Drowning In Color | ✔️

Chapter Thirty-One

The moment I got home, I headed straight to my room. Couldn't even find the appetite to eat dinner that I remained hungry. But the milkshakes I drank would keep me from starving to death anyway.

I looked outside the window to see if she was there. Maybe, just maybe, she'd be staring outside at the same time as me. She wasn't. But a guy can try.

I plunged myself onto my bed, wrapping my arms around the blanket like it was her. They squeezed it harder, pushing it deeper into my chest to ease the pain that was inside of me. It was the perfect painkiller, accompanied with the cold air as an anesthetic.

There was a solid knock on my room door. I refused to open it, knowing that it was probably Mom, and sometimes, I just can't get myself in the mood to help with chores. I'm a teen, after all.

"Go away, Mom," I cried, having that moment of teenage angst. But the knocking persisted. How super annoying.

I groaned in pain as I pulled myself together to get up and answer it. The knob clicked, and I twisted and pulled it towards me, only slightly enough to see who it was on the other side.

Fucking hell. Please tell me this is a dream...

Same eyes, same face. Even his hair was dyed to match mine. And the clothes he wore were probably stolen from my wardrobe to match my style.

You've got to be kidding me, right? Is this some kind of prank? A joke of some sort? It was my own image, as if I were looking at a mirror. But the telling signs that I wasn't, was when he was smiling right at me.

  ... It was a nightmare.  

He giggled with a cracking voice like a pubescent boy, and greeted me, "I've missed you, Luka. It was tough getting out of there, but here I am now."

My mind was still processing his existence. And did Mom know this? I rushed across the hallway to her room. And I opened the door, not bothering to knock. She jumped from the startling intrusion. Like me, her jaw dropped when she saw him. Rather, in her case, the both of us together.

"Mario? When did you get back? And... How?" she questioned. I could tell that there were a bunch more on her mind, but she could find the guts to spill it out.

"Don't worry, Mother. The important thing is that I'm well enough to come back. And I see you've left my room the way it was, just the way I like it," he answered.

He turned towards the room at the end of the hall and entered it. It occurred to Mom and I that we hadn't cleaned it in years. And we weren't planning to. Though it would seem that he wasn't bothered by it at all. No matter what it was about him, he disgusted me.

I kept my door locked. Because apparently, he somehow came into the house, and I didn't want him anywhere near me. Otherwise...

Violetta! I'm about 99.9% sure it was a misunderstanding between me and her. She probably thought he was... But why?

I confronted him in his own room. The moment I entered, I sneezed, which kinda ruined the moment. But that doesn't matter right now.

"Did a girl come by here? Black hair, blue eyes." My arms were crossed, and my glare fixed on his movements. My body readied itself in case of an attack.

He thought about it, avoiding eye contact with me. His hands clasped together, as if to keep himself from losing composure. With a deep breath, he answered, "Mom's a girl. And I guess she technically did come by."

Damn, what's the use? I'm attempting to talk to a moron. I backed away slowly, ensuring that I do not trip over backwards. Without turning my back on him, I entered back into my room.