Roommate Wanted. No Betrayers.

Chapter 1

Kronii Ouro sat at her computer, eyes fixed on the blinking cursor which sat tauntingly atop a blank page. With a sigh, she began to type.

Roommate wanted.

Then after a beat she added.

No Betrayers.

Armed with a stack of flyers, Kronii left the house, she wasn't exactly sure where she should, or was even really allowed to, post flyers. Actually now that she thought about it, did people really even do flyers anymore? Maybe she should have just posted online. Then again there were weirdos online, so flyers were the only option, and besides she'd already spent an hour cutting out the tabs.

Two hours later she had managed to put up zero flyers. Nowhere seemed like the right place for them, too public or too private, too classy or too tacky. Kronii sighed, her breath turning to mist in the cold January air. Maybe she just needed to have a break. Pulling out her phone she looked for local coffee shops and, after filtering out any chains, headed off to a place two blocks south.

Chaos Coffee was an oddly named place, a little ways off the beaten track, the wildest thing about it being the bright red paint job. Inside, it was almost blissfully quiet and, well, empty. Kronii approached the counter, scanning the place to see if there were any staff about, though there didn't seem to be. Taking the opportunity to put the stack of flyers down she placed them on the counter and pulled out her phone, to check the opening hours.

"Oh Hey!" A sudden loud voice startled Kronii and she almost dropped her phone. She turned to look back to where the voice came from and a head had now appeared over the counter with a mess of red hair tied up into uneven twintails. "Sorry. I don't get many customers this time of day. What can I get'cha?"

"Um, just a large latte please." Kronii said, regaining her composure.

"No wuckas!" The girl with red hair beamed. "Just take a seat, I'll bring it to you."

"Thanks." Kronii replied, putting her phone away and moving to pick up the flyers, though one was already in the hands of the girl behind the counter.

"Roommate wanted. Large bedrooms available, shared bathrooms, kitchen, living room and garden. Fast Wifi. No Betrayers." The batista read aloud with a giggle.

Kronii felt her cheeks flush and her heart beat hard in her chest. She opened her mouth to retort, but before she could form the words....

"I love it!" The girl behind the counter exclaimed. "So to the point, tells you all you need to know, then, bam! No Betrayers. You wanna put a couple of these up in here?"

Kronii closed her mouth, she felt the tension that was building inside her drain out of her.

"Yes please."

"You don't have to leave. We can stay here forever." Kronii pleaded.

The girl smiled softly and giggled. "Maybe you can stay here forever. But..."

But what? But nothing! But we'd always been together. Always...

The girl opened the door and walked out. Kronii said nothing. The door swung closed. Kronii didn't move. The latch clicked shut. Kronii woke up.

Her breathing was ragged and her body shivered. "That dream again..." She mumbled to herself.

She lay there for some time, looking out of her bedroom window at the bare trees against the red morning sky. Her mind raced with thoughts, and though she tried to not pay any of them much mind, it was always going to be a losing effort. Twenty minutes after she had woken up she pulled herself out of bed, threw on the nearest, warmest piece of clothing and left her bedroom.