The Boy With Two Worlds - [Ereri/Riren]

Chapter Six - New Encounter

Credit to the artist of the drawing above.

Cold.

That's all I was aware of at the moment. The cold. It was like a virus that took maximum effort to get rid of, the unnatural type of low degree feeling that sent shivers down my spine, the coldness slowly spreading through every inch of my body until it fully engulfed me, nipping at my chilled bones like a bug and succeeding in sending me into a state where all I begged for was any source of warmth.

I can't say the feeling wasn't familiar, unfortunately.

Where am I? I couldn't see anything. Perhaps the cause was the fact that my eyelids were momentarily closed. Of course. My mind seemed to be awake but my body wasn't, no matter how hard I tried to get a glimpse of my surroundings, my muscles wouldn't move an inch.

The memories of the incident prior was still lingering in the back of my mind. That's why I was currently in this situation, right? But, one thing I can vaguely remember, was the faint voice of that boy. Who was he? I didn't get a very good glimpse of him. Will I get to know if I open my eyes?

I was starting to gradually feel the piercing pain that was still lingering on my neck coming back. I could still picture the previous events of the tight grip around my windpipe, temporarily cutting off my ability to fill my lungs with oxygen. I could finally breathe properly now that it was over. The cold chill mixed in with the pain of my bruises was spreading throughout my body, the numbness fading and my muscles seeming to get slight consciousness back. I still didn't open my eyes, but I felt the presence of someone near me, which made the worry in my mind enhance to a higher extent than it already was.

I felt my fingers twitch slightly, and that's when the pain crashed into my body like a strong wave all at once, making me want to curl away and think of positive things to get my mind off of it, which I can never seem to achieve anyway. I groaned audibly, sniffling but trying to hold the tears back, given I would feel embarrassed to have whoever was in the cold room see me cry.

The damp tiles beneath me seemed to get colder and colder the more I became aware of them, making me shiver and shift my body slightly. I felt my eyelids finally have the will to squint open, and I was hit with a bright surrounding as I slowly gained my vision back.

The pulsing pain around my colorful left eye seemed to be too much to handle, as I closed it immediately to subside the aching feeling. Leaving my hazil eye open to take in what was in front of me, I noticed the blurry silhouette of a boy dressed in black clothing, with his back turned to me. I was still slumped against the tiled bathroom floor, so I couldn't tell surely, but he seemed to be on the short side considering height. He had short cut raven black hair that stopped at the tip of his ears, and I could see the prickly stubs of his undercut trailing to the start of his neck.

I shifted my body, the aching pain that still lingered feeling just as bad as before, but not so much that I couldn't move. I squinted my barely opened eye, and lifted my hand in front of me to shield myself from the bright light on the white ceiling.

My vision in the eye I kept open restored fully so I could see clearly, and I kept my hand pressed lightly against my bruised left eye to cover it. The boy turned around and looked down at me with slightly widened eyes before composing himself, his face becoming emotionless.

He sighed, and I shifted my body so I could sit up straight against the cold wall as he approached me and leaned down to my level. I looked at him with worry lingering in my opened eye, and the only sound was the faint echo bouncing off the smooth bricked tiles. I opened my mouth to break the eery silence, but no form or sound of words would come out. And then he spoke,