The Stranger in my Room
Today felt normal, just like another day for the twin sisters. Roxas had cheer-leading and Sora had tennis practice. They drove home together when they were done. Despite being a pretty blonde cheerleader, Roxas retreated home any chance she got. Sora would rather spend her time anywhere else, expect her room. Or, more likely, Sora would bug the hell out of her sister.
"Roxie?" the sweet, innocent tone already annoyed Roxas. Sora was about to ask for a favor.
Roxas whipped her head to the direction of the whine and immediately saw a plastic brush hanging helplessly in Sora's long brunette curls. She slightly tugged on it, and said in a defeated tone, "It's stuck."
Roxas let out a frustrated groan and immediately got up to help. The brush was completely in engulfed in a wad of hair; it was going to take a long time to untangle. "How the hell did you do this?" Roxas raised her voice at her.
Sora sunk at her head a little, "I don't know."
Roxas sighed and softened her tone, "Sit down. I'll get it out."
Sora obediently found a seat in her sister's room. Roxas immediately went for the matted mess. She grunted to herself, every time she realized a loop of hair. "It's too late for this, Sors, I was about to go to bed."
"Sorry Roxie," the twin noticed that something was off about her sister.
"What's wrong with you?" Roxie blurted out. She meant for that question to sound more sincere than that. So, she added to it, "I mean something's bothering you. Are you having nightmares?"
Sora winced at the idea, "No, Roxas; I'm not a little kid."
"But, you still refuse to go to bed." Roxas retorted at the remark. The past several days, Sora did not want to be by herself, especially at night. "What else would it be?"
"It's nothing," her sister was testing Sora's patience now. She thought about telling her twin, they promised to tell each other everything. But, Roxas tends to overreact and make things a lot worse.
With one swift pull, Roxas dislodged the brush and started to hand comb the mangled hair. That caught the brunette by surprise, "You did that fast."
"It wasn't that bad," Roxas dropped the brush in Sora's lap. Then she braided her sister's hair to so she didn't have to touch it for the rest of the night. "Now, Go. To. Bed."
Sora nervously grabbed her single braid and turned to her twin. "Are you really that tired? It's Friday."
Roxas rolled her eyes, "Its past midnight and I have a game tomorrow. Get out of my room."
"You're so mean," Sora whined as she dragged her feet to the door.
The charade was not going to work that time. Roxas nearly pushed her through the door and demanded one last time to go to bed while she slammed the door in her face. There was nothing else to do, now, but to go to sleep. Her parents must have been knocked out by now.
Sora regretted the day when she got her own bedroom. The first thing she did, before stepping into the room was turn the lights on to examine all corners of the room. Her room appears to be normal and everything was still in its place. Then she turned the lights off; the room suddenly had corners covered in dark shadows.
Sora rushed for her bed and hid under the warm comforter. She lay awake staring at right corner of her room for an unwelcomed guest who only came at night. It didn't take long before the unidentified man to appear from the dark. Sora thought that she was either dreaming or that her room was haunted. Both theories were proven wrong when she found long strands of silver hair on the carpet.
Just like every night before, she noticed movement in the shadows and a silver haired man scrolled from the shadows. He was dressed in an oversized black leather coat with matching gloves. The man didn't act like an intruder; he just leaned against the wall with his arms folded until sunrise. The man never spoke or looked at Sora.
The brunette girl hid her stare under her blanket and stood as still as she could. The man wore a black blindfold, but he would disappear in a second if she moved. Sora eventually found her courage after an hour, and asked him, "Who are you?"
Her voice clearly shocked him. A slight gasp echo escaped him and the man looked in her direction, but he chose to ignore her.
The teenaged girl did not like to be ignored. The next few questions came more frequently, "Where did you come from?"
No response.
"Why are you here?"
No response.
"What do you want? How do you keep getting into my room?"
Sora stopped when the strange guy grunted and moved from his spot. He swiftly turned his back to her and uttered over his shoulder, "You talk too much."
Four simple words never infuriated the young girl so much; her face turned red at the bland offence. She couldn't think of a comeback fast enough. The man walked straight into the shadow and disappeared in thin air.
Sora jumped from her bed to follow him, but only ran into the wall. She slapped the wall several times to make sure that there wasn't a hidden door somewhere. That didn't help at all and what the hell is happening right now? This is not normal and there's no way to yell at him now.
