---

 

She's here again.

A field of grass, flat and vast for miles to see. A murky sky above, blanketing the ground below in its dark covers.

She glanced to her feet. Stalks of green caressed them as a breeze blew from behind. The wind tossed the grass around playfully as they waved and twirled about. The grass didn't find it so fun. They clung to her feet for dear life, fearing the gust might whisk their fragile bodies away into the sky.

Her sight moved up. The flat stretch of green in her eyes panned downwards, transitioning towards a dark, sprawling, dazzling spectacle. A night sky, dotted with many stars that danced and shone and burst countlessly over the boundless, cosmic canvass. Some glowed dim, small and blinked like sparks; others beamed bright, great and burned like suns.

The stars never seemed to stop shining. For every stifled spark, a dozen more ignites. Yet, even as the stars grew and grew, they never appear to fill the infinite darkness. It was a surreal sight. An unfillable black void, brightened by a forever growing collection of sparks and flashes and flickers, growing ever more distant, larger and brighter. She could stare at it all night, as long as it lasts.

But it’s not what she’s here for.

She glanced back down on the field. Glanced around and looked some more. If time had passed by, she wouldn’t have noticed. Everything seemed stagnant. The blowing breeze; the waving grass; the blinking, multiplying stars; the vast darkness above. The scene seemed to repeat itself, running on an eternal iteration of the current state.

Thus, she waited.

She simply stood there and waited. Waiting for a change. Waiting for a tiny, minuscule disturbance among the static scenery.

Seconds passed like hours while minutes passed like days. The grass kept waving, the stars kept shining, and the breeze kept blowing. She kept waiting.

Waiting.

And waiting.

And wai-

Creak.

Time moved on in a snap. She heard the one second of that creak and processed every last moment of that creak’s second. The creak had a rough ring that she’d recognize anywhere. Rusted metal against stainless steel. Tarnished chains against an immaculate, steel latch. The chains need a repaint, and the latch needs a new bolt, from a rattle she caught among the creak.

She stopped her senses to hear it once more.

The creak creaked again.

She turned to her back.

The once empty field wasn’t so lonely anymore. A swing-set was there, sitting atop the nodding grass. Under the darkness, it seemed like an arching, lanky skeleton. She spotted two seats suspending over rusting chains, hanging over two pairs of steel latches, shining dimly from the bright stars above.

A girl sat on one of them.

She turned and traversed through the field. The grass grabbed onto her every step, begging for her stay, begging for sanctuary under her toes and soles. The wind was all the more emphasized as she went the other way. It wafted through every tiny seam of her body and limb, zipping through with considerable zeal.

The swing grew larger and larger as she got closer and not a lot after that. Suspended by a colourless frame, it was three halves of her height. She could hit her head if she were to jump high enough underneath

She sat on the left swing, the chains rattling off flakes of rust as she did. The seat felt cold on her rear like it had been vacant years before her arrival. The latches above squeaked as if it were a dozen jolts away from totalling its occupant below.

The girl hadn't seemed to notice her presence.

The woman examined the girl on the swing. The girl was undoubtedly a child. Her visual instincts gave her an estimation that she was probably six, or seven, at most. She had short hair and wore a virginal white dress, untainted and pure even from the naughty breeze. She seemed every bit of a young, innocent child, but the norm didn't seem to be the case here.

The girl was translucent. Near transparent. She saw the field beyond through the girl as she observed her presence. Her body seemed to be nothing but streaks of wisps, forming shapes of her body as it floated above the swing seat. Her ethereal presence looked so light and fragile as if the wind would whisk her just as easy as the grass below.

You are here.

The girl spoke.

The wisps spun her head to the side. She could see the features on her face much clearer now. Her big, innocent eyes complemented her round nose and pouty lips. She looked every bit of a young, innocent child.

How long ago was the last time? I can't count that much.

