In the basement, Silva’s hand was still hovering over the floating bead in the same position she had left it. Another drop of blood was gathering at her fingertip. She felt herself return to how she used to be. While in that other world, hours… maybe days had passed. Here, it had been only a moment.

  Hastily, Silva withdrew her hand and searched for her friends. She had to ask. She had to make sure that they also had experienced what she had.

  “Did… Did you also...?” Silva whispered. She feared she would fail to control her voice. But her worries were unfounded as she sounded just as she had before. Nothing seemed to have changed.

  Silva's friends nodded as Mika fell down next to Steven. She restarted the healing, covering the wound with her palm. After only ten seconds, she was done and pulled out her phone.

  "I… I thought that it was hours. But…" Mika looked at the phone screen in disbelief. Only then does she make a call. It served as a reminder that they still were in a dangerous pce.

  Silva followed Mika's suit and also checked the time. No matter how she calcuted, it could not have been more than a few minutes. The whole experience that had sted for a time frame she would not dare to guess at amounted to just that.

  A moment ter, Silva saw Aramaleo reappear. She heard the man asking a question, but it did not register in her head. She still was trying to feel horror or panic over their experience but could not.

  Idly, Silva watched Mika come closer to her and touch her arm. She felt her small, bleeding wound disappear. Then, she was led closer to Aramaleo.

  They gathered together, and before they left, Silva looked at the bead one st time. It felt… different.

  Then, a kaleidoscope of colours overcame her as the world fshed past her eyes. Her stomach spun around, protesting against the sudden pull, and then she was back at Steven's friend's pce.

  A spray of vomit escaped Silva's mouth as she ruined the carpet on which they were now standing.

  "Ah! That’s why I said to shut your eyes!" Aramaleo helpfully expined.

  Instead of answering, Silva bent over and let out another gush of vomit, making sure that the carpet was indeed dead.

  "Silva, hang in there!" Mika rushed to her and put a hand on her back.

  Silva could tell that Mika had tried to heal her, but she was just nauseous as the worst was already over. Then she realised what she had let her friend see. The horror she had felt was missing, hitting her at full throttle.

  "No!" Silva straightened, only to buckle over again. Still, she could not embarrass herself even more. "I am fine! My mistake! I'll clean right up!"

  "You are really pale," Mika fussed over her.

  "And that's a sign that I should be leaving," Aramaleo said to no one in particur and used the chance to leave as he started to head for the entrance. "Bye!"

  There was no response from the trio, as they were happy to see the unfamiliar man leave. Aramaleo did not mind it, and after entering the corridor, he vanished.

  Steven followed him to check if he had left. It made Silva blush in embarrassment as he turned away. Steven was only in his boxers, after all.

  "Wear something, you asshole!" Mika bellowed and threw the same bottle Silva had held as a weapon before. It was the only thing she had found that could be useful in case of need if Aramaleo turned hostile.

  “Don’t throw it! This whisky is expensive!”

  Silva did not hear the bottle breaking, which meant Steven had managed to catch it. But even then, she did not dare to take a peek.

  "Like I care! Wear! Something!"

  "No! I am taking a shower, and you already threw out everything. Well, apart from my jeans."

  "There was blood on those clothes!"

  "Same with the jeans." Steven dismissed and entered another room with the doors closing behind him.

  Silva assumed that it was safe to look around again. And she still had to do something about the carpet. Mika was still standing and staring daggers at the bathroom doors.

  “I should go and find something to clean up with.” Silva excused herself only to spin around again as Steven exited the bathroom, luckily still in his shorts.

  “Yeah, while I remember, don’t clean it!” Steven’s voice stopped her. “A house cleaner comes every day. Ben can’t take his liquor. The carpet has been changed five times already.” He finished and returned to his own business.

  "That… Was an oddly specific number." Silva commented. "I still feel bad. I'll go and see if there is something for cleaning."

  The search did not yield any results. It appeared the person who did the cleaning brought cleaning utensils with them.

  When Silva returned to the ruined room, she found Mika missing and noise coming from the kitchen.

