Chapter Text
“Everyone living in this neighborhood sucks as fuck!”
Cursing out loud for the nth time, dumbfounded and infuriated, Winter was now standing alone at the middle of the street under the scorching heat of the sun in the early hours of the day, holding the torn plastic bag on her hand while the other was balled into a fist, ready to punch whoever the first person who would approach her again, as she watched over her small milk cartons, packs of candies, chocolate bars, snacks, and soda cans (in which some were uncontrollably descending itself over a slope road) scattered all over the surroundings – she bought those from a convenience store somewhere around this neighborhood she despised living in the most. Why she hated it here? Simple. Because she was surrounded by ordinary mortals, but the majority were half-blood mortals like her. Sounds like it didn’t seem so bad? Oh. Think again.
Chaos. Chaos everywhere, and for other mythical creatures like nymphs, satyrs, and demigods like Winter, it’s already expected – just another usual chaotic day in the neighborhood even though the ordinary mortals were not aware of their supernatural presence; after all, we all had different beliefs in life. Although, all ordinary mortals couldn’t able to see the real chaos because of the Mist which was the created by Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft and magic; it would twist their sight from seeing all the supernatural occurrences by replacing it with the things the ordinary mortal mind knew and could comprehend, so everyone in the world could live in peace and harmony… barely happened but we’re getting there.
It’s a good day for a movie marathon later that day, so Winter decided to go out to buy her favorite goodies to munch on; she rarely went outside her house because she had this hypersensitivity to daylight (she just made it up on her own because she disliked sunshine and going out), and fake allergies in having interactions with random people in her neighborhood – which what happened to her now could explain why.
When some three little young kids riding in bikes, picked her as their first victim of their day: the girl pointed at Winter, marking her as their target when they saw her from a distance, approaching her. As the distance closed in, the big boy, who seemed to be their leader, jumped off his bike where he suddenly grabbed the plastic bag from Winter’s hands, throwing all the contents inside it out in the air like there’s a firework display, as he ripped the plastic bag in front of her afterwards with an angry look in his face where the big kid probably imagined he looked so cool just like the incredible Hulk from Avengers, but actually, Winter thought he just looked constipated for two weeks. Then, he quickly rode his bike again and told his gang to escape – where the big kid left first, then the girl who sneakily stole three chocolate bars before leaving was next, and the other shy boy who had an apologetic look in his face stared at Winter, wanting to say or to do something, but he couldn’t or else he would be kick out from the gang, so he just left and followed the rest. Such a poor boy, Winter thought, if only the shy kid knew what kind of friends he’d been hanging with.
Winter and the rest of the people like her could easily tell ordinary mortals apart from someone like them; and Winter knew that the shy kid was just a normal human being. Based on what the ordinary shy kid could see, his big kid leader friend just had some anger management issues, while the girl was just really sneaky. While Winter, on the other hand, could see that the big kid leader was a son of Ares, the god of war, because of his impulsive anger and bloodlust for violence, and his physical attributes where he had a glowing aura of flickering red fire surrounding him; while the girl was a daughter of Hermes, the god of merchants, thieves, and the messenger of the gods, because she sneakily stole chocolate bars that no one barely noticed, and her physical attributes of small face like an elf, a remarkable sly grin, and cloudy aura surrounding her – and of course, no ordinary mortals could see those features, except the half-bloods, and the divine, and demon deities and creatures.
Ordinary people could see Winter as a normal young adult who had a black short hair and hazelnut eyes. But in the perspective of the supernatural, they could see her as powerful young adult who had a short ash gray hair and Iris blue eyes; she had a shimmering aura in light silver smoke, and she didn’t cast a shadow in the midday, where she sometimes moved like a mirage especially in the night – just like her father, Morpheus, the god of dreams.
Staying pissed out there under the sun would only bring Winter to nowhere, so she began to pick up her goodies from the ground and cradled it in her arm, throwing the ripped plastic bag in the nearby trash bin because it was useless.
