Collateral Soul

Where am I? I scanned the whole place from where Im standing. Im in what looks like a huge cave or an old church with a huge dome ceiling. There is no sun light coming from anywhere but the whole place illuminates with the brick wall's green bioluminescent, It shimmers with the water reflecting it from below--wait water? I looked at my feet before gasping! there is no floor beneath me but water reflecting the whole place. H-how?? how am I standing.on.water?! I must be going crazy. I thought to myself. Im hallucinating! I added. Is this a dream? am I dreaming? My feet wobbled at the sight of my feet just above the deep water. Im afraid I could sink and drown. I've always been not fond of heights and bottomless water is no exemption. For Pete's sake! its just like the sky! but liquid and wet. Heck I must be losing my mind but how is this possible? am I God now?? I shake that thought out of my head. Nope! I maybe the so called luckiest girl to ever lived and I may have skills an average person couldn't acquire all at once but Im no God! Im a mere senior highschool student who just happened to be so lucky and now is so doomed in the middle of a calm ,deep, pitch black! water. Minutes pass and Im still arguing with my thoughts until I decided to test if I really am on water or probably a special effects . Slowly I bent my knees and my arms shakingly reach down to touch the water--wait! w-what if I fall after touching it? my candle like fingers might poke a hole on the water and sunked me in. Can you even put a hole in the water? why is my thoughts going cranky I can't take this anymore. Before my mind could create another argument my hands reached the water and scoped some in my hands . My jaw drop as the water gracefully dripped down my hands and through my fingers..its...water! How the f is this possible?! I tried scooping it again and again and same happens as I do. It drips down my hands and falls back with dripping water sounds. It was all so... pretty. I could not fathom the mere sight of this beautiful place alone but this! water.on.my.feet? and its alive and dripping! is too much to even comprehend. My heart is mixed with fear of truely falling in and amazement as I admire this magical place Im in . My body frozed when a laugh broke off somewhere, tensed after realizing Im not alone while acting crazy and stupid playing with the water. I feel my heart beat so fast hearing that laugh. I look around me to know where its coming from. The laugh sounds so playful and mentally ammusing to my ear I like it. "W-where are you?! " I shouted and my voice echoed all over the place. Suddenly the laughing had stop and my heart fell silent in disappoint its as if Im craving to hear it some more but its gone now. I opened my mouth then closed again hesitant to ask this stranger watching me from who knows where. Or is it just another trick in this hallucinations? The place fell dead silence perhaps my mind is just playing with me.... Oh who am I kidding? ofcourse it is! its gotta be. Everything here is impossible besides how did I even got here in the first place? The last thing I remembered was going home with my friends after we finished our meeting. Another minute pass and I realized if I didn't hear that voice then.. Im alone. I've never felt being alone before . My friends and some people around me are my only witnesses of this feeling ,they've shared me their stories and the incomprehensible emotion they show infront of me that I know nothing of. I've never dealt with such state because wherever I go I seem to be never alone. Never like this. The beauty of this place had probably comforted me from the start hovering over the fact that Im alone in such an unexplainable state. "A-anyone?" My voice started to shake. I've never known I could also stammer in fear other than from being hysterical. "please.." I quietly begged as my heart started aching. "You're not supposed to be here....yet." My eyes widened after hearing that familiar voice. I scanned my surroundings once more and my eyes fell on a figure in the shadows. Slowly I step one foot infront of me still aware what Im about to do.. walk on water. But nothing feel so frightening than losing that voice again, Im holding on to it dearly at the moment. "What do you mean?" I asked to keep him from turning silent again. "I know what you're doing don't come near me." he stated with his deep voice. "I-I don't know-- " " I said don't come near me". he sternly cut me off after acting ignorant of what he just meant ealier. I took another careful step towards him and I felt him grinning of my actions. "Stubborn brat." he utter and the water started moving under my feet. I stared at it and my eyes widened at the sight of corpses swimming upwards to where Im standing. My body frozed on the spot. I couldn't feel my legs nor could I gasped for air. I felt something tugging my uniform skirt and the only thing that finally came out from my mouth is a squeak out of horror. A skeletonized woman wearing rag clothes is pulling me down, all of them is pulling me down . Some held my feet and some forcefully pulling me down while holding my clothes, their hoarse voice are murmuring words I couldn't understand and some would constantly scream into my ear. Another bone grabbed my hair and I screamed at the pain. Slowly I felt totally sinking in the water the undead kept on pulling me deeper in and before I could scream for help I saw a figure reached out its hand to me pulling me out of the water and into his arms. My chest moved up and down while I breath heavily after the literal death defying experience. I stared at this person holding me while still panting and I felt his strong arms tightning. "T-thanks."my eyes felt tired while uttering those words to my savior but he just remained silent . Half