The girl spoke again, or rather, she spoke into her. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out. Not from her, at least. It rang from within her head, releasing a childlike echo inside as if she's speaking to her mind. The voice inside synced with her every movement; a bizarre happening, it was.

She didn't respond.

The girl stared for a moment.

Then her eyes glowed white.

Deep within her eyes, a ring of brilliant white glowed in her pupils. It was a bright, intimidating white. It was the kind that pierces through tunnels and forces an arm over your eye. Yet, as piercing as it was, she didn't glance away. She kept her gaze levelled with her's, never letting a single sight stray away. The white in her eyes stared into hers. They stayed for a silent spell.

Then the white diminished. The girl split a huge ear-to-ear grin and begun making shapes with her mouth.

I missed you too! Sixty years is so long!

The woman couldn't help but spread a grin herself as she cheered in her head.

How is it like outside? Is it fun?

Once again, her eyes glowed the same ring of white again.

Next time? Alright, but promise you will come back soon.

She nodded as she swung her stubby legs around, moving the swing as she went.

So what brings you here?

Her eyes glowed the same white again as she spoke into her head.

The white stayed for much longer this time, though her expression did not. At first, she put up a curious, lopsided grin, akin to a kid peering into a locked box she shouldn't be opening. The look shifted a little bit before turning into a waning smile like she was grinning out of courtesy to a conversation she didn't care for.

It wasn't long before she looked downright confusing, like a child walking out of the adults' section of a store.

The white in her eyes disappeared, but her confusion stayed.

Uh, what did you mean?

Her eyes glowed white again. This time, she squinted her eyes in a childish way of focus, as if she was attempting to wring out every last light from her pupils into hers.

Mmmmmmmmmmm…

It stayed like this quite a while. The white diminished after what seemed to be between a minute and an hour. She looked away from her, took a deep breath and looked back.

So there's this boy you like?

The woman nodded.

And he really likes you too.

The woman nodded again.

But you're scared because you know he won't like you if you show him he's liking you... wrong?

The woman nodded again.

Okay... let me think.

Think hard, she did. She could almost see smoke seeping through her ears as she closed her eyes with crossed arms, keeping herself occupied with the woman's riddling questions.

She twisted and turned and swung for a few times as she thought harder and harder and harder. Steam was pouring like tidal waves in a stormy sea.

Then she gave up. Not out of frustration but out of exhaustion. Her wispy body let out quite a steam as she let out another deep breath.

I really don't know! You like him and he likes you but you think he don't like you because he won't and, uh, uhhhh...

She swung her gaze back to her.

Why not just like him? I mean, it isn't difficult, right?

For this, the woman shook her head.

The girl gave a confused, lopsided look. Without prior warning, her eyes glowed their last white before dimming out a moment later.

Sorry, I just don't understand. I don't think I can solve your problem. I'm only a hundred and two, after all...

She followed that sentence with a pout of a little child who'd let someone down. It looked less like guilt and more adorable than it should. Still, it was a child let down by her hopes of helping another adult.

The woman was about to do something when her childlike face lit up like a bright bulb. She turned around and spoke.

Why don't you ask her?

She sat there, impatient for the woman to give her an answer. The woman had other thoughts, but then she looked into her eyes. What else could she do?

She nodded.

Then the wisp gave one last smile before dispersing into the air. It exploded into a wild whirl, twisting and churning within the swing. The woman watched it all as the colourless smoke formed a new shape.

The girl lost all its childish poise and took a slightly bigger form. Taller by an inch, maybe. Grown, if she may add. Her childish body showed the shapes of a developing adult. A teen, perhaps.

This new teen looked almost identical to the last one. Her once short hair now draped to her hips, covered by the once plain dress, now adorned with laces and patterns. She still had her round nose and pouty lips.

Her eyes, however, glared like slits. They swung themselves towards the woman in a disdainful look and threw themselves away. The teen made some rude shapes with her mouth that voices itself in her head.

What do you want this time?