Those kids probably think they were safe just by running away from her, but little did they knew, they messed with the wrong demigod. Winter might look like innocent and kind person outside but she’s actually one trickster and brutal motherfucker inside. They could run, they could hide, but they could never escape her revenge, because no matter what they do, all creatures in the world slept during the day or night – and that’s when Winter always got revenge, by giving nightmares to anyone who dared to cross the line; wherein it was also her number one source of entertainment when she’s bored. Her version of fun was to see people’s terrified reaction after the nightmare, and that’s what she raved about the most. Smirking from the thrill of her redemption, planning it in her head recklessly, Winter would teach the two demigod kids a lesson that they would never forget in the rest of their childhood to the point they would get scared of going outside their house again; on the other hand, she decided to spare the shy kid because he was an ordinary mortal for the reason being she believed he’s just being pressured by his demigod friends, unbeknownst to him, to do something he didn’t know if it’s right or wrong.
Winter always had a big heart for the ordinary mortals, and the reason was obvious, because they were clueless and the demigods around them would usually lead them towards – Chaos. Just pure chaos everywhere – it’s better to leave those normal human beings alone, than to interact with them, just exactly what she was doing, avoiding or limiting all interactions with ordinary mortals at all cost. Winter could just leave this community and move in to a new place where there were less demigods residing in; but she didn’t want to, because no matter how chaotic this neighborhood could get on a daily basis, she wanted to stay for one ordinary mortal, her only exception.
Walking down to get the last soda can that rolled over the downhill slope road, Winter crouched on the ground, struggling to pick it up because her other cradled arm was full of her goodies – she began to regret wearing a low-cut denim jean because her butt crack was getting its Hollywood exposure, but she was unable to lift her jeans up because her hands were both occupied at the moment. When suddenly, a shutter sound of a camera surfaced. And as a demigod, her sixth sense were stronger than ordinary ones, she knew that someone took a photo of her from behind.
About to go ballistic, Winter was ready to bite someone’s head off – she’s furious where her light silver smoke aura turned into dark slate gray; it’s probably another demigod kids who wanted to pull a prank on her. Standing up on her feet slowly with her knuckles on her fist turned white, as she turned around to see the brave soul who dared to mess with her again, she shouted. “HOW DARE YOU TAKE A PHO–“
Another sound of shutter.
Winter was cut off from her sentence when the bright flash of the camera blinked her eyes, where she saw Karina, her blind since birth neighbor, was smiling in a confuse way at her (which Winter thought it’s cute), holding a yellow Instax polaroid camera above her chest. “Ex–excuse me. Hi?” Karina stuttered but her smile was still unwavering; she looked a bit terrified because she didn’t know if she did anything wrong because she couldn’t see.
In just a snap, the boil in her blood dissipated into a cooling state just by looking at Karina – just a sight of her made Winter’s pissed furrowed eyebrows and tight lips instantly made her face relaxed, tugging a soft smile. “Hey, Karina,” Winter greeted calmly.
“Oh! It’s you, Winter! I thought it’s somebody else,” Karina chuckled, relief washed over her.
“What are you doing out here alone? The kids in this neighborhood are on bullying strike again. It’s dangerous,” Winter asked as she approached her where she stood in front of her neighbor – Karina’s eyes were unfocused, making small movements in different directions, but it didn’t bother Winter at all because all her attention was on the warm and dainty chocolate orbs she was staring at.
“Oh no. Did they do something to you? Are you okay?” her hand absentmindedly moved and rested on Winter’s available forearm, worry quickly laced on her tone and on her face.
Smiling from the gesture as she shifted her sight back, Winter assured. “Yes. But don’t worry. I have everything under control,” just thinking about her vengeance in her head made her blood thrilled to wait for the night to come when those kids would sleep.
“That’s great to hear,” Karina beamed a smile. “I’m actually practicing to take photos for my special photography class for the blinds. And I’m about to take a photo of the patch of flowers over there,” she pointed where Winter looked at what she’s referring to. “I don’t know if it looks good. Can you check it for me?”
