was all the rage and that Twyla liked popular things and she was just trying to make Twy happy. So Twyla just sucked it up and pretended it was great. Even though they both probably hated it, there was no way Twyla was breaking Sofia's heart. To its credit, their apartment was as close to the university as it could get.

Twyla pulled on her jeans and a bubblegum pink shirt before layering herself in a scarf, jacket, beanie, and anything warm she found. She did not like the cold. She finished the last bit of her coffee and headed to her first lecture.

"You learnt a new word today!" James celebrated.

They had finished their Latin lecture and come straight to the pancake house.

"I did?" Twyla said, completely unconvinced.

She angled her chair towards the fireplace behind their table.

"Yea! It was 'et', James hollered, then howled with laughter. Her other friend, MJ, joins in.

She did know the Latin word for 'and'. She tried to throw the tiny, decorative clogs across the table at him but the waiter chose that precise moment, probably sensing trouble, to approach.

Twyla tried to listen as the waiter spoke but all she really wanted was to look through the brightly coloured menu…Pancakes were so close.

"Drooling a little there Twyla?" MJ, the betrayer, asked.

"I am not! I… I'm just hungry," Twyla stuttered, her cheeks reddening.

The waiter laughed and finally handed over the menus.

"Ooo. They make Dutch-style pancakes here!" James squealed.

"Yes. It is a Dutch pancake house. Did you not notice? The large windmill at the entrance that we walked through? The clogs on the table? The Dutch flag on the wall? The waiters that are dressed as milkmaids?" MJ asked, raising their eyebrow.

James looked around stunned. They all burst out laughing.

Twyla was still in a brilliant mood as she stepped into Oracles and Eyes for her shift. The bookshop wasn't as spooky as the name suggested. In all her years working there, she had only found a handful of witchy books, not that she looked. Twyla preferred facts. That's why she was studying history. There was evidence behind history. Sometimes, you had to dig a little deeper to find the truth but there was always truth. Prophecies, oracles, magic. Those things weren't real. They may have started with some real history but then they became fantasies. Stories.

Twyla made a cup of tea as she worked. The bookshop was quiet today and she spent much of her time watching the storm rage outside. 

The apartment door slammed behind her, later that evening. Cold and wet, Twyla turned on the gas fire in the main room. As she thawed out, she thought about Sofia's decision to stay on campus to study.

"A real dumb decision," she muttered, looking at the warm flames. Twyla loved her friend and her determination to study plants so that she could help with the food crisis. But she also missed Sofia. She knew it made her selfish that she didn't want to share Sofia with the world but she just wanted her friend. Twyla lost herself in revolutions and days gone by before calling it a night. She cast one last glance at the front door but everything was silent. 

Twyla woke the next morning with a strange feeling. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. The sun blared through the gaps in her curtains.

And then it hit her. 

Sofia. She didn't hear her come in. She always does. 

Twyla bolted out of bed and ran to Sofia's room. Her room looked untouched. The bed was made. Sofia hadn't come home last night.