She’d gone wandering too far again.

-SLAM-

Her heart jumped and she turned to look at the door behind her. Nonononononono

[i]bro…ken…[/i]

She bolted down the corridor, phasing in and out of view, willing her claws into existence in case it found her. Jack what would happen if it found her? No that couldn’t happen. She wasn’t ready for the end. She wasn’t ready to realize that the double in the glass case was the real her and she was just a figment—

A figment—

A figment of someone’s imagination.

She glanced behind her, claws extended, claws at the ready. Nothing was there. The corridor was empty, no tapping, no sound, no shadows, no —

Phymi gasped, the breath leaving her as the [i]eyes[/i] materialized in front of her, in her way, with shears, looking at her like she was some sort of—

[i]Snip[/i].

Hamika gasped, eyes wide and staring at her ceiling. She panted, feeling the way the stale air of her room moved through her lungs. She felt for her limbs, felt for her knees, and almost let out a breath of relief. She was awake. Really awake. She tried to run her hand over her face and get out of bed to get some fresher air.

She couldn’t move.

[i]Nonononononono…[/i]

She couldn’t move. No. She had to move she had to. She wasn’t a corpse, she was a zombie. She wasn’t dead she was she was she was—— calmer. Maybe it was just left over from being asleep so long… Yes that had to be it. She started to close her eyes.

[i]NO! WAKE UP! WAKE UP![/i]

She blinked for a moment and found herself in the corridor again. A voice whispered in her ear, soft and inviting, and underlying with malice and something far more evil than FEAR.

“[i]You belong here Hamika…[/i]”

[i]NO. NO. LEAVE ME ALON—[/i] Eyes flashed open, panic in her heart and then suddenly she was back into it. She wasn’t strong enough. She wasn’t strong enough in her waking life. Maybe the voice was right…

Maybe she did belong here.

…nowhere separate…. nowhere separate…. broken… broken… broken… bro…ken…

She was nothing, she was everything, she was power and she was weakness. 

Phymi sunk into the darkness, letting it consume her, letting it overtake her. If this was how she went out… then this was it. She would have no glory. She would fight no monsters. 

No one would remember her… 

…remember…. who….

[i]THUNK[/i]

She stood up and walked on lost.

An undetermined number of steps later, she came to a road block. Not that it mattered, to be fair. She wasn’t anything but an animated puppet. She glanced up.

Floating cards.

She reached for one.

[i]Remember… remember…[/i]

Remember what… 

Something kick started in her mind and eye went wide as snippets of who she was, what she was, everything came back to her. 

[quote]It was dark, muggy, and smelled liked something had died. 

Oh wait. 

She'd forgotten to open the window again to vent her room. 

The zombie ghoul swung out of her bed, making to stand up to go open the window. Instead, she crumpled to the floor with a shriek of shock. Hamika blinked, looking down at her legs, which stopped right above her knees. 

Wait what. 

The ghoul sat and thought about it for a few minutes. No... she hadn't left them somewhere this time... Where did they go? She hoisted herself up to peer over the bad and found them, in the position she'd been sleeping in. 

Her eyes went wide. 

There were no knees. 

They didn't exist. They were missing. She grabbed a leg and fell back down, trying to find within it where the knee had gone. 

No, no there couldn't be any knees! There were always knees unless you were a ghost and even then you had knees! Why weren't there any knees?! 

Someone opened the door, trying to figure out what was wrong, and all Hamika saw was the space where the boil's knees should have been. 

She screamed and wished she could wake up. It was just a dream, it was just a dream. 

Wasn't it...? 
[/quote]

“[color=blue]Hami… for the love of Jack, stop trying to eat your own knees![/color]” she blinked and looked up at the zombie above her. He chuckled and sank down to her level, musing her hair. She tilted her head, slobber everywhere. “[color=blue]Hamika, dear, if you eat your own knees you’ll never get anywhere! But if you slobber other people’s knees you’ll be fine.[/color]”

She smiled at him, giving a big kiss to his knee. It wasn’t the fact she loved knees and eating them. No. She did it because this stranger, who had clothed her, had found her even, took it upon himself to care for her. ‘Love’ was not something Hamika really understood, but the warmth feeling in her chest she got when around him made her feel nice. 

“[color=orange]Sorry Poppa! I just can’t help it sometimes…[/color]” she said in reply. The fatherly zombie chuckled again.

“[color=blue]I know, and that’s okay. Just be mindful of your flesh. You only have so much before you’re bones,[/color]” he reminded her, helping her up.

It was never about knees.

It was about kindness, being given the time of day. 

It was about [i]love[/i].

Hamika smiled and let out a sigh of happiness as everything faded from view.

[quote="MY STATS"] 
[b]My character's username:[/b] Phymi 
[b]My character's level:[/b] 34 
[b]Character's HP:[/b] 40 
[b]Character's Job Class:[/b] Cheshire Cat Wraith 
[b]Current party:[/b] N/A 
[b]Current Guild:[/b] N/A 
[b]Location:[/b] White Castle 
[b]Small IC description of character:[/b] On the shorter side, wearing a brown and white cheshire coat, blue scarf, and a tail. Cat ears and tail are both brown as well. She's got orange hair and orange eyes, and both knees. Very important. She sort of loves cheshire grins these days. 
[b]Character journal:[/b] [url=http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=24277497]Here[/url] 
[/quote]