Previously on t h e l i f e l e s s l e e c h:
"Renée went into a coma, Era. I'm afraid we won't be hearing from her for a while."
xxx
"Natasha...I have dirt."
"Era? You don't sound so good. Something happen?"
"Natasha...Renée's in a coma."
xxx
"Who are you!?"
"My identity is of no magnitude. It isn't just a misapprehension. I've come here to warn you, since you lack the knowledge about what's to come."
"What knowledge?!"
"The knowledge you'll need to know once you come face to face with...the Heartless."
xxx
"A being that has lost its heart, nothing more but an unfilled shell. If you let your guard down, you will not enjoy the outcome. Do you want to wind up like Renée?"
xxx
"We've known each other for so long now. I'm traumatized you're not pleased to see me."
It was around eight o' clock when Era finally woke up from her foretelling dream. There was no source of light in her room or coming out of the window. Reaching over weakly to turn to lamp on, she wiped a few wet blonde strands of hair off of her forehead, which was unusually sweaty; as well as the rest of her body. Her mom must have been in her room, since she wasn't under her sheets or covers when she fell asleep, that and her shirt wasn't on. She didn't feel a bit of cold air hit any part of her body, and it felt like it was eighty degrees in a crowded box of atmosphere. Peeking over at the side mirror, she could tell that all that's been going on so far was very exhausting. She wondered how Renee was doing, if she was still in a coma. Reaching sluggishly over for the phone on the desk, she checked to find that she had a text message sent about an hour ago from Natasha, and it seemed urgent.
If you're available, meet me and Lucas by the alley near the subway station at 8:30!
Oh, joy. Era thought glumly. She only had thirty minutes to prepare for their meet then. But she also forgot something else. She gasped as soon as she realized that she slept through the time that she usually talks to Isa. She didn't completely freak though. It wasn't the first time that she wasn't able to talk. However, she wanted to desperately tell him about what happened today, so that he could give his opinion on it and possibly comfort her. She's already heard enough about everyone else's opinion and the wait for answers to her questions was overwhelming her. The conversation would have to be short though, since she didn't have much time to do anything freely at the moment. Dialing Isa's number, she waited, and was honestly being impatient as she watched her fingers tap rapidly on her red blanket. There was still a dial tone after three rings, but it lasted longer that usual. Once something finally clicked, it was to Era's disappointment that Isa didn't pick up, but the operator came on instead of the voicemail center. It said that the phone might have changed its number or no longer has service. What the hell?
She'd try again later, but at the moment she slid on a pair of red shorts, a black halter-top, and a white pearl anklet. Slipping onto her sandals and pushing her cell phone down into her pocket incase of an emergency, she walked down the stairs quickly to find that her parents didn't seem to be home. She saw from the side of her eye that there was a note hanging onto the refrigerator door.
Had a meeting to go to on short notice
we'll have some errands to do afterwards as well
we'll be back a little late!
~Parents
So she wouldn't be able to tell them that she was going out, and she's never left the house before without them knowing. She'd just have to hope that they'd be out later than she hoped or that she'll be home before them. Grabbing her leopard print jacket on the way out, she left the house exactly the way it was when her parents left it, only her room light was off. Without a second thought, she quickly darted through the streets so that she would make it to the subway station on time. Her phone started to vibrate and at the same time she heard a car not too far behind her. Taking her cell phone out of her pocket, she pressed Talk.
"Hello?" Era greeted through heavy breaths.
"So are you going to meet us?" Natasha's voice replied back in curiosity.
"Yeah, I'm running to the station right now!" Era shouted, figuring that her friend couldn't hear the clapping steps against the gravel from her sandals. The sound of the car behind her got closer, and something unexpected happened.
"You don't have to!" Natasha's voice shouted at Era from behind. Era turned around to see that Natasha was right next to her in her green Mustang, slowing down as Era herself began to stop running. "Hop on aboard, we were going to pick you up anyway."
"We?" Era replied confused. She remembered Lucas was coming along with them but she didn't see him. As if by trigger from thought, Lucas slowly appeared from under the passenger seat with a cheesy grin on his face. Era didn't really feel like laughing, but didn't want to frown either, so she scoffed a little as she gave a silly smile back at him.
