Chapter 1:

1 laza/Paradigm - Chapter 1: Another Boring Day

/Paradigm


It smells like shit.

There's a tinge of piss and alcohol as well, but it's that foul rotten stench that waltzes itself into my nose first when I exit the liquor store. Walking out with a plastic bag containing milk and eggs, I insert the earbud hanging off my hear and make my way down the cracked and gum-riddled sidewalk, keeping my head down the entire time. I shouldn't have taken this long to come back from Pook's, but while walking back, I suddenly remembered there wasn't any milk in the fridge, and I can't really go a week without my Berry Crisps.

Turning the corner, a gust of wind almost blows my hood off, fanning dirt and debris into my face. Squinting my eyes, I walk the block until finally reaching the entrance of the apartment complex. A big black gate, I unlock it and enter the complex, walking across the cement floor courtyard and up the flight of stone stairs on the other side. The complex is tiny compared to the Freeman or Johnson buildings close by, but considering how much cheaper and how much smaller the rooms are there, I'd say their landlords' methods of approach lean more towards quantity over quality.

Composed of a two-story building, both floors on the complex have three rooms on each side and two rooms in the front and back of the building. Room 204, the one I'm living in, is right in front of the top of the staircase, a convenient position if I ever need to get down quickly. Knocking the white metal door, I'm quick to take out my keys again when the wooden door behind it opens, and there is Sayuri uneager to greet me.

"Why were you late?" she asks coldly, closing both doors as I enter and hold up the bag in response.

"Bought some things we needed," I say, walking into the kitchen and putting the milk and eggs in the fridge. Shoving the bag in the cabinet underneath the sink, I pull my hood down and plop myself onto the couch.

For what it's worth, the place is quite spacious. The living room and kitchen being separated by a single counter, there's a hallway on the right leading to both bathroom and two bedrooms, a balcony by the corner where the dinner table is at, and a shower with hot water. To think that all this is given for the price of a studio with no bathroom in Monse. Of course, the only reason the place is that cheap in the first place is because it's on the outskirts of Verdif area, so if I were to have any complaints about living here, it'd have to be the constant gun shots and crackhead ramblings I hear at night. Then again, you'll get just about the same experience living anywhere else in Cielos, so unless you intend to spend your life in a shithole of a city for cheaper rent, a couple extra hundred a month doesn't seem so bad. Hell, I'd pay thousands extra if it meant I didn't have to be here anymore.

It's been close to a year since I started living with Sayuri. Not much has happened since that fateful day in October, and I can't say whether that makes me relieved or paranoid. Having the person who resurrected you under the same roof, questions are bound to be asked, but whenever I bring up the topic, it's always evaded with the same cookie cutter response of "It'll be revealed in due time." When that due time is, I've yet to be told, but I've got more pressing matters at the moment than to be worrying about the background of my current benefactor, so for now, I'm fine being left in the dark.

"You haven't been recognized whilst on your journey?" asks Sayuri as she ties up her black hair in a pony tail, making her way to the kitchen.

"No, I haven't." I still don't know how I get away with it. With only black hair dye, blue eye contacts, and some spray tan, I've somehow kept my identify hidden from the most prominent crime organization in the city, granted they're probably not looking for me anymore.

"If that's the case, then all is well. I will now commence with creating 'Spa-guh-het-e and meatballs.'"

"Good luck," I murmur out before slowly dozing off to the sound of her cooking.

It was a rainy day that day, the downpour leaving my body colder than ice before the blood leaking from my chest could. I didn't know how badly a gunshot hurt before that day, much less multiple of them. The shooters left the second they saw me fall to the ground, and with what little strength I had, I sat myself up against the alleyway's wall, the realization that I was going to die slowly kicking in. Surprisingly, and disturbingly even, I wasn't scared that I was going to die. If anything, I felt at peace knowing that I would cease to live. I didn't feel sadness from the thought of leaving those who I thought I cared for, a smile on my face as my consciousness drifted away slowly, lulling me deeper and deeper into what I thought would be eternal sleep...

"...up. Cain, wake up..."

"Huh...?"

