Tempest (#1)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Naked

I gasped awake and reached desperately for my glasses. I felt someone hand them to me, and when I could finally see, I realized it was Des.

"DES!" I yelled as I wrapped my arms around her. I could feel the difference between my dream world and reality now that I was truly awake, and damn that Chaos for being so good at making my dreams feel real. Like in my dreams, I always got the sense that something wasn't quite right, but at this moment, nothing could have felt more real than waking up to find Des.

"Petite! Thank goodness you are alright." She said as she hugged me back. "How are you feeling?"

I pulled away from her. "Honestly, a little violated, but totally fine."

"Huh?" Des asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Des, I just had the weirdest sleep of my life! I'm so glad that that night is over."

My roommate watched me carefully. "Penn, you've been asleep for three days. You were temporarily comatose."

"What!?" I jumped out of bed as I realized there was a heart monitor beside me. "Three days? No. It was just one night..."

"I could crush you..." Rang in my ears as I looked around my room. For some reason, my eyes seemed focused on a colorful bouquet of daisies on my nightstand.

"Did you leave those?" I asked, pointing towards the flowers.

Because I swear, if Chaos sent those I'm going to have to kick her ass to teach her about boundaries.

"Non." Des shook her head. "The Blakes left them."

I stared back and forth between the flowers and monitor. They probably brought that too.

I felt like my face was going to be stuck in a permanent frown. Things are getting weird. I mean, it's not like I didn't expect them to get like that... all things considered, but still! I'm starting to worry that I might not be capable of handling all this. Especially after what Chaos just did...

"Des, how's CC?" I asked, instantly thinking about if Miasma was doing Chaos's dirty work while I've been out of commission.

She watched me worriedly as I pulled the needle out from my arm. "Quiet..."

I looked up at her. "I don't like how you said that. Quiet good? Or..."

Des gave me a reluctant smile as she shrugged, "I don't know. It feels... eerie to me. Like the calm before a storm. It feels wrong."

"Wrong, huh? That seems to be going around." I muttered.

I sighed as I looked out towards my window. Everything seemed fine... but if I was an expert at anything at this point, it's that things are not always as they appear.

"I need you alive." Chaos's voice was as annoying as a car alarm that I couldn't shut off. Yet, she was warning me of something to come. Something from her, in fact. But why?

"Penn?" Des called, drawing my attention away from the window.

"Yeah?" I asked, turning towards her.

"Didn't you hear me?"

"No," I shook my head, frowning. "I'm sorry. What did you say?"

Des watched me with that signature motherly concern of hers. "I asked if something happened. When you were sleeping?"

"Oh..." I looked at Des before answering. Her black hair was straight and shiny, and her blue orbs had the tiniest of bags under her eyes. As if she didn't sleep in the past few days. Oh, Des...