“Sure,” Winter agreed, as Karina handed her the two blurry films from her yellow polaroid camera, waiting for it for few seconds to process where the full picture finally revealed – the latest film was a photo of Winter getting angry, while the first film was a photo of her exposed butt crack beside the patch of flowers that Karina was about to take a photo of. “Wow,” the demigod snickered. “It’s actually a work of art.”
“Really? Is the photo great?” Karina got excited, creating small jumping movements despite of her tall structure – she’s like a giant happy kid. If ever Karina would be a demigod, Winter thought she would be Apollo’s child because she was glowing in sunshine, ever bright, ever smiling. “Did I take a great shot of the flowers?” she asked again in glee.
“Well, you did,” Winter chuckled. “But you also took a great photo of my perfectly shaped butt crack beside it. You can earn multi-million dollars if you sell this photo to a paparazzi because of me,” the demigod grinned from ear to ear.
Flustered and her cheeks were blushing in red, Karina was speechless, although she didn’t know the concept of what body parts supposed to look like, she knew that the butt crack was one of the body parts that humans don’t expose in public in a daily basis. She stammered. “I’m so– sorry, I didn’t know…”
Damn. How can she be so cute like this? Winter laughed, but not in an offensive way. “It’s fine. How about I keep this photo for myself in exchange for I will guide you to take another perfect photo of the patch of flowers?” she offered. If another person other than Karina, took a photo of her butt crack, she would be enraged and be merciless – but it’s Karina, and it’s always a different story.
The embarrassment on Karina’s face slowly turned into a warm bright smile, nodding. “Okay!”
Winter slid the two polaroid photos in her back pocket, still cradling the goodies in her other arm, as she stood beside her neighbor where the strong rose and vanilla scent of shampoo filled her lungs. The demigod guided her by giving her few instructions in which Karina followed because she trusted her. Winter couldn’t refrain herself from stealing glances at her here and then – that look of pure concentration and a pretty smile that could easily make her heart fluttered. And a snap, the photo was finally taken. “Done!” Karina announced, beaming a huge grin once more.
They patiently waited for few seconds for the film to process – and voila, it’s a perfect photo. “Now, this is much better than the last one with my butt crack,” Winter complimented, earning a good laughter from Karina – the sound of it was a music in the demigod’s ears.
“Thank you so much, Winter,” Karina smiled as she put the polaroid photo inside her small sling bag.
“Always my pleasure,” Winter smiled back.
Suddenly, the day was overcast, resulting to the absence of the glow of the sun covered by the dull heavy clouds that was taking over the horizon, indicating it’s about to downpour, where the roll of lightning flashed across the dimmed sky, followed by the first roar of thunder – Zeus, the supreme god, was making his presence known to the mortals.
“Is it going to rain?” Karina asked, worried because she didn’t bring an umbrella with her. “I thought the weather today is going to be sunny according to the news before I left the house.”
“I think so. How unusual,” Winter had a bad feeling about this, now that she saw a raven bird magically appeared out of nowhere at the branch of the tree nearby, staring at her. A raven symbolizes bad luck in their culture, it’s a messenger that brought bad news that something unfortunate was about to happen – and now it’s looking at her straight in the eyes. “I think we should go home now,” she suggested, staying calm and collected, maybe she was just overthinking things.
“Alright,” Karina was about to bring out her retractable white cane from her sling bag when Winter offered her arm. “You can hold onto me.”
“Is it okay?” Karina was shy and hesitant.
“Always,” Winter smiled as she positioned her arm close to her.
Her hand carefully and slowly crawled onto the demigod’s arms, where Karina could feel the soft fabric of her hoodie. “Always?” she asked with a hint of confusion in her tone, smiling.
Winter chuckled quietly. “Always.”
