Darya woke up to soft sheets intertwined through her jean-clad legs. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep, a good few hours, if she was lucky, but she was faintly aware that she still had her (uncomfortable) boots on, her feet hanging over the edge of her bed like weights, and she kicked them off and let them thud to the floor. It must've stopped raining, she thought, hearing nothing but tittering, chirping birds from outside. It was a nice sound. Something she didn't usually stop to listen to. Her body groaned as she folded into herself, buried deeper in the pristine white blankets as she—
Oh my god. Oh my god.
Darya shot up in the bed and smashed the base of her back off of a headboard that didn't belong to her, staring at the blankets that were definitely not purple and mildly stain ridden, such as the ones that accompanied her bed. None of this belonged to her. Not the blankets, not the bed, not anything in the clean based, frighteningly spotless . . . what, bedroom? Apartment? Whatever it was, wherever she was, Darya ripped the blankets off of her body and threw them to the side, letting her feet tentatively shift closer and closer to the carpeted floor until her toes felt the plush rub of the fabric. She shivered at how realistic it felt because this is not real, this cannot be real. Her legs could barely hold her weight as she stood up.
Don't forget to breathe. Keep breathing. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathebreathebreathebreathe.
A soft, guttural snore had Darya's head snapping towards the sound. It came from—ha, fuck me, she forgot how to breathe again—a dog, curled in the corner of the room on its bed and twitching in its sleep, probably chasing the mailman in its dreams. Darya closed her eyes and exhaled shakily. Ignore it, she whispered in her mind, afraid something nasty would hear her and send her to another terrifying place that wasn't her apartment. As she continued her exploration of the room she inhaled again and took in the stench of something floral. A perfume or air freshener maybe.
Or soap, she thought as she heard the pounding reverberations of water hitting surface. And as she crept oh so slowly through the doorway of the exquisite bedroom, looking past the clear glass panel that acted as a wall in what was clearly a large and artistically designed apartment, Darya saw the naked figure basking under the open, steaming shower. It was a woman, a skinny woman with surprising mounds of impressive muscle layered over natural womanly fat, and she stared at Darya through the open door of her shower, watching as she opened her mouth, shaping it for words that would never come out. The beat of the water overruled the weight of the silence. No words were ever exchanged, but a rising hum slowly drove over the beating water, turning into two very different shrieks of the same general emotion: terror. Darya fumbled through the doorway as the raven haired woman backed into the corner of her shower, pale arms hiding what was already seen, mouth baring a row of fine teeth that looked menacing as she screeched. Darya felt her feet tripping over themselves and she could feel herself falling when—
She burst through her bathroom door and stumbled into her bedroom—her real bedroom—clinging to her wooden dresser as the door bounced off the paint-peeled wall and into her shoulder. Her palms sweat as she busted her lungs full of air and released it violently. Tucking her chin to her chest, she felt the lurch of her stomach travel to her throat, her mouth wetting as she turned and stumbled back into her bathroom. Oh, Jesus fuck, don't be sick don't be sick don't be sick, the mantra was emptied into the toilet as she heaved, letting go of the beer and whatever else she had eaten yesterday. Was that yesterday? She didn't know. She didn't really care, not enough to compete with what had just happened to her, what she just experienced. Hot, stinging tears pricked at her eyes as she spit into the water again.
She was going out of her mind, was really going out of her fucking mind.
Authors Note: I'm actually pleased yet disappointed with this chapter. Pleased with how quickly I managed to get it done, disappointed with how I wrote it. Just a warning, chapters are usually gonna be short. And I'll be writing more about Darya and her life soon, so there will be new characters! Thanks to everyone who followed, faved, and reviewed!