4484
« on: October 04, 2013, 04:23:58 AM »
- 5 years ago - [The Meeting]
Shifting about in thick red covers, a young Phi jumps awake.
*gasp* *gasp* *gasp*
Sweating profusely, she tosses off the covers and takes a couple moments to bear her surroundings. Gray fabric draped above and around the girl, with nothing more than a lamp at the corner and a bowl of soup next to her. She seemed to be inside a tent. Why was she here? She remembered nothing of ending up in a place like this.
"I see you are finally awake." An unfamiliar voice peers through the opening of the tent and an elderly woman steps inside.
"W-who are you? Where am I?" She demands with a shaky voice.
The elderly woman gives a smile; a tired smile. A calm, ambient smile that fit perfectly within the creases and wrinkles of her cheekbones. Clearly, this stranger has had her history of comfort and hospitality. But whether this smile is of truth or lies, is yet to be determined.
"My name is, Akane. You've been asleep for quite some time now." She said as knelt down beside her. "I found you unconscious in the woods. In fact, we're still here. I know you've been through a lot. Here, I made you some soup, in case you were hungry."
Phi's head felt like a drum being banged on.
"Uggh, no... where's Luna..." She got up from her makeshift bed and strolled outside into the warm, orange hue of the dawn sky. The sun began to peak itself from behind the trees and the cicadas rhythmically parade the woods with their sounds.
Akane followed after her. "Dear? What's wrong?"
"Sis? Sis!!" Phi called out to her sister. She was about to call out again when she caught herself. A building being engulfed in harsh flames and choking gray smoke rustled its way into her mind.
Phi collapses onto her knees and covers her face. "No... that... it can't be..." The burning apartment building crashes back into her memory, causing her to remember everything... including the sister she lost.
She stayed there in that spot, not moving, silent, alone. But who would enter her isolation was Akane, only a few steps behind her.
"I'm sorry... I know this is painful. Loss is hard to accept." Akane placed a hand on Phi's shoulder.
Phi took her gaze from the ground and focused it on the unfamiliar woman.
"Loss...? I never told you about my loss. How the hell do you know about that?!" Phi snapped.
"You told me about it hours before I found you. Subconsciously." She replied calmly.
Phi stood there more confused than she already was. "Huh?"
"It's a long story, dear. One that I will tell you when things settle down. You have a lot on your mind, and I won't stack any more burdens on you. For now, please come back inside. We have a long day ahead of us." Akane brushed off some dirt from her dress as she stood up and went back inside the tent.
Phi saw no other choice but to do the same. There were a million and one things flooding through her mind, and settling down with nothing but nature around her and the sun's rays bathing the quiet woodlands didn't seem like such a bad way to tackle everything that has transpired in the past hours.
With nothing but the drifting sound of cicadas around them, Phi crawled back inside the tent.