Marinette walked into the kitchen. She had bags under her eyes. She had slept badly once again, teased by nightmares. Nightmares that she would rather not remember in the morning. Just like she would rather not remember what she had seen that night in her bedroom window. It probably had all been a dream. She shuffled to the fridge and took out a carton of milk. Plagg was sitting at the table, a plate of porridge in front of him. Marinette took a seat next to him and ruffled his hair. His face turned into a wide smile. There were small pieces of porridge stuck on the ends of his mouth. Marinette couldn't suggest that a couple nights ago, Plagg had bitten her. But the teeth marks were still visible on her hand. She didn't tell her parents. Forget it!
Absently, she spread chocolate paste on her bread. She was trying to think of nothing and concentrated on the pot of chocolate paste, as if the object was very important. On the side of pot there was something about a book. The Corpsebus it was called and there were vampires in it. Interesting, Marinette thought. Almost as interesting as the teeth marks on my hand from Plagg, the little vampire.
Her mama entered the kitchen and walked to the counter. For a bit, Marinette felt a pang of fear. Ridiculous. She has never been afraid of her mama. Why now then? "Because she doesn't act like mama at all, lately," A voice whispered in her head. "Her shadow was one of a…." Marinette muted the voice. Bullshit, that was just a dream. Maybe I was sleepwalking or something.
Suddenly she noticed that Plagg was secretly watching her. He lurked from the corner of his eyes to her. "Don't look at me like that." It sounded angrier that Marinette had wanted. Plagg smiled. It looked like his eyes changed colours. Then he turned his head and spat a blob of porridge at Marinette. With a scream, Marinette stood up. The pot of chocolate paste fell on the ground. "Mama!"
Slowly her mama turned to her. "Is there something wrong?" She asked.
"Plagg spat porridge at me," Marinette was almost crying. She swept the porridge of her cheek. "And recently he…"
"Recently he, what?" Said her mama, while she looked at Marinette with no emotion. Her eyes were a deep yellow, the colour of the velvet curtains in the living room.
Marinette said nothing and felt her legs go weak. She had to hold herself up with the table in order to not fall over. The faces of her mama and Plagg swam in the room. Marinette rubbed her eyes. "Nothing, I have to go to school." She grabbed her backpack and walked to the backdoor.
"Wait!" Marinette stiffened at the door. "Don't forget your lunch." Her mama put the lunchbox in her backpack.
"Thanks," Marinette said. Without looking back, she quickly walked out of the door.
It was as if she could breathe normally, outside. With deep breaths, she sucked in the air around her. The bus stop was five minutes walking distance. On the way, Marinette looked around her in surprise. She had the feeling she was floating, as if she came from a different reality and saw things that other people couldn't see. Maybe it is like that, she thought. Maybe I accidentally landed in a different reality. A reality where everything is almost the same, but still different. Where parents have yellow eyes and terrible shadows. Where little brothers bite their sisters and spit porridge. Maybe there is in my reality a girl just like me, but with yellow eyes, who asks herself why her parents have blue eyes and why her little brother is so sweet. With her eyes on the ground, Marinette walked to the bus stop. She didn't dare look passers-by's in the eyes. What if they also had yellow eyes. Then everything would definitely be wrong.
"Marinette!" Shocked, she looked up. Who called her? Across the street stepped Adrien from his bike. He waved at her. Marinette hesitated. Shall I go to him? But what if he also has yellow eyes?
'Than you would at least know you're ready for a crazy home,' Whispered a voice in her head. Marinette considered walking away and acted as if she hadn't seen Adrien at all. But it was already too late. He was crossing the street and came over to her.
"Marinette, wait. I have to speak with you." She heard the rushed sound in his voice. The sound of someone who was confused. Just like her. Marinette gulped and looked at Adrien.
To her relief, where his eyes an emerald green, but he looked different than normal. His face was incredibly pale. Marinette put her hand on his cheek. "Adrien, you look sickly. Did you see a ghost?" Adrien smiled faintly. He put his own hand over Marinette's that was still on his cheek.
"I've seen the things that you see."