Chapter 181 - What Is This Uneasiness In My Heart (Part Two)
I was given a key and I went for the lift. The woman followed me.
"What do you want?"
My patience had a limit. I was trying my best to not think about attacking the woman but the more I thought about not hitting her, the more I wanted to hit her.
"Nothing much." She pressed on the 45th floor. Mine was on the 47th.
"Is she here?"
I didn't look at the woman, I despised her and her existence. But her daughter- I did something wrong to her, and for that, I wanted to apologize. At the time I might have run away from her, but- I really wanted to apologize and move on..
There wasn't anyone else in the lift. The two people that were here, all had run away the moment they saw me.
This lift went up rather fast.
The woman snorted. "No, but- she congratulated you on your success. And you're engagement with that girl." Technically, Marg and I were engaged, at least according to the tradition of my family, but in reality, we weren't. "Oh, I'll be stopping here."
The door opened and she swayed her way out. But just outside, she looked back. She didn't say a word but just smiled.
I hated that face and that smile- that disgusting smile. But I controlled my emotions.
The door closed.
"SHIT!"
I wanted to punch the door- but if had, it would have broken down. So, I refrained from that.
For now, I just calmed down.
Just a few seconds later my stop came up and I got out.
This lift was rather fast.
There wasn't anyone out in the hallway. My room was just around the corner, so I didn't have to walk too much.
The key went in, the doorknob turned the right way and now I was in.
I turned on the lights, threw my stuff on the sofa, and just sat down on the bed.
Sigh. 'Why now? Why after all this time?'
It didn't matter though. If I ever got to meet her, I'd just apologize and get out of her way. What I did was wrong, but it wasn't unforgivable. And even if she didn't forgive me, I wasn't going to hold it against her. And I certainly wasn't going to take responsibility for what I did either. I was just a kid back then and it was over six years ago.
Speaking of responsibility- I almost forgot about mine. Since I already made it, I should have called Marg. Mom knew I'd be here safely, so I didn't need to call her: I sent a mail home instead. Actually, that was just an excuse. I just wanted to talk with Marg.
I called her through the Holo. It ran but even after a minute no, one picked up. Maybe she was out or in the bathroom or something?
So, I went to the bathroom myself and got fresh.
A moment later I got back to the bed, in a towel. This room wasn't that big, it wasn't small either. There wasn't much in here. A fridge, a table, and a Holo TV. The telephone was old.
I again called Marg- this time, roughly half a minute later, she picked up.
But the screen read clearly, 'audio-only.'
She couldn't have been in the bath, right?
I was fully prepared to hear sounds of water drops but I controlled my raging thoughts.
"He-lio?" She sounded sleepy. It wasn't that late where she was, so- how come?
"Something wrong? Your voice-"
"I feel a bit lightheaded: kind of tired. Nothing serious."
"Oh. Ah- I arrived here. It's kind of midnight and I got myself a room."
"Really?" Her voice brightened up a little. "I'm glad. Good luck, I think I'll sleep a little. I'll watch your match tomorrow." Her voice was too sleepy. Maybe she was tired.
"It'll be more like early morning for you tomorrow but yeah, for now, good night."
"Night."
The call ended but strangely my heart wasn't calming down.
'Wait, didn't I just forget to ask about the saber?'
Argh-sigh!
I couldn't tell what was wrong. Marg sounded fine, maybe a bit sleepy but that was all. Then why was I feeling this uneasy?
"Am I nervous?"
I chuckled. It was possible I guess. After all, I'd be fighting an opponent who could make my power useless and I didn't even have my overpowered saber to rely on.
But anyway, I lied down on the bed, turned off the lights, and tried to sleep.
I had a match tomorrow and I couldn't afford to skip sleep.
My heart was still beating a bit faster than normal but as I focused on calming down, it got slower gradually. I had all sorts of worries and all sorts of thoughts, but for today, I didn't need them.
I was tired, so before long I fell asleep.
***
White.
'I'm back?'
But instead of that room, all I saw was a large withering tree and water: the tree was almost out of leaves. The water was beneath my feet but I wasn't being sucked in. Tt was crystal clear and there was no reflection of me.
I could neither move forward nor backward.
I couldn't turn my head either. All I could do was look at the tree and the four beneath it.
The shadow was there, the black thingy was there and there were two other people there too, but they weren't looking this way. And a moment later they faded and only the shadow and the black thingy were there- looking at me.
"What is this?" I screamed but the words never came out.
The shadow grinned, showing its white teeth.
I tried to raise my hand and take a step but-
***
I woke up.
The temp was 25C but the sheet and my shirt were drenched and I was sitting up, reaching out in front of me like a moron.
I was out of breath but as I woke up, things began to cool down.
It was 9.05 and I had two missed calls on my Holo. One was from mom, and the other was from Marg.
I wasn't in the shape to call back, so I just went to the bathroom and took a cold shower.
I came back, got some stuff from the fridge- since I wasn't paying I didn't care about it- and ate the stuff.
I first called mom and she was just checking on me.
Next, I called Marg, and this time I got to talk to her face to face. She was in her bed, looking all pretty. I had to say, she looked way more tempting than ever! Her pajama wasn't buttoned properly and that hat- ah, I so, so wanted to be there with her. 'Cute!'
According to her, her saber could vibrate the air surrounding it, creating a larger range. Wait, but how come she never used it against me? Or was it that I never realized? I actually, didn't know.
I did try to practice a swing or two with her saber and the range was a meter. 'So, she was holding back too?' Because no matter how I thought about it, one meter was a lot of range.
This kind of made me happy though.
Anyway, by 9.45 I was done and I headed out.
The stadium was right next to the hotel- two blocks- so I reached court with five minutes to spare.
'How the hell can people be so early though?'
That really was the question, wasn't it?
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