Retro-cognition

Chapter 20 - Sion's Proposal

Chapter 20 – Sion’s proposal

Unique woke up on Annelka’s couch. A ray of sunlight fell on her face, and she yawned as she stretched and sat up.

“Breakfast will be ready son, honey,” Annelka said from the doorway. The elder woman smiled. Unique nodded and rose from the couch.

“I’ll be right out,” she said. Annelka turned and left Unique to wake up properly. She was still confused beyond repair, and she didn’t know what she had to do now. She’d dumped down on Annelka’s doorstep late last night, babbling about fire and a lost Sion.

She knew that she couldn’t tell the woman everything, and luckily, Annelka didn’t seem to mind that there were some things, which Unique couldn’t tell her. The elder woman had accepted the vague explanation and offered her couch to Unique after a steaming cup of tea.

Unique walked out into the hall and out to the kitchen. She was still dressed in the oversized T-shirt, and heat streamed to her cheeks as she remembered how wild and lost she must have looked yesterday.

Annelka had suggested talking to the police, but Unique honestly didn’t want to involve any more humans. Besides, while Annelka seemed to trust these authority figures of the world, Unique remained skeptic. There was no way she could step up to a random human and explain that her magical tree house had exploded due to an attack of mysterious fire wasps. She couldn’t tell that her husband—whom she had no memory off ever marrying—was missing in action because he apparently had some business to attend to that couldn’t include her.

Realism wasn’t Unique’s strongest point—she would be the first to admit that. In this case, even she could see that this was a terrible idea, and while it didn’t please her to admit, then that probably meant she should stay away from it.

Annelka was pouring something yellow into a glass, and the older woman looked up to greet Unique.

“Morning, hon. I hoped you’ve slept well.”

Unique nodded. “Thank you. She walked over to sit at the table, pointing to the yellow liquid she asked, “What’s that?”

Annelka held up the jug and grinned. “This is fresh-pressed orange juice. It’s devilishly delicious, would you like some?”

“Yes, please.” Unique held out her glass, and watched as the juice poured down. She took a whiff and smiled. “It smells good.”

She tasted it carefully and grimaced as the slightly sour liquid fell on her tongue.

“Would you like some toast?” Annelka held out an odd square formed item, it was light brown on both sides.

Unique took it and started to survey the food—it was remarkably different from the snack bars and beans that Sion had served. She looked up to see Annelka spreading something out on it.  It’s was white and coated the toast. On top of it, Annelka put something red and almost see through. It bounced slightly on the spoon.

With concentration, Unique mimicked Annelka’s doing, and started to eat. It was different, but still amazing. Humans sure knew how to make the most of the least. The meal was such a simple thing, yet it tasted like heaven, and if anyone recognized heavenly—it would be Unique.

They ate in silence, and Unique devoured more than she’d thought she could eat. For some reason, the lack of food the last couple of days had taken its toll on Annelka’s kitchen.

“What’s the next step, honey?” the elder woman broke the silence.

Unique had hoped that the woman wouldn’t ask. Now it was out, and she’d have to acknowledge the mess inside her head. She honestly had no idea on what to do.