Even though the goodies in her numb cradled arm was getting heavier as the time went on, Winter didn’t mind the slow journey on their way back to their respective houses – she’s quietly enjoying her time spending it with Karina as they walked together – although it’s about to rain, but still, Winter didn’t want this chance let it slipped away from her. The demigod marked Karina as an off-limit, meaning, Winter didn’t want to get involve in Karina’s life that much but as long as her help was needed, she was willing to help… always… or rather, Winter was just afraid to admit to herself that she had a long time crush at Karina, and she didn’t want to do anything about it, because Karina was an ordinary mortal and she was a demigod – and Winter had this self belief that demigods and ordinary mortals should not be together, or else, it would just be chaos (although there was no strict rule about it because everyone could love who they want to). Karina was perfect in her eyes, and she didn’t want to ruin anything what they had right now. After all, Winter had no idea if Karina felt the same way.
They eventually reached their respective homes – they live in a separate unit in a duplex house attached to one another, meaning, they shared the same wall. One of the noticeable differences to tell their houses apart was their front yard, Karina’s yard was full of various flowers in different colors and species, while Winter’s was just purely red poppy flowers that would always bloom and never wither – it’s the flower that represented her father, Morpheus.
Gently removing her hand from Winter’s arm, Karina faced her with a glint of hope painted in her face. “Hey, I’m wondering if you would like to come over and eat something for breakfast? Just in case you haven’t,” as she nervously fidgeted her fingers together in her lap. “I mean, take this as my apology for accidentally taking a photo of your…” her face began to heat up as her cheeks was brushed in red, Karina shook her head – she shouldn’t be thinking about someone else’s body part. “I mean, you know.”
Damn. Stop being so cute. Winter bit her lower lip to prevent herself from smiling as she casually blurted out. “You mean, my butt crack?”
Cracking up, Karina covered her mouth as she spoke in between her laughter. “Yes…. I’m sorry… This is so funny.”
Winter eventually joined her laughing, as she wiped a tear from her eye when she recovered. “It’s fine. But, I’m sorry I can’t today, because,” as the demigod shifted her sight at the raven bird that was following them, which landed on the top rail of a chair in her porch. “Because, I got something important to do today. Maybe tomorrow? I’ll let you know,” she declined politely.
“Oh. Okay,” Karina smiled so warm that it hurt Winter so good just by looking at it. “Well then, I shall go inside now before it rains. You should to,” she waved goodbye as she walked on her own, outstretching her hands so she wouldn’t fall or knock things over in her yard. When she reached her door, she unlocked it with her keys but she believed Winter hadn’t come inside of her house yet, because she didn’t hear her door open yet, so she decided to call out her name, turning around in a direction she wasn’t sure where the demigod was. “Winter?”
And Karina was right, Winter didn’t move a muscle while she watched her made her way to her door – she’s making sure, she would come inside safe first before she left her. Surprised, Winter answered. “Yes?”
“Is it okay?”
“Is it okay what?”
Once again, Karina was back in her habit of fidgeting her fingers on her lap when she’s nervous. “I mean, is it okay if I keep inviting you some time in the future not only because I accidentally took a photo of your,” she chuckled as she shyly said. “Your butt crack.”
Chuckling, Winter assured. “Always.”
Her forehead was creased, puzzled, as Karina asked. “Always?”
Winter smiled. “Always.”
“Okay then,” a sigh of relief washed over her face, with a glint of joy sparkling in her unfocused eyes. “See you around,” Karina smiled one last time before closing the door behind her.
Winter was dumbfounded for a second about her neighbor’s behavior towards her, or maybe, she’s just a dumb idiot that couldn’t understand cues and its meaning from other people. She wouldn’t deny that it hurt her a bit for declining Karina’s breakfast offer for today, but she believed it’s for Karina’s well-being, just in case something bad happened to her while the demigod was around her. Because today, there’s more important thing that required her full attention on, as Winter stared at the raven bird that never shifted its sight away from her. Winter prepared herself. There could be bad news.
The night finally drew in, and somehow, Winter felt relief that nothing bad happened to her yet. She was hiding behind the thick spread-out curtain covering her window, peeking through the window of her living room, and to her surprise, the damn bird wouldn’t leave her alone, staying in the same position for hours already since the last time she saw it in her porch. Paranoia was taking control over her ever since she went inside her house – every groan and creak of the floorboards made her flinch, even though she locked all her doors and windows, the feeling still put her on edge.