She was a completely different person. The innocent, curious tone was ripped out of her head, and a dull, stoical voice was jammed into it. She could still hear the femininity in it, but that was just an icing on a rotten cake.

You're gonna tell me or what?

The girl hung a contempt expression over her face. The wisps of her body seemed to be fuming. She had her arms and legs crossed as she sat on the swing, along with crossed eyebrows above her phantom eyes.

C'mon, cut to the chase. You called me, you want something, don’t you?

The woman had to hold herself in. Four sentences in and she already felt like showing the teen what for. But alas, she couldn't.

It was true. She didn’t call her for no reason.

So what is it this time?

Her voice boomed deep with impertinence. What was it this time, the woman didn’t tell. She shrugged, instead, and tapped a finger to her head. The girl gave a deliberate roll of eyes before glancing towards her direction.

They shone a ring of yellow.

It was a dim yellow. A subtle glow circling the pupils, bright enough to see up close but so faint that it's unable to spot from afar. It brightened up her wispy eyes into bleached, golden misty shapes.

The ring of yellow stared deep into the woman's eyes. She felt a presence in her head, staring into her mind. It became a familiar feeling, like a friendly warmth beneath her scalp.

The yellow ring glowed within her dissatisfied gaze for a moment. They widened; a mix of surprise and disbelief. Her mouth hung a big O before shutting themselves back up. It was a few moments before the teen shut her eyes and swung herself away, muttering something to herself that she couldn't hear. The warmth oozed out of head, giving way for the cool air to swing in.

It’s impossible.

Her voice was harsh and unforgivable. It rang inside the woman's head like a buzzing bee. At first, she was done with her attitude and was about to let her know it when another voice boomed back into her mind.

You a fool or a fool? Don't you remember?

She bit back hard as she yelled into her mind. Her slitted eyes opened up into a frustrated glare as she swung back to meet her. A surge of emotions forced their way into her head. It was burning, raging and painful.

You really don’t remember how they deal with people like us? We saw so much! And- and- 

She was at a lost of words. She'd looked as if she had completely lost herself the moment she broke her eyes away from the woman. Her mouth was left gaping for a moment before she fired off again.

We saw what they did to them! To people like us! They tortured, and strung us like pigs! What makes you think they'd be different? Even if they accept you, you think they're just gonna let us free?

She was off her marbles. She flung words left and right, speaking of distant times and incidents igniting a flame within her empty insides.

Even if they did, and EVEN IF, they'd see us like they've always done. Like animals. Like slaughter pigs. They'd round us like cattle and string us up like pigs in a banquet!

She was starting to talk herself down, but her words just kept coming.

What makes you think the people now would be different? They'd drop the hatchet as they all did from before. Even him! What makes him so different? That he's gonna, what, open your arms and shield you while they toss their pitchforks? He'll join the other side. He'd see you like they see us. And even if he doesn't kill you-

Then the echoes in her head stopped.

She held back those words just in time for a fraction before finishing them.

He’d leave you anyway.

She looked down to her feet and glanced away to the field beyond.

Like they all did.

Silence came for a spell. The wind felt colder than before. They've lost their energy, now hissing low breezes to the grass below. The stars seemed to grow stagnant; the stars stopped pulsing in arrogant lights and grew solemn with only a mild glow.

Then the woman heard something in her head. A deep sigh; one hung with emotional baggage too heavy to release. It sounded like a pressure valve, letting out a jet stream of steam from a bottomless reservoir.

The teen turned back, the uncaring stilts that are her eyes returning to their place. The breeze went back to its zippy zeal as she looked back.

Anyway, forget about it. He’ll never accept you. Just keep that block behind your ponytail and do what we do best.

The teen ended her words as if she had more to say. But they just stopped there, like a train track ending abruptly at a cliff.

The woman shot her a gaze of her own.

The teen caught it and the ring of yellow returned to her eyes. They widened like oysters in an instant. She jumped in her seat in surprise on the swing, the rusty chains jingling in its place.

