Meanwhile, outside the building.
Eyes burned, bated breaths expanded the lungs, and Cale. Weakly moved forward.
Even though the sun's rays could not penetrate through the dense clouds high above any building. Cale still felt hot under all his clothes.
'Just a few more minutes.....'
Just spending a few more minutes walking would get him to the destination he felt safe in.
Throughout the constant, dragging steps that drilled into the fatigued mind, Cale thought about many things.
How much did he miss? How much did the doppelganger change? Or did nothing change.
'No, the doppelganger changed something for sure'
Nobody could imitate someone else perfectly after all. Cale refused it to be true.
'It must have slipped up'
It did so in the past, it will do so in the future. The fact that in the first few days it had caused Cale a multitude of problems proved it to be more flawed than its label gave it credit for.
'But how do I ask without being weird about it?'
That singular thought made everything more complicated than it seemed, if he asked, obviously people would ask why he would want to know and might make them suspicious of him.
"Ah, no...."
Bringing a hand to his chin, he shook any worry that formulated.
'Why the hell am I worried?'
So what if they are suspicious? What are they going to do about it? Slap the doppelganger for pretending to be him?
No one believed in the supernatural, so any question regarding the doppelganger's actions was fair game.
'The first thing I'm doing when I get back is eat, sleep and ask about the doppel—'
Step
Gaze, still lowered to the floor, spotted a stretching shadow in front.
Cale didn't think much of it at first, but the circular silhouette was what threw him under the bus.
Born from curiosity, he looked up.
"...?"
A pale young lady with short, dark-blue hair walked with a wide dark umbrella, a few of her strands of silky hair brushed against Cale's shoulder.
Her deep cerulean eyes locked onto Cale's for a moment before looking forward again.
At first, her face didn't register to memory, but as if a puzzle was intricately and delicately solved. Cale soon realized who she was.
It was the very first person he saw the instant he was resurrected. Her tattered and bloodied figure had made it hard to recognize her fully, but Cale was certain that it was her without a shadow of a doubt.
For a split second, his fatigue washed away as his head snapped toward her.
"....."
But only the disappointing wind that blew greeted him politely...and Catrina?
"....!"
Hearing a yelp from the startled Catrina, with no emotion, his features stretched into small curiosity.
"What are you doing?"
Raising a brow, he found himself already in front of Catrina's small figure.
"Well...uhh....."
A bead of sweat trickled down to her lips, where her ragged breathing could be heard.
'Did she run here?'
"Never knew you were a part-time stalker"
Hands flailed in protest to the accusations.
"No! That ain't it!"
Her nose reddened as snot came out, shriveling her words.
Cale looked around, avoiding looking at Catrina who blew her snot-filled nose.
"You saw the person that turned this corner?"
"Huh?"
This time, Cale looked straight at her.
"What person?"
Lips twitched in a slow manner.
"Someone with an umbrella, they must have passed you"
As if the wires connected in her mind, she exclaimed.
"Yeah, I saw them"
Turning around, she pointed at the road.
"They went inside their car, I think it was an Altima?"
Cale frowned at the random name drop of the car.
"Wait, is that kind of car even manufactured here?"
"Uh yeah, why wouldn't it be?"
Brushing her hair behind her shoulder, she spoke.
"Anyway, enough of that random, what's up?"
Brows knitted tightly, they were so close, it looked like they locked hands.
"Don't give me that crap, what's up with you following me?"
Turning silent, Catrina avoided Cale's gaze.
"Well, you seemed unusually tense, so I followed yo—"
"Still on that bullshit?"
Crossing his arms, Cale saw in real time how Catrina's face petrified to stone.
"I saw how tired you were, so I thought it'd be funny if I followed you in hopes of scaring you so hard, your fatigue just disappears...."
However, instead of being the one doing the jumpscare, she was the one in the end to yelp in fright.
'She dropped off the gifts, ran here, just to fail'
An amusing situation that made one smirk without knowing.
Twisting his body, Cale walked. Catrina followed right behind him.
"Why are you following?"
He asked, not looking back.
"No reason"
'Yeah right, there definitely is one'
Without knowing it, Cale's lips curled into a smirk.
It felt stupid saying these words, but sensing that there wouldn't be a next time.
He spoke them anyway, even if they fell on deaf ears.
"You aren't possibly worried I might get into an accident just because I am a little tired, are you?"
"Not at all"
Cale heard Catrina say this, but in reality.
"....."
Catrina remained silent at his words. Walking just an arm's reach away from Cale.
His fatigue had already progressed to the point where his brain attempted to fill in the blanks. Though, just fatigue wouldn't be reason enough to cause this.