The darkness remained loomed since earlier of the day, it didn’t rain, only lots of wind; not to mention, the flash of lightning followed immediately by the loud crash of thunder were constant – Zeus was up to something. Winter sighed. Is he gone mad again?
Winter decided she shouldn’t get freaked out by the unknown, so she went up to her room and proceeded with her plan of getting her revenge to those kids who bullied her, and also, to give nightmares for fun afterwards, as she threw herself on her bed and buried herself under the warm comforter. Preparing herself to enter one’s dream state, as she closed her eyes slowly. But she was caught off guard, when she was the one who was put to sleep, and before she could even react, her father, Morpheus, appeared in her dreams, taking her soul to the Mount Olympus.
Oh. Shit. What the fuck is going on? Winter was unable to speak and to move on her own – she was paralyzed and terrified – but all she knew was she was kneeling forcefully inside the Hall of the Gods where the twelve major gods’ and goddesses’ thrones were located. It’s her first time to be here and she didn’t know what to do. She wanted to call out for help from her father who was standing beside her, but there’s no voice coming out from her mouth, and Morpheus didn’t want to look at her because he was disappointed. When finally, a bearded man with longer curly hair, Zeus, the supreme god, entered the room, as he sat on his throne at the middle, holding a thunderbolt in his hand, as Morpheus left them, and let the eerie silence hanged in the air.
Zeus began speaking where Winter had no choice but to listen because there’s nothing she could do while being there, and by his opening statement, he immediately tackled about her bad behavior of giving nightmares to people for fun, and how she got her revenge which left many people traumatized too much and even some were left hospitalized because of it. Winter wanted to explain herself, but of course, she was forbidden – most probably, Zeus had the biggest ego among all the gods, and he didn’t like someone would go up against his judgement. Until finally, the supreme god gave his final verdict that immediately crushed her heart into million pieces.
“Because of this, you will lose all your powers. You will no longer be allowed to enter anyone’s dreams in the mortal world,” Zeus stood up on his feet, as he gave Winter a final look before he left the room. “And this is my final judgement!” he proclaimed, where the deafening roar of thunder followed his statement.
NOOOO! PLEASE NO! I PROMISE I WILL CHANGE! Winter begged but once Zeus decided on something, it would never changed his mind.
Suddenly, a huge blinding thunderbolt passed through the ceiling of the hall directly struck Winter, and the next time she opened her eyes, her soul was free falling from the skies, as she looked above her where she could see the huge palaces in the Mount Olympus were slowly fading away from her vision. Terrified and helpless, Winter shifted her sight around her where she could see all the nightmares that she gave to all of her victims and its consequences along the dark thick clouds as she descended back to world of the mortals. She shut her eyes, she didn’t want to see all of it, but even so, it still appeared in her mind – it’s haunting her. She could feel inside her that all her powers were slowly taking away from her against her will. She kept screaming for help, as her tears flooded her face, but no matter what she could do, no one could hear her there, no one could help her there.
Until finally, her soul came back from her physical body – where Winter jolted her body up like she was resuscitated by a thousand-voltage defibrillator. Panting hard as she sat up on her bed, she was covered in cold sweats, her throat hurt, her cheeks were wet from her tears, and her heart was crushed; she was shocked, numbness was all she could feel at the moment – the dream was real, she truly lost her powers.
Winter was on the verge of breaking down, but a consecutive ringing of her doorbell followed by loud knocks on her door and windows downstairs, saved her from her despair momentarily. Wiping down some of her tears and sweat on her face with the back of her hand, she rushed down to her living room to check who was the brave soul disturbed her in the middle of the night; she swore, if this was another prank from those kids in her neighborhood, she would fight back even if she lost her powers. But as soon as she swung the door open from the inside, she didn’t expect to see the person she referred to as her only exception.
“Winter! Oh my god,” Karina gasped, with furrowed eyebrows and a worried frown strained on her face. “What’s going on? Your screams woke me up and I’m so worried about you that’s why I came here to check on you.”