Roxas noticed something was wrong with her twin sister all day. She woke up in a bad mood and a slight scowl on her face. Sora usually would get over what's bothering her or at least rant about by now. But, after the football game she still has a chip on her shoulder.
"What's wrong now?" The blonde twin asked with a worn down voice from cheering for several hours straight.
The direct question caught the brunette twin off guard, "I'm fine; why do you ask?"
"Because you're mad," Roxas stated very clearly.
"Am not," Sora's side glare was not convincing.
Roxas tried another way to get her to confess her secret, "Remember our promise we made when we were eight?"
"That we would tell each other everything?" Sora admitted very guilty.
Roxas shook her head at her sister. "That was when we were six; I was talking about when we promised to stick up for each other and not let anyone hurt us."
Sora's hard stare shifted to the floor. Her shoulders relaxed; however her arms and legs remained folded. Roxas realized that her twin is not mad at her; still doesn't help the situation. She felt uneasy knowing that this not a family issue. "You can tell me," the blonde used the sweetest voice she could muster.
Sadly, the brunette didn't budge. "It's late, Roxie. I'm going to bed soon," Sora's cold response sent a shiver down Roxas's spine. Something was definitely wrong.
Roxas didn't move from where she stood. Sora felt the gaze on her and started to feel uncomfortable. "Roxas…" Sora's irritated tone was the enough for the blonde to leave her alone.
Sora watched her twin sister drift out of the door. She knew that this conversation was not over yet, but what was she supposed to say to her? That a strange man is walking out of the wall, just to stand in her room at night and he threw out childish insults at her for no reason. She'll think that she was crazy.
Well, Roxas might already think that she was crazy, but not like this. However, it was hard getting through the day without telling a living soul about her boy troubles. It was already nightfall and he should be showing up any moment now.
Sora staged her room to make it look like that she was asleep. Almost like clockwork, the guy with silver hair strolled into her room nonchalantly. This time he wondered over to Sora's bed to make sure that she wasn't moving, "You're not fooling anyone, Sora," a deep, sarcastic voice rattled her.
There was no reason to pretend anymore. Sora stood up in her bed and to look at the blindfolded stranger in his face. Out of all of the questions she had, one needed the burned on her tongue was, "Why are you here?"
"It's for your own good," the response was swift and extremely vague.
"What does that even mean? You haven't done anything but stand in the corner. It's creepy," He listened to her rant very calmly. It's like that he wasn't even listening to her.
It only frustrated the brunette anymore. "Get out of my room!"
Sora put used all of her upper body strength to shove the man a feet away from her bed. Somehow, the blinded man had faster reflexes than her. He caught her wrist in with one hand and scooped her up with the other arm. Sora's blue eyes grew wide when she realized that she was in his arms.
There was a moment of dead silence that was interrupted by the sound of leather being crumpled. Sora felt the strange man pull one of his hands up to his blindfold. The girl was paralyzed with awe when she saw a single bright turquoise eye gaze at her for a solid minute.
"Huh," he seemed amazed as well. With a cocky grin, the stranger covered his eye and said, "You really are a girl."
Now, Sora was confused. What could he possibly mean by that? The man threw her on the mattress and turned his back towards her. She did see his smug grin before he did. Instead of asking more useless questions, Sora searched for something to throw at him. He was out of the room before she settled a single object.
How does he do that? Is he some kind of magician? The questions kept piling up. It really didn't matter anyway; it didn't seem like that she would be getting any answers soon.
"Who were you talking to last night?" the blunt question earned a confused look from the other twin.
Sora hesitated and thought about what to say to her sister. She was cornered. Roxas was way too smart to try to pretend that nothing was wrong. Besides, she could always tell if she was lying to her.
"Uh…" Sora did not want to have talk about this, "there's was a guy."
Roxas immediately became more fascinated with the topic. It would explain Sora's strange behavior in the past few days. "Is he your boyfriend?" she said a little playfully.
Sora did not react like Roxas expected; she stared at her very anxious and quietly shook her head. The troubling expression made Roxas more alarmed about the situation. She asked in a serious tone, "Do you know him?"
Again, Sora quietly shook her head. Roxas felt her heart twinge when she started to piece together the mystery, "Where do you see him?"
