I woke up to the sound of splashing and then the sensation of something warm being placed on my forehead.
I opened my eyes and glanced around.
A girl with short, dark brown hair, soft, light brown eyes and thin, black glasses was looking over my body. The number, "18" was on her left cheek.
A "Moon" Ranker.
She looked nice and smelled faintly of roses and plantlife. The girl also had this sort of refreshing aura surrounding her. It felt a little like cool water washing over my body. It was nice.
I could feel bandages wrapped tightly around my torso, my right leg and left ankle, so I assumed she was checking my injuries.
But...
Why was I hurt in the first place?
Ah. That's right... Rubble fell on me.
I looked at the girl again and she finally seemed to have noticed I was awake.
"Ah...! Um... I...!"
She seemed nervous and very shy. So much so that her face was turning red and she stuttered and stammered before she eventually darted out of the room. I blinked, very confused. Was there something on my face? I was about to get out of bed and chase after her when someone else walked in.
It was another girl around my age. She had raven hair and hazel eyes, but the most memorable thing about her was her rainbow-striped scarf. The scarf was worn in such a way that it covered the girl's lower part of her face. I couldn't see her number.
"Hey, you're awake! How do you feel? I'm sorry about my friend who just ran out; she's really shy around new faces." she asked me.
"...I feel like a pile of bricks fell on me." I responded. She laughed at that.
"Yes, well, a pile of bricks did fall on you. You should be more careful from now on. Always run if a building nearby is starting to collapse." the girl said with a friendly wink. She sat down beside the bed I was lying in.
"Oh... There was someone stuck under some rubble, so I went to help her." I explained. For just a second, the girl had a really sad expression. But, it was gone just as quickly as it came, so I thought it was my imagination.
"Um... Where am I?" I asked, catching the girl's attention. She blinked.
"Whoops! I didn't even mention that, did I?" the girl said apologetically. "You're at an evacuation shelter. Since the town was attacked by terrorists, everyone was evacuated and escorted to various shelters."
I blinked and asked who it was that saved me.
"Oh, I, uh, don't know." the raven-haired girl responded quickly. It was a little too quick of a response, but I couldn't think much on it since she said something else quickly.
"Oh, but my friend who ran off earlier? She's the one who dressed your wounds."
Oh. So she's the one who did that... I thought, feeling somewhat grateful. These people were very kind, weren't they?
I was going to say something else but I was interrupted by a really upbeat song. It sounded a little like dubstep or techno.
"Oh, that's me," the girl said before taking out a black smartphone-like device with a rainbow stripe pattern on the back. It looked kinda like a Sam-Xing Cosmos phone, but also a little different. She pressed the call button and put the phone up to her ear.
"Hello?"
There was a pause as the other person on the phone spoke before the girl's face got really serious.
"...I'm on my way." the girl said before ending the call and putting it away.
I looked at her, puzzled, as the girl got up and started to walk to the door quickly. She seemed like in a rush and I didn't want to bother her, but I really wanted to know her name.
"Wait! What's your name?" I asked her and she paused at the door and turned towards the bed.
"My name's Valentina Koshkin." she replied with an almost audible smile - I could only tell from her friendly tone of speech seeing as how the rainbow scarf covered her mouth - before turning swiftly and heading out the door.
Hmm... So she's Russian... I thought as I suddenly realized Valentina-ssi's Russian accent. It was especially obvious when she said her name.
Once Valentina-ssi left, I also realized just how tired I was. I nearly fell off the bed from dizziness and decided to lie down a bit.
In no less than a few seconds, I found myself drifting off again into a peaceful sleep...
.
.
.
I woke up a little later and the room was really dark. I could see the full moon through a window to my left and it illuminated the room just enough for me to see what was inside. I glanced around and saw a vase full of pretty flowers by my right on the table beside me. It wasn't there earlier when I looked. There were lilacs, yarrow, lavender and even a blue rose. It must have been expensive.
"I wonder who put this here...?" I mumbled, reaching a hand out to gently hold one of the flowers. They were really pretty. As I was admiring the flower, I could hear voices from outside my room. The knob turned and I wondered who was coming in.
It was a boy around Valentina-ssii's age with dirty blonde hair and bright green eyes. He was smiling at me and ran up to the side of my bed, quickly taking my hand and asking whether or not I'd date him. He had this really...creepy expression on his face and he was breathing heavily, all while stroking my hand creepily.
"Wherehaveyoubeenmywholelifewouldyoupleasedatemeandlovemeforeverandeverandeverand-"
"Wha-?!" I was really confused and probably would have tried to turn him down politely if an older woman with long black hair and black eyes hadn't walked in and just glared at the back of the boy's head.
"Truman. Stand down." she said, her voice cold and filled with venom. The boy froze and immediately let go of my hand before falling down to the ground and bowing while apologizing profusely.
"Imsorryimsorryimsorryithoughtthatidbeavirginforeversoijustletloosewhenisawthatbeautifulgirlinthebed..." 'Truman' said really quickly. It was almost impossible to understand him and the lady was starting to get angry. She took out what looked like a whip and snapped it in the air above the boy. It made him freeze.
"Enough! Quit your yammering, Truman, and sit down somewhere quietly. I want to talk to the girl." the lady said and her coal-like eyes looked towards me. The lady walked over and I could practically feel the air get colder as she got closer. Her aura was so domineering and she was really scary.
"My name is Sonya Viktoriya Snezhana. The idiotic boy in the back over there," she pointed towards the cowering boy who was sitting on a chair in a corner of the room, -- I noted that he only looked just a little offended. He was probably too afraid of her to protest. -- "Is called Vayne Truman. We are relieved to see you awake. I trust you aren't hurt?"
There was a Russian accent again. Maybe this Snezhana-ssi was related to Valentina-ssi?
"Oh, I'm fine. All thanks to that "Moon" Ranker, right?" I replied. Hearing this, Snezhana-ssi just scowled.
"Che. Should have known it was DuBois. She's too soft for this kind of thing..." I heard Snezhana-ssi mutter. I decided not to say anything. Her face was really scary... Her eyes were like a demon's... They practically glinted dangerously and there's a sort of dark aura surrounding her...
"Well, if you are feeling up to it, how would you feel about going on a reconnaissance missi-"
Snezhana-ssi was suddenly interrupted by Vayne-ssi coughing loudly. She glared over at him and the room felt even colder.
"Ix-nay on the ission-may...!!" he hissed before mouthing something to her and gesturing towards her mouth, as if to tell her to be quiet for some reason.
"Che. How annoying..." Snezhana-ssi murmured. She seemed to have understood Vayne-ssi somehow. It was then I noticed their numbers.
Snezhana-ssi was an "Empress" Ranker, a "3", and Vayne-ssi was a "Magician" Ranker, a "1". It kind of explained how Snezhana-ssi was treating Vayne-ssi, but I felt like they were closer than they should be. Normally, a higher ranked Ranker would order Vayne-ssi around like he was their slave.
"Forget what I was saying. You just focus on getting better." Snezhana-ssi replied before getting up from the chair and starting to leave. She swung the door open and for a few seconds, light flooded the room near the door. Vayne-ssi hurried after her and they closed the door behind them, darkening the room again.
......
It felt lonely in the room, as though all the life was gone from it. I had never felt so alone since the day Dad died.
I glanced out the window again and noticed how ominous the moon looked.
It was a deep red in color, like it was soaked in blood.
While it unnerved me a bit, I decided to just get some rest since I might have imagined it.
But...the chills I got from seeing it were definitely real.