Our Mirrored World

Chapter Thirty Six - Ghost

Zarina couldn’t process her emotions after she got back from her world, Luther’s face accidentally brushed through her bare ears, making her disappear from that world.

She could feel her cheeks blushing as she decided to not speak with Luther for a while even if he’s bugging her.

Plus, her heart was thumping against her chest and she doesn’t have any remedies to help it calm down. Luther’s affections are getting into her veins.

“Oi! Human! Please talk to me! It’s been an hour since you came back there, you have to tell me if you’re getting prepared from getting sick later on or maybe tomorrow!” Luther exclaimed from the bathroom.

“Oi! Human, human, human, human, human, please talk to me, human, human, human,” Luther repetitively mentioned the word human and it annoyed Zarina so much that she wanted to grab her hammer and break that mirror.

“Luther, will you shut up? You have been like that for an hour and it's starting to get annoying,” Zarina hissed.

“It successfully got you to talk, so I’ll probably do that again, why are you ignoring me?!” He furiously exclaimed, so Zarina just rolled her eyes.

“Luther, will you just take your rest? I’ll be fine and the things I need before I get sick are prepared,” She coldly informed him as she prepared the medicines, soup, and pitcher of water near her bed.

“Are you mad at me because of the tight hug?” She could hear his solemn voice in the bathroom, so she couldn’t help but stop fixing up her things.

“If that is so, I’m sorry Zarina, but please, let me see your face before I decided to rest again,” Luther sounded like he was pleading, but Zarina was dedicated to not seeing him.

“I might not be able to stand up tomorrow Luther, so do me a favor and close the bathroom door, Kirstin might be here tomorrow,” She coldly informed before descending to the bed.

“Z-Zarina please,” Luther pleaded, but Zarina gripped her sheets before burying her head on the pillows.

“Please just be better, my head is starting to ache,” Zarina lied, she just wanted more time to think about what Luther did to her.

She has to convince herself that she isn't feeling something strange for this wizard, she can’t have this feeling that her heart is trying to make her feel.

It would be troublesome, especially since their worlds are far apart from each other, so she has to stay away from it.

“Alright, good night Zarina, I just also wanted to thank you for taking good care of me,” Luther bit his lower lip before he used his magic to allow him to float around his house.

He couldn’t help but think about how he tightly hugged Zarina a while ago, it just felt right and he wanted to feel more of it.

Luther blushed as he decided to rub his face using both of his hands to calm himself down, he was doomed. He’s attracted to her and his emotions were all over the place that he couldn't calm himself down but do things that might force Zarina to avoid him.

Zarina, on the other hand, blew some air out of her mouth before she decided to close her eyes and hugged her pillows. She didn’t realize that she fell asleep thinking about how she’ll face Luther with this feeling forming inside her chest.

***

“Zarina are you alright?” She heard a calm voice and felt a harsh tapping from her shoulders, she slowly opened her eyes and was astounded after seeing that Kirstin was there.

“K-Kirstin? Why are you here?” She groaned as she felt like her head was being squeezed by two boulders.

“Your door was unlocked! You were burning up so why do you leave those doors unlocked if you’re in a state like this?” Kirstin doesn’t know how to scold her while being calm because of her condition.

She was just attacked recently by some rapist, so she has to be careful on securely locking her apartment doors, also the windows and doors of her terrace! Kirstin exclaimed.

“W-What? B-But I locked it after I went to sleep--” Zarina stopped speaking when she realized that Luther was probably the one who opened the door for this woman.

Luther was probably worried about her because she hasn’t woken up yet and let Kirstin in to take good care of her. She just hoped that the bathroom was tightly closed and there’s a cloth-covered on the mirror.

“I-I’m sorry but, what time is it, Kirstin? Shouldn’t you be at work? It looks like it’s this late,” Zarina weakly asked while biting her lower lip, her head is aching so bad like it’s trying to kill her. It’s much worse than what happened to her the other day.

“Almost noon and yes, I went to work earlier and luckily the generator went down and the boss had to fix it first before we could go back to work again, generators can’t handle too much work any more and I decided to check up on you,” Kirstin informed.

“You said you were getting better through text, so I got worried when I touched you a while ago, you’re burning up, it’s like your fever hasn’t gone down, should I take you to the hospital?” Kirstin suggested, but she immediately shook her head at her.

“I’ll be fine after some soup and medicine, it worked yesterday and it just came back because I-I um...did laundry,” Zarina lied, so Kirstin just pouted at her.

“Why are you so stubborn? Weren’t you told to rest?” Kirstin sighed before continuing, “Have you eaten breakfast?” 

“I haven’t eaten breakfast yet,” Zarina abruptly replied, so she gazed at her bedside table and noticed there’s a cold soup there and medicine.

“I’ll reheat this soup and probably make you lunch, jeez ice queen! You’re so hot and cold at the same time!” Kirstin raised her voice as she stood up, so Zarina just shook her head and tried to endure what she was feeling on the inside.

Kirstin stopped in her tracks after she heard that Zarina was grunting while closing her eyes, she sounded like she’s in deep pain aside from her high fever.

“What are you feeling aside from being tired and heavy?” Kirstin worriedly asked so she opened her eyes for a moment before wincing in pain.

“M-My head feels like it was being squeezed by two boulders, I can’t breathe properly, I feel like I’m drowning,” Zarina thoroughly explained, so Kirstin got worried for a moment as she bit her lower lip.

“Jeez that sounds serious, are you sure that you don’t want me to take you to the hospital?” Kirstin suggested again, but she shook her head again.

“I-I hate hospitals, I feel sicker just by thinking of it,” Zarina coldly claimed, so Kirstin just sighed.

