The Thousand-Eyed Crow (#Wattys2020)

Chapter 2 (Skepticism and Mysticism)

"The tests so far have been inconclusive," the doctor told Kallias and Caoimhe with a sigh while examining the chart on her hologram device. "There's not much more we can do, and there's no sense in keeping you here longer."

With that, the doctor sent them away with some anti-emetic medication just in in case. Caoimhe shuffled along the pavement, kicking rocks absently, with Kallias rolling beside them, as they made their way back to the flat. The sun seemed to shine more brightly than usual, pulsating aggressively almost resembling a beating heart. Both siblings pulled their cloaks closer around their bodies to protect against the scorching heat.

"I don't know if it's a good idea for me to be left alone," Caoimhe admitted as they entered their flat, removing the hood of their cloak. They ruffled their hair a bit as they shut the door behind Kallias.

Kallias moved themselves across the floor and over to the couch in their living room, pulling themselves out of the chair and almost collapsing onto the soft, comfortable cushions. Compared to the chairs in the hospital, it felt like they were sitting in a meadow of clouds. "I'm still skeptical about the whole thing, but if you feel like you'll be better off with my company, then fine. But what will you do about university tomorrow?"

Caoimhe had almost forgotten about their classes with what had been happening, but figured it might be a good respite to spend time out among their friends and classmates instead of remaining holed up in their flat. They gazed down the corridor warily before plopping down next to Kallias. Something about the house had started to feel... different. "Getting out of the flat would be good. I'm getting bad vibes lately, to be honest, and I can't tell if whatever I saw in our room and what's been bothering us in our dreams has been following us, or if it's just confined to us specifically."

They turned to Kallias, and the other sibling fell silent. Might be better off not mentioning what I saw when we were at the hospital, then... Kallias thought to themselves.

"If anything, and I'm not saying this is definitely the case, but if you're only seeing weird shit in our room, then it's probably just the room. Not that our dead parents would be haunting us there, but if you thought you saw mom there, then who's to say? But like I said, don't go bragging about it to people. They're rounding people up over cult activity, remember?"

Closing their eyes, Caoimhe simply nodded. For some reason, after all the sleeping they had done at the hospital, they still could not find it in them to keep their eyes open. The weight of exhaustion seemed to stop at nothing to pummel them to dust from the head down.

"Let me make you some food. And don't throw it up this time, okay?" Kallias said, voice gentle, gritting their teeth as they entered the kitchen and got to work. Caoimhe remained where they were, their face seeming to relax a bit as they dozed off once again.

"Wakey wakey," said Kallias after a few minutes, as they placed the bowl of gruel down in front of Caoimhe. "I even added something special to make it slightly less boring."

Frowning, Caoimhe opened their eyes slowly and sunk down to the cushion on the floor. They shoveled spoonfuls of the porridge-like substance into their mouth as if the food was a delicacy that they had not eaten in a long stretch of time.

"Whoa, bruv, relax. You're going to throw up again if you don't slow down," Kallias replied, rubbing the bridge of their nose and sighing.

Rolling their eye, Caoimhe obliged, but only because they were too tired to argue with Kallias at the moment. They hoped that the oppressive feeling of exhaustion would go away once they got a good night's sleep, but they could not remember a time when they had been so knackered. After swallowing a mouthful of food, Caoimhe asked, "Do you also feel really fucking sleepy for no reason?"