C12 The Awakening 2

After digging through her drawers, she finds a bath set she received from a crazy Aunt one Christmas. Perfect. Ripping open the packaging, she treks her way into the bathroom. Her nimble hands draw a bath in the cast iron tub, turning the nozzle to the hottest temperature it will go before tossing in the lavender bath soap. The bubbles ripple out automatically, filling the small bathroom with the relaxing scent. Sera slips out of her clothes with not even an ounce of sweat on them, before tossing them into the corner. Before the tub is even full, she finds herself testing the water with her toe. The heat doesn't bother her remotely. She climbs over the edge. Carefully lowering herself into the depths of the tub, she expects the heat to eventually become too much—it never does. As she slips into the tub and rests her head on the edge, she allows the lavender to soothe her. She continues to soak, lifting her legs a little; she's not even remotely sore from the longest run of her life. How is that possible? How can she have such mental clarity and yet still have no idea what's going on with her own body? Her last thought—maybe it's because the reason is nothing believable.

Sera lowers her face into the hot water, allowing her thoughts to dissipate out of her mind as she reemerges again. Her head returns to the lip of the tub and rolls to her shoulder. Glancing out at her arm propped up along the edge of the tub, she notices the water beading up on it. It fascinates her for some reason; she continues to watch as it drips back down into the water below. With a blink, she notices her skin seems to be shimmering. Her skin is giving off a slight glow. Her eyes focus closer, like a microscope it clicks closer, closer until she can make out perfect pale skin. It looks unreal, almost like a porcelain doll.

That just exceeds the amount of strange happenings in one day. She sprouts up and pulls the stopper out of the tub. Her arms reach up and turn the shower on before grabbing hold of her apricot scrub. She pours a huge wallop and starts scrubbing her entire body vigorously. Struggling to hold back the frustration, she scrubs out all her confusion, all the creepy things that are happening to her. When she's on the verge of breaking down, she turns off the shower, grabs her towel off the rack, and practically runs out of the bathroom. Her wet feet leave tiny puddles in her wake before she closes the door to her room and whips the towel off her naked body. She then commences another full body inspection; starting from top to bottom, front to back, and side-to-side. If anything, her skin is glowing, firm, and vibrant. She climbs to the edge of her bed, resting her head in her hands. There's no trauma, no bruising—how is this possible. Her hands fall to her sides. How is this possible? Was I hit by an alien rock? Did a radioactive spider bite me? What the hell is going on with me?

Breaking her out of her thoughts, her cell phone chimes to life. Without looking, she automatically answers, "Hello?"

“Sera? It's Jack!"

“Oh, hey Jack..." Sera replies, not exactly returning his enthusiasm.

“I," he pauses, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay, you didn't look so well last night."

She almost feels guilty, "Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better today. You're sweet for checking up on me."

“I just had to make sure." His voice is starting to lose its twinge of concern.

“Thanks, Jack, I don't know what came over me." It wasn't a lie, but she still felt guilty telling him.

“Good," he whispers almost to himself, "Good. I'm glad you're better."

That's when Sera gets the feeling Jack sounds a little too relieved, almost like he knows something she doesn't. Or a worse thought, maybe he is the one responsible for it.

“Jack—" she starts.

“What are you doing tonight?" he interrupts. "I'm sorry, what were you going to say?"

Oh, nothing—never mind. Amanda and I are going to Chaos, that new club in the city. You know, the one with all the posters plastered everywhere."

“Oh, my friend mentioned something about that place, maybe we'll see you there?"

“Yeah, maybe. Well, I have to start getting ready..."

“See ya."

Sera hangs up the phone and lies back on her bed. There's just too many things going on with her now, she doesn't want to add boys on top of that.

Sera allows herself to take her time while getting ready. She scoured her closet for the hottest outfit she could find. After about an hour of trying stuff on, she finally finds something that fits her mood—naughty. Of course, Amanda bought her the shirt last Christmas. The tags are still dangling from the sleeve. The old Sera would never have worn something so, revealing.

After coming to a decision on the outfit, she takes a straightening iron to her naturally wavy hair so that it falls down her back. Digging deep into her drawers, she pulls out her makeup; liberally applying more than she's normally comfortable with. Dark eyeliner coats the top of her lids and lavender shadow makes her hazel eyes pop with color. It takes a few seconds for her to recognize herself in the mirror. Amanda was right, who is this new person?

The icing on the cake is black knee-high boots. Sera zippers into the boots before grabbing her little black clutch off the dresser. She takes the time to admire herself in the mirror. A glimmer of her neck brings her attention downward. Her necklace. It just doesn't seem to fit the outfit. Her fingers reach up to the clasp behind her neck. It takes a deep breath before she unclasps it and places it down on her desk. Without it, she feels slightly naked. She debates putting it back on when her phone chimes again breaking her out of her thoughts. She has to go. Instead, Sera grabs the necklace and stuffs it in her tiny little clutch.

Stealing one more glance into the mirror, she smiles at her reflection before heading out of the house for the night.

Pulling her car up to Amanda's apartment ten minutes later, she runs up the three flights of stairs and lets herself in with her key. She finds her closest friend in the bathroom still applying her makeup, typical Amanda, on her own time clock. Amanda's jaw (and eyeliner pencil) drops when she turns to greet her. Her dark eyes look her up and down, starting from the knee high boots, up her tight skinny jeans, and finally the low cut black shirt. Sera gives her a little twirl while she finishes her assessment.

“You like?" Sera playfully pushes Amanda in the arm. Amanda continues to take in her long, auburn hair framing her face which is accentuated with dark eyeliner and lavender shadow making her eyes appear jade green tonight.

"Wow, I thought you were losing your mind on the phone, but this—" Amanda points to all of Sera. "This? Who would have thought there was a major hottie in there this whole time? And..." She takes a step forward. "She even appears to be a little slutty." Her finger drops to Sera's low cut shirt.

“Hey, you bought me this shirt!"

“Exactly, takes one to know one." She winks at me. "Wait, where's your necklace?"

“I left it at home. It didn't exactly go with the outfit."

“Are you trying to show off the goodies?" Amanda bites her lip from laughing.

"Maybe." Sera shrugs."

They share a laugh before things fall quiet again. "But seriously, Sera, is everything okay?" Her face flashes with concern.

The truth is Sera has no idea, but she answers as honestly as she can, "Yeah... I just feel, good." Her fingers run themselves through the length of her hair.

"Okay, good enough for me." She shrugs picking up her eyeliner pencil from the sink and finishing her other eye. "Let's go get our groove on hot stuff." She playfully smacks Sera's bum and pushes Sera toward the door before grabbing her own clutch on the way out.