AN;; I'm sorry this is a bit late! My internet has been going in and out, so it's been difficult. I'm honestly not in love with this chapter, but it tells what it needs to tell. And then some, which is why it's not great. I had been meaning to save some things in here for later. Ah, well. Such is life, no? c;

It was a year before she fell in love.

Sonika visited Gumi every day, within that clearing in the beautiful world where the sky was always blue, the grass was always green, and the water lapped cool and fresh at your feet. Some nights, it rained. But rain in that place wasn't dreary and dank. It was refreshing, bathed the land anew. Giving life and energy to everything. It was on one of these nights that Sonika transitioned into this world with a different sort of feeling. There was a knot in her throat, a hesitation. Perhaps she shouldn't go.

But, of course, Sonika went every night. Without fail.

Gumi greeted her when she arrived, which was odd. The girl had a coat laid about her shoulders, but it was meaningless; she was soaked through anyway. It seemed she had been waiting. "Sonika! Oh gosh, you're here. Aren't you a bit late?"

She bit back a biting remark, and replied honestly, "I guess, yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd be waiting." Her own clothes were beginning to stick to her as well, and her green hair clung to the sides of her face. There wasn't any shelter in this world, though, so she'd simply have to wait the storm out. It was more violent than most.

Gumi gave such a warm smile then, which stopped Sonika's thoughts in their tracks. Her rosy, freckled cheeks were pushed upward a bit by the force of it, and her eyes seemed to twinkle a bit. "It's OK," she said softly. "I don't really mind. You're here now, right?" She reached out and touched Sonika with her gentle little hands, grasping at the wet cloth. It was enough to send a slight shiver down her spine, which she tried her hardest to suppress. There was no need to bring things out of proportion. Gumi was a nice friend, a sweet girl. Quite lovely, too.

That is what she told herself, until the girl brought her into a quiet embrace. It was very slight, and the little hands were so gingerly touching her back. The rain, which steadily tattooed her bare arms, was at the very back of her mind. At the front was simply Gumi. When had the girl's touches started feeling like this? She had always preferred women, yes, but she had thought Gumi was different. The girl was outside of that, was in another category altogether.

Maybe she had been right. Just, not in the way she had thought. This was, after all, the first time she had felt quite like this.

The flower's barely audible whisper brought her back to reality. "I'm cold."

"Are you, now? I wasn't aware of my new status as a human radiator. Do forgive me."

The grin Gumi gave her then was the best thing she had ever seen.

After that, things began to calm down. They would speak in simple, lighthearted tones, sipping tea and watching the butterflies dance or the roses come into bloom. Sometimes, though, they abandoned such casualties and become more intimate. They would come closer, just to breathe each others' scents. Just to feel each others' warmth.

It was about a month after that rainy day when Sonika leaned down to look into Gumi's eyes. They were chocolate, cinnamon, brown and creamy. Round and bright and always sparkling. It was as if she had never really grown up. Gumi said she was nineteen then (now twenty, she supposed), but she didn't look or act it in the least. She was pure, untainted. A dew drop undisturbed. She felt herself unconsciously leaning forward, eyelids growing steadily heavier. Perhaps, just a taste. It couldn't hurt.

That was their first kiss together. Gumi's first overall, but not Sonika's. She had kissed, but it hadn't felt like that. It was just "lips against lips", really, so why did her heart catch in her throat? Why did it taste so, and why did it leave her hungering for more? Such a curious thing.

Gumi gasped for breath afterward, blushing profusely and smiling. "Hey, don't spring on me like that..." she choked out, clutching her chest. It was so charming, the way her figure curved so naturally and comfortably. The way the light danced on her eyes and made her hair glow. Sonika loved it, loved her. Loved every part of her.

In the real world, Sonika moved out and got a job. It was a small thing, didn't provide much money or invade her personal time. This was why she liked it. Any free time she had was spent, of course, sleeping. So that she could see Gumi, could touch her and talk to her and believe she was real.

Things weren't good, but they weren't terrible either. Her family (or rather, what was left of it) wasn't talking to her and she didn't have any friends or people of note to speak of. She should have been miserable, but she wasn't. She should have been breaking and struggling, but she wasn't.

A couple of years ago, Sonika had stood on that same street at that same time. 2:30 in the morning. She was in a haze, stumbling over herself just to get home. She was completely drunk. Back then, she had embraced the sleepy liquids. Had appreciated their numbing properties. She wobbled back to her parents' house and found them open and willing to talk. Because a breakup is a normal problem. Her choice of how to deal with it maybe wasn't the best, but it was at least understandable. It was fairly normal.

Her mother had given her a hug, had comforted her in her daze. Her fiancee had cheated on her. It hadn't really bothered her, but she brought on the pain anyway. That was the expected reaction. She went into hysterics. She called the relationship off. She made it into some sort of big thing when, really, she didn't give a damn. The only reason Sonika went off drinking that night was because she had wanted to numb the lie. She hadn't fully realized it at the time, but it was all one big game she was playing. Jumping when others thought she might want to, and laying still when that was considered proper. It was tiring, exhausting. It drained her completely, and she wished that it didn't have to be like that.

Such is life, though.

Sonika stood on that street, two years later, reflecting. Cars never came on this road this late; it was deserted. There were no people, no lights in the windows. She walked in what seemed to be a ghost town. Every sensible person was sleeping their troubles and exhaustion away. She would be sleeping as well, soon, though not for the same reason they were. She would see her darling and drink in the lights of paradise with her eyes. Tonight, she would once again be happy.

The only place she was ever happy was in her dreams. The only place she could ever truly belong and not have to paint herself a mask of porcelain and clay. She gave a smile, though not a happy one, and ran a hand through her short dark green hair. She had dyed it when she turned fourteen, and had kept dying it since. There was a bit of wave to it. She would have to straighten it, she supposed. Her right hoop earring clinked when her too pale hand brushed by it, swinging back and forth from the force.

Sonika continued to walk, heels clicking against asphalt. It was only a block to her apartment. There, she would sleep. She would sleep and reawaken in her favorite place. Her personal paradise.

The door opened with a click.

Pulling off her top, her too tight jeans, her jewelry and heels.

Falling onto her sleeping bag...

falling...

falling

For the first time in over a year and a half, she fell into a dream.