The yellow faded. Her shock, however, did not,

No, I’m not calling her. No way.

She shot her a stronger gaze.

No. Damn. Way.

She shot her an even stronger gaze.

Hell no-

She shot her the strongest gaze she could ever muster with her eyes.

Alright, alright, alright!

She caved in.

I’ll call her, but don’t blame me if she wrings you out. You know what she's like.

The teen's body began losing shape as she made circles next to her head. Her wispy figure started losing itself to the breeze as the girl did before. She left as abruptly as she came, but not before

Don’t expect her to give you a different answer.

Then she was gone.

The wisp lingered on the seat, twisting and turning as it swirled its misty presence.

Then she appeared.

The teen was no longer a teen.  Her head had been cut short till the point where she’s practically shaved. Her dress had been ditched, donning a dull pair of battered clothes as if they'd hadn't been washed for a good amount of time.

This is a woman. Not a woman where you could see the maturity and experience behind her presence, but the kind where you know for sure has gone at least some degree of life from her appearance. This one is a prime example. Her body had grown out of adolescence and took a new shape. She had the necessary bumps and curves to make up a good figure, along with a stature that looked like it held some years behind it.

She still had her pouty lips and round nose. Her eyes, however, were different.

They looked worn and beaten, like eyes of an old woman who lived in a daunting time of an untold past. They stared far and outwards into the darkness beyond, seeing something distant and cold.

So you called.

Her voice in her head sounded scratched and shot to death. It spoke of many emotions; none of them pleasant.

Forget it, any problem you have now is a blessing. You're lucky to be alive now.

The woman spoke harshly in a tone that was all but nice and friendly. She shot her a furtive glance before looking away in levels of disdain surpassing those from the teen by country miles. Yet, she didn't hold it against her. She knew it wasn't her fault.

The woman gave her pleading eyes, hoping that she'd give in, just for this time. Her dead, floaty eyes swivelled to meet her's.

Fine, if only you'd go back to your ungrateful life.

To that, her eyes shone black. A deep, claustrophobic ring of darkness circled her wispy pupils. It was a black that stares back at you if you look long enough. It was a black that creeps up in your dreams, not enough to give nightmares but dark enough for a night of restless sleep. It seemed to rival even the horizon beyond and the darkness above.

The woman kept her poise as she looked deep into her eyes. They were haunting. It was as if she had been staring at her soul through an open window. They stared deeper and deeper. Time seemed as if it'd been frozen for her; out of sheer, discomforting fear.

The black ring in her eyes kept to their level before it exploded in shock. The black snapped away in an instant like a cracking whip. The woman blinked a few times with her tired eyes before morphing into a hateful, furious glare.

No- NO-

The woman jumped off the swing - the first she'd ever seen, full of temper and emotion.

You don't remember, you really don't remember

She clutched her head, cackling like mad for a second before contorting her expression. It seemed as if a dozen faces were printed on her all at once, every deep line in it filled with fear.

The kills, the blood, the fires-

She craned her head upwards, turning insane from her own words. She howled to the sky and screamed to the grass, clutching her head tight as if it was a treasure.

The water! The water! How can you forget the water?!

She slammed herself down to the woman's shoulders. Her hands felt weak and cold, yet she could feel her immense strength and weight. She had an expression on her face that she could never forget for the rest of her days.

Not anymore, not anymore-

She slowly traced her hands to her neck. She closed all ten of her wispy fingers around-

Not anymore.

-and slammed every ounce of her strength into it.

Panic surfaced into her head as a solid block of air suddenly materialized out of nowhere, choking her windpipe. She couldn't feel the pressure from her hands, but whatever that was in her throat, she knew she was causing it.

It'll be fast, I'll be quick-

The woman struggled left and right, trying to pry her fingers away. It wouldn't work; she was nothing but air.

It's coming already, isn't it? Oh yes, it is-

She wasn't lying, she could feel the colours of the sky and the field blending into one pasty mesh.

