Spoiler: my favorite bit from last week. 1152 words
Show
“What in the world?” said Persephone to herself as she moved down the endless hallway. She looked up and down… everything seemed to be made of glass: the walls, the ceiling, the floor, even the doors, though if she tried to peer inside them all she’d see was an indistinct blur of muted colors that made her head hurt after a few seconds.
There were several times she’d stop, but only for a few moments. Stopping made it feel like her body was slowly going immobile, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that, whatever this bizarre realm she seemed trapped in was, the feeling of petrification wasn’t simply an illusion.
Looking down was also inadvisable. Sure, she could see that there were things below her, but she could also see that this confining structure was somehow limitless – an oxymoron if she’d ever encountered one. She didn’t really suffer from vertigo, but she felt that anyone would be justified in not wanting to gaze into an endless void (or something that gave the same impression).
Even though, if she looked carefully, she could see more other people than she could count, she still felt lonely. There didn’t seem to be anyone nearby.
Either by coincidence, divine mercy, or just a simple rule of wherever she was, the nearest door opened and a dark-skinned girl in bright clothing barely saved herself from landing flat on her face by virtue of a pirouette, but she still was unbalanced. In the moment of uncertainty where it wasn’t clear if she’d stay standing or stumble, her foot slipped and she landed ungracefully on her rear.
Persephone nearly tripped over herself in her rush to help the newcomer up. The other girl gladly grabbed her proffered forearm and pulled herself to her feet with surprising strength.
“Hey there! Are you all right?”
“Ha ha, yeah.”
“Wait, really?”
The stranger tucked one of several thin, pink braids behind her ear.
“I have no clue where I am, but hey, it can’t be that bad of a place if there are helpful people like you ready to greet me, right?”
Persephone laughed.
“I like you already – what’s your name?”
More hair-tucking.
“You can call me Arrow.”
“That short for something, or are you an archery expert?”
Arrow rolled her eyes, and Persephone instantly regretted asking That One Question Everyone Always Asks Without Fail.
“Sorry! I–”
“No, it’s okay. I–”
“– get that all the time?”
“Yeah.”
“Well. Uh. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, then.”
“No, really, it’s fine. I mean, I was bound to get asked sooner or later, right? By a helpful, friendly person.”
It was Persephone’s turn to roll her eyes.
“If you don’t want to say it, don’t say it. Now come on, I’m trying to make sense of this place.”
Persephone strode forward, quickly resuming her previous pace. Arrow followed along, and Persephone noticed her bouncy way of walking.
“Actually, I don’t really mind, since you’re being considerate and all about it. It just gets kinda awkward sometimes, since people usually ask all these follow-up questions. Invasive questions.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I mean… can you just listen instead of asking questions while I explain? I’ll cover all the bases, I swear.”
“Yeah, sure. Go right ahead.”
“So… how’s the best way to start this off. It’s usually easier with my brother, since we tend to introduce ourselves as a pair. Ace and Arrow, is what we call ourselves.”
“I’m guessing Ace isn’t his given name.”
“Right. See, we’re technically both Ace, but…”
“Wait, I thought you said it wasn’t his given name.”
“Shush! You do know that ‘no questions’ doesn’t mean you can ask anything you like at any time while not phrasing it as a question, right?”
“Sorry, sorry.”
“Anyway. No, see, it’s a pun. Ace and I are both asexual, but while he’s homoromantic, I’m aromantic. Aro. Arrow. Get it?”
Persephone laughed.
“Yeah, that’s pun-tastic.”
“It was either that or jokes about aerosol.”
“And that was probably out of the question.”
“Yeah. I mean, can you say overdone aromantic jokes? Please.”
“To be honest, I’ve never really heard jokes made about aromantics. So maybe we’re just not hanging in the same circles?”
“Probably. I mean, the ace community isn’t exactly the biggest. The ace community is to be differentiated, of course, from the Ace community.”
Somehow Persephone was able to hear the capitalization. She shook off the feeling. It was probably unimportant.
The two girls walked in silence for a short period of time before Arrow glanced over at Persephone and spoke up. Her voice sounded almost nervous.
“So. You’re not… curious at all?”
“Huh? About what?”
“Well, see, this is usually the part where the other person says, ‘wait, you’re asexual? Does that mean you can reproduce by cutting your arm off?’ Or ‘does aromantic mean you don’t love anyone?’ Or one of the many, many hilarious jokes allos make about people like me.”
“Uh… I don’t usually go out of my way to be a douchebag, so no.”
Arrow laughed. “I knew I liked you. Now that you put it that way, feel free to ask whatever, I guess.”
“Uh… hm. You ever been hit on by someone who liked you?”
“Not that I’ve noticed, no. I mean, it’s probably happened and just flew over my head, but I don’t think I really missed out on much if that’s the case.”
“Right, that makes sense. Um. Trying to think of what else, since apparently it’s open season and I don’t want to be left high and dry when I inevitably think of a question and you’re not down to answer.”
“Take your time. You haven’t started being annoying yet. Trust me. I’ll tell you if you start.”
The two walked in silence for a few more minutes, and it started to get to Persephone. No place should seem this infinite or empty, and she suspected it wasn’t. She wasn’t sure which prospect was worse.
“How did you know?”
“Hm? Oh, uh…”
“How did you know you were asexual, I mean. And aromantic, I guess.”
“It wasn’t too hard. I never really thought about it until Ace came out to me. When he told me, I thought, hey, that sounds like me. And I told him that, and he agreed. He talked about how he still liked guys, and then we talked it over some more because I mentioned I didn’t really like anyone. At all.”
Persephone nodded.
“Sounds nice.”
“Excuse me?”
“To have someone with you to figure stuff like that out about yourself. I’m kinda jealous, actually.”
“How so?”
“Well, I don’t have a brother or sister or anything. Just me and my parents. And I guess it’s nice, but. I dunno. You can’t really walk into your mom’s room and talk about that kinda stuff.”
Arrow laughed.
“Nah, I guess you really can’t.”