She remained at a steady pace before eventually. After many minutes of dwindling silence stretched.
The view of Cale's house blew into her.
"Say...."
Cale looked back, eyes taking a faint cerulean as a filter, searing the outline of Catrina's figure before closing, as if the act of opening was too burdensome.
"How was I this past month?"
Not beating around the bush, he asked a straightforward question, Catrina didn't know how to answer.
It came completely out of the blue after all. Not just anyone could answer.
But, she and Gabriel already had thoughts about this matter.
"Weird"
Cale didn't say anything.
"I don't really know how to explain it but it..felt like...it felt..."
She took a step behind.
"Like you weren't there the entire month"
Lips parted in a small gape. Then into a small smirk that for some reason tugged the strings in her heart.
"Did Gabriel also feel that way?"
Fingers interlocked behind his back.
"He was the first who voiced it...."
Slowly exhaling a white breath, Cale calmly took a step forward, face inches away from Catrina. Leaning his back slightly forward, he whispered.
"Don't you think that's mean though? Gossiping behind my back....and even telling it right to my face?"
Cale's chin, then landed softly on Catrina's shoulder.
"Hey...."
She tried to shrug him off, but it didn't take long for her to realize that Cale.
Had fallen unconscious.
Ha
Ha
Ha
Breaths softly tickled the ears. As Cale's body began losing its valor to stand upright.
*
*
*
The elevator hummed a tune as it reached the third floor.
"Which key, which oneee....."
Catrina struggled to find the right key, trying them all until she found the right one.
A key slid into the hole, a matching fit.
Click!
With a resounding and satisfying click, the door plopped right open, before entering. Catrina removed her shoes and even Cale's.
"'Come on in' I said, but instead, I am in your house somehow"
Grunting, she reached the living room.
There was no one in the house. Ringing the bell was the first thing she did, before turning to use Cale's keys after it never opened.
"What would you have done if there was some stranger?"
Laying Cale on the sofa, she sat next to him for a small bit before remembering to close the door.
"Let's have some common sense~"
The door closed with certainty, locking away any prying eyes.
Digging into her pockets, she opened her phone, dialing a number, her mother's.
"Mom?"
[Sweetie~]
In a soft, soothing voice. Ms. Rouge conversed with her daughter.
[Are you having fun outside?]
"Yeah, I am, but I want to stay for longer, that's why I called, to let you know"
The phone turned static for a few moments.
[Then why are you asking me? You can do whatever you want]
Tapping the heel of her foot, Catrina's mouth, with a whisper juggled out words.
"Well, I am saying this to let you know that I might come late"
[How late?]
She wasted no time, jumping straight to the point.
"Uh...ugh"
[Those aren't words sweetie]
Flustered by the words of her own mother, Catrina shakily clenched her phone in embarrassment.
"Until 10 PM...."
[What?!]
The phone's speakers shrieked out the voice, deafening ears for a moment.
[It's 3 PM, what are you going to do outside for seven hours?!?]
"Hanging out..."
[.....]
Even though Catrina couldn't see her mother's face on the phone, she knew that it wasn't a pretty face at the moment.
[....Fine, but come back at exactly 10, your cousins, uncles and aunts are coming at around that time]
Sighing relief, she waited until her mother hung up.
Beep
Beep
Hearing it, she closed the phone, pocket expanding to take in the size of the phone. Catrina walked back to the living room as she started to rummage through the cupboards. Searching for a certain something.
She didn't feel guilty doing so, 'it is all for Cale's health' as she said herself.
Creakkkkkk
The small door of the cupboard creaked, revealing what she looked intently for.
"Heh"
Lips curved into a bow with no string.
"Knew that there was something like this lying around"
Picking up the thermometer, she carefully sprinted toward Cale's side.
As Catrina pressed a button, she carefully raised Cale's arm away from the torso, putting the thermometer into the armpit before lowering it, this time pressing it against the side of the torso.
Legs Fell slowly to the ground, leaning back against the table, Catrina glanced at Cale.
'Even though he was so normal before....'
It perplexed her to think he was in this state the entire day.
'No wonder he rushed...'
As time stretched without end.
Beep
Beep
Beep
The thermometer blared silently, shattering the silence that had pressed into tiny shards.
Snatching and looking at the number herself.
"...."
She peeked at Cale, then at the thermometer again.
[40.1 °C]
Astonished slightly by the number, she slowly blinked before setting the thermometer down at the table.
'Mother'
She logged an entry in her mind.
'I don't think I'm coming home at 10 PM'
Elbows rested at the sofa, and eyes rested onto Cale's features.
All the while silence, sang on the thick walls.