Reina stared at the creature standing in front of her. Her mind raced in so many different directions, her feet were frozen to the ground. She needed to think. To assess the strange situation taking place. The nearest phone was in the kitchen table, she couldn't figure out if there was enough time to take it and call the police.
"Police? You're going to die. You should be running for your life," Ana's voice appeared, probably in the worst possible time.
Reina stood there for a few seconds, staring at the pointy ears protruding out of the creature's head. The black messy hair which looked so similar to her mother's hair when unwashed. In fact, it was wearing her mother's clothes. That was her dress and cardigan. She blinked a few times and the creature started disappearing, the oddly shaped eyes and nose started changing shape and its nails started to shrink.
Within a matter of seconds it was her mother standing in front of her again. All her features returned, except her hair left unchanged. Reina was at a loss of words. Was she hallucinating? Her mother walked past her without saying a word. As if nothing had happened.
"Where are you going?" Reina asked, surprising herself. She didn't think she would have the courage to speak at all.
"To sleep," her mother replied. Her voice was exactly the same.
"Aren't you going to ask what happened to me?"
Her mother stopped for a brief moment and looked at her this time, barely meeting her gaze.
"Aren't you going to ask why I'm soaking wet?"
Another moment of silence.
"Just get washed and wear some new clothes," she finally replied.
But that wasn't what Reina wanted to hear. She had never once understood her mother, never managed to talk to her. She always thought they were similar in some ways. Maybe she felt misunderstood by everyone as well, but she was exhausted from trying to understand. From trying not to hate her. Tears welled up in Reina's eyes. There was only one way to figure out who that was.
"Mum, what would you do if I was gone?"
Reina took a bag from her room and placed some snacks inside, "what would you do?"
She looked at the bag and looked back at her again, "is that all you're going to take?"
Reina shook her head, "tell me not to go."
She almost begged.
"If you tell me not to go, I won't go."
Reina wanted to disappear right there and then. All she wanted to do was come back home. To ignore everything that was going on. To ignore Ana and her annoying remarks, to sit in her bed and stare into space, cooped up in her room. Except, this didn't feel like home. It didn't feel like anything. She would happily waste her life away but something inside her was changing. In her world of darkness, someone had shone a beam of light. And it was terrifying.
"Sweetheart, I don't know if you'll believe this," her tone was cold and sharp, "but you should've left a long time a go."
And that was exactly what her mother would have said.
Tears ran through her eyes but her heart felt so hardened that she couldn't feel the piercing of the pain in her chest anymore. She ran out, quickly climbing up the stairs until she reached a balcony at the top of the apartment. Her hair moved with the wind and despite the cold breeze, it wasn't uncomfortable at all. She sat on the edge, her feet dangling down and closed her eyes.
"What are you doing here?" Ana's voice appeared again.
"Don't."
Ana looked down for a moment, "you know even if you jump, you're not going to die. It's not high enough."
"I said don't," Reina snapped.
Her thoughts were disrupted by a sound approaching behind her. Reina gasped terrified, until a small cat jumped and sat at the edge of the balcony with her. She was shocked, but gave out a sigh of relief. She was terrified by everything that had happened that day. The incident at school, the lake, terrified of Gloria, of her mother. She was scared of being there at night too, all alone by herself. But there was nowhere for her to go. She didn't feel safe anywhere. And she was too exhausted from trying to figure out what was happening.
She let out her hand to pet the cat when she noticed the little scar in its neck, "Wait, you're Gloria's cat."
She looked around but it was too dark to see anything.
"How did you get here?" She whispered. Now was not the time to admire the cat, but she couldn't help it, "did you follow me home?"
She thought for a second and gasped in horror when she realised that there was a possibility Gloria might have followed her home too. Did she know where she lived? Did she have anything to do with what was happening with her mother? It was definitely odd that all of these started happening after she met her but she couldn't link any of the pieces together or figure out what Gloria would have to do with anything. Or maybe she was overreacting and that wasn't her cat at all. Cats look similar to each other anyway.
"Silly human," a little voice blurted out, to which Reina screamed in shock. So shocked she nearly fell off the balcony.
"Be careful, you will fall."
It was the cat. The cat was speaking to her. She blinked a few times and looked around to make sure there was no one else there. That this wasn't some type of trick.
"I would tell you not to be scared but you'll be scared anyway," the cat said as a matter-of-factly, "also, this is not an efficient way to die unless you just want to break a few bones."
Reina turned to see Ana nod in agreement.
"Where did this cat learn so much sass?" Reina thought to herself, she almost thought that was Ana speaking.
"I'm not scared."
She was scared.
"And I'm not going to jump."
Only thinking about it.
"Then what are you doing here?" the cat asked.
Reina didn't reply. She was not going to be talking to a cat. The only explanation to this was that she was seeing things, the cat probably wasn't even there. Or this was just a dream. She might wake up any moment, but until then, she wasn't going to talk to a cat and make a fool out of herself.
"Jump with me," Reina could've sworn the cat almost smiled.
"What?"
"Miss Reina of the human world," the cat lifted its tail and stood up in two legs, something which she had never seen a cat do before, "I said jump with me."
This was a dream. It was definitely a dream. A strange feeling showered over her, a feeling that she was chasing for her whole life. She didn't know what to call it, she couldn't even begin to describe it. She couldn't begin to explain why she suddenly felt the urge to jump. Why she she felt like it would be worth it even if she died in that moment. There was something about her situation that brought so much excitement she never had in her life before. Her hands shaking, but her body managed to move just a tiny inch and-
She jumped.
She fell.
Her eyes were closed shut. But she didn't feel like she was falling. No. She was floating. Floating?
She opened her eyes and the ground hadn't reached her yet, almost as if she was flying. And the cat. The cat was right next to her, both floating side by side. Her heart felt like it could explode, there was so much to take in and before she could think of anything else, she felt herself land perfectly on top of another strange creature.
"Did I just...Land on a horse?"
"No, a centaur," Gloria replied with a smile almost bigger than her face. She jumped and sat behind her. The cat falling right on top of her lap in the most perfect timing.
"So are you coming with us?" she asked.
Reina could barely nod, before Gloria screamed, "Montgomery! You know where to go!"
There was a loud neighing, almost growling sound and the next thing she knew was that they were travelling at a tremendous speed, all the way back to the lake. Reina held on tight when she realised the centaur was running right towards it. In that moment all Reina wanted to do was thank Gloria for saving her that day, even if she was going to kidnap her and rip her to pieces afterwards. There was another loud growl and with the rhythmic clopping sound of the hooves, all Reina could do was brace herself before they jumped into the lake.
"Welcome to Azelrya!"