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Apo lounged on her dormitory's bed, the mattress stiff and uncomfortable. She had complained multiple times to the dorm inspector, Scott, but he kept saying he would look into it, but he never did. He instead did look at Abolish. Too close, too many times, just to be ‘casual’. Apo just tutted her tongue in response, shaking her head.
Since so many sudden.. ‘Dropouts’ happened, a lot of new students were being enrolled into the college. Apo was on an excused absence for now, ever since the principal delivered the news that her dad had passed away. And she was struggling to cope with it.
Sure, she was supposed to be the strong one. But her dad– the one person who believed in her –got caught in a mine accident. Cave quite literally caved in above the man, slaughtering him.
Apo could imagine the way he called out to her as blood trickled down his old and wrinkled face. “Apo! I got the gold! Apo? You hear me?! You ungrateful!–” She sharply jolted up.
A cold shiver washed over her body. Apo was firmly aware her father never really appreciated her, that he would have preferred someone else just as hungry for money for a child. But no. He had been stuck with her, a girl afraid of the dark, and a girl who didn’t see much use in being greedy when they were just dandy on funds. A girl who couldn’t even look at her reflection in the mirror.
She stood up, catching just a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Their hair was a riot, Apo thought to herself, sighing audibly. She looked down to her feet, awkwardly shuffling as she started towards the bathroom of her dormitory.
I really should shower, Apo told herself, reaching over before picking up a towel that laid over the back of their desk chair, then she moved towards the bathroom.
The door closed with a click behind her as she locked the door, before checking it again. Although she lived alone, they always found comfort in just making sure that no one could get in. And that no one could see them.
Apo glanced to the door, before placing the towel on the small rack on the side of their bathroom. She then moved to remove her hoodie. The fabric slipped from their shoulders, and she placed it into the small ‘temporary’ washing basket, that they had told themselves she would eventually bring it down to wash but she never did. Apo was too anxious about that.
As they placed the hoodie down in the discarded and often forgotten pile, she felt the edge of their binder against her skin. Apo sighed, slowly removing the velcro at the back of the fabric, letting it fall from their chest. She refused to look down at her body. They hated their body.
She removed the rest of her clothes fairly quickly, feeling a large amount of shame rushing over her. Apo rushed to turn on the shower, flicking the faucet before she climbed in.
The water fell over their shoulders, and she dragged her hands through her hair before resting them on her neck. Apo let out a breath, a sound of relief. A breath she hadn’t realised that she had been holding until now. The scalding liquid trickled down her body, which seemed to ground them at this moment.
Apo sat at their desk, hair still damp around their shoulders as she had left it to dry on its own accord. She tried to focus on studying– trying to understand spreadsheet values. A sigh left from their lips, squinting as she read the screen which illuminated her features in the dark of night.
Coming to terms with the fact she wasn’t going to get anywhere, she shut down her laptop and spun around in the chair. Their dorm was quiet, as per usual, and how she liked it.
Apo took a hair tie that was placed across the desk, taking it between her teeth briefly before she gathered her hair up into a ponytail, before pulling the hair tie from their teeth and wrapping it around her wrist before deftly tying up her hair in a messy, attempted ponytail.
Their arms stretched above her head, a yawn slipping past her lips as tiredness rushed over her. Her bed was practically calling her name, and she was listening to it. Apo pushed herself up from the chair, and made their way over to her bed.
She peeled back the blankets that had been tucked in previously, sitting down onto the mattress as the springs popped and squeaked beneath her weight. Apo relaxed, swinging their legs up onto the bed before they eased themselves into laying down.
Apo leaned over and switched her night light out, looking at the other empty side of the dormitory. She never thought of receiving a roommate, and she planned to keep it that way.
As she was casted into the darkness, she brought the blankets over her shoulders and let their eyelids shut, lashes fluttering against rosy cheeks. Sleep quickly enveloped Apo in its embrace, as they fell into a needed slumber.
Apo found herself falling. Deep. Into the abyss. A black void even, nothing but darkness overwhelming the infinite space. They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t move, they just had to accept their fate by just taking it how it was.
Her chest was tight, seeing nothing but her impending doom. They closed their eyes for a moment, simply just letting it happen.
Slam.
Apo’s body hit against a stone floor, gasping as it was an agonizing fall. They felt a large pain in her side, she doubled over as she pressed a palm into the side of her ribcage. That was definitely going to bruise, she thought to herself.
Then, a large rock came crushing down. They looked up, eyes widening as she thought it was going to come down on her head. But it didn’t.
She had flinched, but what they next saw was much worse.
Her dad, Sal Kuna, was trapped beneath rubble as the stone slammed against his old body. Apo audibly gasped, flinching and moving away on pure instinct as they watched the blood beginning to seep from their old man’s forehead.
A wrinkled hand reached out, touching her knee as she physically recoiled from the unfamiliar touch.
“Apo… my son..” He muttered, his face all bloodied but his words drove a dagger straight to her heart, and that cold, stern tone most definitely didn’t help it at all.
“Why did you do this to me?”
Apo’s head snapped up to stare into the eyes that life was slowly slipping from, upon hearing Sal Kuna’s words. Why did she do this to him? They didn’t do anything. They were busy attending college while he was goldmining, but then again, his greed was always bigger than his heart.
