"Your complexion looks better."
Eugene happily eats the ice cream that was given by her wonderful neighbor last night. Not only that he run an errand for her, but he also gave the whole bucket to her without charging any money.
"That's what happens when you have a cute flower boy next door, Danielle." She shrugs, in which her friend pouts at her remarks.
"That's so unfair! I wish I could refresh my eyes by seeing some cute boys next door as well after a tiring day at the university. But all I see are boomers in my house and next door." She complains, talking about her 'boring life' of living under the same roof with her parents in a different suburb.
"Consider moving to the dormitory on campus then."
"Gurl I've been trying to. But the queue is pretty long, I have been on the waiting list for a while now." Danielle sighs in distress, envying the college life of Eugene's that seems more exciting than hers.
Living in the dormitory on campus has truly brought more colors to Eugene's life. She is able to make a lot of friends, meet different kinds of people, and enjoy the student facilities—they all have been good enough to relieve stress from her workload. Even though she has to live independently, she believes that her freedom from her parents is what she needs.
I've had enough of being constrained in a cage. Some awful memories start resurfacing in her mind, but she quickly shakes them off and directs her attention back to the ice cream she brought in a small container.
"I guess you can only wait huh." Eugene replies to her friend's previous statement. The girl has been planning to live independently for a while, so she was able to get a room after a long queue as well.
"Tsk. Unfortunately, yeah." She sighs again, "You should bring me to meet this flower boy next door some time, I want to have a taste of seeing what heaven looks like. I legit want to refresh my eyes after looking at a bunch of boring lectures."
"What is he, an eye dropper?" Eugene chuckles at her friend's desperation as she tries to sip some water from her empty bottle, realizing that she has been pretty dehydrated. "Oops, I think I'll go refill my water."
"I'll watch your belongings." Danielle says, "And yes, I AM THAT DESPERATE!"
Her small outburst makes Eugene laugh as she heads towards the water fountain. As she arrives, her mind suddenly goes into shambles upon the view.
It's... that person again. Eugene tries her best to not panic at the current situation, so she makes sure to rub her eyes for a better vision. But even after doing so, the person, who seems like a male, is still there, filling his water bottle as if it's no one's business.
Yes, it is a normal thing to use the water fountain actually.
But what is abnormal is his face. Just before Eugene could react, his side profile finally faced her, revealing an entirely, pixelated face.
It truly reminds her of the urban legend of the man with no face.
Not that it scares her, but it surely, creeps her out. He looks like a hybrid of a normal human being and a video game character. Just like how the pixels would censor SIMS from using the toilet when they shit.
Damn it. Am I still not feeling well? She looks away, but Danielle just complimented her complexion earlier. The girl also feels fresher than ever after a long ass hibernation the night before.
THUD!
The sound shocks the female as she notices that the pixelated person drops his bottle onto the floor. The cap was not tight enough that water started spilling all over the carpet.
! The girl quickly rushes to the male's side, taking his bottle and squeezing the cap tight before all of its contents wet the carpet. She also uses her sweater to wipe some of the excess water on the bottle before handing it back to him.
Fuck. He looks so creepy. She tries so hard to keep her expression cool as if the figure in front of her is not some disturbing-looking urban legend character.
"W-What, Wh-WHO!?" The pixelated figure, in fact, moves inches away from her instantly, pointing at her in distress. "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!?!?!"
"????" Eugene puts on the most confused expression ever. Why is this person so terrified of her? If anything, it should've been her instead.
She takes a step closer, but the boy only moves further and further, all the way to the end of the corridor as if he has witnessed a ghost.
"DON'T COME NEAR ME!" He screams from the end of the hall, and thank God no one was there or he might cause a commotion. Eugene also yells back, slowly losing her patience, hoping that this man can cooperate with her. "I'm just trying to return your bottle!"
"YOU CAN TAKE THAT BOTTLE WITH YOU AND LEAVE ME ALONE." He ascertains, still, having his body leaned against the wall while he speaks in his deep, booming voice.
Eugene lets out a really huge sigh and places his bottle on the ground. She can clearly tell how much anxiety the boy is experiencing right now, and his mind is probably not at its best to properly analyze and discuss the situation.
"...I'll leave this here. I don't know why you're so worked up about it, but I'll leave you alone." She takes a few steps back before turning away from him. "Let's talk some other time."
"NO! I don't want to see you anymore!" He replies in distress, and Eugene can only sigh again at the pixelated man. "Look. I have something to say about the day you bumped into me in that one, rainy day in the middle route."
"What...?"
She turns back to look at him in disbelief, but it only scares the figure again as he puts both of his hands to block the view, "Ugh please don't look at me, your face is creepy as hell!"
"Creepy... you say?" Now the girl truly has lost her patience. Not only has this boy made her lose points in her assignment, but he also treats her rather disrespectfully. He never genuinely apologized for that day, and now he's treating her like a monster?
"Isn't calling my face creepy too far?!" Eugene crosses her arms, not happy by the outburst. "If anything, you're the creepy one coz for God's sake you don't have a face yet I'm trying my best to be considerate here!"
"??? You are the one without a face. You're pixelated asf, lower than a 144pp quality video on Utube!" He yells from his place with lots of anxiety in his voice. The figure is clearly hanging onto his life.
Pixelated? That word instantly calms the anger in her. Is he saying that he witnesses the same phenomenon as her?
She looks at the terrified figure again, just to make sure that she's not dreaming.
Yeah. There's no mistaking it. I'm really seeing a pixelated face right now. Eugene thought, and there was no way that the current situation was caused by her hallucination—well, unless that boy was also hallucinating. But the odds of two people experiencing hallucinations of seeing a pixelated face is unlikely true.
What the hell is this? She feels like what she's witnessing in front of her is just the reality. Before she could analyze the situation further, the boy made a shooing gesture to make her leave, "Why are you still here?!"
"Ugh, fine! Just let me fill my goddamn water bottle." Eugene speeds up her actions and takes her leave, extremely frustrated that she couldn't work together with the boy to analyze the phenomenon properly.
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Author's Note: HEYEYEY here's the second chapter! :3 Yeah uh when I said pixelated, it's literally pixelated like CENSORED LMAOOO
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and have a wonderful weekend! :D
- Howley.
YOU ARE READING
PIXELATED | Lee Felix
FanfictionA story of two university students who started off being terrified of each other due to their pixelated faces, but came to develop a bond that could never be replaced. "I think the universe wanted to teach us the true meaning of seeing beyond appea...