He'd kill you, just like the others!

The woman knew that was a lie, that it was no truth in her saying.

Better if it was me than him...

The woman struggled to hold on to her last spark of consciousness. She fought it with every mental might she had left in her head.

The teen was right; she gave the same answer, but in a screwed up manner.

She took up every last living breath of her's and focused it into her eyes.

C'mon, that's it, succumb into the- wait, wha-

The woman's hand begun steaming as she stared. Streams of wisp let out into the air.

She pulled her hand back, the block of air in her throat instantly evaporated.

No, no, no-

She glared her hateful eyes towards the woman, heaving breaths as she began losing herself to the wind.

You can't-

She made a mad dash towards her-

YOU CAN'T FORGET ME-

-before imploding into a whirlwind of mist.

She was gone for good.

The steam floated through the air and went back to the empty swing beside her, like a lost animal returning to its home.

The wisp took another form.

Another woman came out of the churning wisp. She looked dastardly familiar to the last one but every fibre of her being told her she was different. This one had a rather long, luscious hair that draped to her hips. She was wearing a pair of overalls, with a checkered shirt underneath. She still had her round nose and her pout, but this time, they looked rather refined. It was like the last three had their features lost on the face and have finally found their way back to their rightful place. This time, she looked rather...

...lady-like.

The lady glanced towards her from her seat. Her eyes changed, yet again. From round innocent eyes to slits, then from a hateful look to what she has now - an oval, well-shaped, and captivating pair of jewels, even from their wispy form. She stared a while longer than she should as she drew her gems across her body.

You were so lucky.

The lady had a serene expression of worry on her face. She reached a hand towards her cheeks, brushing her delicate fingers across.

She didn’t do anything to this, now, did she?

She shook her head as she lowered her hand to her neck.

A mark.

Indeed there was one. A fat, rough ring of red, snaking around below her chin.

Unfortunate, but not unexpected.

She looked back up to meet her eyes.

Never dwell in the past, we’ve promised ourselves.

She rested against the swing, hands on her legs, mannered and with poise.

So, why call for me?

Then, like all before her, her eyes shone a light. No doubt it was a light, but this time, they seemed different.

The ring of light in her eyes shone a deep, dark blue. It wasn’t showy, nor was it anything to shout about. Yet, it was a blue you can't help but stare at as if time won't pass till you break sight. It had an oddly dense, yet peaceful tinge to it.

They stared deep into her eyes. Her head heated up to a comforting warmth as if like a lukewarm sauna, calming her nerves jittered from the fiasco not long ago.

Oh. Oh, my…

The lady kept her very best to maintain her appearance, yet even the blindest of eyes could see the disturbance in her eyes. The lady drew closer as if it could change whatever she was seeing. Then she pulled herself back, opened her mouth, and closed it again. It was a while before she found her words.

I’ve got nothing to say.

It sounded as if she was giving a guilt trip, yet her tone suggested something else.

I will give no further advice than what the others gave. I have nothing they haven't already said.

The woman saw her shook her head as she spoke. She hung a slight frown over her jewelled eyes and closed them, taking a deep breath before continuing.

You've been what they and I have been. Whatever would happen for this, you know better than I do.

She took one long look at the woman.

You should know better.

Then she disappeared.

Just like that, her wispy body flew away into the breeze and dissipated. They were gone in an instant, as quick as the wind that took them away. What was left were just the swing and its accompanying squeaks.

The night’s gone quiet again. The field, still hanging on to its fragile roots as the wind blew its umpteenth tease to whisk them away into the dark, star-spangled sky.

She was left there in the company of silence, with only faint traces of echoes bouncing off the depths of her mind.

She rewound the tape, bringing the words back into her head as she took a few swings on her seat.

He'd leave you anyway. Like they all did.

He'd kill you! Just like the others.

You should know better.

The words lingered in their head, zipping through her memories as she replayed them over and over.

They were right.

They were all right.

