Kira J. Felix had left during a sunny afternoon to walk downtown and pick up a few bags of incense from the head shop and to say hello to her buddies at the connected tattoo parlor. She found herself doing this quite often recently. Any excuse to be out of the house and into the world seemed a good one and the tattoo parlor was full of good friends that made life seem better. Plus picking up information on her self-proclaimed future hobby was great. The walk home on this particular day however wasn't so pleasant.
She flinched and sneered as a particularly large truck sped past her, spraying a fine stream of muddy water all across her already soaked clothing. Mumbling under her breath she quickened her pace. The storm had started with no warning and she was quickly beginning to regret her entire walk because of it. Finally reaching her house, she slipped swiftly into her front door. Throwing her bag of, luckily sealed, incense sticks haphazardly onto the coffee table she sank into her couch.
After flipping to the History Channel she laid her head on a pillow and began watching almost the same World War II documentary she had watched the night before. Before long, with the aid of her exhausted legs, she slipped to sleep to the sound of raindrops and the busy street 10 feet from her open front door.
Same dream again. She saw again the same images that had haunted her as she closed her eyes for the past two weeks. Twisted flesh, severed arms, discolored breasts with waterlogged eyeballs. Other images, mechanics, a porcelain mask with empty eyes, a gorgeous green-eyed face framed by long silver strands of hair. Always back to the deformed torso though. It called her. The thing in water, the thing with seeing breasts wanted her with it.
"-nova!" she sat straight up on the couch, startled by her own voice. Scared and feeling alone in the empty house, she rubbed the pale flesh of her skinny arms until the goose bumps went away and stood up. Calming her breathing she looked around, making sure she was awake. She couldn't wait to tell Syrina about these dreams.
Syrina had been her best friend since she was in first grade and had always, like herself, been extremely interested in dreams. They didn't see each other often anymore, having a state border between the two of them, but they planned to spend a bit of time together at a hotel halfway between their homes in Northern Ohio. Kira knew she was leaving tomorrow for that getaway which was the only thing that prevented her from picking up her phone and calling Syrina right away to get these dreams off her chest without sounding crazy.
Trying to take her mind off the images, she slid her headphones on and pressed play on her portable CD player. Bobbing her head to Strapping Young Lad, she walked up the stairs to her bedroom where she proceeded to start packing her suitcase to leave Springfield in the morning. She hated Greyhound buses and wasn't looking forward to the trip but it was worth it to see the woman she viewed as her big sister after a year of almost no contact. Plus, she would offer either an explanation or at least a point of view on her disturbing dreams.
Always an over-packer, Kira folded several pants, skirts and a stack of shirts into her spacious suitcase. CDs, shoes, toiletries, make-up and various things that would only matter to her followed into the bag. Zipping the suitcase, she smiled warmly thinking of her childhood with Syrina. Suddenly, her smile faded and her wide blue eyes almost popped out of her pale feline face when her suitcase began to pixelate and disappear all the way up to the handle and after a few seconds her hands and arms. She was going on a trip to somewhere a lot farther away than Northern Ohio.
Syrina Xellion continued to mentally kick herself, as she had for the last three hours. It was only a day before she would be meeting Kira in Upper-Central Ohio and she had yet to pack. She grit her teeth as the rain continued to pour down on her already cold body and her hazel eyes searched the thick fog for her house. When she had left the ranch-style house she shared with her mother it had already been decently foggy and the signs of oncoming rain were very clear. Yet, feeling the need to feel some sort of pain to prove she was alive, she went for a five-mile walk.
Kira had been her friend since Syrina was in third grade and her parents had divorced several months before. However, within the last year, Kira and Syrina had lost touch due to a state between them. Tomorrow they were supposed to meet at a hotel in Upper-Central Ohio. Kira, who lived in Southern Ohio, had the habit of calling it Northern Ohio, but since Syrina lived at the Michigan-Ohio border she called it "Upper-Central".
A loud honk from a car horn brought her attention back to reality. Automatically she gave the driver the finger and continued walking. She was soaked to the skin. Syrina walked into the house just as the sound of booming thunder told her the worst of the storm was nearing. The young woman practically ripped off her Bella Morte shirt, which had formed a second skin. Next she threw herself into her room and onto the bed, kicked her wet tennis shoes off, and started kicking her legs as she struggled to get her wet pants off. After ridding herself of the last of the clothing she curled under four warm blankets and sank into slumber.
The sky overhead was dark and the ground below her was jagged. The planet was dead, or rather, dying. Millions of unidentifiable voices screamed in her ears as a sudden warmth came and killed the already dying planet. The voices in her ear were silenced yet they seemed to have only transferred into her head. She tried to listen closely but the screams in her mind were unintelligible. The only thing she understood was that something bad had just happened and many people had died. The world around her evaporated as she felt herself melting into the planet. A green stream surrounded her as she floated peacefully in it. A voice was speaking to her, telling her it needed her help. The bad thing had yet to happen, it could still be prevented. The warmth of the stream faded and was replaced by a cold dread and millions of burnt skins, some withering to ash under her eyes.
"No!" Syrina jerked awake and tried to grab her blankets, only to realize she had thrown them to the floor. She quickly grabbed one of the blankets and wrapped it around her bare body, the dream still fresh in mind. Her hazel eyes flickered to the phone but decided against calling Kira. She could always tell the younger girl when they saw each other. Instead she retreated to the safety of a hot shower.
The hot shower left her even colder than before as she stepped out onto the cold bathroom floor. Her body had already started to form Goosebumps. She dried herself quickly, wrapped her green bathrobe around her, and walked back to her room. She turned on her CD player, turned up the volume, and started packing as the voices of Ace of Base took over her room.
By the time Syrina was done "packing", or rather throwing stuff into her suitcases, she had two overloaded suitcases. Kira usually over packed, but Syrina was known to pack everything but the kitchen sink. Syrina smiled as she dressed into a black tank top and navy blue work out pants, slipping on her red suede shoes. She pulled the heavy suitcases shut and zipped them tightly. However, her smile faded as her suitcases pixilated and slowly disappeared. She opened her mouth to scream as she also started disappearing. The scream never left her throat.