TAMING APOLLO | completed

03. the curious case of cyrene de mercier

G A Y L E

03. the curious case of cyrene de mercier

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I wake up in a strange room. It's white and completely empty save for a brown chair smack in the middle of it. There are no doors or windows, and it just looks like a giant cube.

I scratch my head as it begins to pulsate a little bit. "Thalia?" I call out for my friend but my voice just echoes through the room.

I begin to walk around, searching for any kind of exit.

How did I even get here?

Maybe it was Apollo. I try to ignore the shivers that run down my spine with that daunting thought.

"Thalia!" I scream again after what feels like five minutes of me wandering aimlessly. I feel goosebumps on my skin and it's like all the walls are caving in.

It's getting a little harder to breathe.

"Your friend cannot hear you. Nobody can." A voice that sounds eerily familiar echoes throughout the room, and when I turn around somebody is sat on that empty chair in the middle of the room.

It's me.

Only, it's not me.

She looks exactly like I look, down to the very last facial feature, only she is wearing a large red ballgown and there is much jewelry on her body, along with a tiara atop her head.

She has somehow summoned a table next to the chair and is now stirring a cup of tea with some golden teaspoon.

She looks calm, not surprised to see me as she takes a sip of tea. She places her fancy cup on the table placidly before finally making direct eye contact with me.

"Where am I?" I spare no time recovering from my shock. I must be dreaming or something, it's the only thing that makes sense. I'm still unconscious and when I wake up I'll be right there on my apartment floor where I collapsed.

I try to pinch myself but nothing happens.

I'm still here.

"Fancy a cup of tea?" She asks, smiling at me pitifully. "I, myself, fancy jasmine, howbeit if you prefer chamomile or regular..." She smiles serenely.

Those goosebumps return to my skin as I face my doppelgänger. "How about we get straight to the point..." I reply, waiting for her to fill in her name.

"Cyrene." She fills it in for me with a gracious smile of her coral tinted lips. "Very well, Gayle. Let us not beat about it." She gets up from her chair, and it disappears behind her, along with the tea and table that once was.

Her hands are linked together before her as she sashays towards me.

Once she feels that she is close enough, she sighs.

"Are you real?" I ask her, attempting for the umpteenth time to pinch myself awake.

She seems uneasy, as if explaining this simple thing to me would tip some kind of scale somewhere.