A deafening buzz kept ringing for a lilting ten seconds, in between intervals of a minute; one of relief.

As my phone vibrated on the floor, it shook the room’s core structure, creating a black fissure at my feet; yet, while attempting to enter my fingers into the crack, it disappeared.

For a week, these phone calls were nonstop disturbances in my flat. College, friends – though I doubted it – or family, it was as though a collective decision had been made to bother me. They twisted my wits to their breaking point; it was a dazzling success.

I snuggled my dust-filled, stained blanket over my shoulders. Its subtle warmth halted their shivering; a peaceful, lightless setting hugged me.

My eyelids closed and crushed my thoughts. A positive thing, that was a given. The less time spent thinking, the happier I got.

Then, when a mirage, this blurry image of the twins, materialized, or was graved on a part of my brain, I bit my nails; devoured my skin full of red spots.

Without looking at it, I grabbed a cold metal chuck while pushing its sides. The screen lit up my face, hard shadows appeared under my nose, lips and hair.

Now a new blind, my eyes burst open.

I read the time out loud. Eleven, morning.

Twice, even; it gave me enough time to do a quick subtraction; I landed on the number six.

Six hours ago, I visited the twins, my body full of discomfort. A tiny, atrophied arm had started to grow on my forearm; the most gruesome sight of my life.

Its five, uneven fingers twitched, like struck by a high voltage. I needed to get rid of it, for my sanity’s sake; thus, I turned their flat’ handle.

This was a pattern, an absolute one. If I had an issue, I would go to the twins, however small it may have been.

A day ago, perhaps sixteen hours back, in a nearby convenience store, the counter lady shot a haughty glance at me; or at least, that was my assumption.

They were multiple variable at stake, though; for once, how I hadn’t gone out for five days, thus explaining the noticeable gray eyebags on my greasy face, or my unkept hair; lastly, the twelve frozen dishes I presented to her.

Now, they were all possible explanation for this glance, not considering the fact that it may have been a wrong interpretation.

Then again, the matter remained. It annoyed me, irked my skin – I almost spat at her, a young and proper looking girl.

As I walked back to my flat, cutting my skin as a mean to shake of the discomfort, they were two doors – one a brown, peeling wood, the other a smooth red.

I chose the red one; after an hour, the twins took my worries away. When my flat’s characteristic stench greeted me, however, I cried, began pulling out my hair like a madman, before passing out on the hard floor.

Another case – the last.

When the arm started growing, to address the issue, I banged on their door – now in genuine fear – and a Mia of black of white opened it.

“What’s the matter, this time?”, she teased, a beaming smile on her face. It was uncanny, seeing this blatant display of affection.

I didn’t answer, instead extending my forearm outwards. She took a step forward, glanced at the extra limb in a surprise, or disgust, before nodding. Her lack of reaction concerned me.

“I see.”

Mia walked back inside, like a clue for me to go in – I followed her belatedly.

The flat was the same, a single round room and a narrow corridor; all painted red. It was boring; now.

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On the couch was Mae, knees crossed, a perfect back posture. As she caught a glimpse of me, she waved at me without a word, grinning.

A soft voice came from the kitchen – Mia’s. “Do you want a snack?”

I guess it was indeed around midnight. I wasn’t hungry, though.

“No.”

The only concern – right now – was to heal, cleanse, or purify me; anything along these terms.

Waiting for the twins, a reflex kicked in; I sat on the opposite couch like it was my own.

My gesture triggered a noise, not one I expected.

“Hello.”, she said with a bow.

This uninspired word – ‘she’ – was the only way to call her.

On my left, I caught the picture of a girl, whose brown hair was tied in a ponytail, clothed in loose trousers and shirt, both blue. Her squinting eyes were, too.

The color popped out amidst the usual red, more so than the twins’ black and white. I peered at the girl; there was a mole on the right side of her right eye.

“Hello?”, she repeated her question, this time with a hint of puzzlement.

“Ah, yes. Hello.” My dry tone didn’t seem to bother her much, seeing how she resumed a laid-back, slouched posture.

The same applied for me; another presence in this otherwise bland environment couldn’t be considered a good nor bad situation – I didn’t care, actually.

My stance on the matter changed when the girl called out to me.

“Are you here for the twins, too?”

I nodded, then gave out my name, before asking for her own.

She told me. While fidgeting her fingers on themselves, she continued.

“Hmm…” She grew impatient. “What’s up with you?”

A couple of meaningless glances passed, until I folded the sleeve covering my forearm up. The girl leaned closer with interest; she chuckled. “That’s bad. When did you get this?”

I frowned, not much in anger than of concern for her mental state. “You don’t seem surprised.”

“People have gotten much worse. Look.” My eyes darted towards the girl’s neck, on which multiple layers of make-up hid a faint red mark. I tried to touch it, but she slammed my arm downwards.

“I had a leg come out of here. Just imagine my shock, waking up with this on my pillow.”

In a faint laugh, the girl confirmed my worries – this woman wasn’t okay. “Don’t worry, the twins healed me. I’m all fine now.”

She smiled at me, her blinding white teeth thrown at me; it appeared like an act of madness.

“Why are you here, then?”, I asked with caution.

“Well, two things” Her fingers made a ‘V’ sign – counting two.

The girl furrowed her brows. “My boss fired me.”

