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The ebony-haired boy had long ago settled that there was no certain realm for him. He did not pretend to have the remotest affability for spending much time on campus, but he privately hoped that one day the scenery would change. Hopefully it had changed in more ways than just the mirror realms he had peered into, and somehow the girl was the ground plan on which he based this on and would spend much time trailing after.
He was never drawn into the scenery of the college. Nevertheless, in the dull, cheerless garden, overlooked by so many windows that were always open to welcome rather melancholic rays, he found some attraction. The few fruit-trees that it contained were set jealousy apart from plucking, as though they were rare specimens of their kind blooming in an arid waste. During this time of year, it was rather rare to see such a sight. In a forgotten corner, however, the star of the show, almost hidden behind a dismal shrubbery, was a disused tool-shed of respectable proportions, and within its walls the boy found a haven, something that took on the varying aspects of an abbey and a cathedral. He evoked this comparison partly from fragments of history and partly from his own brain, but it also boasted two inmates of flesh and blood. The things that the two engaged in were far from what was typical activity within holy grounds, but the boy couldn’t see the other prisoner in another light.
In one corner of the shed was a make-shift lounge a certain alabaster-haired girl would spend her time at, in which the boy lavished an affection towards her that had scarcely another outlet.
Further back in the gloom stood a large carpentry table, situated on two legs while the remaining top was built into the walls, an awkward merging of an instrument meant to be supported on its own. The boy would laze about here on days, waiting for the girl’s arrival. On other days, she had raced there first, and the two would lock each other in a scuffle that could be described as more or less an integration of flesh and skin.
On occasions where the two were unable to meet together, the girl was to walk one of their mutual friends home. The mutual friend of these two, a flaxen-haired friend, was dreadfully afraid of the lithe, sharp-fanged beast that would be known as the girl, but unbeknownst to the group, it was she who was the ebony-haired boy’s most treasured possession.
The two’s very presence in the tool-shed was a secret and fearful joy, to be kept scrupulously from the knowledge of anyone, let alone their “dearest friend”, as the boy dubbed. And one day, out of Heaven knows what material, he spun the girl a mystifying rose, and from that moment it grew into a religion.
After a while the ebony-haired boy and the alabaster-haired girl’s absorption in each other began to attract the notice of their flaxen-haired friend. “Franz, you’ve been staying on campus more frequently. So have you, Max. Perhaps I might stay a while too, considering revisions are to be had soon for the next exams. It will be good if I stay behind to study with you two as well,” he promptly decided, and at lunch one afternoon he announced that he would be joining the two in their after school studies that day. With his covetous green-eyes he peered at the ebony-haired boy and alabaster-haired girl, waiting for a range of excuses and insisting, which he was ready to rebuke with a flow of excellent precepts and reasoning. But the two said nothing: There was nothing to be said.
“I thought you two were very strict on who you allowed at your study sessions,” the flaxen-haired-boy asked, with a slightly injured air, expecting the two of them to dismiss his original suggestion at the very least.
“Sometimes,” the alabaster-haired girl responded.
There was no meeting at the shed that day. And in the library that evening, there was an innovation in the worship of the flesh.
The two met again at night, and the ebony-haired boy asked for a boon.
“Do one thing for me, Kromer.”
The thing was not specified. As “Kromer” was a Goddess and must be supposed to know. Giving a faint laugh, the alabaster-haired girl left the cathedral with empty hands that night and went back to the world she so hated.
The flaxen-haired boy noticed that the “study sessions” did not cease, even after the break period from their college exams, and one day he made a further journey of inspection.
“O-Oh? This is what’s behind the campus?” he asked. “Has the college really not cleared this out yet? I believe it’s about time. The wood is rotten and there may have been delinquents up to no good in here. Let’s report it to the professors, should we not?”
“If they cared, they would’ve had this torn down already. You managed to see it after bugging us for so long, so let’s just go."
“You have no need for concern, dearest Emil. Franz and I found kittens in the back of the forest. We have been taking care of them here in the meantime, so reporting this shed to the college staff would not be in your best interest,” the ebony-haired boy smiled.
Their exchange went on for a matter of minutes, with the flaxen-haired boy
“Sinclair, I believe this conversation is over.”
The two met at night again, and this time, the alabaster-haired girl initiated their conversation.
“Grhk… Are you kidding me? Now he’ll for sure come back and try to find these ‘kittens’ that we’ve been housing,” the girl’s face soured.
“I do apologize. I was simply gazing at your face for far too long. You do resemble something similar to a feline. My thoughts were simply led astray… I wanted to speak and hence I did.”
“Heh. You freak. Are you so excited tonight knowing that there’s a chance Sinclair’s out there watching us that you’re going to purposefully say that type of shit to me? You think it’ll work?”
“I am not attempting to deliberately to provoke you, but think for yourself, is this not something you wanted? If our dear friend were to return and investigate, would that not be something you would endorse? He would see for himself the answers to his queries.”
“Shut up.”
And then of a sudden he stopped his speech and drew closer to the edge of the table. The door of the shed still stood ajar as it had been left, and the minutes were slipping by. They were long minutes, but they slipped by nevertheless. He watched the dust particles ascending and descending in little parties in the air; floating around and outlining the girl’s face, with one eye always on that swinging door. To the boy, the girl appeared like an angel. He sat still and waited and watched. Hope had crept by inches into his heart, and now a look of triumph began to blaze in his eyes that had only known the wistful patience of defeat. Under his breath, with a furtive exultation, he began once again the pæan of victory and devastation. And presently his eyes were rewarded: like summoning the bishop to the apse, she left her space and closed their distance with haste. They were mere fingers away from each other, and the girl proceeded to place her index finger on the boy’s lips.
“Do one thing for me, Kromer,’ was it?” The alabaster beast, with a single uncovered eye a-blink like waxing daylight and a dark stain around the corner of that one eye, ever so slightly tilted her head to reveal her now full two eyes to him for the first time. The boy would’ve dropped to his knees if he were standing.
“I suppose you have decided what my request was?”
While the ebony-haired boy and alabaster-haired girl melded their flesh together, the flaxen-haired boy fished a dim light from the bottom of his pockets. He listened to the noises and silences which fell in quick spasms beyond the shed’s door. The loud foolish screaming of the alabaster-haired girl from before, the questioning chorus that was the wondering utterance of the ebony-haired boy from farther back, the shuffling and hurried murmurs of pleasure, and then, after a lull, the teasing attacks and the stumbling of the two removing themselves from each other.
It was like standing at the choir before the apse. Perhaps the flaxen-haired boy should have stayed at the portal before attempting to peer into a new realm at the nave. He was too frozen to make any next moves, and before he could confirm his two friends had completed their task, he promptly removed himself from the cathedral grounds, returning the vision of the shed to nothing more than a sore sight for eyes hidden behind the college grounds.
The ebony-haired boy struggled for breath, his back pinned against the wall of the shed. The girl had drawn blood from him in their scuffle and with that, his lips decorated with a lively red for the first time. Far livelier than anything he had seen or felt within the campus grounds or even any mirror realm. It was almost reminiscent of the blooming fruit-trees that had shaded their very paradise.
He lifted a hand to wipe her mouth, also stained with his ichor. As the girl drew back to confirm if their “dearest friend” had departed from their cathedral. Meanwhile, the boy extended a hand out to her, calling her back to view their exertion.
“Heh. I got carried away.” She scoffed.
“Kromer…” He called out to her again
“Kromer” went forth, Her thoughts were white thoughts and yet Her teeth and fangs were red.
Her devotee called for peace, but She brought him strife.
Kromer the Beautiful.