Ink Stained

16: upside-down drowning*

It's a girl, with long black hair that flows down her naked back. She sits utterly still, like Pai tends to when she's so caught up in her own thoughts that it's like she temporarily ceases being part of the world outside of herself. Like Pai in those moments, this woman is unmoving as she stares at something in front of her, even though all there is to see is the large expanse of cloud-ground that seems to stretch endlessly.

Shiori scrambles to her feet, her heart pounding in her chest, and she's about to start running toward the girl when she remembers that if she makes a wrong move, she could fall down to that black ocean. She glances down at the grey-brown mist swirling around her ankles, pursing her lips in frustration, and looks back up at the girl. The mist practically hides her from view, rising up to clothe her as she stares unseeingly at something Shiori can't make out, if indeed there is anything there to see.

Maybe...maybe she's looking at something only she can see.

"Pai!" she calls out, desperation tingeing her voice high and scared. "Pai!"

Pai doesn't move.

"Pai, turn around! Look at me, I'm here!" she tries again, to the same result. It's like Pai can't hear her, isn't aware that Shiori is right behind her. "Look behind you! Turn around, Pai!"

A woman's chuckle rings out behind her, and Shiori whirls aruond, making sure not to move too much. Years and years of playing basketball and twirling on her feet to pass the ball have perfected her balance enough that she doesn't stumble as she moves. Shiori gasps when she sees who is behind her.

"Ma – mama?"

It's – it's her mother, but at the same time, it isn't. Not really. Her skin is paler, fine-grained to where there had been faint lines starting to appear on her mother's face. Her lips are full and a pale white-pink shade as they curl up in a becoming smile Shiori has never seen her mother wear. Luxurious thick curls of red-brown hair tumble down her bare shoulder, framing a heart-shaped face that is supposed to be kind, yet appears cruel and harsh. Her eyes are darker than midnight, glinting as the woman who is not her mother smiles.

"Mama," she echoes. "Is that who we are to you? Your mother? How sweet." she tilts her head to the side. "We don't have one. How is it? What's it like?"

Her eyes are black holes that suck Shiori in, drawing her into their immeasurable depths until she feels like she could forget herself just by looking at them. A void opens up in Shiori's chest, so abruptly and out of nowhere that her stomach twinges painfully. The void is filled to the brim with sadness and an intense longing to leave, to abandon everything and just get back to her own body and look at Kouta's face again, because she's – she's so sad, and she misses him, and she wants to go back home, she wants to go home.

But – but she can't. She can't leave, not yet. Pai is here. She needs to get Pai to wake up. If she leaves now, Pai might die.

The woman is staring at her with an unreadable expression on her face, but something about the way her eyebrows twitch and her plush lips purse makes Shiori think she's – annoyed, about something.

Then she smiles, and it sends trickles of icy water down Shiori's spine.

"She can't hear you," the woman informs her, smiling like she's asking Shiori to sit down for a cup of tea. "She can't hear anyone."