‘That’s a fair point.’

“And, well, I like it.”

“…You like it?”

A glint of frenzy shone in her pupils; I backed off as a safety measure.

“Isn’t it amazing, the world of blue flowers? And that dance!” The girl pinched her lips in excitement. Some blood leaked on the rose tint. “It a logical reason to visit them, don’t you think?”

“Yeah. Maybe, you’re right.” I lied. My feelings were stuck in a ball, down my throat – like they would make me chock anytime.

Straight ahead, on the opposite couch, Mae raised her blue gaze, full of mischief.

“You two.” She clasped her hands together. “Should you do the dance for the both of you?”

No, that was the last thing I wanted; if it wasn’t for my perverse curiosity.

As me and the girl answered ‘okay’ in one, united voice, the air began smelling like honey; our bodies felt light as a feather – we floated upside-down.

In this state of euphoria that I knew all too well, Mia crouched in front of us, with both of her hands stroking our heads.

My body laid flat on a blue field, pointing at the white dome overhead. I rolled on my left; five-petal navy flowers. On my right; the same, except for the girl’s dreamy face.

The twins were here, in this landscape, at their designated distance – a line between warmth and cold.

What previously made me hopeful, now stirred up anxiety, and nothing else.

In a few seconds, I’ll be the least happy man on earth.

There was, meanwhile, a human-sized limb on my forearm, plummeting around my wrist and crushing the flowers.

In a few seconds, it would disappear. Then, I’ll, at least, be happier than before.

Maybe. I hoped so.

A dance began. Their dainty moves, an uninterrupted flow of grace, emphasized the twins’ beauty.

The field morphed, broke all laws of our worlds.

I glanced at the girl’s side; a crystal-clear sea of jade and water, bustling with life and soul. Mia’s song and voice were an air-tight puzzle of musical genius – a cluster of overbearing emotions.

Each peak I took, mine changed. At first, a boundless beach of scorching sand; a white landscape under a white sky – euphoria filled me.

Then, everything withered away. The sky collapsed on my shoulders, the sand slipped out of my touch; it all stopped existing.

A bottomless fall remained at the center. There was no smells, nor sounds, nor a color.

I began falling. The girl’s idyllic side began crumbling too; though only from my perspective. Thus, nothing remained; I was stuck with my thoughts.

None of them made sense. A word, an emotions – they stopped.

It wasn’t painful; not because I felt the opposite; but rather, because I felt nothing at all.

At the bottom, my body plunged into a colorless spring. A mere contact made my skin shimmer – the only lights in this lightless world.

Flames surrounded me – they burnt my mind and body to ash; then, the ash blended into the water.

I woke up on my bed, drenched in sweat, tired.

My eyes only saw red, like paint had been splattered over them. I put my hands over my head, hugging it; before they slid down on the wet skin of my face.

The world was heavy; it pulled me towards the ground. A feeling of emptiness ran thought my being – I was miserable.

While my forearm had been healed, everything else was the opposite.

After a few hours of waiting for a positive thought – a short moment of happiness –, interrupted by periodic buzzing, I grabbed my phone with a cold hand, then read out loud the time.

Eleven.

My body moved in a predefined path, repeated countless time.

I stood in front of a red door. Once an intriguing sight, turned into a bland color.

Usually, turning the doorknob was useless, because one of the twins would open the door beforehand – a sixth sense of some kind.

This time, however, no matter how much time passed, there was no reaction. The silence in the corridor was deafening to me.

No options remained; I tried opening the door.

To my surprise, it worked.

A narrow entrance, leading to a round room. Facing against each other were two red leather couches; and against a nearby wall, a red plastic TV.

It was all the same, yet empty and lightless.

I laid on the empty couch, causing my eyelids to close. The color parted way to a comforting black.

The sounds in the room were muffled; there weren’t any apart from my breath.

Little by little, like broken glass shards, my mind became steady.

As though the past never happened, a wave of optimism surged within me.

Anything was a generator for happiness – it brought me warmth, the thought of moving my body around.

If never seeing the twins again meant switching flats, I’d gladly do so.

Then, a knock.

It echoed inside of my head. Enough times that it couldn’t be a hallucination.

The sound grew louder, like a gunshot to my ears, from the unlocked front door.

I got up, took a step toward it, before going back; until the noise grew too deafening to ignore.

After a minute holding the doorknob, I pulled it.

Nothing, a blank space. The knocks had stopped too.

I wanted to scream, run, anything; a pride-infused activity.

“Are you okay?”

A feminine voice made me turn around. It was a woman, dressed in a black shirt, white shorts, and a mass of silky black hair; each brand fluttering. 3

She had an alluring, sensual smile, one that I knew well.

Behind her was a lit-up room, painted in a thorough red color.

On a couch, a girl – the striking double of the woman –, was reading a book with a bored demeanor. As we crossed gazes, it flipped on itself, turning into a smile; again, the exact same.

This was a dream.

“You scared us, walking into our flat like this…”

I peered at the woman with hollow eyes. My mind was free of thoughts.

She gave me a touch on my cheek, with warmth in her pale eyes.

“You don’t look okay.”

Her hand was frozen, but didn’t feel cold nonetheless.

With a head tilt, she asked.

“Do you need something?”

Then, I said it; the words that led me to happiness.

“Can you dance for me?”