A morning of high spirits

The sun already at the highest point, its light pierces through the three-meter-tall windows and illuminates the corridor. The air feels dry, not a single speck of the joyous atmosphere from yesterday remains. The guests seem to have vanished overnight leaving behind a maze of half-empty wine bottles and half-full beer cans.

A single presence fills the hallway. Carefully traversing the labyrinth of alcohol, it is intrigued by a unique object. At the base of one of the windows, a place devoid of any history lies a single red high heel shoe. Curious as to what this particular piece of footwear is doing here without its companion, the creature investigates the odour it gives off. Scouring the corridor, it is guided by a distinct trail matching the scent to one of the adjacent rooms. Carefully it enters the room.

As it takes in the bright artificial light of the room, it recognizes an object with striking similarities to the curiosa that ignited his search. The shoe, however, is filled with a smooth and brilliantly shining foot belonging to what the creature can only describe as a giant. The creature does not sense any hostility coming from the giant and thus confidently states its presence: “meow.”

The giant seems to awaken, the creature’s eyes filled with pride for finishing its quest. A high-pitched voice leaves the giant and reaches the ears of the creature unbeknownst to its meanings. “I fell asleep?” the giant states with a drowsy tone in its voice and follows by releasing a long yawn. “Meow,” the creature replies, in an attempt to make contact with the giant. The giant continuous to be oblivious to the creature’s presence as it keeps talk to what can only be herself. “Ah,” it exclaims, “I slept sitting on a toilet?! This is so embarrassing I cannot believe this happened.”

The creature, disappointed in its inability to be noticed, decides to go for the offensive. It walks up to the giant and rubs its head against the giant’s barefoot and states a third time, “meow.” “Oh good morning little one, you are one cute calico. Thank you for waking me up,” the giant says in a soothing voice while patting the creatures head. The creature accepts the giant’s pats and purrs feeling fully satisfied.

The giant continues rambling to itself. “I remember going to the party, but I don’t think I had the intention of staying overnight. I cannot seem to recall why I went to the bathroom. I wouldn’t let myself drink enough to get drunk and I don’t have a headache, but my memory is fuzzier than the times I had a hangover in my college years.” Looking down at her barefoot she continues: “I seem to have lost one of my shoes, I feel like such a klutz. I need to make sure no one sees me like this, it can be our secret right you little fluffball?”

The cat, completely entranced by the physical attention it is given, shows its agreement by jumping onto the giant’s lap. Drunk on affection the cat lies down and exposes its belly to the giant, begging for it to be rubbed. The giant seems to have no problem with meeting the cat’s demands. “What an affectionate cat you are, I wish I could be as carefree as you are, but unfortunately I cannot afford to be here much longer.” With the intention of picking up the cat and getting off the toilet seat, the giant tries to move the cat back on its feet when it notices something peculiar. “Did you get wine all over your paws?” the giant says after noticing the dark red colour mixed up in the white and brownish fur. “You should go wash, I cannot carry you like this or I will stain my clothes.”

The giant takes off the remaining shoe and starts moving its body off the seat which wakes the cat from his ecstatic state of mind back to reality. The cat jumps to the floor and closely follows the giant. “Be careful,” the giant says with an elevated tone, “if you keep walking so close to me, I might accidentally step on your tail, that will hurt a lot for you.” Watching her every step she reaches the door back to the hallway and, quite forcefully, opens it.

The moment she sees the bottles of wine spread out all over the hallway and she hears the door smashing into one of them she could not stop the orchestra of glass from playing. The first bottle flies just above the floor and hits several others. Within seconds the cascade has reached every single player of this game of wine dominoes. After the sounds stop and not a single bottle remains to stand, the floor is flooded with a thin layer of wine. The wine quickly finds its way to the bathroom entrance and starts to close in on the duo. The cat recoils back and jumps on the toilet seat, safe from harm. The giant, however, is unable from getting its bare feet out of harm’s way and accepts that there is no way of not getting the imminent wine bath. No longer caring about wine stains, the giant picks up the cat and ventures into the hallway.

The giant’s eyes are bombarded by the sunlight reflecting off the hundreds of lifeless glass bodies, causing them to tear up. As a reflex, the giant looks down. With every step, the giant’s foot creates a ripple in the surface of the lake that then spreads all throughout the corridor. Traversing part of the hallway, the giant bumps its feet into a familiar object. The bright red colour of the shoe clashes with the dark red colour of the wine, the shoe is begging for it to be noticed before it is drowned and forgotten.