She can’t deal with her stubbornness right now or else it might make Zarina’s head hurt more, “I’ll just go grab some ingredients from the outside, I checked your refrigerator a while ago it has nothing aside from that leftover soup,” Kirstin informed.

“M-My wallet is on my bag,” Zarina weakly announced before she pointed below the bed, she wasn’t even sure if she was pointing at the right position.

“It’s fine, ingredients aren’t that expensive for two people, I’ll be back and oh wait,” Kirstin disappeared in her room for a moment, so she flinched when she felt a cold towel touch her skin from her forehead.

“Hopefully this will help lower your temperature, I’ll be back as soon as I can,” After she heard Kirstin say those words, she heard her unit door open and closed.

It was silent for a moment as she grunted in her bedroom, “Zarina, how are you feeling?” Luther finally spoke as he used his magic to open the bathroom door for her to hear him.

“F-Fine, not dead yet unfortunately,” She tried to ease the tension that was forming in the air, she just could tell that Luther was extremely worried by his tone.

“D-Did you unlock my door and let Kirstin inside of my apartment?” Zarina curiously asked so he felt guilty for a moment.

“I-I let her in a while ago, I was worried because you were not waking up for more than 15 hours, it’s not normal,” Luther anxiously replied, so she weakly chuckled.

“I-I can’t believe I managed to sleep for that long at this age,” She mumbled before grunting in pain, “You have to stop talking, Kirstin might arrive and hear you,”

“She will not, I used magic to detect if she’ll be back yet,” Luther reassured her before sighing, “I feel much better now, so hopefully you will too, tomorrow,”

“I will be fine tomorrow, I have to eat and just drink medicine,” Zarina flinched as she felt shivers running down her spine.

Her eyes felt like it was burning up while she was trying to wet her lips, “L-Luther, we have to talk about something after this,”

Luther wondered for a moment, “A-About what? Is this about the hug yesterday? If that is so, please forgive me,”

“N-No, about something else and you have to find out why we get sick every time we visit each other’s world, what could happen to us if we decided to spend there for days in each other’s world?” Zarina suddenly thought, so he wondered for a moment.

“Y-You’re right, I have to study about that,” Luther bit his lower lip before sighing, “I’ll study until you get better, and let’s talk about what you wanted to say soon,”

Zarina smiled even though she didn’t feel that she did, she thought that Luther would be distracted aside from getting worried about her.

“N-Now close the door because I’ll be fine, Kirstin will arrive and take care of me,” Zarina demanded, so he has no other choice but to abide.

It wasn’t long until Kirstin arrived as she decided to make them both lunch and reheated the soup Zarina prepared for herself.

“Did you tell your parents about this?” Kirstin curiously asked while feeding Zarina, she gladly took a sip of the soup before looking at Kirstin. She thought it was weird since she just worked with this woman yet she’s treated like her long-time friend.

“No, I haven’t, they’ll just worry and call you more often,” Zarina casually replied, which surprised Kirstin.

“I know my parents so bad, did they also ask you to pull some stunts like take my picture?” Zarina claimed while tilting her head at Kirstin.

She just laughed at her, “They’re still your parents, they have to know okay? Or they’ll worry more,” Kirstin scolded, so she just sighed.

“That’s what I don’t want, the trains there aren’t working, so they’ll probably pace back and forth for days until I call and reassure them that I’m alright,” Zarina claimed, so Kirstin just gazed at her.

“They do that?” She squinted her eyes at Zarina and she was surprised that she just casually nodded at her.

“Woah, you’re truly the polar opposite of your parents, were you conceived by ice?” Kirstin tilted her head at Zarina as they heard someone chuckling.

Zarina’s eyes were widened before Kirstin nervously looked around her surroundings, “D-Did you hear that?”

“No you must be delusional,” Zarina firmly said, but deep inside she was nervous as hell. Luther just really wants to get himself into trouble and she wants to kill him for that!

“N-No I swear! I heard someone laughing!” Kirstin insisted, so Zarina did everything that she could to reassure Kirstin that she hadn't heard anything.

“If you say so, then I believe you, after all, you wouldn’t live here if it’s haunted right?” She claimed, so Zarina just sighed before raising her body.

“I don’t care where I leave as long as there is peace,” Zarina mumbled, so Kirstin just chuckled before touching her forehead.

“Woah, your temperature went down, the medicine must've been effective,” She informed before sighing in relief.

“You’ll be fine by tomorrow and you can just work at home, how’s your wifi holding up here? Where are you charging?” Kirstin curiously asked since Zarina looked like she’s not having a hard time with connection despite that the strange outage being still continuous.

Numerous people were rallying at the city hall because they thought the mayor wasn’t doing anything to fix this.

It’s been weeks since it happened, they’re all trying to adapt to this new life on the days that are passing by.

“I bought a solar power charger, my prepaid wifi can be plugged anywhere as long as it’s a power bank or something,”  Zarina informed.

She has been doing that ever since the strange outage happened, she knew she needed to buy solar power for her to save money, wasting time waiting for her phone and laptop to charge at the charging stations.

“Ugh maybe I should buy one even if it’s expensive, we still have the sun, we should also buy solar lights too,” Kirstin mumbled to which Zarina agreed.

She saw a lot of people have been doing that lately, they’re taking advantage of the sun, but what happens if the sun didn’t rise and it rained?

Their lives were starting to be more difficult, “Oh shoot, I have to go somewhere, are you going to be alright here?” Kirstin asked while standing up.

Zarina nodded before motioning her to go away, “I’ll be fine, you can go, and thank you for coming here,”

“Anything for you ice queen!” Kirstin teased, so she just shook her head as she watched Kirstin leave her apartment.

To be continued...