The demigod didn’t know what to say, the terrifying nightmare was still replaying in her head all over again, but just by seeing Karina being there for her in her most vulnerable moment of her life, made her heart so weak for her. Struggling to hold her tears back, few managed to escape as Winter forced to stifle her shaky breaths and whimper. The silence was dense, as the night frosty breeze stroked their bare skins, cutting through the stitches of their clothing – Karina was wearing a comfortable night gown under a long wrap jacket, with her white cane on her hand. Even if she’s worried, she still looks ethereal. Winter thought where she couldn’t help but to stare because words failed to come out from her mouth.
“Winter?” Karina called out when she received a null response, but she could sense that Winter was near her, she just wasn’t sure how far was the distance between them. So, she slowly and carefully outstretched her arm aiming to touch Winter’s shoulder or arm, but she didn’t realize it landed on her damp face – she cried, or at least, she was crying. Karina assumed. “It’s wet,” she remarked quietly, as she cupped her cheeks, gently brushing it with her thumb. “Are you alright?”
The muscle on Winter’s face moved, and Karina could feel that she was smiling. “You’re actually touching my mucus coming out from my nose,” Winter tried to crack a joke to ease up the mood – a typical Winter, she wanted to take things lightly.
Karina was stupefied of whether or not, she was actually touching that wet sticky substance; her face was once again burning in red, she was struggling to decide what to do next because she didn’t want to offend her neighbor, so she just let her hand stay on the demigod’s cheek for a while. But Winter, on the other hand, was secretly enjoying the warmth her blind neighbor was giving her, plus, the view of confused and embarrassed look on Karina’s face, the demigod loved teasing her in a harmless way because Karina always had a pure soul – an only exception.
Unable to hold the butterflies in her stomach anymore, Winter freed a hearty chuckle. “I’m just kidding. But I’m okay now,” because you are here now.
Chuckling, a flood of relief washed over her, as Karina removed her hand placed it back on the handle of her white cane. “Are you sure?”
“Yup,” Winter confirmed. But suddenly, a gust of chilly wind hit their bodies, making Karina shivered. “Do you want to come in? It’s too cold outside,” the demigod suggested.
“Is it okay?” Karina queried, the always hesitant.
“Always,” Winter guaranteed, swinging her door widely to create more space in the doorway. “Come in,” offering her forearm within Karina’s reach to guide her inside.
“Always?” Karina asked with a smile on her face, just by hearing that particular word from Winter for thousand times made her feel at ease in an instant, pressing the button of her cane to retract it, as she crawled her hand onto the demigod’s arm.
The demigod led her to the couch of her living room just a few steps from her front door, where Karina sat down comfortably at the side of it. Winter smiled. “Always.”
Karina had been there inside Winter’s house for a few times over the past years since they became neighbors, but this was her first time to be there at late night where everyone in their neighborhood were fast asleep. Hearing her neighbor’s cry for help in her sleep since they shared the same thick wall, alarmed Karina to rush on her feet even if she was still in her sleeping clothes. After all, she cared for Winter because that’s how good neighbors took care of each other, right? But, was it really just because they were good neighbors or maybe it was more than that?
“Do you want something to drink?” Winter offered. She was looking up at her stocks in her cupboard in her kitchen just across the living room.
“I think I’ll have a black coffee.”
Surprised, Winter shifted her sight at her neighbor. “A black coffee? But it’s about to turn midnight?” she chuckled. “But why? You will find it hard to sleep if you drink it at this late hour.”
“I know. But,” Karina lowered her head where her fingers on the armrest began to nervously trace the soft texture of the couch she was sitting on. “But I want to stay awake because I want to be there for you,” she quietly said but it was loud enough to make Winter smile widely. “Is it okay?” Karina shyly asked once again.
Just by that simple statement made her heart burst in somersault, and holding back a smile was never an option to her now, for when it comes for Karina, with a bright beamed in her face, Winter would never stop saying. “Always.”
