Stone 2 Stone (ONC 2024)

Chapter 5: Keya

"Kay?" Stella's voice bloomed in the loft, timid at first. "Kay?" It drew closer next, a figure clad in black emerging from the dark doorway.

Next, the makeshift shower curtain from a plastic sheet drew away, and Keya peered up at her friend through the shower of freezing water.

"What the fuck are you doing?" There was anger in that usually sweet voice as Stella turned the shower off and threw a towel over Keya's body. "You're shivering. How long have you been sitting there under the cold shower?"

"Stella?" Keya heard her own voice crack like a dry cracker. "I was just—it's morning."

"Yes, it's morning. Now let's get you out of that tub..." Stella's grip tightened around her shoulder. "When was the last time you ate?"

Ate? Keya couldn't remember.

"Have you had any food?" Stella pulled her out of the tub and planted her on the wet bathroom tiles—the tub had overflowed. "Your apartment's a mess... you're flooding the bottom floor. If your neighbour hadn't called"—Stella thrust a fresh long-sleeved shirt and lounge pants into her hands from the closet. "Get dressed!"

Keya stayed rooted in her wet clothes with the towel draped over her shoulder. "My floor is wet." Why is my floor wet?

"Yes, well, so is the one below." Stella blew air out through her nose, then grabbed the clean dry clothes off Keya, tossed them to the messy bed, and helped pull the heavy wet sweater off her. "You're gonna get sick.

"What are you doing, huh? I mean, I know I said I'll give you some space. You go weeks without coming out—I mean, I miss our lunches, but I figured you have shit you're dealing with"—a deft hand quickly pulled the dry shirt over her naked torso and dabbed the towel over her wet hair stringing from her head. "But, you don't even answer my calls anymore... and then I get your neighbour calling me, basically to come and see if you've died in here? Come on, Kay. It's too much. I wanted to throw up all the way here... Lucky for you I remembered I have a spare key you gave me ages ago—that time you got sick when you first came to live among us, mere mortals."

"I'm sorry." That was all Keya managed. She's not real. This is a dream... they all are. She eyed the sheeted figures. They're all a dream.

"Oh, I'm very real, mate!" Stella waddled through the inch of water to Keya's closet and grabbed an armful of clothes. "Where's your overnighter?"

"What are you doing?"

"What I should have done ages ago when you decided to turn into a bigger hermit. Took you home with me."

"I can't"—Keya eyed yet another figure hidden beneath a sheet at her workbench, separate from the huddle. "I have work."

"Yes, well. So do I, but here I am, saving your skinny butt instead of out there trying to sell real estate I can never bloody afford. You're coming with me."

"My show is in a couple of weeks."

"And a couple of days away from here won't kill you. Now, you need my help changing your bottom too or can you manage to adult for five minutes? Where's your bag?" Stella waltzed over to the kitchen and rummaged under the sink. "Even a rubbish bag will do."

"I can't go with you, Stell." Keya ducked behind her bed and changed into dry underwear and pulled on her pants. "I don't think it's a good idea. I'm not sure I should leave my place." I'm not sure I should go anywhere. I don't feel safe... like I might hu—

"Look at you." Stella paused in front of her, a roll of rubbish bag in her hand. "You look like shit, you sound like shit, your place is definitely shit. You have piles of rubbish and dishes in the kitchen. Your bed looks like you haven't made it in months. Your floor is a shallow lake, and I think that phone call could have been very real this morning. And there's no way I'm coming back here to find your dead body. I won't do it, Kay. So that settles it. You're coming with me for a few days... and maybe I can call Mr Sapkota and let him know the loft needs a thorough clean. He'll send a cleaning squad—"