Afterlife

10 | Talks, Towels, and Timbits

"How was your first day?" I swing the door of the castle only to find Aura waiting for me. For some reason, I feel taken aback. I am not used to being asked about, well, my life.

"Good," I lie. I had tried my hardest to get tweedle dumber to stay focused, but it was impossible. He literally could not get through one file without somehow drifting to the other side of the room. When tweedle dumber gets distracted, so does Neil. And of course, Logan and Mr. Gloomy weren't going to help, so it was up to me.

The icing on the shitty cake was when tweedle dumber tripped over who knows what and fell into the pile of organized files, promptly destroying all my hard work. Then, the scary she-devil who rules over all of us and stuck me in group five appeared. She made all of us stay overtime and clean up our mess. I forced Flint to go ahead without me, and now two hours later, I am back home.

But you know what, it was all 'good'.

"Why are you lying?" Aura questions, motioning for me to sit as she takes a seat herself in the main room.

"I am no-"

"Yes, you are," Aura interjects with her eyebrow raised. "You are two hours late, obviously more than a little grumpy, and it doesn't help that Flint dropped by to say you had a hard day."

"I'm going to kill him." I murmur before taking a deep breath. "He's right though. She stuck me in group five-"

"The frivolous five?" Aura interrupts again. She quickly motions a 'zip my mouth', and allows me to continue.

"Yes them. They are all idiots!" She gives me a motherly glare, and I correct myself. "Sorry, they aren't all idiots. They are just not good at their jobs."

As I finish explaining my predicament, a man with two cups, a thermos, and a capped bowl appears.

"Would you like some?" Aura asks, grabbing the thermos and pouring the liquid into a cup. To my surprise, it wasn't tea, but rather a brownish liquid.

"Is that hot chocolate?" I ask. She nods happily, revealing that marshmallows were in the cap bowl. Carefully, she drops three into her drink. "It is so warm here; why do you drink hot chocolate?"

"Because I am coo-coo for coco puffs!" She shoots me crazy eyes, causing both of us to burst into laughter.

To my surprise, her laugh isn't as graceful as her presence. It is filled with snorts and honks that make me laugh even more. She grabs my hand as the laughter dies out and looks me straight in the eyes.

"You have to adjust your leadership," She says. I stare, obviously confused by that random sentence. "You cannot lead like they are regular people with an average IQ." This time I raise my eyebrow, and she grins. "You need to find a way to be the best possible leader for them. Specialize your leadership."

I ponder her advice, before looking back at her. I feel this connection that is unlike anything I have felt before. The connection the takes the first brick out of my wall.

-☠ -

I hop out of the shower, grinning with pride. I have finally conquered the heat of the shower. Now it is the perfect temperature, as if finally welcoming me to my new home.

Wrapping the towel around my hair, I notice the fact that my clothes were still outside. Though, working out with Aura really takes a load on you. All I wanted to do was peel off my clothes and take a nice cold shower. Yeah, that's right.

Cold.

I was that sweaty. Aura may look like a princess on the outside, but she pushed me to my limit after our talk. She taught me how to defend myself in the gym, except it felt more like she was kicking my ass.