She had gone through every last year of her long life, seeing and hearing things that would stick for centuries in her head. She'd seen people make the same mistake and paid more than just the price of it. She'd seen the punishments of their actions, and she was lucky to live through every single one of them. If it weren't for the past, she wouldn't be here today.

She was foolish. Dumb. Stupid. Idiotic. She saw the things she saw and lived through the horrors.

She looked up to the sky, the star-spangled infinity above laughed in bright pulses and streaking rays, mocking her tiny, insignificant insecurities with their brilliant shine.

She didn't need them to. She knew it all too well herself.

They were right.

They were all right.

But still.

"You can't let it go," a voice came from behind.

She was stunned for a second when she heard it. She tossed her head behind her, only to meet the infinite stretch of grass that was always been. She glanced to her left, seeing nothing but the same scene.

"Over here," the voice sounded from the right.

She followed the voice and saw someone sitting on the swing beside.

Or rather some'thing'.

The 'thing' had a humanoid-shaped body, and that was the end of the normality. Its nude body is stretched long and slender, almost lanky. Its skin was dark and scaly, with black and purple ingrained within every flake, pulsing in an iridescent spectacle. Its limbs were disproportionate, with its legs sprawled almost half of the swing and its wide arms almost touching the ground with her elbow. It did have feminine curves on its body, but it didn't make it more human than everything else.

It had a cube for a head, with the edges smoothed out. It didn't have a nose, nor a mouth or a pair of ears. Only a pair of eyes remained, and they shone like a cat's in a flashy, starry deep purple.

She stared at her for a second longer than she should. The 'thing" tilted its head and lowered its absurdly tall body to meet her height.

"It's embarrassing for you to keep staring."

The woman looked away in an instant.

A silence trailed between the two as the wind hissed along in accompaniment.

"So they gave no answers?"

Its voice was deep and echo-y as if it was speaking through a chamber. It came directly from the creature itself, and not from her head. It sounded ethereal to her ears. Tiny bumps spread over her arms as she heard its words.

She shook her head.

"As expected."

She glanced towards the 'thing' in curiosity.

"You indeed had forgotten. The others knew well - they just didn't say it."

The 'thing' looked back at her. A voice radiated from its head, despite its mouthless condition.

"You've been human for so long you forgot your past."

The ‘thing’ rose its head to the sky and raised one of its dark palms, pointing it’s slender fingers to the sky.

The ‘thing’ then plucked a star out of the sky.

A spark from above suddenly dimmed out and began descending towards the ground. The lower it descended;  the paler it faded. The star landed in its hand, revealing itself to be nothing more than a dim, opaque ball with a glossy surface and weak, pulsing brightness on it.

Something moved on the ball, just simmering on its surface.

The girl.

The girl was in the ball, running joyfully around a golden-tinged tree amidst a flat, field of golden grass. Her wispy appearance was finally solidified and given the colour she so deserved. She had a reddish cheek and short black hair, blowing against the wind as she ran with the brightest, silent laughter she'd ever seen in ages.

She watched as she pranced around in a joyful, childish glee as the ‘thing’ brushed its fingers across the ball.

The girl became the ‘thing’.

The girl looked no different than the 'thing' sitting on the swing. She only looked a meter shorter, that is all. The woman watched as the new, cube-headed creature continue its rounds around the tree. Then she noticed something different.

The girl eyes didn't have the same purple glow as the 'thing'. Rather, it was white, with a radiance of innocence and childlike wonder to it.

"This was you," the 'thing' said.

It sent the ball back up into the sky. The ball floated upwards, growing brighter and smaller as it returned to join its fellow brethren.

The 'thing' plucked another one off the sky. It drew one of its fingers towards the sky and pointed a star out. The star fell dim and begun sinking towards the ground below. It was the same opaque ball as before, only it wasn't as dim as the last one. She could still feel a radiating heat as it fell into the palm of the 'thing'.

There stood the lady.