As for her neighbor’s request, Winter made her a black coffee in which she still put a half-pack of sugar in it, so it would not taste too bitter. And for herself, she just grabbed a small carton of banana milk in her fridge and drink it using a straw. The demigod sat on the opposite side of the couch, giving enough space between them – after all, she didn’t want Karina to feel uncomfortable around her especially at the vulnerable hours of the night.
Karina wanted to ask Winter about what happened to her in which she assumed it was a really bad nightmare to the point it made her neighbor cry and scream in agony, but she didn’t want to appear to be too nosy, that’s why she was always shy and hesitant around Winter – asking her if it’s okay every time she would do something that involved her neighbor, and Winter’s usual response was always ‘always’, which kept her wondering why, but she wouldn’t deny that the sound of it made her smile all the time. So instead, she asked her a question to break the comfortable silence. “What is it like to have a visualized dream in your sleep?”
“A visualized dream? Hmm,” Winter thought of it carefully because it’s like explaining a color to a blind; and as far she could remember, she turned good dreams into nightmares all the time when she still had her powers. Obviously, she knew it better than anyone else because she was the daughter of the god of dreams, and she could shape people’s dream too, just like her father. But Karina had no idea yet that Winter was actually a demigod, because again, the ordinary mortals couldn’t see the supernatural because of the Mist – they could believe that people like Winter existed, but the ordinary mortals weren’t able to see the unexplainable in their physical eyes – and for Karina’s case, she would never really able to see it to begin with because she was blind since birth; which also meant, Karina never saw anything in her dream, only felt the sensation of it. “A visualized dream is just the same thing the way you dream. It’s all weird and the scenes just keep jumping from one place to another,” Winter chuckled, trying to explain it in a simple way that an ordinary mortal could comprehend because she knew it’s more complex than that, as she looked at Karina straight in the eyes. “Besides, visual beauty is only one form of beauty. There are still more beautiful things to have in this word aside from actually seeing things – like smelling, tasting, hearing, and touching.”
“You’re right,” Karina smiled to the feeling that she was understood – and only Winter made her feel that way, as she sipped from her cup of coffee, asking her again. “Can you tell me more about it? But is it okay?”
Winter smiled. “Always.”
They went on like that for few hours: discussing their thoughts and sharing their stories, where they didn’t notice that it’s already ungodly hours and the dawn was about to break in. The physical distance between them on the couch drew in as the time ticked by; probably, because they kept shifting position in a more comfortable one so that they wouldn’t feel numb in one part of their body – and now, they were sitting closer together with little to no space in between, where Karina’s arm was gently brushing against her neighbor’s. Winter was in the middle of talking about astral projection and alike, when she suddenly felt Karina’s head dropped and it rested on the tip of her shoulder – she fell asleep.
Surprised, Winter smiled afterwards as she decided not to move so Karina wouldn’t wake up – thinking about how long they talked about things to the point they both didn’t notice it because they felt so comfortable around each other, and only Karina made her feel this way. “Thank you, Karina, for staying by my side,” Winter whispered softly, where Karina moved her head a bit closer to the crook of her neck, finding a more comfortable sleeping position, earning an unbelievable smile in the demigod’s face where she could feel the warm and steady breathing coming out from Karina’s nose against her neck, as they stayed like that for a few moments.
Being quiet and careful as possible, Winter gently lay Karina down on her couch, as she grabbed her a pillow and a warm cozy blanket upstairs – placing the pillow under her head, and put the blanket over her body afterwards.
Winter sat down on her living room floor for a while, since the golden and orange hues were about to take over the horizon in any moment, she decided to stay with her just for a few seconds, because Karina did the same thing for her. And the demigod couldn’t help but to stare at Karina’s sleeping face – her perfect features that would pass for the physical attributes of a divine goddess, and her most favorite thing about her face, the remarkable small mole near her lips. As the demigod gently brushed the hair that fell off Karina’s face, rephrasing her first statement earlier, she muttered under her breath.
“Everyone living in this neighborhood sucks as fuck… everyone else is but you,” Winter smiled so warmly, where she couldn’t contain anymore the genuine happiness screaming in her heart. “You’re always my only exception…. always, you.”