of his face was covered with the shadow because of his hoodie leaving only his tightly closed thin lips for me to see. "...Not yet." I don't understand what he meant by that and my heavy breathing prevents me from asking questions. "Now go back." his head leaned to me kissing my forehead and my eyes suddenly felt heavy as I slowly fell asleep. —————————————————————— "Katya.." "Katya wake up!" I hear one of my bestfriend ,Ann, calling my name. She's brutally tugging my arm while yelling near my ear.I just groaned in response so she pulled the sheets off of me. "Dude!" I whine while moving both my feet to my chest. The morning feels really cold even without using the AC which makes me wanna sleep the whole damn day off. "Don't dude me. We'll be late for school!"She scolded. "The school's not going anywhere your excellence." I answered burrying my face on my pillow. "What do you mean? W-wait." She pause for a moment. "Dont tell me you forgot?!" She exclaimed one hand place on her mouth as if she's really shocked of what she just realized. My eyebrows furrowed at her question. "Forgot what?" I asked so she leaned in and bit my shoulder. "Aww! Why'd you do that for??" "You're the student government's president you lazy bum! You of all people should know tardiness is not good for your image and--- wait, are you laughing at me?? Unbelievable!" I can't help but chuckle at her expressions. Yes its true I'm currently holding that position in our school but I never did wanted it as a matter of fact I have no intentions of running for any positions and joining the SSG I was just merely minding my own business when a twisted circumstance occured which led to my days of spearheading the organization even so I kept my responsibility and manage to do my obligations for 3 straight years since no one seemed too be interested in running for the position eversince I sat on it. I've never had any issues or any serious problems while working infact I was smooth sailing, everything just seems so fine and every decision I made was perfect . Not that its weird because it had always been like that may it be at the SSG or my life I've never experience trouble. But at some point being stress free is kind of a bothersome. I never knew what I was doing right or wrong because everything like I said was fine . I didn't feel the need to learn some more because any thing new I'd try would only make me excell in an insane rate within a small amount of time. Ann finally stopped nagging me when I decided to get up and take a shower. She said she'd be waiting downstairs with mom. I tripped naked before sliding the glass door of the shower stepping in the cold floor. I reached for the shower nob and turned it on. Cold water started pouring down on me traveling through my body before landing on the ceramic floor. This will wake me up. I said to myself before my eyes laid on my reflection on the glass wall , I gently brushed my fingers thru my long black hair before slowly tugging its ends. So it did happen, I can feel it. How could a dream feels so vivid if it wasn't true. I thought reminiscing the whole place I saw ,the water ,even the horrible sight of those corpses, every little detail embedded in my mind. I slowly raised my hand to touch my forehead where that stranger kissed me back in my dreams. I pressed my lips together before it forms into a smile. I shooked the thought of being attracted to him, maybe I've really gone insane , attracted to a stranger ...in my dreams. What kind of a person even feels attraction at a first meeting either its stupidity at its finest or I'm just the only one thinking no one should. I closed my eyes for a moment giving in to my urge to smile."But why .....was it so cold?" I whispered to myself. When I open my eyes and place them back to my reflection my body instantly stiffened. There was another figure next to me staring back at me with crimson eyes. I can feel its dark and heavy presence behind me but my body couldn't move to see or perhaps to chase this manly figure out of the bathroom and call for help. Seconds pass and the water coming from the shower head gets warmer and warmer fogging the bathroom and filling the glass wall with moist. Slowly I breathe in and out mustering the courage to face this entity behind me . I thought of a self defense before turning around I'll hit his face with my elbow and stomped on his feet. He'll lose balanse for sure thats when I'll hits his face with my wrist and kick his balls. Even if he seems large just by looking at his reflection I know exactly how much pressure I needed to execute my moves. I started counting ......1 ..............2 ....................3 I slowly move my arm heaving momentum to hit his nose with my elbow swiftly I swung my arm to my back "Eat this you--- aaack! air?" I felt my shoulder cracked after hitting with so much force at nothing. I turned around and frantically search the whole room with my eyes , his gone? Hey over here! guys wait up! Hey have your heard about... Hahaha Katya bit the straw of her coffee in can whiles still loss thinking about the crazy encounter earlier. She could never fathom out what just truely happened. Just when she swung her arm to beat the unwordly entity behind her it dissapeared into thin air . When she glance back at the reflection she saw herself looking back at her . That figure she saw was gone along with its seething intensive aura that coated the whole glass chamber. She figured she must be going crazy after the series of odd occurence she went through . She never tried doing drugs or even thought about it leaving her with two mad conclusion ,she's schizophrenic which is obviously not a good diagnostic to start with or she really did saw what she saw and those peculiar incident really did happen and she's not going crazy! Hopefully she