Sempre

[Twenty Two]

.:Chapter Twenty Two:.

♛Milena's POV♛

It was as if God had adjusted the colours of the world in the night, like it was as easy as twisting one of those old plastic dials on a TV set. Everything was brighter than it should be; the trees were not just green but radiant virescent hues that burned themselves in my sleepy retinas. The houses were as new as if they'd been repainted by moonlight and now stood vibrant in the golden rays that fell unfettered through the clear sky. The road that should be grey was a sleek river of black with perfect paint lines, and the street-lamps were blue.

But they had never been blue, not ever.

Everything was so right it was wrong - really wrong. The front yards that had been dishevelled with the decrepitude of late winter just yesterday were a riot of colourful blooms. I turned back to look at my house. The curtain twitched. Someone was in there. I hurried to the front door only to find it was locked. I slapped the wood.

A face appeared at the window. My face. But... brighter... more alive.

I awoke suddenly, sweat dripping down my forehead. My heavy breathing was the only sound audible in the room, after all I was the only person there, but that didn't stop me from straining my ears to catch any strange noises. I knew watching all those horror movies last night was a bad idea, but did that stop me? No.

I untangled myself from the sticky sheets and walked across the room to the balcony. Normally, I'd be beyond thankful that my apartment was only a short distance away from the beach, but not today. The ocean that was blue just yesterday, lapping the golden sands with the cold water of an early spring tide, was now more black than the night sky. The surface moved in the slick way oil does with a rainbow sheen that holds no beauty. No longer did the air smell of salt and washed up seaweed; it smelled foul and the onshore breeze now carried toxic chemicals that made me wheeze. What on earth was that?

Wider awake now, I looked around for the source of the smell. It was deadly and could probably kill a whole army. Why am I not dead? I guess I have a high resistance to horrid smells.

I looked down directly under the balcony and my eyes were instantly met with my answer. Bin bags upon bin bags were piled high on top of each other, causing a blockage in the small entryway. Welcome to Bin Day in Brazil.

Having had enough of the foul stench, I walked back inside and headed straight for the kitchen. The clock above the fridge bore the numbers "3:47 AM" in bright, luminous green. Well, there's nothing like a late night snack. Pizza leftovers sound great right about now.

I warmed a couple slices up in the microwave and sat down in front of the TV. A repeat of the match against Germany was on and I was quick to change the channel. I'd rather not relive it, thanks. A few hours later, I found myself dosing off, the distinct sounds of gunshots being fired from the TV being drowned out by sleep.

***

"Got the club goin' up, on a Tuesday." Was the first thing I heard when I woke up nine hours later. The TV was still blaring some washed up rubbish about Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber potentially getting back together since they were seen in the same country and I was still strewn across the sofa. I groggy sat up and fumbled around in search of my ringing phone. Once I found it underneath one of the cushions, I wiped my face free of the lingering drool and tried to sound like I hadn't just woken up.

"Hello?" I answered without checking the caller ID.

"Lena?" A deep voice questioned on the other end. "Why do you sound like you're dead?"