Taurus' pov
I didn't know if it was Sag, who kept pushing pizza slices without salami under my nose, or Libra, who was still being mister grumpy guy himself, but I felt miserable and it didn't have anything to do with the weather, which had turned back into a complete storm again.
I felt very, very guilty after what Aries had told me. "I'm usually the one who discovers the other team and captures the others." Ugh, I should've known. This is a new place I'm in, I can't just get in and break every random habit I want.
The words bounce back into my head and I fall onto my pillow. "It's not really a big thing, but..." My feelings feel big. What is going on with me? Why do I feel so miserable?
"It makes her feel weak." Gemini's words. They sound softer in my head, but have a harder meaning and I groan into the covers of my bed. Did I make her feel weak?
"It's not a big thing."
Yes, it is.
"I'm usually the one who discovers the other team."
And I ruined it.
"It makes her feel weak."
But she's not weak.
Am I weak?
My head is killing me. I didn't even do anything wrong, that's what I keep saying to myself. Aries forgave me and that calmed me down. Her forgiveness calmed me down. Knowing she doesn't care about my stupid and awful actions calmed me down. Without knowing I do it, I sit up and stare into blankness.
What?
Aquarius' pov
The only time it can be quiet here, in this flat, is at night. Half of us are morning persons, including me, Leo, Cap – I don't know how, it must be in his blood because he's extremely lazy – Virgo, Cancer and I'm still guessing over Pisces. Okay, that's not half of us, but for once, I am not up for math's. I'm not up for anything, but well, no one can blame me. It's three o'clock. In the morning.
I just couldn't sleep after I told Cancer. Her reaction startled me a bit, because she started frowning and staring at me until it felt my face was one of the tomatoes Gemini would throw. I realized I wasn't when Cancer started talking.
"So... how long?" she'd asked me. "Can't be too long." "The moment he walked in," I answered her, shaking because I told the truth. Man, I should've let her swear it on her life. "I just knew it." Cancer had nodded, a bit in her mind. Then she said: "I'm a girl, just like you. Keep me on track with everything that happens between you and that boy, alright?"
And I told her I would. I told her I would see her at least every day and tell her everything that had happened yet. I'd probably go to her at the store, when she'd be working. When we're alone.
I stood up from my bed, deciding I couldn't do anything else than thinking about either that conversation between me and Cancer, or Libra.
I hesitated a second before pushing the door. I almost wanted to go back in case I woke someone, but then I realized; this is the Chaos Flat. I didn't care if I woke anybody, because people woke me over a thousand times either to ask me for cereal or to throw that cereal at someone's head.
Capricorn was right, I realized, and I also realized I never wanted to give him right again. But he is now; this place is boring when it's night. I felt energy, and I never have energy, so I had to do something with it. As I moved my feet through our apartment, I heard different things – the planks under my feet, Capricorn's sleep talking, something outside shrieks – but nothing was important enough to keep me inside. I slipped past our dad's room and opened the front door to get outside.
This place mainly turned into a literal chaos, when all of our parents were working over the day. At least, there's different stories here. My dad had to leave at six and only returns by eight in the evening, which is logical, because we only had so much money. He needed to work all he can to get it together. We sometimes didn't even see him at Sunday's.
I knew Leo's mother went out a little later. She also worked a lot, not as much as my dad, though, because she doesn't need to raise two children. However, when I look at the money Lee spends on clothing and make-up...
I didn't know what it was with the newbies – my heart fluttered when I think about them – but I did know that the mother of the three sisters is on a business trip, somewhere in America. She sends the girls money every week, but none of them feels responsible enough to look for a job themselves. Pisces could easily get hired at the store where I'm working, I know that, but the other two... well, they've got other qualities.
Virgo didn't live with his parents anymore. That meant; his mother left about a year ago, because she couldn't take care of her and her son anymore. She's taken into a care home, and they give her money that she sends to Virgo. He sometimes visits, but he never seemed happy when he came back.
And Cancer lived with her mum, also. Her mother earned enough for herself, but not for Cancer and so she found her own job at the Rustic Store. Perhaps I should do something like that too, someday. Or perhaps not; I actually wouldn't be able to stand in that store longer than an hour, which was long enough already.
I shook my head to get some thoughts out, as I tried to be quiet while taking the stairs to the third floor. Nobody could hear me as I slipped into apartment 21, but I still wanted to be as silent as possible. I didn't know why that was, but it seemed my ears sensed something and my feet responded to that by walking up to the balcony.
Someone was sitting outside.
I tilted my head a bit and tried to recognize the short hair, but when I called out a name, I knew I was completely wrong.
'Virgo?'
'No,' Libra responded and I immediately felt thankful for a lot of things, including the dark for hiding the blush on my cheeks. I clenched my hands into fists to make sure they weren't shaking, and I sat down in the chair next to him. He didn't look back at me when I gazed over at him, the blush on my face spreading even further.
Libra stared at the sky, which was filled with clouds and stars and, right above the flat, the full moon. He sighed, before turning to me. 'Do you think you can prove me wrong, already?' he asked me. For a moment I had no idea what he was talking about, but then I remembered and I pressed my lips together.
'Libra, you're not a wimp.'
'You still can't prove that,' he said, shaking his head slowly. 'But let's make a bet. I'm old enough, I can get a job and live by myself. If I don't become a Chaos Survivor, I'm gonna move out.'
