6. To whom this body belonged

Leonore tried very hard to process what had just happened. Her body was lying flat on the ground, lifeless. Her eyes were wide open, a picture of shock was on her lifeless face.

She felt pity and remorse gazing down on her dead body.

But what she didn't understand, she was feeling very much alive. She was in the body of the woman who just approached her for help.

Leonore examined the body. It was petite, thin and slender and had a very small waistline. It wasn't that far from her original body, but this feels very light. Talking about the youthful body it is.

She cupped the body's boobs, it was way bigger than hers. 

"My, what great body this is."

Leonore uttered in amusement. She couldn't help it. She sort of have a fetish for boobs, it somewhat arouses her.

She also noticed that her voice had changed. It was thin and a little bit husky. Leonore wished to find a mirror. She wanted to have a clearer look on the body's face. Though she has seen it, it wasn't that clear for her because her eyes were misted out.

She took a step forward. But there was a sudden painful throb that prevailed. It was like a hard metal had been plunged deep through her flesh.

Leonore took another step forward, slowly walking out of the place. The pain is getting worse and unbearable with every move she makes.

It is also painful for her to abandon her own body. 

But she had no other choice, but to grab this peculiar chance of having to live once again. Even if she'd be in another person's body. Someone in her memory she'd only met because both of them were in a vulnerable state, asking for help. Someone a complete stranger to her. 

But suddenly Leonore held her position and painted an unwonted expression out of physical pain all through her face.

She couldn't bear the agony anymore. She stopped walking and stood still for a moment. She used both her hands to grope the area where there was the concentration of the pain.

She stopped when she felt a handle, must be from a tool, plunged deep into the back of her neck. She tried to get a grip of the handle gently with her right hand. It felt very uneasy and totally excruciating. 

Leonore slowly pulled out what she assumed as a screwdriver. She could hear flesh-tearing, on top of that, she could feel all the goddamn pain.

She firmly closed her eyes as she felt the throbbing sensation all over the body. Her heart was beating fast and heavy. 

"I can do it, I can get past this I can pull this out."

Leonore repeatedly told herself in her mind. She counted mentally.

In three (3).

She tightened her grip on the handle. 

In two (2).

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. 

One (1).

PULL! 

The screwdriver was pulled out. Leonore was holding it with her right hand.

She was gasping or breath. There were large grains of sweat concentrated on her nose.

She notices that only a quartered portion of the hard metal was untouched by blood.

This means that the rest of the length of the metal shaft was deeply penetrated in the body's neck. Leonore looked closer at it, and she saw very fresh red blood with bits of torn out flesh on it.

Using her free hand, she tried to reach out to the affected area. Very carefully, she felt the surrounding area of the wound.

It was swelling, and it is starting to feel numb.

She was trembling, with pain and nervousness, and finally with awe. She made it!

"I made it!"

She screamed with such a foreign-speaking voice not originally from her. It was a triumph for Leonore. After all the pain she has felt. Of all the struggles she had been through. Her heart was leaping with success.

She proved that the victim that she was, was now a victor she had become.

"I have already welcomed death, I have embraced any pain, there's no way I can't survive anything."

Then there was a ray of thought that crossed her mind. This time, the once clouded mind she had now become very vivid and lucid. But there was something peculiar about her crowd of thoughts, it became rather foreign to her like she didn't own the rest of the compartments, she didn't own the memories at all. However, there was one chamber that was glowing and relatively inviting. It was sending off soft whispers that are quite delusional in the back of her head. That chamber appeared so familiar to her like it was the only property that belonged to her. She walked down, with so little of responsiveness and so much of wonder and being allured, to unravel the enigmatic content of the chamber. And only to find out that, the chamber was of her own memories only of Sally.

“Hey, I know you were not pointing it out to me. But dear, I’m here to listen. Whatever that might be, even it’s beyond my comprehension, I will understand you.”

Leonore stared at Sally. She sensed her emotions boiling up. Her eyes got misted by unintentional tears. 

“Sally, I’ve never been so certain in my life. But with you, I came to blur all uncertainties and doubts. My lenses are solely focused on you.”

Leonore said in between breaths. Sally leaned her forehead onto Leonore's.

“You have no idea how you transformed my monochromatic life into a ray of vibrant hues, Leonore. I thought I’ll remain to fake my emotions just to pose a lively and happy facade in my marriage. But you came, with all your transcendence and nurtured me a growth of what it is to love…”

Leonore couldn’t help her tears from falling.

With inebriated eyes, quite foggy and languid, yet inundating with zenith passion and desire, Leonore filled in the gap with a kiss. 

She moved her lips, savoring the flesh apple tint of Sally’s and gradually gaining dominance. She tilted her head for more access, at the same time raised her hand and smoothly cupped Sally’s perfectly chiseled jaw. Leonore sharply gasped for breath and recapitulated hence her art of kissing. The intensity heightened and Leonore groped aggressively for parts that were destined uncovered, parts that she, herself had long since given up trying to hide, and parts she yearned to touch other than her own. Swiftly, she moved her hand onto Sally’s bosoms, and for the first time after the kiss, she couldn’t help but open her eyes in astonishment. She felt the softness and roundness of Sally’s mounds, doing a circular motion and gently pressing it, letting her hands drown by the foamy sensation. She raised her thumb, stiffened it, and then reached for the nipples.