"We didn't want you to run all the way to the station after what you went through today." He said thoughtfully. Era felt honored.
"Well, I had a long nap." Era replied. Natasha poked the surface of the door with a purple polished nail.
"We heard. I called your house phone earlier and your dad said that you were asleep. We didn't want to bother you, but now we have to take action."
"What action?" Era asked. A dark cloud moved quickly across the sky from the window as the moon was no longer in hiding from it. The bright moonlight hit the street with a farther shine than most of the lined-up lampposts.
"We're going to see Ansem The Wise. Right now."
"Wait, right now!? I didn't know that we were ALL in this!" Era replied in slight shock.
"Well, duh. We all want Renee back and we all want to know what that creature was that attacked her hard enough to knock her into a coma." Lucas replied.
"But the laboratory is so far away! Couldn't we have picked sometime early during the day?"
"Aren't you anxious to know more about those things that are lurking around as we speak?" Natasha pointed out. To be honest, the long nap Era had kind of temporarily lowered her interest, but it would come back soon; and she had a feeling the time would come closer than she thought. "If you won't go, we won't."
"But don't you want to?" Era asked a little more puzzled.
"Well, yeah, we planned this out ourselves remember? Of course we'd want to check this place out." Lucas replied a little sarcastically.
"Don't be absurd! You just can't have your trip canceled just because I don't want to go."
"Era, just get your ass in the car so we can be on our way." Natasha said with a few chuckles. Era gave in and climbed into the passenger seat. The moment the door closed and when she clicked her seatbelt on, the car began to move like the wind (despite that there wasn't any at the time). It was a little bit chilly outside so Natasha had her windows closed in the car.
"So how long do you think it'll take to get to Ansem's lab?"
"At seventy-five miles an hour in this car, it should be about forty-five minutes until we get there." Natasha replied. Era especially replied because she wasn't much of a mathematician unlike most of her friends. Renee happened to be one of the smart ones in her little friend tree. Just hearing about her going into a coma made her realize how much it would hurt to lose any of her friends.
"Want one?" Lucas turned to ask Era. Era looked up to see that he was offering her a cigarette, and she took it and smiled in reply.
"Thanks." She replied. She wasn't really in the mood for anything except talking to Isa at the moment. She looked out the window glumly but saw from the corner of her eye that Lucas held a lighter underneath her cig. She didn't really feel like smoking it at the moment, but almost by automatic instinct, she put it in her mouth and sucked long and hard. She could feel the strong burn in her mouth from the toxic fog in her mouth, and it calmed her down a little. She wasn't much of a smoker. It was only on occasions that she felt she really needed one that she'd take one or two. Unlike most of the heavy smokers in the world, she wasn't easily addicted to it. In fact, as much as it seemed to calm her nerves, her thoughts still seemed very dead. Now would be a perfect time to hear or see something that would lighten up her spirits a little.
"Don't worry~" She heard Natasha's voice say from the front. Looking at the adjustable mirror, she saw Natasha smirking at her, fluffing a bit of her hair over her shoulders. "This will all probably be solved before you know it."
"I wish I could believe you." Era replied. She blew the smoke out of her mouth as it had spread to every open spot in the air, then took another drag.
"Well you have to look at the positives in every bad situation. That's what one of my closest friends told me." Lucas replied. Natasha giggled quietly.
"You mean your mom." She replied to him. Lucas gave a silly grin and shook his head as if he were in pity.
"Well that makes what I'm saying less convincing."
"Aww, Lucas, you don't think your mother is convincing?" Era just had to reply. Lucas made a popping sound with his mouth.
"Nuh-uh, unfortunately. I really can't wait to get out of that hell-hole that they call a house."
"Wow, that's exactly how I felt when I first moved here." Era blinked. Natasha was sucking on a popsicle that she somehow stored secretly.
"How do you feel now? I mean, I know it's been like what, seven years since you moved here? But still, I want to know."
Even Rexa wanted to know how her somebody felt currently about all of the years she's lived in the town. When she had the flashback, her younger self didn't take the move-in very great, but what if Era's been secretly miserable ever since?
"I love it here now. Well, thanks to you guys." Era replied smiling, but Rexa could tell she was feeling uneasy. It actually made her a little suspicious of Era's true feelings; even if she was walking in her shoes, not even she could understand some of her thoughts.
