The Epiphany of Reality

Chapter 5

What's better?

To be born good, or

Overcome your evil nature through great effort?

I stayed in the bedroom until well into the morning. It took awhile for me to regain my control of my nerves after that utterly surreal dream. I opened the door to the bedroom and peaked into the hallway. I was relieved to see that I was firmly planted in reality and the abyss was gone. I stumbled down the hallway to the spiral stairs. I heard Romeo walking around downstairs accompanied by small clattering. I made my way down the sleek wooden stairs and into the living room.

Romeo was on the right in the kitche. He was just out of view, but I could see his shadow stretching across the white tile floor. I walked stage left into the kitchen and saw him putting dishes from his rather expensive looking dishwasher away. He eyed me from his peripheral vision,

"Morning," he said.

"Good morning," I replied.

I sat down at the table on the far side of the kitchen. There were several pots and pans strewn out on the table, all in poor condition. I grabbed on of the smaller black pots and noted the several scratch marks and burn marks that covered the bottom. I elegantly sat the pot down.

"How'd you sleep? Romeo asked.

"I slept… alright, I suppose," I said. I didn't want to bring up the dream to him. If I didn't have an explanation, I knew he probably wouldn't.

"Doesn't sound like you slept very well. You sound tired," he said, still putting the dishes away.

I felt my face turn red "Oh, I'm a… light sleeper, I suppose," I said.

"You need some coffee or something?" he said as he pulled a mug from the mahogany cabinets.

"Do you have any tea?" I asked.

"I think…" Romeo said as he rummaged through his cabinets. "Is Darjeeling tea alright?"

"Yeah, thats good." I said.

Romeo quickly made the tea and gave me the blue mug, with the tea bag steeped in the hot water. Romeo sat down at the table with his brew. "Since you're probably going to stay around for a little bit, would you like a small tour of the house?"

I nodded.

Romeo stood up and motioned for me to follow. I followed him down the hall, next to the spiral stairs . The hall was a dark brown with horizontal stripes running down it every foot or so. I noticed a lovely painting of a young woman with an adorable looking dog. He opened the door. The room was practically bare. The floor was concrete and the walls were bare. Only his Devil May Cry figurines, neatly organizes in order of height, and Disturbed albums sat in soltude on a tasteful ebony shelf.

"What's that?" I said pointing to the admitally cool figurines.

"They're from a game." Romeo said, picking one up off the shelf.

"Is it amy good?" I asked with peculiar interest.

"Hell yeah it is!" Romeo said with a cool grin, as he sat down the collectible.

Romeo motioned me to follow him and we left the room. We went down another hallway until we came into what I assumed was the garage.

"This is the garage!" Romeo declared with glee in his eyes. "And this is my baby!" He said cooing over a lime green 2019 BMW i8. "I call her Earnhardt!"

I was in total awe. I hadn't really seen many cars since the game didn't have any, but one look told me this was a SWEET ride. I could feel myself with pure anxiety. I was terrified of what might happen if I damaged it in any way.

"How much did it cost you?" I asked, quivering with anticipation.

"You have no idea!" Romeo said while shaking his head.

I collected myself, after I noticed I was drooling, and looked at the rest of the garage. The floors were concrete, which was expected, but the walls a beautiful dark beige. There was a dark purple carpet on the top-left corner of the room. There was a baby blue fridge in the corner near the door, and a fan blowing on the other side. It seemed like an interesting place to have fun and hang out,

We left the room and went into the bathroom. I suspected I'd get very aquanted with this room in the future. The walls were baby blue with a wooden trim at the top and bottom. The floor was a nice mosaic checkerboard pattern. There was a painting of an old man by a lighthouse on the wall at the left of the door. The sink was on a ceramic counter with a bottle of some pink fluid and a plastic bottle with a blue top filled with what looked to be big colorful candies. There was a spotless faded yellow toliet and some fine toliet paper facing inwards on a silver rack next to it. The shower and bathtub was a BEAUTIFUL titanium white with some transparent curtains. I shuddered at the thought of Romeo coming in and seeing me when I was using it. That would be embarrassing. The mirror was about a foot wide and three feet tall. It was neutral wooden trim and some fish stickers on it. I tried opening some cupboards with gold handles but Roemo stopped me.

"Hey, some of that stuff is private! You should know better than to snoop around in others things!" He pleaded.

I noticed the outline of a metallic blade with wide handles.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking clearly." I said solemnly.

"Come on, don't be so hard on yourself! Curiosity can be a very valuable and powerful tool!" He exclaimed trying to perk me up.

We went into a room with a dark green and black striped couch. The cushions looked extremely comfy, and I couldn't wait to use them. The Tv was a Sony X900F 4K LED UHD TV with Bluetooth support playing an episode of Doctor Who so clearly I could see Matt Smith's pores! There was a beech coffee table with a Marvel coaster and some XBOX One games. There was an XBOX One X luying on the floor near the Tv.. The walls and floor were the same as the hallway which was fine, I thought they already looked great. There was a spinning ash celing fan and a vent on the ceiling.

Roemo picked up a red Spiderman controller and said "Yeah, you could say I game a lot. You should stop by this XBOX if you're ever feeling bored or sad. A little Madden always cheers me up!"

We eventually walked back the kitchen and sat back down at the table in the kitchen, my head tired from absorbing so much material knowledge.

"So that;s the house! Or well… what I'm ready to show you now." Romeo said.

"Now?" I asked "Are you worried I'm going to find something?"

"N… no of course not! I just… need to clean is all! Don't want you getting the wrong impression!" Roemo said, while I could practically FEEL his heart beating.

I simply giggled at his pain. I don't know why but I felt really nice around ROmeo, even more so after seeing his house. I can't wait to do more close to him in the future. If it keeps going as it is now, I think I mightr be in a blissful paradise.

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to get this chatper out! Proofreading is difficult for me, my dyslexia can be a real pian sometimes! -CG