BEEP!
Before the second beep could could even chime, Rae slapped her alarm clock. It went silent.
She stretched her arms before pushing herself off the bed. She stood up, stretched her whole body and let out yawn. She made her way out of her bedroom and around the corner to the bathroom. She took a quick glance at the couch, Blake wasn’t asleep on it. That was good. Rae had found Blake sleeping on the couch on multiple occasions, it was always a strange sight.
She specifically remembered one time when Blake had fallen off the couch. Her pyjamas had managed to slip off a little. It was the one and only time Rae had seen Blake’s mysterious tattoo. It was around her lower back, and looked very unique. She hadn’t ever brought it up with her, and didn’t plan to. It was probably another silly idea she had when she was nineteen. Blake had a tattoo on her right shoulder, it was a bright pink heart. She didn’t mind showing this one off however.
Rae stepped into the bathroom and brushed her teeth. Looking in the mirror, she looked at her own face.
She had to admit, time had treated her well. She was pretty, even without makeup on. She didn’t like to wear too much makeup, but sometimes it just completes the look. She smiled at herself before wrapping up her teeth cleaning routine. She washed her hands and left the bathroom.
She walked back out and approached the kitchen. She looked to the couch again, still no Blake, as she expected.
She grabbed two pieces of bread and slotted them into the toaster.
She began boiling some water and grabbed one of the teabags from the tin. Rae’s mother grew her own tea. She never understood how she did it, but it was unanimously agreed upon by everyone who tried it to be the best tea ever.
Rae sighed. She had a feeling.
She made her way across the room, past the couch and the purple keyboard she used to play almost daily. She stopped in front of Blake’s bedroom door, she knocked. Loud enough for her to hear, but quiet enough that it shouldn’t wake her. She always knew Blake as a relatively heavy sleeper.
There was no answer,
She quietly opened the door and poked her head inside.
Blake was in her bed, sleeping peacefully. Rae let out a sigh of relief. But then she noticed, her pyjamas had slipped down the tiniest bit, she could see the edge of that tattoo again.
Rae’s intrigue was one of her weakness’. She couldn’t help herself but slowly reaching over, moving her bedsheets out of the way, just to get a closer look at the tattoo.
She didn’t wake Blake up, she didn’t even disturb her. She pulled the bedsheets a little more.
The tattoo, it didn’t looked like anything in particular. Maybe like a flower... with some fire? Or maybe a butterfly or-
POP!
Rae panicked and threw the bedsheet, making it land on Blake. She quickly walked out of the room and almost slammed the door. She luckily caught it with her foot. She closed it quietly.
She wasn’t paying enough attention to see if Blake had woken up.
Her heart was pounding. She really was started.
She looks to the kitchen.
It was the toast that made that noise.
She couldn’t help but laugh at herself, letting out two stuttered breaths before walking back to the kitchen and finishing making her breakfast.
———
Rae was sitting on the couch, her tea sitting nicely on the coffee table next to her plate of half eaten toast.
The door next to her opened wide, out stepped the not so presentable Blake Jackson. She pulled the waistband of her pyjamas up as she dragged herself out of her room and to the shared bathroom.
Rae was usually awake long before Blake, it was on very rare occasions that Blake would be awake before Rae, but this was usually when she had some kind of meeting or important livestream to do.
Blake had the bigger room of the apartment, which Rae didn’t particularly mind considering she paid for pretty much all of it, plus she needed the room to record. The only thing Rae was jealous in Blake’s room was the door to the balcony.
Blake very rarely used her balcony. Rae loved being outdoors, so when she didn’t go out, it would be the most relaxing thing for it. She imagined herself sitting on a lovely garden chair and falling asleep whilst reading her book, at twilight.
Blake told Rae not to use the balcony, however. She gave the excuse that since she had been seen on her livestreams, it would let people know exactly where they lived.
Rae understood this, but never really believed that was the reason. However, like with most things, she didn’t complain about it. She loved where she lived, how she lived, and who she lived with. It would be anyone’s dream come true to live with their best friend in the big city in a pretty great apartment.
