Elise woke to an unfamiliar ceiling, her head sinking into warm pillows. A heavy blanket draped atop her, keeping her thoughts hazy. The Izakaya, a passing thought, surfaced, jogging her memory. 

Her head throbbed, scattering her memories.

Images of an office flickered over the ceiling. This hangover is feeling different, she thought, but it felt too vivid. The vision shifted wildly, with streaks of colour and people streaming past. She tried blinking the vision away, but the image grew clearer. Then, the chaos settled into something disturbing. Lips moved, but Elise couldn't hear the words being expelled.

In a ghostly office image, a figure walks towards the window, limping as if trying to escape, ignoring the voices. The figure pressed its hand on the reflection to support itself. City lights glowed past the barrier, the window. Elise lay still until her body moved against her will toward the bedroom mirror, and with Elise's growing horror, the figure stared into her, as if trying to recognise something. Elise stared back. Their faces blurred together, her face layered on top of another. Although both possessed blonde locks, one was less pure and darker than the other.

This shouldn't be happening! This shouldn't be possible! Mental alarms rang louder and louder as she stared deeper into its abyssal eyes.

The full blonde figure pressed its trembling palm against the glass, fingers splaying wide. Then both hands flew to its face, nails pressing against the skin, covering everything but the eyes, eyes that remained fixed, wide and unblinking, on the reflection staring back, searching.

The two faces stared at each other, breathing becoming difficult, impossible. Unable to draw breath, Elise panicked but couldn't act, her autonomy absent. Elise watched helplessly as her vision blurred and faded to black.

Hours passed in dreamless unconsciousness.

Morning light filtered through unfamiliar curtains when her breath finally returned to her lungs in ragged gasps. She tried to stand, but her legs shook, sending her tumbling back down against the unmade bed where she'd woken. "Why is this happening?" she was whimpering at the edge of tears. Her lips parted, trying to joke—anything to break the tension—but her body was still trembling from the aftershock of the episode.

She pulled her knees to her chest, forcing herself to think logically. "That vision... it was too real to be a hallucination. The office, the figure, nothing felt right. Why do they feel familiar?" she whispered, thinking aloud. As if trying to snatch smoke, memories associated with the vision eluded her, but they were not out of reach.

She began to settle as she came to terms with being without answers for now. Taking in her surroundings, she saw boxes full of a student's basics, including a box of stationery containing books and notes on what she presumed had to do with economics and other belongings.

Fragments of last night came back—drinks, rants, and more drinks. Oh, how drunk did I get? Did I black out? She forced a shamed grin. After all I've been through, I deserve to spoil myself a little, but the joke felt hollow. She could not figure out how she ended up in Aris's house. Those were answers she could get; the strange vision could take a backseat.

She leaves the room quietly, keeping her element of surprise, and walks down the short hall into the open-plan lounge-kitchen. She catches him on the kitchen counter, distracted by his phone, standing next to a box of pots he planned to organise with his other utensils.

"How wasted was I?" Elise starts the conversation, startling Aris, who nearly dropped his phone. Fumbling to keep hold, he knocks over the box, and pots scatter.

He stammers out a good morning as he tries cleaning up the mess. Elise came to his aid.

"You've got a pretty big bed for just one person," she said, shelving her previous question. "Is there someone else I should be expecting to come by?"

"No, the flat came with it," he answered matter-of-factly.

"Would you mind telling me what happened last night?" she resumes her shelved question.

Putting the last pot on the counter, he sighed. "You were pretty far gone. You kept falling asleep at the bar, and I tried to help you get home, but you were like, 'Why go back to my place when we could go to yours?'" Elise gave him an embarrassed grin. "I said your place would be better, but you were pretty insistent. Something about your place being a mess. So I brought you back here. You were sober enough to walk somewhat, but you were pretty chatty for someone barely awake. You were basically narrating the walk back."

"You're pretty chatty yourself," she observed. "I don't remember you being this much of a conversationalist."

"I guess something about that drunken narrator brought that out of me," he teases.

"You won't hear back from her if you start testing me." Her threat rang hollow as her mouth twitched to suppress an annoyed grin.

Elise felt the last of her tension ease. His explanation made sense, and his awkwardness seemed genuine. But the vision, should I ask him? she asked herself. His wide eyes and youthful face made her want to hold on to her burden a bit longer.

Whatever had happened with that vision, at least she was safe here.

"Would it be okay if I were to use your shower?" Elise requests.

"Sure, my house is yours. The white towels are the spares." 

"Thanks for taking care of me."

Elise made her way to the bathroom, which, to her surprise, was well stocked with spare toiletries, fresh towels, and even feminine care products. Not even hotels have this much hospitality, she thinks, impressed.

She begins to fill the tub and starts to undress. She let out a haggard sigh. Finally, some respite.

She emerged several minutes later, so this is what it's like to be alive, ease filling her mind.

"Thanks for being an awesome host!" Elise compliments.

"I learn from the best." Aris bragged.

"Whoever that is, I need to give them a special thanks."

The small talk continued as she grabbed her things.

"I'll be going home now, see you later," she said, heading for the door.

"See you later," Aris responds automatically, then pauses. Later? Is she expecting to see me at the Izakaya again? he wonders.

Making her way out of the building, a voice made her freeze.

"Are you forgetting something?"