Chapter 2 - THE GATE

A pair of hands, warm and damp with sweat, covered her eyes.

Immediately, every muscle in Ada's body tensed up. The entire world seemed to vanish, leaving only the intruder and herself, surrounded by pitch darkness.

Time had slowed down to a crawl, but not her thoughts. It was like her mind and body had disconnected. Her own hands felt detached from her. They seemed to move through space at a snail's pace as they lashed out and reached back, ready to strike or grip her attacker.

"Guess who?" a soft voice sang out, hot breath blown into her ear.

And just like that, a switch flicked back on inside Ada's brain.

Time resumed, but her hands remained frozen mid air. A sick feeling, heavy and scorching hot, dropped low on her stomach like coals as she came back to her surroundings. Her mind, which had been so clear and sharp a second ago, now felt sluggish and disoriented, struggling to make sense of the situation.

The hands over her eyes adjusted their position, and so did the body behind her, tensing up and squirming against her back. Ada could sense the impatience and the silent pressure there, and that was enough to kick-start her brain.

"... Kassia?" Ada stammered, hesitant.

There was a click of a tongue right next to her ear. A second later, the hands were gone, and she had to blink several times to readjust to the bright sunlight.

"Ada, that was just mean!" the voice whined.

The person slid right next to her, bare knees knocking against hers. When Ada turned her head to face them, she was met with a young woman that looked about her age and size, maybe a bit older, with ebony skin, a shade darker than hers, long braided hair and deep dark eyes looking right back at her with pouty lips.

"I really thought you forgot my name for a second there," she confessed in a joking manner, leaning in to poke her side.

Ada wasn't expecting that sort of touch, and instinctively flinched away from it. Kassia just snorted at her reaction and turned her attention to the pool. Without getting up, she kicked off her sandals, scooted all the way to the edge and dropped both feet in the water. Some of it splashed against the marble deck and Ada had to move her feet away so they wouldn't get wet.

Unconcerned with Ada's distress, Kassia threw her head back and shut her eyes, sighing and moaning in contentment.

"It feels so nice." The older teen opened her eyes to glance at her, shooting her a wink. "Just what the doctor ordered, right?"

Realizing she was staring, Ada blinked the stupor away and opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out.

She had no idea what to think about this person and their weirdly intimate behaviour, much less what to say to them, so she bit her lip and looked down at her hands instead. She opened and closed them a few times, trying to push away the disturbing thought that those hands had been less than a second away from grabbing another person's neck.

She was starting to feel sick again.

"Wanna dive in?"

Startled by the sudden question, Ada whipped her head around to look at the other girl, only to drop it once more when she was met with Kassia's piercing gaze.

"No," she stammered after a while, scratching the back of her hand, "We better not. Professor said we shouldn't."

"Aw, come on, Dr. Kizua and my dad are downstairs, doing," Kassia stopped to make a face, throwing up a dismissive hand, "whatever."

The frown on the older girl's face shifted seemesly into an almost predatory grin as she leaned back, scooting closer till their shoulders bumped together.

"He won't know," she whispered, putting a finger to her lips and winking, "We'll be quiet."

The knot in Ada's stomach tightened. Leaning away, just enough to no longer feel Kassia's breath on her skin, she drew her legs in and wrapped her arms around them, tucking half of her face into the tight space between her chest and knees.

"He'll know," she insisted in a muffled voice, trying to resist the urge to look behind her just to make sure the doctor wasn't standing there at the door somehow.

"Fine," Kassia sighed in frustration, all levity dropping from her voice, "I was just thinking it'd feel nice."

The girl glared at the pool water, using her arm to wipe the beads of sweat off her brow, "It's too damn hot today."

Ada bit her lip and rubbed her arm up and down, an odd sense of anxious guilt weighing down on her.

"Do you want to go inside?" she offered, voice wavering and thinning out at the end. "There are some board games we could-"

"No. I don't want to be stuffed inside all day either."

"Oh. Okay..." Ada swallowed, nails sinking deeper into her skin.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Kassia fish a phone out of her back pocket and start scrolling through what looked like text messages, though the harsh sunlight made it hard to make the words out. Still, Ada, remembering all the times Dr. Kizua had warned her about being nosey, looked away and tried to ignore the girl next to her.

It should've been easy. After all, she was pretty used to sitting long hours with the doctor without trading a single word. This shouldn't be any different.

Except it kind of was.

There were just so many questions swirling around in her head. Why did Kassia act like they'd seen each other before? Apart from some vague mentions of her and a photo or two, Ada couldn't remember ever having any interactions with the General's daughter.

And more than that, why did Kassia act so... intimate with her? Or was it normal behaviour between people her age? Maybe she was the one being weird here and overthinking things?

"Finally!"

This time, Ada nearly jumped at the sudden outburst. She turned her head, but Kassia had already sprung up and was putting her sandals back on. Before Ada could so much as utter a word, the other girl had already walked off, going around the pool before heading towards the backyard gate.

Ada blinked a couple of times in a dazed stupor, before also stumbling to her feet.

"Wait!" she called out, trying to stay clear from the edge of the pool as she followed Kassia, "where are you going?"

"Trying to find a way out, obviously," Kassia huffed out in reply, eyes wandering up the gate, seizing it up.

For a moment, Ada was speechless. She could only watch on, frozen on the spot, as the older girl gripped the bars, analyzing the lock for a couple of seconds before moving on to the stone wall surrounding the backyard.

"Hey," Kassia called out, making Ada jump in surprise, "can you, like, help me out here?"

"But... we..." Ada stammered, furiously scratching her arms while her eyes darted from the girl to the glass doors, "I can't go outside. Professor Kizua said-"

"I don't care what Dr. Kizua said you can or can't do!" Kassia snapped, turning around to fully face her, "You can stay here if you want. Tell them you lost sight of me and I managed to slip out or something, they'll believe you."

Ada bit her lip and looked down at the dry grass, unable to bear the brunt of the heated glare burrowing into her.

"But I'm leaving this place, one way or another." There was a pause, before Kassia continued, in a much softer, almost sad tone, "I'm just asking for a little help here from my friend."

Ada's breath hitched.

Friend.

She'd never been called that word before. She wasn't even sure what it meant, really. Not in a practical sense.

Dr. Kizua wasn't a "friend". He was only ever the Professor to her. Nothing more, nothing less.

The help, only there to serve a function and leave, without ever sparing her a word. Same with the visitors, just people who came and went. Not really there for her.

They didn't care. They had no reason to. She was just something to them. Another ornament of this house. Something to look at or look after.

She was just there.

And yet Kassia had called her a friend. Like it was the most natural thing to do. And Ada didn't know how to deal with that. How to even begin to respond when her whole body seemed to have broken down into a hot, jumbled mess by that one, simple word.

Kassia, though, seemed to interpret her shocked silence as something else. Crossing her arms, she sighed and clicked her tongue.

"Whatever."

She then turned her back to Ada and made a motion to head back to the pool.

"Wait," Ada mumbled in a hoarse voice, before trying again, louder this time, "Wait!"

Kassia stopped right at the edge of the grass and slowly turned around, a blank, near unreadable expression on her face. Her arms were still crossed, and her hips cocked to the side, as if expecting something more.

Taking in a deep breath, Ada clenched her hands into fists at her sides and looked up, facing the other girl, her friend, straight on.

"How can I help?"

Kassia only blinked in response.

Then, slowly, as the older girl lowered her arms, a smirk began to pull at her lips, stretching across her entire face.