“Morning,” Rae said, taking her eyes off the TV and looking to Blake. Blake looked to be having trouble adjusting her eyes to the light outside of her room. Her room was usually lit with candles and very dim lamps.
“H-hey,” Blake said, her voice croaky. Rae could tell that she had only just woken up, which made her feel better about potentially waking her up twenty minutes ago.
Blake dragged herself to the bathroom to freshen up. She closed the door behind her.
Rae shrugged her shoulders. This wasn’t an uncommon interaction, especially in the morning. She looked back to Blake’s room. She noticed something out of the ordinary, she didn’t close her door.
Rae looked back to the bathroom door, Blake didn’t seem to be coming out anytime soon. She stood up, slowly walked to Blake’s room. She looked around, taking it all in.
Her pink bed on the left, pink and black dressers right in front of that. There was a bookshelf next to the bed, and next to the bookshelf, on the far left wall was a great computer setup, it was always ready to go record at the press of a button. On the right of Rae was pink and black couch. She’d sat on it before, so she knew how comfortable it was. On the left of it was a bookshelf, can you guess what two colours it was?
She then looked out the window, spotting the outdoor light attached to the wall, the railing to prevent someone falling. She really hoped the door to the balcony was unlocked.
She slowly approached it, twisting the handle and opening it wide. A wave of fresh warm air hit her, she let out a sigh of happiness, smiling. She breathed in the air, she felt so much better.
She looked around at the outdoor table with a pot of flowers on it. There were two potted palm trees on the ground and an unused barbecue grill.
Rae was relived now, she made up a plan in her head to go for a nice long walk across the boulevard, maybe even visit the park.
She pulled the door to close it slowly, savouring those last breaths of fresh air.
“Rae.”
She quickly panicked and span around, expecting to see Blake, pissed. But nothing. She was still in the room on her own. Her heart was racing once again, she brushed her hair back in a moment of relief.
She placed her hand back on the handle and went to close the door. As she did, she spotted something she had never noticed before.
A sundial.
She opened the door wider again, looking at it. How had she never noticed it, she always distinctly remembered there being a sundial in the garden at her Aunt and Uncle’s farm, so she couldn’t have missed it.
She shrugged it off, maybe she had just missed it. It wouldn’t be the first she forgot something. When Rae was fourteen, she forgot the name of her g-
“I’ve always been here.”
Rae’s eyes went wide. That voice want from behind her, nor was it from in front of her. It was in her head. But it was too clear to be a thought.
She didn’t panic, but her heart was beating pretty hard. She slowly grabbed the handle and closed the door. No messing around, quickly and calmly. She locked the door and backed out of Blake’s room, closing the bedroom door behind her. She sat down on the couch.
The voice still sounded like it was echoing in her head. She could recreate it almost perfectly in her mind.
She shakily grabbed her tea and took a sip. This managed to calm her down a little, but she was still very tense after that.
—-
Sitting there, staring into blank space, Rae heard the door to the bathroom open. Blake stepped out, looking much more awake. She stopped to the kitchen, opened the fridge and grabbed some milk. She took a bowl out of the cupboard and selected some plain cereal. She mixed them all together, as you tend to do with cereal, and finally grabbed a spoon to complete the dish.
She made her way to the couch, “so what’re we watchin’?” She asked,
“Ooh um-” Rae snapped out of her trance and focussed on the TV. It only just occurred to her that she didn’t have her glasses, “I think it’s a drama..?” She said, giving a clueless expression. Blake chuckled,
“Go grab your glasses, I’ll pick something to watch,”
Rae smiled, she got up and went to her room to find her glasses. She looked for a decent two minutes before finding them in the most obvious spot. Her head still wasn’t over that voice yet, she realised.
She stepped back into the room and saw that Blake had selected an anime they’d both been watching together. She smiled, Blake smiled back. She sat down and enjoyed watching the show with her best friend.