It was little to say that it shocked me. It almost hurt me. 'Why would you want to go away?' I asked him with big eyes. 'I understand it's not really likable right now, but if you live here for another few months –'
'It might've taken you a few months, but it'll certainly take me a few years,' said Libra and he turned back to the sky. 'But, the other side of the bet. If I do manage to become a Chaos Survivor, somehow, you have proved I'm not a wimp.'
'And what's the stake for that?' I asked him, because I knew he'd probably add something to it later on. 'What will happen when I prove you're not a wimp?'
Libra shrugged, but I think he cared anyway. 'Whatever you want.' 'Whatever I want,' I repeated softly, thinking about every single possibility in the world I could do, or have.
I couldn't really think straight, so I decided to turn back to Libra again. 'So... what are you actually doing out here?' 'Finding rest,' he said, facing me again. 'Sag's a sleepwalker.'
'I understand your problem,' I chuckled, and the knot in my chest finally became a little loose. 'Cap's a sleep talker.'
Libra began to open up to me, slowly, but he did. It seemed he was a talker after all; he told me about his parent's divorce, his annoying brother and about everything that had happened so far. When he was done, I started talking about my experiences here too, only back in the past. I told him about meeting the three girls; Aries was younger and less aggressive, but that changed when Leo came along. I told him about my breakdown, about how Leo and Aries' fight started out and about how everything here came to a point. I told him how incredibly busy these days were, because, no matter how much time we had, this was still just a holiday break. Once school was started, things would calm down a bit – I hoped. We all went to the same school – Orbis High, settled right around the corner. Gemini and Capricorn shared classes, while Leo, Aries, Pisces, Virgo, Cancer and me joined one class. To say it was fun? Well... more surprising all the time, than fun.
He wasn't just a good talker, I noticed, but also a good listener. Every second I sat next to him, he really listened to what I was saying, unlike Lee who would just check her phone and nod. It was comforting, relaxing. And I got up in just being with him so much, that I didn't even notice the sun rise.
Gemini's pov
It was way too early that morning to freak out about anything, when Aries stormed into my room with panic in her eyes. 'Gem! Wake up! It's an emergency!' she hissed, reminding me of at least eight other times she'd said that – among which times where even Virgo didn't have cereal, or when her favorite show was canceled.
'Gimme five minutes...' I groaned, rolling over to the other side of the bed. From about a bit away from me, I heard Pisces yawning as well, and I started wondering what time it was.
'Five minutes – more like five seconds! Pisces, go get your boyfriend and Aquarius. They'll know how to fix it. Gem – come with me!'
Pisces and I exchanged glances, as she slowly got up and walked out of the room, and I followed Aries to her own room. 'Gee, what's gotten you all up and about?' I muttered, trying not to hit anything in my way throughout the living room – Aries' room was at the other side of our apartment, right next to apartment 26.
Our apartment was, like that, different from the others. After our mum left, Aries had a few anger issues and wrecked one of the bedrooms, making it impossible for us to use it. We decided it would be better to remake the kitchen, so, in a weird way, our kitchen is now a bedroom, our bathroom is a kitchen and our mum's old bedroom is now a bathroom. Don't ask questions; the only answer possible is Virgo.
I must admit, there were only few times I had seen my sister like this and I knew this couldn't be about something Furface had done. Otherwise Aries would've taken out all of our kitchen knives and she'd be throwing them at one of her drawings of Leo by now.
Aries flashed me a look that confused me even more – it was an almost desperate one, one that almost begged me to understand. Almost.
'Gem, I don't know what happened, but it was night and I heard a loud noise, so basically, I woke up and I sat up in my bed, turned over and – and it scared me to death. I mean – I didn't know – I thought –' She started breathing heavily, and I quickly grabbed her arm to calm her down. '– I thought I was the only one capable of breaking walls! I mean – wait...'
Her eyes went big and I didn't even have a chance to recall the fact she just said something about breaking walls. 'Wait... Taurus can break walls too! Yes – yes, I've seen it, with the water gun fight! Remember, Gem, the gap I showed you on the second floor?'
'Wasn't that caused by a booby-trap?' I frowned, but she quickly shook her head. 'No, he kicked it and it just crumbled down. Do you think – I mean, it would be weird, but – let me show you,' said Aries at seeing my surprise and she pulled me into her room.
Her room had never been the cleanest, but that was a family thing – my room only was clean because Pisces always cleaned up – but this was horrible. I immediately understood what she was talking about; mainly because of the evidence in her wall.
Yes, indeed. There was a small hole in her wall.
It was the wall that separated our apartment from our neighbor's. It was just a tiny thing, not even a ft. big, but it was a hole and it was on the bottom of her wall. Aries looked at it as if it was an alien, and she shouldn't be looking at aliens like that. Not after all of the discussions Aqua and Cap had about them.
'So... do you think Taurus did it?' she whispered to me, and I, first of all, had no idea why she was whispering, and second, I responded with: 'Well, I don't know. If he really does have the ability to kick walls... and didn't you say he was acting really weird those last few days; including the day of the water gun fight?' 'That day is almost a week ago already! And yes, he indeed was acting very strange,' Aries mumbled, taking me back into the living room.
'But, I was acting strange too. I don't know why – but at least I didn't kick a hole in the wall!' She plopped down on the couch, at the same moment that three people walked into the room. Pisces gestured over at Aries' room, and Virgo quickly walked up to it, followed by a suspicious looking Aquarius. That's right, I remembered, Aqua had been acting weird too, this last week.
Last week really had been a weird concept. Perhaps it was best to remember the things that had happened, and to hope they'd lead us up to this...
...because by the looks of it, they definitely would.