comes up with a new conclusion because honestly anything is better than that of the former. The school cafeteria is filled with murmurs and muffled voices ,not that its full infact only a few students are present here during recess,not to mention the distance of each tables from each other. Some students rarely shows up when the bell reverberates and when they do their only reason would be to check the daily talk written on the white board placed upon entering ,even that seems to be foolishly unpermitted by the high ranking students in school ,they candidly keep their positions very seriously and often shoves the lower ranking students out of their sight. "Hey Katya! girl you listening?" Katya instantly flinched at the contact of her bestfriend's hands on her shoulder shaking her back to reality. She forgot about that for a moment even after carefully moving her body ever since she got out from the bathroom. "Hey are you okay?" Jean ,another one of her bestfriend asked in a worried tone, she placed the fries she was about to bite back to her plate when she notice the slight sour change of her friends expression. She smiled before answering "Yeah Im fine" . Katya doesn't want her friends to get in her case when she knew exactly how would they react if they knew she was hurt in anyway. They've been friends since primary school and even with her athletic skills her body grows feverish every year. "You've been spacing out are you hungry? Surely aunt Mina fed you before coming here or she would never let you go. Did she eat anything before coming here?" Jean spoke with her monotonous tone before turning her gaze to Ann who tensed up with the question. Even with her distant vibe Jean was always the overprotective one of them , she was involve in an intense cluster of horrible people usually named as gang or fraternity ,whichever it is she was in it before meeting Katya and Ann. "I-I made sure she did!" Ann stutter holding her fork and knife tightly in both hands. "You sure she did or you did?" Ann's eyes widen. "E-hehe I may. have. eaten. too. much I didn't notice" she answered, her voice fading from loud to whisper. "B-but! Aunt Mina packed her something so..." Annoyed Katya stood up to cut them both "aishhh Im not a kid!" She pointed her finger to her two bestfriend "and you two are not my bodyguards! So quit it. Im fine" she said before picking up her bag and walked out their table. She dash out of the cafeteria and strode the long hallway while still clutching her bag in her right hand. Those two may have been her bestfriend for a long time but they never cease to make her feel like she was a fragile porcelain doll that couldn't take care of herself and would break in a matter of seconds. Not minding the students bowing as she passed . Even after achieving so much they still treat her with utmost care which she felt unfair ,everyone respects and follows her without her even trying or lifting a finger. She too cared for them but they never thought about it, she's been treated like the center of the universe of everyone around her and that did not feel wonderful or amazing. People would've wanted it that way but not her. She's been granted with a life she never worked for nor wanted. Entrance with her thought Katya bumped into someone while speed walking , her bag flew out of her hand and landed on the tiled floor. "Gosh Im sorry!" she apologized as she walk back to pick up her bag but someone had picked it up first . Her eyes moved from his hands holding her bag upto his pretty face facing her The atmosphere felt so heavy all of a sudden , a familiar vibe build up on the space from where theyre standing. She gazed at his greem eyes and for a split second there she thought she saw both of them glowed. He was wearing the school's uniform tho Katya's confident she haven't seen this person before and she should know because the Moonlit Academy is a private school ,strictly selecting only a few students to partake the entrance exam. Its either she was just not paying attention or he is a new student either way she felt obligated to introduce herself or perhaps allow the latter to make himself known to her knowledge. He moved his hands handing over her bag to her "Thanks .Are you perhaps new here?" She asked receiving her bag. "Kind of" he answered. His voice was rather soft and familiar. Kind of? What kind of answer is that? She asked herself. "Okay? Anyway ,my name is Katya Reeves I'm currently the president of the supreme student government" she reach out her hand to him , tint of red flushed in her cheeks while introducing herself. She never acknowledge that position in her heart but she wasn't also the kind to turn away from it. She have been claiming it with head held high to prevent being overwhelmed ever since acquiring it so why feel shy now? There was a sudden change in his expression before looking away "I see". He answered without taking her hand. She thought she was blushing earlier but now she was excessively flustered out of embarrassment so she slowly retreated her hand which he noticed , his jaw dropped after realizing what he did and instantly grabbed her hand "I -ah Im Kenlee Labyrinth" "Oh--" They both frozed upon the contact of their skin. What felt like a wave of static started traveling through their hands. Kenlee inhales sharply he knew he had to let go so he did. He covered his mouth when he felt the unwavering discomfort still coursing through him instantly turning around and walked back to the direction he was heading earlier leaving her speechless. When he was gone from her sight the atmosphere lightened and her breathing went back to normal. She ignored the fact she was rudely left there gaping her mouth, if anything she was rather concerned of her heart beating so loudly she was finding it hard to composed herself.