  The breakfast Silva had at Mika's pce was still fresh in her mind, so she was eager to try more of Mika's cooking. She was about to head for the kitchen only to stop midway. There was a chance that her friend had run away from the smell that now pervaded the room. The least she could do was to open the window.

  When Silva finally joined her friend in the kitchen, she found a row of sandwiches on the table with even more in the making.

  After getting absentminded permission from Mika, Silva sat at the table and grabbed one of the sandwiches. For a moment, she watched her friend work. Before long, Mika was done and joined her.

  The current week had been weird for Silva. Even not counting today's shenanigans.

  Silva had tried to act as always, and she could even cim that she had succeeded. However, no matter what, she had made a big mistake.

  Silva had realised it only after the fact, but when Mika had made her confession of being a lesbian, there was something that was left unsaid. It was no wonder Steven regurly called her dense. If not for te-night surfing on the internet, she would still be ignorant of how her friend really felt.

  The search had been simple. Silva had wanted to know how friendship worked between two girls when one of them was homosexual. She had found several public forums that had discussions touching upon the topic.

  After an evening of thorough reading, it became clear Mika had a bit more of an interest in her than Silva had assumed at first. More than she had ever thought to be possible. Of course, without her friend stating it herself, these were only guesses, but…

  In hindsight, that day had been a real date. Silva supposed that she should be a bit angry. That Mika had tricked her into going to one, but that was not really true.

  Silva had wanted to go. It was fun. All the preparation and pnning before the day. Dressing up and putting on the make-up for Mika's sake. She had enjoyed it.

  But hell, was it confusing. What did Mika think about all of this?

  Without crification, it was still only an outing. Mika herself had cimed that she wanted to remain friends. And it would not be the first time people online lied or were mistaken.

  Had there not been many times when Mika acted strangely around her? Was it only because she was a girl, or was there something more?

  In the end, the situation was what it was. Silva's best friend was, maybe, probably, likely interested in her romantically. Or had been at some point.

  Where did that leave her? Was she interested in Mika? Silva had not thought of dating a girl before. Not that she did not find girls attractive, because she did, but she liked boys as well.

  So, would she be able to date a boy? It somehow did not feel quite right. Of course, she had her own te-night fantasies. But she never thought of a specific person.

  It was not something she readily admitted, but she was quite sensitive, and when the need called, it did not take much to sate it. And she had never liked someone that way… So, who knew?

  And with all the trouble that surrounded them, was it the right time to question her sexuality...? Did she want to touch a girl? Kiss one? Do even more…

  "Silva? Are the sandwiches not to your taste? I can fix up something else if you want," Mika interrupted Silva's thought thread.

  Silva found herself back at the table with a half-eaten sandwich in hand.

  "No, it is tasty. I was just… thinking…" Silva was aware that she was blushing slightly. It was good that Mika's attention was mostly targeted at her phone.

  “We can still make it to school,” Mika muttered as she pyed around with her phone.

  That was true. It was still early, just a little past eight am. Silva doubted she would be able to concentrate on anything if she went. But maybe some normality in her life was what she needed.

  And it reminded her once again. Did she even have time to date anyone? With how things were developing, her life was becoming hectic and unpredictable.

  Just today, one of her friends had almost died. They had made two deals that they did not understand. Then, they had gone through an out-of-body experience. Or maybe dimensional travel?

  It could have been inside the bead's body? She had an experience of entering her own inner world. So it was possible. Maybe.

  And then, Silva had vomited in a friend's friend's apartment in front of a person who was, maybe, probably, likely, interested in her romantically. What's more, she did not know what she felt regarding the same person.

  “Life sucks,” Silva concluded with a groan. In the end, what was there to like about her? Maybe Mika really liked her somewhat at the start. But by now? It was already good enough that she was speaking with her.

  "Yea…" Mika did not disagree as she chewed on a sandwich she had started to eat at some point while Silva agonised about the unfairness of her life.

  While Silva and Mika were brooding over how unfair life was, Steven joined them at the table. Now dressed in a new bathrobe, which he had pilfered from the bathroom.

  As he sat down, he asked the question that they had been avoiding for some time now. Silva only hoped that her friends would know how to answer it.

  "What now?”