Against the wall close to the shoe exists a small cabinet. On top of the cabinet stands a clay pot holding a reasonably large cactus. Wanting to give the cat a safe vantage spot over the flooded hallway, the giant pushes the pot to the side of the cabinet and makes room for the cat. The cat sits down on the opposite edge of the cabinet, seemingly aware of the dangers of the plant. Still uncomfortable with how close together they are, the giant picks up the clay pot and puts it inside on the velvet riverbed. A loud ‘ouch’ echoes between the walls when the giant’s skin is pierced by one of the cactus’ daggers. Without hesitation, the giant removes the needle, releasing an even worse feeling of pain in its arm. Startled by the sound, the cat recoils and looks at the blood dripping from the giant. The cat senses the pain the giant is in and reaches with its head to the giant’s arm and starts purring. The giant responds to the cat’s care by lifting the cat again and embracing it tightly. With the pair in a trance of affection, the grimdark red world around them is replaced with a soft and peaceful yellowish atmosphere.

“Good afternoon.” An unknown voice wakes up the duo from their trance. The giant looks around in search of the source of the voice. “Look a bit up,” the voice says with a yawn mixed in. About five meters up from the wall opposite the windows is another pathway, separated by a meter-high stone railing. Behind the railing stands yet another giant, waving its arms with a huge yawn on its face. “I’m glad to see at least someone stayed over for the night, that was quite the party, wasn’t it?” the waving giant asks with a satisfied smile on its face. The duo continues to stare in silence as the giant approaches the railing and lifts its legs, one after the other, over the barrier. “What are you doing? You will get yourself hurt if you continue,” the wine-soaked giant shouts with a concerned tone of voice. “Do not worry, I have done this a thousand times already,’ the other giant confidently states while it dangles from the railing on its arms, now trying to climb further down. “I’m willing to bet you that idiot is going to fall,” the bare feet giant whispers to the cat. “Are you doubting me?” the giant jokingly exclaims as it is already halfway down the wall, “look I’m already almost the…” The giant’s foot loses its grip on the wall and within a fraction of a second a loud scream can be heard as the giant falls on its butt in the wine.

The cat seems to be concerned about a possible injury and urges its partner to go care for the fallen giant. As they make their way to the other side of the hallway the wine bathing giant starts to talk again. “I guess I’m still a bit drunk from last night. That must have been the best party in years. If only I didn’t drink so much, I would have remembered more of it. I must have passed out drunk here in the hallway.” The mumbling giant turns its head to the approaching party, and, though its vision is still blurry, the giant is elated to see someone else’s presence get closer. “Thank god someone is still here,” the giant continues, “I didn’t expect everyone to leave so suddenly and leave me with all the cleaning up.” “Are you alright? You fell from quite a great height,” the concerned giant asks. A reply follows: “I’m feeling perfectly fine. Although I have a really bad taste in my mouth, reminds me of chocolate that has gone bad. What’s your name? I’m sorry but I don’t even know a tenth of the people I had invited to the party.”

“My name is Haru,” she answers, “to be honest I don’t recall why I came to this party in the first place. I have some vague memory of my sister pushing me to go. So I am sorry too, I don’t think I know you either, what is your name?” “Avery,” he responds, “nice to meet you Haru. I haven’t seen you around before, but you managed to survive the night. I’m quite intrigued by you.” A rose-coloured blush captures Haru’s cheeks as she extends one of her arms to Avery. The cat jumps from her other arm onto Avery’s stomach and walks up to his face. “Oh, there you are Spirit, did you enjoy the party too?” Avery asks the cat with a slightly surprised tone. “I see you befriended Spirit, my cat,” he turns his gaze to Haru. “She’s my trusty friend, always keeps me company when I’m feeling alone.”

“I see your name is Spirit,” Haru says as she pets Spirit who is lying on Avery’s chest. “She woke me up. To be honest, I did not plan to stay here all night. When I woke up, I felt a sense of urgency, like I had to leave, then she started purring on my lap and my stress went away. I don’t remember anything from last night and I didn’t even drink, I swear I didn’t, “she says with a concerned voice. Of course, she wants to hide the fact that she fell asleep on a toilet. She calms down before she lets the stress get to her and tells Avery she is the one who made this mess: “I accidentally bumped into a bottle of wine and before I knew it the entire hallway was submerged. I will help you with cleaning up the mess I made, so please forgive me.”

“Hahaha,” Avery chuckles, “don’t worry about the mess. It ends up like this every year. Three years ago, it was even worse. A giant table filled with pies, cakes, sweets, and other confectionaries all fell on a brand-new carpet. It took more than ten days to remove the stains and the carpet still smelled of strawberries afterwards. Still, I would appreciate it if you helped me a bit.”

