「 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚏𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 」- 𝙻. 𝙻𝚊𝚠𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚝 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

𝙸𝚅 - 𝙰𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎

H.H.S.A Guidebook for New Inhabitants
Edition 34. Published — 803 A.D by V. Atticus

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S.4 It's quite common for Inhabitants of the Halfway House to have known one another in life, as karmic anomalies tend to form in 'clusters', affecting groups of people at a time. It's unknown whether we are deliberately placed together or if this is coincidental.

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☥ ☥ ☥

A faint knock on the door startled me out of a trance. I'd been lost in a haze of wandering thoughts, a stream of music drifting from my mp3. An old Led Zeppelin song from before they got famous. I'd fallen asleep listening to music, and when I woke up past midnight couldn't find any reason to get up and turn it off.

The darkness outside was waning, promising dawn. I'd slept off my initial rage, and was left with nothing but a dull dread.

"It's unlocked." I called hoarsely, sitting up in bed. I heard the doorknob turn, and in walked Ryuzaki, looking as if sleep were merely an abstract concept.
"Above."
"...Ryuzaki."

We stared at one another for a long moment, exchanging a look that could've meant anything. Ryuzaki cleared his throat, which brought into the open the clear tension between us. I expected myself to react with more anger and hostility, but at the sight of his dark-rimmed eyes and tired demeanour, all I felt was a muted sort of weariness.

I was about to launch into a half-assed apology when Ryuzaki cleared his throat.
"...Would you like to come up to the roof with me? I've been wanting to visit it. I heard that at dawn the sky turns a unique shade of lavender." I took this as code for 'we should probably talk', and after some hesitation, agreed.

"...Yeah, ok."

Slowly I got up and put on a sweater, avoiding Ryuzaki's gaze. How long had I slept? Fifteen, sixteen hours?

I probably do owe Ryuzaki an apology, if for nothing else to avoid further conflict. I shouldn't have yelled at him either. Though, I don't know if I can bring myself to swallow my pride. I'm a very prideful person, despite how I may seem.

I was still blinking the sleep out of my eyes as we left and headed to the lift in silence. I remember flinching as my shoulder brushed past Ryuzaki's.
It was quiet, and only after reaching the roof did either of us speak up.

Ryuzaki got off the lift and then stopped to take it in. In one corner lay a luxurious pool with a waterfall running down the side that flowed down to hot tubs on the floor below. There was a pool house, bar, and a grill. Opposite was a lush greenhouse, and closer to us were couches circling a firepit. On both sides on top of the pool house were small decks made for gazing up at the sky — one side facing the sunrise, the other sunset. The decks had pool chairs and sofas, and mini-fridges that likely contained nothing but alcohol. People liked to throw parties here.

And of course, all around us was a stunning view of the outside, evergreen trees and enormous yellow daffodils shrouded in mist, barely visible in the soft airglow of night. Looming ominously.

"This place... is really beautiful." Ryuzaki said, his voice a hushed whisper.
"Only the best for society's fuck-ups." I smiled sarcastically, eyeing with disdain the enormous yellow weeds protruding from the forest. I nudged past him and headed to the deck facing east, where the sky was steadily beginning to lighten. Soon the world would turn lavender for a few breathless minutes, then return to an inconspicuous blue that feigned Earth's; though it's a bit too powdery in hue for me to fully forget that this isn't Earth. The small pocket of time where the sky assumes an unnatural shade of lavender, like the moon too large to be our own, is a quiet reminder that wherever we are, it's not the planet we lived and died on.