The tree was gone, and so was the field. In the ball was a tiny little shop-lot, wedged amidst towering, concrete high-rises unseen in the fading borders of the image. The lady was standing in behind a counter just fitted inside the shop, content and happy with herself.

The 'thing' swept its fingers across the ball once more.

Just like the girl from before, the lady too, turned into the 'thing'.

Tall and lanky; dark and scaly, with the only exception being the dark, bluish, cat-like eyes it had lodged within its cubic head.

"This was you too."

The 'thing' sent the ball back up. It was about to point for another one when the woman put a hand over its finger. It felt cold and lumpy from her palms.

"So you do admit. You do know."

She didn't answer. She only drew her hands back down to herself. She didn't need to see more. She already knew. She'd been them, after all.

She didn't need to see the two for a second time.

The 'thing' pointed for another star in the sky, one that is particularly large and gleaming. The star, now a ball, dropped down onto its palm in a silent descent.

This time the ball shone as bright as it did in the sky. It was an explosive shine, damn near burning; she could feel the glaring heat even from where she was. It's a wonder the 'thing' wasn't burning from its heat.

Just beneath the glaring light was a boy. He stood on a blank landscape, watching the 'thing' and the woman as they both stared down into the ball. He was a funny-looking boy, with long lanky arms and short stubby legs. He would’ve seemed normal at first glance, but it didn’t take a second one to know he was far from it.

He had no neck, and his head was a sphere, floating just above his shoulders. A waveform was bouncing erratically across the suspending sphere. The legs below his knees were made of metal; almost cylindrical, with densely-packed fibres of wiring holding his stump and the metal together.

There was no doubt he was a boy, but the ones that had doubt was his state of being human; or his lack thereof.

“He loved you for your lie, didn’t he?

She didn’t reply, for she was stunned staring at the boy in the ball, entranced at him with all sorts of glitter and shine in her eyes.

“He loved you because you’re human-”

She forced herself away from the ball and back to the ‘thing’, now looking into her eyes with her deep, purple gaze.

“-but we know better, don’t we?”

She didn’t answer that question for she indeed, knew better.

The ‘thing’ sent the ball back upturned to the woman. The 'thing' held her hand with her cold, slender fingers.

“Is this what you want? To tell the man that whom he loved was all but human?"

She looked down to her hands - her human hands, and down to her human feet. She traced her palms across her human body - her human breast, human legs, human arms and human hips.

"That she is nothing but a lie?"

She kept her silence.

The ‘thing’ veered itself away and looked up to the startling sky.

“I cannot tell you what's right or what you should do. I can only tell you how you feel."

The 'thing' looked back down to the woman.

"I already know the choice you've made."

It led a silence for a moment before it spoke for its last time.

“Whether you do it, it’s up to you.”

The woman looked up to meet the eyes of the 'thing'. For that split second as she stared at its deep, purple eyes, she saw a glint of the girl’s white, innocent gaze, saying to her

Why not just like him?

She took a deep breath-

I can't.

I don't deserve to.

- and woke up.

 

---

 

She slouched over her elbows, panting in dry breaths. She woke up cold, but strangely without a hint of sweat in her body. Her side of the bed was still dry. She brought her drowsy head from her pillow and glanced around.

She was in a dark room, illuminated by the ghastly, blue glow of a computer in the opposite corner. A window to her left showed a landscape from afar. Grids and squares of buildings, high rises, blocks and all, competing for height and dominance in a concrete jungle. She was looking at them all from within, watching from below as they loom overhead ominously towards the vacuum sky, naked of stars with only a lonely crescent moon to accompany it.

She slipped out of her bed, her naked body feeling the cold air when an arm reached from behind. She closed her hand over it and turned to her back. The boy was there, lying right next to her, upon his elbow. The waveform around his neck-less, spherical head spiked with worry as it stared up to her.

