Sunlight sloshes through a window. I cover my face with my hands instinctively to block the harsh light from burning my eyes. I feel a slight nudge on my shoulder and hear some muffled noises from somewhere far away. I feel sick. My limbs feel heavy. My head feels warm. My stomach feels—
Feels
Wait a minute…..and then it hits me like a fucking freight train. I am not supposed to feel sick. I am not supposed to feel anything at all. I am supposed to be dead. Dead.
The accident, the explosion, the nothingness….the —
"Wake up now, sleepy head!", a pillow comes crashing in my face, startling me to the core. I push it out of the way to see a young man, probably in his late teens staring with his yellow gold eyes staring back at me. He wore an elite school uniform. "If you don't be up and drop me in 10 minutes, I am going to fail my physics exam and mom and dad are going to disown me."
"What the-"
"....Yeah and then nobody would take care of your poor soul when you're sick and you're going to suffer alone, not even Lily will save you"
" Who the—"
"Yep…suffer, suffer, suffer and die alone, so if you don't want that, get up!", with that, he pulls the blanket off of me pulling me to my feet with a surprisingly strong grip for his thin frame. I don't have time to think further as he hauls me toward a door, which opens up to a lavish bathroom on the other side, huge enough to fit 30 people, with a luxuriant bathtub filled to the brim in a corner.
My pupils dilate dazed by the sight in front of me, but before I can think better of it, I am pushed. Hard. Stumbling right into the bathtub . I topple over, falling in with a splosh, drenching myself. That much is enough to slap me back to my senses, all the early grogginess fading away.
Where am I?, What am I?, Who the heck was he? What is this place?. It sure as heck isn't a hospital, not that I was expecting it to be, because I was dead, I am supposed to be dead. This place doesn't even look like heaven, or hell for that matter, in fact it looks exactly like my world. Then what if...what if I survived?
I pull myself up from the bulk of water around me, gasping for air in the enormous bathtub.
I huff, I couldn't have possibly ---, I touch my temple and no, there isn't a wound , or a cut, nothing. I bring my hands to my face to find a bruise, a bandage, something, anything. Heck it doesn't feel like my face. But I panic too much to notice. There has to be something. My pulse quickens, my heart beats faster. I run my hands all over my body , searching for something, frantically, I press my hands everywhere, squeeze, grip desperately to make sense of why I am unharmed and I find nothing, not even the pain I would have felt if I survived.
"How the-"
"Finally gone wild, sis? I knew mom and dad adopted you from the zoo, but woah, don't you think you're going extra feral today?" I stare back at the young man unseeing, my hands still at my side
Of course he found that comical. Asshole.
He has the audacity to continue, "Wait… don't tell me you didn't bathe in days. Oof Genny, no wonder you stink–",
I don't let him finish, I jump out the bathtub and get a hold on the nearest thing I find- which turns out to be a shampoo bottle.
Okay, whatever
I hold the makeshift weapon out to his face, threatening him with it ,yelling, "Who the bloody hell are you? What the heck is this place? Where am I, did you kidnap me or something? And what happened after the accident??"
The young man stares at me as though i've come from another planet, he blinks, his yellow-gold eyes shimmer, a realisation creeping into his face, "Ah, so that's what it is, well sis, good to know that you got back your physical strength, but maybe the fever got to your brain. Anyway wash up quick, I'm getting late"
Before I could open my mouth to shoot back, he slammed the door shut with a thud and left.
"What the–"
I drop the shampoo and immediately pull up a little stool from the bathroom corner to sit, head in my hands, and I finally take a few deep breaths.
What the holy hell is happening to me, one day I'm editing shitty romance novels, the next day I wake up somewhere with not even a single scratch? I need to get out here, I need to find my phone, I need to call someone, anyone. I need to tell them that I somehow magically survived though I haven't figured out how.
Okay Elara, get your brains together, this world isn't my exactly world and yet it doesn't feel all that different too. I don't know who that weird guy was but i've got a feeling that he might be the key for me to at least figure out the hell was going on.
He said something about dropping him, perfect! . Hopefully I'll figure out what i need to do after that.
Despite myself, a smile paints my face. I should be scared, terrified but panicking is not really my style.
Panic makes you lose focus and when you lose focus you're good as dead.
As my father's words ring in my ears,
A hand raps at the door, "Are you done, Genny?"
"Yes, Almost done", I say back
With a newfound determination, I quickly change into the clean clothes hung on the towel rack, wring out my hair clumsily with my hands, and get out the door.
I see the same young guy, but he isn't alone this time, there is also a young lady, probably in her early twenties, standing on the other side of the room. She has pink, shoulder length hair that almost looks...natural, big blue ocean eyes, innocent features, and little pouty lips. She's pretty in a cute way.
Wait… that almost reminds me of—
The second her eyes meet mine, her lips curl up softly and she pulls me into a hug that knocks the air out of my lungs. She feels warm, I almost can't remember the last time I'd been hugged. I feel weirdly safe. "Oh my god Genny, thank god you're fine, I came back as soon as I heard of your fever", she squealed.
I know it's probably not a good idea to let down my defences, but when you finally feel find time to catch your breath after literally dying, your defences go on break. As soon as I hugged her back though, she stiffened as if she wasn't expecting me to hug her back. Was she used to getting pushed away?
She eventually eased into me clutching me tighter, my eyes meet those yellow gold eyes who looked suddenly stunned as if this time, I actually looked like an animal from the zoo.
"Woah Genny, looks like the fever finally got to you or something, since when did you start hugging people, and that too Lily of all?", the guy said.
"That's enough Aiden, everyone needs a little affection when they're at their lowest", Lily says
Lily....Aiden....Genny.....why does it feel like I'm missing something here?
"Lowest?, oh please, you were always treated like shit by this brat--"
"Aiden", Lily warned
"Fine, just drop me off already, ughh", Aiden groaned.
With that, Lily pulled back reaching into her pocket to pull out keys that she jangled in the air excitedly, "How about I give you a first class ride on my bike today, Mr. Aiden?"
Aiden nodded flatly already walking towards the door.
"Wait", my voice rang out making him pause, "Wasn't I supposed to drop you off?"
"You want to drop me off?"
"Didn't you ask me to?"
"I ask you a lot of things Genny, you just never did it"
"What?"
"Nothing. Lily told me not to make you work when you're sick"
I flinch slightly at his tone. Lily speaks up cautiously, "It's okay Genny, you need to rest, I'll drop him today--"
No, no , no, if I don't go out, I might not be able to figure out what this world is or anything for that matter. I must do what I can to keep my doors open.
"No", I shriek, making them both jump, "I'll do it"
"But-"
"I'll do it"
"You really will?", Aiden scoffs, "Well that's different, the fever made you less of a brat, huh?"
I narrow my eyes at him flashing him my best saccharine smile, "Now, shall we? Mr. Aiden?"
"Okay", he shrugs, then when he casually glances at his watch, his eyes widen. "Oh shit, the exam starts in 8 minutes, we'll never make it on time". He turns toward the door swinging it open hurriedly, and throwing a look over his shoulder he say, "Genny, get your car keys, I'll be waiting downstairs"
Car keys. Sure, I fucking know where they are, and even if i did manage to find them-
I smirk, "Oh, I don't think we'll be needing that little brother..."