Opening up one eye, I am greeted with a hazel gaze and Sayuri's upside down face.

"I have finished with the creation of the spaghetti and meatballs. You may eat now." Turning her attention back to the food, she makes her way back to the kitchen, putting the pasta onto a plate before putting it in the microwave. "Also, please refrain from sleeping with your footwear on. You will dirty your bed."

"How long was I asleep?" I ask mid yawn, scratching the back of my head as I sit up.

"Approximately two hours if I recall correctly. The meal was ready an hour ago, but I decided to let you rest seeing as you looked more exhausted than usual today. I hope I wasn't being presumptuous."

"Nah, you're good," I reassure her, walking to the kitchen sink. Washing my hands, I take my seat at the dinner table, sitting in silence as the buzzing of radiation attempts to fill that in with white noise. With an abrupt beeping indicating that food was ready, Sayuri takes out the steaming hot plate bare-handed, placing it in front of me as she sits down as well. "Thank you."

She nods, gazing me down with the same emotionless eyes she has throughout the day. It's extremely uncomfortable having somebody gawking at me while I eat, but at the same time, I think it puts her to ease, so for that reason alone, I haven't mentioned anything about it.

For the entirety of dinner, we remain in silence, not an attempt made to start a conversation. Before I know it, I'm already done and my plate's in the sink, but Sayuri doesn't get up from the dinner table when I head into my room, and that's when I realize what she wants. And right when the scars started fading. 

"This early in the week?" I ask in disbelief, sucking my teeth as she nods. "Do we even have anymore needles?"

"I don't believe we do. If it bothers you to use that method, however, I'll bear through it." She says this with her cheeks slightly flushed, her head bobbing left and right slightly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll go get it right now," I yell out as I walk down the hallway, entering the bathroom and grabbing a towel. Putting it over my shoulder, I open the mirror cabinet and take out a razor blade from a small box, leaving and walking back to an already seated Sayuri at the couch. "Scoot."

Her doing so, I sit down next to her, rolling up my sleeve and biting down on the towel. Holding the razor blade against my wrist, I bite down hard on the towel and hiss in pain as I slowly push the blade into my skin, quickly cutting horizontally. It doesn't long for it to come out, that disgustingly black substance, and once it does, I hold up my wrist for Sayuri. 

She takes my wrist into her hands, and weakly, licks up the liquid that comes out from the wound. Assuming it's blood, this isn't the most hygienic thing that one would do on a regular basis, but for reasons unknown, she needs to drink my blood. Her word alone wasn't enough to persuade me at first, but when I saw her almost faint one day and immediately get better once she insisted my blood was the cure, I've given it to her whenever she asked. She wouldn't be the first person to feel good from drinking it. 

"I've been thinking, it'd be a whole lot more convenient if you were a vampire," I tell her as she sucks hard on my forearm, trying to drain out as much as she can. Lifting her head up, her chin is smudged with black.

Tilting her head slightly, she looks at me quizzically. "Vampire?"

"Like the guy from the movie where he bites the girl's neck. With the 'beast people.'" Or however she put it.

"Ah, yes," she nods, suddenly understanding. "Unfortunately, the anatomical and cellular breakdown of said vampire is unbeknownst to me. Until I am able to comprehend how one operates, I won't be able to transform into one."

"I sort of figured that was the case. Oh well," I say, letting out a sigh. Grabbing the towel on my shoulder, Sayuri wipes off her mouth before handing it back to me. "You're finished?" 

 "Yes, I am. If it's allowed, may I go and rest now?" 

"Uh huh. Goodnight." 

Bowing her head, she walks off into the hallway and enters her room, shutting the door. 

I do the same, turning off the lights before going into my room. Locking the door, I take off my sweater, shirt, and sweats, and jump into bed. The sheets are cold against my back, the foamy ceiling above me sparkling more than the sky outside of the only window in the room. 

Another day, and things are still fairly normal. 

Another day, and I still haven't found out where they are. 

The same script followed with a few minor tweaks was all that today was. In other words, it was another boring day. 

Closing my eyes, I doze off for the second time today, only this time, I don't wake up in the same room I slept it. 


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