A Weird Reality

Chapter 4: A New Companion

The elevator opened to show an empty office building. Axavia walked over towards the windows, inspecting them. The windows showed a white void. She didn't know what she was hoping to see. She opened a door to one of the office rooms and looked around. The room was quite big and spacious. The walls were the same as the rest of the building. They had the standard white color you would expect to see in an office building and were completely blank. The space was devoid of any sort of furniture. The only thing Axavia saw in the room was a water cooler. It looked like it held more of the almond water she had found earlier.

She walked around the room, unsure of what she should do. She saw a door on the far right of the room and decided she might as well look around. She went through the door, intending to explore the office building. The hallways were equally as barren of any appliances or furniture. The hallways were big and wide with many windows. Axavia opened the doors she came across and found many more of the same office rooms, also lacking furniture.

Wandering around, she felt that same feeling come back once again. Maybe she was just being paranoid. She looked around, checking her surroundings for whatever might be causing this feeling. Down the hall where she came from, she spotted an odd looking creature. It had an eyeball, about as big as her head, as its body. A pair of wings was attached on both sides. Its iris was a nice, bright blue color. It stared at Axavia curiously. It flapped its wings, keeping itself up in the air. Axavia stared back at it in confusion.

The creature started flying slowly over to Axavia. Axavia froze, not knowing what to do. The creature didn't seem to be hostile. Just what was it? The thing stopped in front of Axavia, still staring at her. It flapped its wings happily at her. Axavia looked at it puzzled as to what that may have meant. She decided to just continue looking around the office area. The creature followed her around the whole time. She turned around, facing it.

"Stop following me already." She told the creature. The creature just stared at her, confused. It circled around Axavia before flapping its wings happily at her again. Axavia sighed. Well, whatever. She guessed she would just have to deal with it. It didn't seem like it was going to stop following her. She guessed it might as well join her. It was good to have some company in this desolate place.

She continued looking around for a few hours. She stopped in one of the rooms to take a break and change her bandages. She sat down against the wall of the office room and started to unwrap the bandages. She laid the old bandages on the ground next to her. She looked at the wound on the back of her left leg. It didn't seem to be too deep, thankfully. The creature with her looked at her leg curiously. It stared at the wound as if it was inspecting it. It flew down to sit in Axavia's lap and started to nuzzle her, as if it was trying to comfort her. Axavia smiled softly at the creature, bringing her hand up to pet its wings.

"Thank you." She said to the creature.

She grabbed some alcohol wipes, new bandages, and another thing of dressing out of her bag. She wiped the wound with the alcohol wipes, wincing at the stinging sensation it caused. She placed the wipes down with the old bandages and put on the new gauze and bandages. Once she finished, she grabbed the old bandages, wipes, and dressing to throw them away in the trash can she saw in the corner of the office room. The creature got out of her lap as she stood up. She walked towards the trashcan and dumped the items in the bin.

"I should come up with a name for you, shouldn't I?" She suggested to the creature. The creature fluttered it's wings happily as if to say it agreed with her suggestion. Axavia thought of what she could name the creature. After thinking for a while, she came up with a name for the creature that she liked.

"How about I call you Jovial?" She asked the creature. The creature fluttered around her joyfully at the suggestion.

"You seem to like that name. Alright then, your name is now Jovial!" She said, smiling at her new companion. They left the room and continued to explore the area looking for a way for Axavia to get back home.

A couple hours later, the two came across a staircase that seemed to lead upwards. It looked like an old staircase you would see in an antique building. Axavia decided to go up the staircase curious to see where it might lead. With Jovial close behind, the two reached the top of the stairs and went through the door that was at the top.