Sora didn't respond this time. Whatever the answer was, she did not want to admit it. So Roxas guessed, "At school?"
Her sister's gaze shifted to the floor. "At tennis met?"
No reaction, "At the mall?"
Sora bit her lip. She didn't go a lot of places by herself and the stress was eating at the blonde. She asked frustrated, "Then where else could you see him?"
Sora's gaze shifted to the corner of her room. Roxas glanced over to the empty corner; there's wasn't any furniture over there, but there was a small window. The blonde's eyes widened with fear for twin sister, "Here? You see a stranger from your room?! How does he get in? This is the second story?!"
She couldn't control her voice at that point. Sora was on the verge of tears; she knew that this would happen. "I don't know. The guy just walks in through the dark. I don't know."
"Did anything happen?! Did he hurt you?!" Roxas was the loudest person than anything in the room.
"No; nothing happened," Sora tried to get her to stop her from yelling.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"Because I couldn't prove it!" Roxas froze at that statement and let her sister continue, "H-he doesn't break in. H-he just pops in and out in seconds like magic. I thought he was a ghost. A-and if I talk too much, he'll vanish in thin air. I can't explain it."
Sora was out of breathe and clammy when she finished her speech. It did not give any of them answers. Roxas didn't know to make of this situation, but there was only one way to prove that her sister is not going crazy, "Will he show up if I was in here?"
Sora shrugged at that, "Maybe if you hide; I don't know."
Roxas sighed. It was going to be a long Sunday night, "It's okay; will get to the bottom of this."
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The twin girls have not shared the same bed since they were nine. It was uncomfortable for them to be so close together, but pretending to be asleep was the only way the man would show up. Roxas hid completely under the covers to just to stay out of sight.
The blonde's patience was wearing thin. For about an hour, all she saw was her sister's long hair and the comforter. She was about to give up, when Sora tapped her arm repeatedly, signaling that the man has arrived.
Roxas poked her head over the cover to see exactly what her sister described in detail. A tall man with a long silver hair and a black coat stood in the middle of the room with his back towards the bed. The blonde was filled with complex emotions. She didn't even hear him come into the room.
"Who are you?" Roxas demanded that answer immediately.
The stranger only looked over his shoulder and asked furiously, "Who's that?" He basically repeated her question.
Sora was startled by the change in his tone. She reached one arm behind her to keep Roxas back and answered for her, "Roxas; my twin sister."
The stranger sighed deeply at that statement. He recognized that name. Instead of greeting the newcomer, he reached one arm out and summoned a long dark weapon in his hand.
Sora and Roxas stood in shock and stared at the weapon. They feared for their safety, but he was not facing them. He stated very boldly, "Stay quiet; someone is coming."
What? More people were coming here? Now? That didn't make any sense. A strange abstract form appeared in Sora's doorway. It formed into a definitely oval shape. Just like he said, two more people walked out of it. Both wearing the black coats, and both had their identity sealed under the hoods.
The tall skinny figure spoke first, "Why am I not surprised to find you here? I'm only here to do my job."
"I'm not going to let you or anyone from that place hurt Sora," the silver haired guy declared very bravely.
"Wrong Sora, Einstein, if you could probably tell the difference without your blindfold," the taller figure retorted very sarcastically.
Sora and Roxas could not believe the scene that was enfolding in front of them. The brunette melted onto the mattress. All this time, he was creeping around her to protect her. It was the last reason she would have thought of.
Sora twitched when she felt her sister move past her on the bed. She was fully exposed and helpless to the three people in front of her; but she was unfazed. "Axel?" her voice was very hesitant.
The two hooded people turned to look at the blonde. "Roxas?" another female's voice responded. With both hands she revealed her black hair and blue eyes. The girl gleamed at the young blonde and said, "Wow; you look so pretty as a girl!"
Roxas had no idea what to say to that. Nothing they were saying were making any sense. The only thing she did know that those are her best friends hidden in those oversized coats.
"O come on; that's not fair." Axel revealed his hair and grumbled to himself. He was thinking really hard.
Xion attempted to step forward to the twins, but was stopped by the man with silver hair. "Stay back."
"We couldn't hurt Roxas," Xion explained to him.
It didn't matter. The blindfolded man kept his guard up, keeping them on the other side of the room. Sora hid behind Roxas; she is the only reason why Axel and Xion are not attacking her right now.