“My, these are well erected, Sal.”

Leonore uttered in between the kiss. She lightly pressed the hardened nipples repetitively. Sally responded to this in shivers, and in between kiss, she let out a moan. That was a heavenly tune for Leonore, so she couldn’t help but raise a smile of content.

But it didn’t end there, for it was only a pitstop for the next part she did yearn for. From the top, her hand traveled downwards. It was easy, for Sally always wears skirts or dresses. So for Leonore, it was no-sweat access. Her pathway was Sally’s legs. Leonore grasped her sleek and flawless thighs, slowly making her way to the raw entrance in between. She made it down there, and there was nothing else but soaking dampness on her satin underwear.

“Did I caused all this wetness, love?”

Sally couldn’t answer for she was all ecstatic and unresponsive.

“Well, that expression answers it. Why you are so damn inviting.”

Leonore bit Sally’s lower lip while she thrusts in a finger even with the panties still on. Glutinous moisture hugged her finger. 

There was an exchange of sharp exhales. Sally opened her eyes wide and pushed Leonore immediately.

Leonore was wide-eyed as well, with evident irritation on her face.

“Sally, what the hell?”

“Leonore, let’s stop what we’re doing. I am afraid that I can’t do this with you anymore.

“Sally you can’t do this to me. Sally, please…  I love you…”

Leonore dived back to consciousness after being drowned by the sudden recollection of her memories. She didn't expect that would feel so real. How can memories feel so alive? Leonore asked herself. From that throwback, she realized that the best thing about being alive is the ability to store memories. Yet in her part, she was indeed brought back to life, but she had no more relevant memories to make because Sally was the only thing that mattered to her. She was the only thing that made her human. Now that she's gone, Leonore likely felt better to be dead.

She swore to this body, and to herself, that she will look for their killer.

...

Leonore didn't know where she was. Or what time of the day was it already. She bore the idea that it might be around five in the afternoon because she had seen a glimpse of the discoloration of the sky. It was starting to look orange, with a slight touch of red and purple.

She knew this exactly because it is her favorite time of the day.

A lot of people fancy the sunset and the sunrise. Both were the starting of the day, as she supposed. Sunrise for the morning, and sunset for the evening. Sunrise for the light, and sunset for the night.

But a little people only appreciate the dusk.

It is not like when the light of the day confuses herself whether to combat or to come in harmony with the prevailing darkness. No. 

Leonore would like to argue with a quote she read once from Nicholas Sparks' book, The Notebook, which says that dusk is just an illusion because the sun is either above the horizon or below it.

She loved that book very much, but she would like to get back with that quote. Because she believed that dusk, is not either but it is neither above or below the horizon. It lies more likely in between, not as a result of either of the primary entities there were as light or dark, but dusk as Leonore believed, bore herself in between. She doesn't need to submit herself to either lightness or darkness.

Dusk is the blank canvas of the sky. 

That's what makes it so beautiful and splendid. Because there is so much to expect from it. A lot of hues, and varying intensities of light and dark. 

Leonore loved the dusk. And she will always be like the dusk. 

Yes. That is the highlighted truth about her, and her current situation. She was like the dusk herself. She lived in between life and death. A lost soul that she is, constantly wandering and proving her life worth.

But also like the dusk, she submitted to no one but herself. She thrived to pick up herself together where she was left dead, but now she was reborn.

She chose her own fate. She kept surviving no matter how hard it is. 

She looked up to the sky and smiled. Leonore felt like crying. She felt ecstatic, with an uncustomary blend of sorrow and misery yet of prevailing bliss.

But she held her tears and pushed a victorious smile rather. 

"Thank you, for this chance. Thank you, for always looking after me." 

She uttered softly, almost a whisper, while she looked up to the sky that is now turning dominantly orange.

"You are so beautiful."

Leonore hoarsely complemented, as she noticed her eyes getting smoky, and there was mist not coming from tears in her eyes, yet of her own consciousness now slowly fainting off.

It was not long after when Leonore fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

"I'm her only family. We're not blood-related but she's like a daughter to me."

The voices were faintly audible but Leonore could perceive a little of what is happening.

She's in hospital. White walls, white uniforms, dextrose, and syringes. She's wearing a hospital gown.

Leonore didn't how she came up here. But that's the least of her priority now. What matters is that someone found her and delivered her to the hospital.

She moved her head gently and scanned the room. There was a woman in revealing clothes standing a meter from the bed she's lying. The woman is talking to the doctor.

Suddenly, a nurse caught Leonore now awake. She motioned to tell the doctor and the woman who claimed to be her relative.

The woman directly turned her head and made her way to the bedside where Leonore was lying.

She smiled in full delight.

"Alexandra... What the hell happened to you?"

Leonore looked blankly at the woman. There were sparks of joy and worries in the woman's eyes. Although Leonore wanted to portray the same emotions, she just couldn't. At least for now. 

Maybe she has still one thing left to worry. And that is, how to live the life of the body she is into, namely Alexandra.