Interlude - Smile
Rosa woke up skin clammy with sweat, breath caught in her throat. The air was pressing down on her chest, as if the room itself was closing in around her. The shadows lurking on the ceiling crawled out from beneath the beams, drawing her gaze to—
She shot up from the bed and sucked in a mouthful of air, palm pressed against her chest.
…Stupid.
Why had she fallen asleep?
Placing herself on the bed’s brim, she stared at the empty floorboards next to her feet as she breathed. The terror she’d felt in the dream lingered in her mind, but the details were already fading. Counting down from eleven, she lifted her hand to brush away some of the hair stuck to her temple. She would have to change clothes. The thin white shirt she’d worn earlier in the day was drenched.
Slowly, she turned her eyes up and out the window next to the bed. The sun was still fighting strong up in the sky, illuminating the beautiful garden as the wind blew away the fallen leaves on the ground. The plain sight looked almost idyllic with how pure it was. A completely unsoiled picture. A false promise.
Tears started running down the inside of the windowpanes. The smog started inching closer at the corner of her eyes. Everything was pushing in, smothering the world.
Today was a worse day than usual.
She stood up and walked over to the tall wardrobe at the edge of the room, gaze locked straight ahead. It stood open a crack, the slit of darkness staring back at her as she reached for the handle. The eyes of a hundred tiny creatures hid in that blackness, glaring. Her hand hesitated at the clattering of a thousand legs, tearing at the back of her head, singing the songs of a horde of wailing souls, crying out at her, judging her, condemning her. She threw the door open and pulled out the first thing she found. A blood-red dress with bones lining the collar. The bones were cold to the touch as her fingers traced the cut along its neck.
Looking away, she moved over to the dressing table and laid the dress over the back of a chair before picking up a white towel. She removed her damp shirt but paused as she was about to put the towel into the water basin on the table. The thick, dark-red liquid in the basin reflected her eyes, catching the light of the nearby lamp on the wall. She regarded them for a moment, then dipped the towel in. It returned wet and still as white as before. She let out a small, relieved sigh as she began cleaning herself off, then put on the dress. It looked different now. A deep lavender, with gold trimmings along the neck. It went well with the purple bead necklace and silver-ringed earrings she put on as well.
She looked up at the mirror above the dresser, where violet eyes met her own, standing amidst a black void.
All she had to do was smile.