With a mumbling groan, Tawnya opened her eyes, quickly lifting her arm to shade them from the piercing ceiling light that pricked them. She was lying flat on the floor like an abandoned package. Her clothes were still damp around the edges, and moisture pebbled her skin.
“Agh, my damn head!”
Struggling, Tawnya dragged herself up against the cracked-paint wall. She placed a gentle hand on her aching forehead, feeling sick and out of place. Her pupils followed the large black fly that buzzed noisily against the hot bulb, then she scanned the area.
She was not inside her apartment but seated in the lobby room of the building. This was a new system. Security cameras monitored the halls, checking for thieves and graffiti gangs. It was a common crime in this neighborhood of Osaka. There was no air conditioning, the ceiling leaked into the bedroom, the window view was unsightly and she was sure cockroaches roamed in the darkness. Tawnya wanted to laugh when this apartment was first offered to her. Her reputation and fortune could not buy her into a luxury penthouse, not even through her colleague. These days, Japanese property owners distrusted foreigners with their assets, forcing her to take this awful room. It didn’t matter anymore. She had to put up with Osaka for just a few more days before finishing the shoot in Los Angeles.
Her muddy leather boots squeaked as she hobbled along the lobby, leaving drips of water that dribbled from her skin. Her breath quickened, and she strained her mind hard to recall her actions just a few hours ago. She breathed against her hand and sniffed. No sign of alcohol but her hands smelled metallic.
“Must have been at another party,” she decided, reaching the ledge of the door for a spare key.
Her vision blurred, yet she noticed fresh grazes that covered her bare arms. A single piece of satin banded her arm, with its loose end tucked neatly underneath. Tawnya convulsed, feeling her heart rate shoot into quick mini pulses. She was hurt, bad, and she had no idea how or why.
“What the hell did I do?” she asked herself, but no matter how hard she tried to think, she was drawing blanks.
Tawnya fumbled, blindly pushing the key into the rusting hole before swinging the door wide open. With an irritated moan, she entered her dark muggy apartment. She felt dizzy seeing slashes across her arm, but the darkness disguised them for a few seconds until the motion sensor colored the hallway with a flickering fluorescent light. The blue carpet turned a dirty gray as she wrung her wet, hip-length hair with her hands. Feeling something sting her, she hissed. It was the terrible wound that hid behind the satin.
The curtains in the bedroom were drawn shut. The neighborhood buildings were old, mostly brick, so they were hardly worth opening. Comforted by the darkness, Tawnya removed her clothes one by one until she was standing naked in front of the half-cracked mirror that spanned the length of her body. She positioned her hair to cover her breasts, sighing amorously from its cold touch. Finally sensing movement, the bedroom lights wheezed into life in their last kilowatt of energy.
A vulnerable woman stared back wide-eyed in the reflection. Tawnya’s bronze skin was freckled with sunspots, and her face looked sunken as if she had nothing to eat for days, yet she hardly cared. Gingerly, she lifted her finger to her bottom lip. There was a small cut. She licked her lips, instantly feeling queasy from their harsh taste. She then traced the words, いつまでもリュウon her pelvis. The vibrant red tattoo only intensified in color against the dull brown tone of her damp skin.
“Hurry up and heal, damn it,” she sighed, cautiously feeling its bumpy texture.
She was unable to remember when this ‘Forever Ryu’ scar was etched into her skin, or the black tattoo 天 on her left wrist. Whenever it was, it was out of choice and did much damage to her famed image.
Fearfully Tawnya unwound the yellow satin from her arm, curious to learn what she had done to herself this time. The wound stung the instant air touched it, revealing stark red lettering that glowed in the light. Gasping, Tawnya buckled to her knees, weakened by the sight of her own blood. Her body was marked by his name, and his name alone, and it frightened her more than the voice she would hear from time to time. She grabbed her arm, panicked, turning quickly in search of a fresh cloth, but suddenly she felt choked.
“He will get you,” Rose laughed at her.
Tawnya jumped, shocked by the abrupt voice.
“Where are you?” she said, hugging her unclothed body. She scanned the empty room with wide eyes.
“Your dream will end you if you get too close to making it real,” Rose continued to laugh. The voice was threatening, like an echo haunting her mind.
“Look behind you,” Rose’s voice commanded.
Tawnya shook her head, scared, but her keen sense of curiosity took over. Slowly she turned around, expecting to see Rose standing boldly behind her, but her pupils filled with the sight of tarot cards covering the ashen wall. Sensing nostalgia, Tawnya bit her lip. Grabbing the unmade bed sheet around her, she tugged hard at a random card and examined it in her trembling hand.
“A rose?” she expressed at first glance.
Each card was marked with an exquisitely drawn rose, with thin black lines coloring the edges of the red petals; it was the same shade of red as Ryu’s headband.
“Oh God, no,” she mumbled at the sudden memory.
Tawnya watched Ryu crumble to the ground, screaming in pain the closer she drew near him. His once-sweet eyes would fill with pure hatred and vengeance from her presence alone. She had made him turn into something...a force of destruction that only she could provoke. Then, she would harm herself as a reminder of his control - the voice in her head. Desolation came over her with crippling strength. Tawnya was under his control, and Ryu was hers.
She gripped the card, cringing at the thought of her wounds, then felt her finger throb. The edge of the card had pricked her finger like the sharp thorn of a rose. Blood dripped onto the white bed sheet wrapped around her.
Her vision blurred momentarily, and the color drained from her face. Within seconds, Tawnya crashed thunderously to the floor as the small card twirled elegantly through the air.
*****
Chapter 4:
PROMISE