"You know," Axel stared at the guy who sabotage his mission and summoned two identical circles, "Saix would be probably be happier if we brought the impostor back instead."
"I guess you're right," Xion dryly agreed as she summoned a giant key to join the fight. That's a weird weapon of choice.
The stranger summoned his own dark portal and to back into it. Axel and Xion rushed after him. Both of the portals suddenly disappeared shortly after they left.
"What just happened?" Sora only whispered to Roxas. She was too scared to assert her voice.
Roxas turned to face her sister. She couldn't think of anything to say either, "I don't know, but I think that I owe Axel and Xion a hug."
Sora couldn't help asking, "Can I have one please?"
Roxas only wanted to get out of that room. She answered briefly, "Sure, as long as you sleep in my room for awhile."
A few distressed tears escaped Sora's blue eyes; she whipped them away and ran out of her room with her.
"Are we really going to pretend like nothing happened," Sora couldn't believe that her sister tried to ignore everything that just happened in her bedroom.
Roxas couldn't believe that she wanted her to talk about it, "People would think that we are crazy."
Hell, the real Axel and Xion didn't believe her. They think that she had a crazy dream. If they didn't believe her and Sora, she knows nobody else would. To be honest, Roxas barely believes this herself.
It was Monday morning and they could forget their troubles with school and a small mountain of homework. It was comforting and a little mind-numbing. Roxas's train of thought was interrupted by Sora squeezing her wrist.
"Look," she whimpered and pointed a shaky finger.
Roxas followed the direction to find a head full of silver hair. It was just like that the strange man had, instead it was a girl. She a foot taller than them and was more statuesque than them too.
Sora was too curious not to ignore it. She walked to the silver-haired girl and subconsciously dragging her sister behind her. The brunette was instantly put on the spot when a pair of turquoise eyes settled on her.
"U-uh hi, have we met before? You look familiar." Sora felt like that she was shrinking in her presence.
The girl stood dazed for a second, but quickly regained her composure. She shook her head and answered, "No, I don't think that we formally met. My name is Rikku."
"U-um, I'm Sora," she gestured to her mute twin. "And this is my twin sister, Roxas."
Roxas stared blankly at the two girls. All of this was way too freaky for her. "You're a tennis player, right? I may have seen you on the field."
"Oh yeah," Sora nearly forgot that she was an athlete. "Well, maybe I'll see you next game."
Sora started to back way from the woman. The only thing she could think about was how her male counterpart stuck up for her and it wanted to ask her about it. There is no way she would know anything about that.
"Oh okay, I'll see you later," Rikku waved half-heartedly as she watched the twin sisters rush away from her. She would have never in a million years thought that Sora would just walk up to her like that. Now, she has to deal with her snickering friends who saw the whole thing.
"What was that?" Roxas asked her sister who still have not let go of wrist.
"I don't know," Sora's heart was beating out of her chest. This is the start of something strange.
Epilogue:
Roxas was waiting for his friends to come back from the mission. It was his favorite time of day; the sunset made the town glow a beautiful hue of gold and he was sitting there with sea-salt ice cream enjoying the view.
"Roxie," Axel's voice startled him.
However, he caught and despised the new nickname, "Don't call me that."
"Sorry Roxie," Axel teased him. He quickly dodged a hit from the small blonde and sat down next to him. "You wouldn't believe who I ran into on my last mission."
"The impostor," Roxas was too good at guessing.
"Well yeah, but that's no who I wanted to talk about," Roxas could tell from Axel's voice that he was ecstatic about this.
Axel glanced up to say to behind his friend to say, "Don't do that it's creepy."
Roxas swiveled around to see Xion standing way too close to him. He nearly jumped off the clocktower. "Xion, what are you doing?" Roxas's startled voice only made her smile.
"You would be such a pretty girl," she said through a strange laugh.
"Huh," that was the weirdest thing that Xion has ever said and she says strange things all the time. Somehow, Axel had a giggle fit because of it. Is this an inside joke?
"What the hell are you talking about?" Roxas demanded an explanation.
Xion had trouble forming her question through her laughing, "…Can…I-I…tell him?"
Axel had to take a deep breathe to answer, "I'll rather show him."
A/N: Thanks for reading
A. Leaf