What Lies Beyond

Chapter 2 - A New Realization

"My name is..." The girl gently took hold of Aviva's cold hands, opening her eyes again with determination.
"My name is Brinley!"

Her words struck me as profoundly beautiful, the determination in her eyes spoke words I could never fathom, those oddly coloured yet gorgeous eyes staring deeply and intensely into mine, a smile that could save souls. I felt my face flush as I looked at her in awe, my heart rate speeding up, hands unconsciously tightening around hers. What is this feeling?

4:53PM
Aviva's head started spinning in circles, she had made physical contact before, but nothing this intimate, Brinley's body was pressed against hers, their hands locked, fingers intertwining, and they just met. Brinley made a quick yelp and pulled away, tomato faced. Aviva smiled warmly "Aviva, nice to meet you." She held out her hand, "Aviva.. cute name!" and the other girl shook it shakily, almost as if she were nervous, then.

"A lot of sexual tension for a first meeting don't ya thin-" Brinley was abruptly cut off "IT IS NOT SHUT UP!"
Aviva's rage was immediately replaced with an indescribable feeling when Brinley giggled, butterflies forming in her what was once empty stomach. "Now come on! You're gonna miss dinner" The heterochromic girl dragged Aviva by her arm and out of the dorm, surprisingly strong for a girl her size, she lead them up a couple of staircases, down a unsettlingly long hallway and into the dining room. Just as elegant as the rest of the building, high ceiling, large windows, all that stuff. She began to focus on the people around, all different races, body-shapes and personalities, there were definitely at least 5 individual people of every race at the sanatorium, at least they had diversity.

Brinley lead Aviva to an empty table, perfectly suited for two.

This feels like a date at some fancy restaurant.. A date with.. her. My face began to flush again, god damnit, why are you like this...

"SOO.." Aviva cleared her throat "Is there a menu?" She tapped her fingers one by one on the table cloth, noticing the twitching arms of those around, she tried her best to ignore them and focus on the cute girl in front of her. "Nah, they decide what we're getting based on our behaviour that day" Brinley tapped her head "And it seems like we weren't the best, I already smell it.." Aviva gazed over at the door with a staff only sign, then back at the other girl "What're they making?" She asked. "Urchin Soup, it's god awful and tastes like literal vomit." Brinley swung back and forth on her seat "Watch out for the announcemen-" A tall woman, much like the one Aviva saw at the reception desk as she arrived, switched on a megaphone, much to everyone's dismay. "Speak of the devil..." Brinley focused her gaze at the doll-like woman, she spoke up "Ahem. Ah! It appears you've all been soy unholy today! We are soy disappointed in you all! As a punishment for your behaviour, you will be served Urchin Soup! Ah!" The megaphone cut off, and everyone went back to chatting as they usually would, like this was a common occurrence.

Aviva could feel a smug smirk behind her, she snapped her neck round to yell when she yet again got taken aback by Brinley, this girl would be the death of her. "What're you looking at.." She asked, refusing to make eye contact with her at all costs. "Oh c'monnn you're no fun" Brinley teased, the previously expressionless girls' face formed a vague but visible smile, her face warming up again, she was in a good enough mood to take down whatever disgusting food was being served.

And disgusting it was, a greyish-brown looking soup deprived of almost all colour, tasting like the ocean, extremely salty. The girls could see everyone's faces twist and eyes squint in sync when trying to take down whatever the hell they were served. Aviva glared at one of the tall women, then moved her eyes to gaze upon Brinley, she spoke "Hey uh, do those creepy ladies have any names?" The pale faced girl stopped eating, and with a face full of soup "We call them the Nurses, I mean look at their outfits, we don't know any of their names though". Silence followed, all Aviva could do was stare at the Nurses, they all looked so different, yet the same, it freaked her out, they way they talked did too, everything about the sanatorium was off.

Dinner time had ended, most patients had binned their excess food and walked off, the slower eaters finishing the last few spoonfuls, despite the taste of this "Urchin Soup", everyone seemed to eat it regardless. Twitchy arm after twitchy arm the room emptied until all who was left in the room were Aviva, Brinley and a strange boy standing at the doorway, shaking as if he'd just been submerged in an ice pool. He stared, neck twisting as if it were about to snap in half, a blackish-red viscous substance staining his face. The two girls didn't lay an eye off him, sitting stone in their seats as this boy eyed them. "C-C'mon Aviva, lets go to our dorm." Brinley took hold of her hand, tightening her grip, and at that, the boy swirled around, walking off into what appeared to be the dorm corridor, the girls quickly yet quietly followed, thinking they'd catch up to him but as like every horror movie clique, he was gone, this confused Brinley, but was no surprise to Aviva, no way someone like that would let themself be caught that easy.

9:41PM
The beautiful yet unsettling day grew into evening, and that evening slowly faded into a rather dark night. A sense of dread crept into everyone's systems, the secrets hidden behind these closed doors and friendly personas itching to make themselves present, with hypervigilance practically in the air. Our two main girls sat close, almost too near for personal space, Brinley shakily yet firmly grasped the long-haired minute expressed girl by the shoulders, and leaned so close into her ear that she could feel her breath. "You don't want to l-leave this dorm during the night.. t-they'll find you." Aviva jolted "We have some rules during the night, don't trust anyone out of your circle, don't let anyone in, don't stare them in the eye. And most importantly, DON'T LET THEM IN."

Aviva's pupils dilated "L-Let who in?"

"The cannibals."

That entire day I felt nothing other than those 3 emotions, that indescribable feeling, fear, and uneasiness, I felt fear wherever I stood, thinking someone would jump me and harm me, uneasiness was the feeling I felt around those Nurse ladies, and the indescribable one.. well that's what I felt around her, around Brinley, a mixture of content, the desire to protect, and desire to be close. Despite having these hideous beings that were once regular people going batshit crazy, trying to tear us limb by limb, I felt at home with her, almost like nothing could tear us apart, I could never admit that what I was feeling was more than a friendship, I was scared, and after all, we had just met.

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Phew, and that's all for chapter 2 folks, well, not that many people are reading this at the time I'm writing it, but if you stumbled across, hello, I appreciate you :)

I tried to promise myself that I'd never ship any characters in this story, but look where I am now :woahdude:

Chapter three will be here soon, trust me I love writing this story and would equally love continuing it for a while.