Avery’s laugh catches on to Haru. She is enchanted by the soft feel of Spirit’s fur. She is bewitched by Avery’s soothing voice. Instinctively she sits down like it is the natural thing to do. The wine soaks into her underwear, but she doesn’t care. Her attention is complete with the two souls in front of her. She eagerly anticipates the moment Avery continues talking, and when he does a gentle smile appears on her face.

“You know, Haru,” Avery says, “I used to stay away from alcohol like you. I feared losing control and doing something awkward or regrettable. Two years ago, I lost a friend. I got so hung up in my sorrow that the thought of losing control sounded incredibly appealing. So, I started drinking, and with that, I was finally able to break free from my sadness, but I also lost myself.”

Haru, captivated by Avery’s words leans closer and closer to his face. Her eyes, no longer interested in Spirit, gaze into his. Her hair hovering just above his face, she whispers: “Did you manage to find yourself again?” Avery stares back into her eyes. He can feel her breathing and hear her heartbeat. He wets his lips and continues his monologue. “One night I was on a date. We both had some drinks, I more than her. We walked through the streets late at night and fooled around. I held her face and went in for a kiss. She lost her balance and fell onto the asphalt; the car could no longer dodge her in time. If only I was in control that night.” Avery’s eyes water up.

“You should forgive yourself,” Haru replies as she sheds a tear. “It was an accident, don’t burden yourself with the feeling of having killed her. Besides, you’ve changed after that, haven’t you? You are in control now.”

With her thumb, Haru removes the tears from Avery’s cheeks. She leans forward, their noses almost touching. “Doesn’t this feel like a dream?” she whispers, “I don’t want to clean up the mess, only for the dream to the end. I want it to end with a bang.” Their lips touch, with her tongue she tries to invite Haru’s tongue into her mouth. For a second, the air around them is filled with pinkish warmth from the sun. The shining bottles around them transform into stars, placing them at the centre of the universe.

Time slows down. A dreadful chill runs across Haru’s spine. The wound on her arm burns. She feels like she is falling, her heart is paralyzed with fear. She can taste the chocolate on Avery’s tongue and recognizes the taste. Not just the chocolate, the inside of his mouth feels familiar. This is not their first kiss.

Scenes from her memory play before her eyes. She sees his eyes, the stone barrier moving away from her. The world around her accelerating upward. An intense pain flares up in the back of her head like she is stabbed by a hundred needles. She can see the bathroom, and her eyelids closed as she sits on the toilet seat. Time speeds up again.

Haru breaks free from the kiss and crawls away from Avery, her face struck with angst. Avery looks at her and starts speaking: “So you finally remember.” He moves his hand towards Spirit, who is soundly sleeping on his chest and starts petting her. “You see,” he continues, “the friend I lost two years ago was this fluffy girl, and yet she’s with us here now. You know what that means, right? We died yesterday.” Haru is paralyzed and barely able to breathe. Avery laughs as he speaks: “At least, you are the one who died. You see, I was murdered, by a beautiful woman I had only just met, by you Haru.” He points at her and chuckles. “Poisoned by a passionate kiss, that sounds romantic does it not? I’m sure you agree, you were so caught up in it that you slipped. Ha, maybe I’m cursed.” He pauses, smiles, and then continues, “or maybe it runs in the family.”

Tears form in Haru’s eyes, the fog in her mind has cleared up. Her fear turns into anger and she screams: “You killed her! You killed my sister! You deserved to die for that, I had to do it. Who else would have avenged her? I had to do it. It was all I could think about, every single day.”

Avery picks up Spirit into his arms and stands up. As he slowly walks over to Haru he replies: “Then why did I see regret and sadness in your eyes the moment you put that chocolate in my mouth? Without the anger you have felt for me all this time, what is left of you?”

Loud sobs fill the hallway. “I’m sorry,” Haru screams, as tears flood her face, “I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve to die. I have been drunk on revenge for so long, but now only sadness remains. I hate myself. I’m glad I died, I deserved it.”

“You should forgive yourself,” Avery says as he kneels in front of her, using her own words against her. “I have already forgiven you. I’m quite sure we cannot undo our deaths, so this is it. I am glad I get to play with Spirit again. It’s just the three of us here so let us forget about what happened before. I’m dying to get to know you better Haru. Your eyes have already captured my heart. Let’s live together how we couldn’t before our deaths.”

Haru looks up at Avery and her gentle smile reappears on her face. “Alright, deal!” she says with joy, “If we are dead, we might as well leave the cleaning up for later. I want to get to know you better, Avery.”

“Not before I get lost in you, Haru,” he replies.