10

   A bolt on the door and I awake easily. I'm confused while I stare at where I heard the noise is coming from. A lump forms in my throat as I come into a realization that someone wants to come in. I push the blanket away and hurry to the door.

   "Coming. Hold on." I say while unlocking the door but something stops me from doing so, I don't know—it's just a sudden feeling.

   "I've got something for you, V." The stranger says from the other side. "You're going to love it." The voice continues. I raise an eyebrow because I don't know who it is nor do I expect anyone to come here.

   I unsurely twist the key one more time and open the door slightly just to take a peek. A hand quickly reaches out from the other side and holds on to the edge of the door, begging to come in.

   "V, open the door. I can't come in like that." She says while leaning close and I see her red left eye in a flash—but it changes to brown after blinking. It happened so fast that I doubt I even saw it in the first place.

   I gulp and pull the door wider, she puts her hand away and walks in with a huge box on her hand. She hums a tune—it sounds familiar, I just can't say where I heard it from. My chest is aching from nervousness as I close the door and follow after her.

   She puts the box down on the dining table before turning to me with a huge grin, "Do you have a knife?" She asks softly and I stare at her for a while—completely forgetting about her question—that is until she snaps her finger across my face. "Hello? Knife? Do you have it?"

   I look away, feeling the heat creeping on my cheeks and I nod unsurely. "Yeah, let me get it." Then I proceed to pull out a knife from its compartment. I slowly give it to her and she takes it away a little too quickly that I almost drop it from shock.

   She giggles and pulls the top part of the box, showing a cake underneath it. "So what do you think? Pretty cool, huh?" I nod—unsure whether I should respond or ignore her.

   I dip my finger for the icing before she swats it away like a fly. I pout while rubbing the sore part. "You know I hate it when you do that."

   "Do what?" Is what I'd like to say but nothing comes out of my mouth and I frown instead.

   "Go away." A voice whispers in my ear and I quickly turn to face where I heard it from but no one's there. Frightened, I move closer to the stranger while covering my left ear.

   "What's wrong?" She asks while slicing the cake. "Can you be a dear and get some plates for the two of us?" I look at the counter and gulp—I'm still afraid of that voice. "V." She cooes and it sounds like "Veeeee."

   I bit my lower lip and repeat telling myself that I'm a man and I shouldn't be afraid of it. "V." She snaps me out of my trance when she yells it.

   I quickly leave her side and walk to the kitchen—as soon as I do, I hear her humming a familiar tune, I just can’t recall what it is. I quickly grab for the plates from the cabinet and walk back to her.

   “No, leave. No.”

   The thumping of my heart fastens at each step I take and I contemplate whether or not I should do as what the voices in my head says. I gulp when I’m back to her side, she looks up at me with a huge smile before taking the plates from my hands carefully. “Where’s the forks? Why did you forget those? You know it’s—” she stops and stares at me with a blank face.

   “Sometimes I wonder if you’re even thinking.” then she returns to slicing the cake—I can see the way she drops the weight to be able to cut it, so slow and careful but I get the feeling that it’s not just that.

   She goes to the kitchen without a word and takes a fork from the counter. She walks back to me and in a flash, I see her grinning widely before she frowns. “What’s that look for?” she asks and takes my chin with her index finger and thumb. I furrow my brows in confusion. What does she mean by that?

   “Why are you frowning? You should be smiling like always.” she snaps and tightens her grip. I flinch at the pain the way her nails dig through my skin. She lets go of my chin in a way that made me turn to the side with force. She hums on her way back to the table. She puts the fork on the plate, hands me the cake and smiles at me lovingly. Or is it not?

   "Eat up, V." she cooes and I honestly think I can trust her but my gut tells me not to and I listen to it. I take the plate with shaky hands and stare at the food with wonder. How could such a thing be so... Untrustworthy? She pats my shoulder and proceeds to eat her own cake.

   She gobbles it all up like a hungry animal and that scares me, it's like she hasn't eaten anything in weeks—probably even months. She's in a mess, frostings are all over her chin and cheeks but she doesn't seem to mind it. In fact, she continues to serve herself with more slices of cake.

   I gulp my saliva, unable to talk or do anything at all. It seems like I'm in a trance, that watching her eat is interesting but at the same time boring. How I even find it interesting is illogical.

   She pauses for a while when she notices me not taking a bite of my cake. She clears , "What's wrong, V?" and I tell her, in the nicest way possible that this cake doesn't look appealing—it's so different from the first time I saw this. Like it's a different cake. She nods at each word I say but her eyebrows furrow. And I think that's a sign that meant she doesn't get it.

   I stop talking and she stares at the floor, I don't know what her expression is now. She looks like she's thinking of something, or maybe she doesn't expect me to say anything about her cake. She nods again, turns around and heads to the door. I only follow her moves with my eyes.

   "I see..." she mumbles but I hear it, or maybe it's the wind. She closes the door behind her and I let out a sigh of relief. It's so hard to breathe around her, I wonder why. I put the plate down on the table and clean her mess.
   Why did she leave? Is she going to get another cake? I hope not. It's been quiet for a while and it doesn't look like she's coming back. The sun is setting and the clouds are turning orange—wait, is it