She stammered, trying to get out a good enough response, but they were confused. “I– um… I–”
“No. No, Apo.” The old man hissed, dragging his torso forward as the blood dripped onto their skin. The warm liquid, seeped cold into her skin. And it made her shiver. But Apo wasn’t cold.
They shrunk back again, but Sal Kuna’s grasp didn’t weaken or falter, if anything, he just seemed to grasp at her in a tighter way.
“You hear me, sonny? You are a disgrace to the Kuna name.” He snarled at her, and Apo was sure he was purposefully trying to get under her skin.
And Gosh, as much as she hated to admit it, it was working.
Too well.
“Dad– Stop calling me him.” They refused to look at the dying figure before her, averting her gaze downwards as she bit her tongue.
“You are a monster, Apo Kuna,”
“And I won’t die. Not until you come down to hell with me!”
He screamed, before lunging for her body. Apo screeched audibly, before she was thrown back into the pits of darkness.
She woke in a cold sweat, jolting awake before she quickly sat up, looking at her surroundings. It was still dark outside, she thought to themselves, realising that they had woken in the middle of the night.
Apo took a deep breath, trying to practise the methods the counsellor had told them previously. The breath was sharp, then she exhaled in a shaky manner.
The sound of her pulse was audible, like a drumming in their ears that never seemed to end. Their hands trembled, and Apo stretched out her fingers, before clenching them into a fist once more.
He’s not real Apo, she reassured herself mentally, he’s dead. He can’t reach you. Apo shivered, peeling the blankets off of her body.
Her feet hit the cold floorboards, the wood creaking beneath their weight as they stood on shaky legs, like a newborn lamb trying to walk for the first time.
Apo made her way to the bathroom, flicking on the light that then proceeded to hum. For some weird reason, the sound had always annoyed her. But for once, it actually seemed comforting.
Their feet padded as they moved, stopping in front of the sink before glancing up to her reflection in the mirror. Apo looked completely normal.
Too normal in a way. If that was possible.
She leaned down, turning on the faucet as icy water flowed. Apo splashed her face, waking herself up. Then, they rubbed water over the inner of their wrists. Again, she had been told that it helped to stop your pulse from rushing.
The sound of her thundering pulse paused in her ears, and they could finally hear themselves think more reasonably now. Apo exhaled, hearing it for herself reassured her in a weird way.
There was no way of going back to sleep now. She was wide awake, and to be honest, a little scared of falling into a slumber again. Just in case they never woke up next time.
Apo looked around the bathroom in the reflection.
Five things she could see. Toothbrush, soap, towels, shower, and an empty bottle of conditioner.
Four things they could touch. Smooth countertop, used bar of soap, the tiles beneath her feet, and a fluffy towel.
Three things they could hear. The water dripping from the tap, the distant hum of the light, and the lamp post flickering audibly outside.
Two things she could smell. Scent of cinnamon and sugary body wash, and the old heater in the room that smelt musty.
One thing she could taste. A minty toothpaste.
She exhaled, and Apo relaxed a little after doing the grounding technique on herself. They looked at themselves in the mirror again, before mumbling.
“You can do this.”
The mumble sounded more like a breathy whisper, but she didn’t care. It wasn’t supposed to be audible for anyone else to hear but herself.
Get through today like always.
BONUS SCENE;
Apo’s head snapped up when she heard a knock at the door, and she glanced up from the scattered notes on her desk. They rarely received visitors, who could it be?
They tried to piece together who it was as her legs carried her across the room slowly as she approached the door. Maybe it’s Scott. Maybe he’s had enough of my complaining to finally do something about it. Yeah. Who else could it be?
She unlocked the door, twisting the key out of the lock before opening the door cautiously.
Upon opening the door, she found it in fact was not Scott. Instead, a shorter woman stood there, a small smirk on her face. She had brown gingerish hair framing her face, and a pink bow holding a long ponytail in place. They also had a bag slung over her shoulder.
“Uhm.. hi?” Apo said in a questionable tone, not really knowing what to say. Who was this girl? Why is she knocking on my door? Why do I not know her? A million thoughts ran through her mind at once. They were positive that they knew everyone on campus, being able to match faces to names very easily.
But apparently not.
“Are you lost? I can help you to go see principal Poliver–” They started, tucking a straying strand of hair behind her ear briefly, gesturing to the hallway.
A silence was stretched between the two for a moment, before the girl spoke up. Her tone had a small southern drawl to it.
“I’m Cherri Fire, your new roommate.” She introduced herself, holding out a rough, tanned hand that had thin, black fingerless gloves on.
“What?” –Was the first thing that Apo could get out before she even realized how rude they sounded. Her expression dropped, mouth slightly agape as she took in the information. “Y-you must be mistaken. I don’t do roommates–”
Cherri stood there, taking back her hand as she placed it on her hip, still smirking in a smug way. “Well, you do now. Room 018, right?”
“Y-yeah…”
“Well then, I’m not mistaken.” She nodded, before barging past Apo to get into the room. The girl seemed to make herself at home quickly.
Rude! They thought, glaring at this supposed ‘Cherri’ character, a frown playing along her lips.
To whoever is listening above, please help me.