"Aww, I'm flattered-" Lucas started out, but with a sudden halt from the car, everyone was startled and let their guard down. "Whoa! What the f-"
"Dude, look!" Natasha said as she pointed out something in front of a car. She turned on the front lights so the three of them could get a better look. It was a cadaver in the middle of the street, and they could tell it was fresh from the excruciating smell that went through the windows. Era's first instinct was to cover her nose.
"Oh, jeez!" Lucas cried out with a grimace. "Running into that thing was NOT part of the plan, Natasha!"
"No shit, Lucas!" Natasha yelled back. She turned her head to check on Era. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Era said with her hand over her nose. "Not exactly what I was prepared for though..."
"Let's take another route."
"Please do." Lucas replied bluntly. The car backed up away from the rotting animal carcass as it took a right turn. After they were a few yards away from the vulgar smelling intersection, everyone was greeted with fresh air.
"What was that?" Era asked.
"Girl, I didn't even know. It was something gross, that's all I know." Natasha replied, throwing back a bit of her hair.
"Let's try and forget about it." Lucas said then. Everything was quiet after that, very quiet. Era could fall asleep again from how smooth the road was and how silent it was, but after the long nap she had before, she was too anxious to go back asleep. But it seemed like it would be a long trip before they made it to Ansem's laboratory, so she decided to use her time wisely as her body pleaded.
"Era, wake up." Lucas's voice jumped in as Era slowly went back to reality. It was a little hard to cooperate, so he had to give her a little shake to awaken her some more. It worked, and Era's eyes opened to see Lucas's goofy grin over her head.
"Are we there yet...?" Era yawned, turning her head to see that Natasha was out of the car too. She felt like a baby that the two had to go easy on.
"Yes, we're at the subway. Sorry if we confused you about whether we were going here or to the lab head on."
"No worries." Era replied. She got up from her slightly tilted position and out of the car.
"You got everything with you?" Natasha asked from the other side of the Mustang.
"All I brought was my cell phone." Era replied. She took it out to see what time it was. It was fifty minutes past eight, which confused her even more. "Wait, how long was the drive here?"
"Well, it would be short, but after the run in on the corpse and...something else, our trip got a little bit delayed."
"What else did we run into? I was asleep."
"We noticed." Lucas cut in. "You sleep like you're dead. But you wouldn't believe it. The thing we drove into tried to thrash us for quite a while, and you slept through the whole thing. A passerby had to come over and trap it with a metal box."
"What did it look like?" Era asked curiously. She glanced over at Natasha, who looked like she was nervous about answering.
"I think...it was a bigger version of what attacked Renee." She started. Era's heart skipped a beat or two. "Like a walking shadow. Black figure with glowing gold eyes. It was about as tall as this car."
"Suddenly I wished I had never asked."
"Its not a good time to get gloomy right now, Era. Lets go inside." Lucas said as he walked up to her so they'd be side by side. The trio began to move up the steps inside the subway building. Era began to wonder if her parents were home already. They did say that they'd make it home late, but if she was to be in the same boat, it wouldn't be a very great situation; since she forgot to leave a note of her own on the fridge next to theirs, but she just figured that she could text them later, and hopefully they'd know early that she was out of the house.
"Say, do your parents know that you two are out?" She asked out of curiosity.
"Yeah, but we didn't tell them where we were going." Natasha answered. "What about yours?"
"They don't know anything. They're out of the house right now -at least I hope- and they left a note saying that they'd be back late. But what if they're home before I am?"
"Weellll, has something like that happened before?" Lucas asked her then.
"Nope."
"Then we have no idea what to expect if such a thing happens. But like I said, just think of the positives and things should go fine, period."
"I'm going to go and see if they have our destination." Natasha said, then she walked over to the counter leaving Era and Lucas to do nothing but wait. Era thought it would be a perfect opportunity to go and try to call Isa again.
"I'll be back, Lucas. Have to use the restroom."