The boy got up, revealing himself to be more like a man. His shoulders, though not broad, had a good shape to it. His body had all the necessary curves and bumps and bulges and then some, along with his limbs. He brought his body closer to hers, embracing her within his arms.

She played along, snuggling her head into the cross neck section where his neck should’ve been and rubbed her head against it. His spherical spasmed like a disturbed hologram, then he turned her around.

She stared into his waveform. It surfed across his head like a calming wave lapping the ocean.

She wondered if it’d stayed the same if she told the truth.

She pecked a kiss on his shoulders and slipped out. His waveform kept it’s gaze as her bare body made her way to the bathroom. The door slid open to the sides and she stepped into the bright light. She glanced back, watching his unbreaking gaze as the metal door slid back.

Then she rushed to the sink and went to the mirror. 0540 with a slight chance of rain, no schedule planned, the mirror told her. She grabbed behind the mirror and swung it open, revealing a rack. She grabbed a bottle of rattling pills and dry swallowed a pair.

She glanced at the bottle. The words electrolyte pills stared back.

She stuffed the bottle behind the other junk and swung the mirror back.

The woman stared back. Or rather, it was herself that was staring back. A pale; not pasty; white face was looking at her in the mirror. Her round nose twitched in its place as her pouty lips tasted the last of the pill’s bitter taste. Her eyes gazed in with a dark, deep purple, with a hint to black pulsing in and out. She reached in behind her hair, tied to a ponytail. She caressed her fingers across and felt it around.

She touched something cold and solid. She grasped it with her fingers and held it from its sides and pulled it out.

A cube, it was. The cube in her hand was a tiny back box the size of a cubic baseball. Lines streaked across the surface like grids, with multicoloured, rainbow lights streaking across it. She set it atop the mirror and stared into her reflection.

She had morphed into the ‘thing’.

Her bloodless, pale body stretched itself tall, almost warping around her bones. Her limbs grew long like vines, almost lanky, almost touching the cold, tiled floors below. Her feet morphed into a bulging, near animal-shaped fore-paw. Her five toes joint into three giant claws, clacking against the floor. Her head turned cubic, with the edges smoothed out. Her pouty mouth and round nose were gone, with only a pair of purple slits as eyes, remaining on her face.

This is her.

This is who she is.

This is what she is.

But this isn’t what he loves.

She glanced deeper into the mirror. She slouched over her back, watching her reflection from above.

What would he think?

What would he do?

She traced her slender fingers across her body, tracing from her breast, then to her legs. She felt every shape, curve and bump on her body.

Would he love this?

She pulled herself to the mirror, touching her mouthless cheeks, staring into her own purple stilted eyes.

Would he still love me-

Three metallic knocks sounded behind her.

The door slid open. She heard the first five centimetres roll from the door’s inner mechanic as she snatched the cube and slammed it to the back of her head.

 

---

 

Creepus saw his wife panting, with one hand behind her head while supporting herself with the sink with the other. He walked up to her shaken face, brushing her hair aside from her shrivelled face.

It was the third time this week. The third time his wife woke up wheezing up in the middle of the night.

Creepus was worried. Seriously worried. Every time he came to comfort her she’d just wave it off as another bad dream. She tried to draw up a palm and wave it off like every other time, but not before Creepus pulled her into his embrace.

It was less of an embrace. He was just as tall as his wife head-to-head but everything above his shoulders isn’t solid. He was more of a pillow, but both didn't mind. His wife laid her head against his cross neck section as he slowly stroked her head.

Bad dreams. A concept he’d never understand. He never truly slept. He’d only rested his inner organs and stayed awake, accompanying his human wife as she dreams her human dreams and every once in a while, her human desires for the opposite sex.

He’d never understand her human troubles, but he never stopped to comfort them. Even if they don’t, at least he tried.

Creepus felt his wife shaking under her embrace. He had no idea what happened inside the head resting between his shoulders, but whatever that goes on inside he’d accept it all; no matter how alien they may be to him;

No matter how human they might seem to him.