"No one's stopping you." Lucas teased. Era laughed before she quickly walked into the restroom. There was only one person inside in an occupied stall, but Era was sure that whoever it was probably wouldn't care about her problems. She pulled out her cell phone and pressed the speed dial button to try and get into contact with Isa again. The ring tone then sounded through her phone as she waited patiently. The second tone sounded through, and then the third. For some reason the phone stalled before the fourth tone sounded. Once again, no answer OR voicemail. The same bot lady that said that the phone might have changed it's number or no longer has service. What was going on? Rexa began to wonder about this also, despite that the condition that she was in now, she didn't know Isa very well. She even wondered if the sudden disconnection had anything to do with the dream Era had before. A slow opening of the restroom door interrupted the thought. Natasha had slowly poked her head through as if she were looking for someone, mainly Era.
"Everything okay in here?" She asked as if she were a perky mother.
"Isa still won't answer." Era replied, shutting her phone off and checking herself out in the mirror. She looked like she hasn't gotten enough sleep at all.
"Maybe something came up." Natasha replied. "But either way, it's not the end of the world. I got the tickets, and our subway train should arrive in 20 minutes or so."
"Thanks." Era replied quietly. They both left the restroom to be back with Lucas, who was staring through the window. The clock above them read 9:10. Now that she was reminded of it, she wanted to stand outside for a little while. "Say, I want to stand outside for a little bit."
"Go ahead." Natasha replied. "Don't forget your jacket."
Era didn't. She walked over to grab her coat on the way to the side exit. When she walked out, she noticed that there was a huge ditch, but when she walked forward to get closer, she realized that it was more than a ditch. It was a giant crevice, possibly bottomless. She even wondered if people possibly fell into it before since she rarely watched the news. Hell, she even wondered if there was anything living down there; she wouldn't attempt to find out. It did seem unusually cold outside, since it didn't feel as cold when the three of them first arrived at the station. A gust of wind blew through her spot out of nowhere, so it did make Era turn around a little bit to see if anything unusual just occurred. Era didn't see anything at first, but after staring at the same spot for a long while, she noticed someone. Her vision came to focus and to her surprise, it was the same man that she saw in her dream; the hooded figure.
"You - you were in my dream!" Era shouted. The hooded figure walked closer to her.
"You have a good memory. Back then I was told that you couldn't even remember your mom's name."
"Who are you? How did you appear in my dream!?"
"I have no right to tell you my name." The man said. He tilted his head up a little, and Era could see his eyes. They were a light golden color, and were very sharp. Anyone could notice that is something that could stick out the most out of everything else. "What you're doing is very foolish."
"What? Looking in this crevice?" Era said, glancing back down at the long bottomless pit. The man chuckled at her guess.
"No. The purpose of you coming here. You're going to meet Ansem."
The fact that he knew what Era and her friends were planning to do made her spine tingle a bit, a feeling she'd get when she felt like she was being stalked.
"You...were following us?" Era turned back around to face the man, who was walking towards her again, but she backed away in reply. "What do you fucking want from me!?"
"The same thing I've wanted ever since the day we started talking." He replied. He stood right in front of Era at this point since she gave up on the backing away, and he lowered his head so that she could see his enshadowed face. The eyes looked sharply down at her again. "To meet you."
"Era? Era!" Natasha shouted from the far entrance of the subway station. "You should come in now! It'll be less than five minutes when our train arrives!" She started to walk towards Era and the man, who Natasha had a face that looked like she didn't give a crap about who he was. She halted when she was about ten feet away. "Come on. We don't want to leave without you."
"Tell this guy to leave me alone first!" Era shouted and turned to where the man stood, but to her unusual surprise he was no longer there. Natasha also looked puzzled.
"What guy?"
"This guy appeared not too long after I went out here. What was odd was that he was in my dream too, and he tells me things that make me feel like I'm going through the after effects of ecstasy!"
"Era, I have no idea what you're talking about. I glanced at you like, every ten seconds and you were alone the whole time. I didn't see anyone with you."
"Wait...what?" Era asked. Natasha gave her a look as if she's gone mad.
"Wow...Era, this really isn't a good time to discuss it. We have to go back to the station, and Lucas is waiting for us. Lets get moving." She took the confused blonde gently by the hand and both of them started walking back to the station, but to be honest with herself, being late for the train was the least of Era's worries. Only one question was going through her thoughts right now, and Rexa was thinking the exact same thing.
She didn't...see him?