THE SIEGE OF THE IRON GATE
The storm began as a rhythmic drumming against the windows of Fay's house, but it soon devolved into a violent, howling gale. Inside, the house. was a sanctuary of minimalist luxury dim lights, the scent of expensive cedar and the soft hum of the climate control.
Fay sat at her kitchen chair, a glass of vintage red wine in her hand. She stared at the heavy oak door. She knew who was on the other side.
Two hours ago, the doorbell had rung. Fay had looked through the security camera to see Kei standing there, a defiant smile on her face. She was holding a brown paper bag smelling of roasted sweet potato and a carefully wrapped, tiered bento box.
"I know you're in there, Fay!" Kei had called out, her voice muffled by the wood. "I made your favorite honey-glazed sweet potatoes and the spicy octopus bento you used to crave during highschool"
Fay had watched the screen, her expression like stone. "Go away, Kei. I'm calling security if you're still there in five minutes."
"Then call them! I'll just share my lunch with the guards!"
Fay had turned off the monitor and walked away. She told herself she didn't care. She told herself that ten years of abandonment couldn't be bought with a home-cooked meal.
Then, the sky collapsed.
The rain hit the building with the force of a tidal wave. Lightning flickered, momentarily turning the dark living room into a stark, white landscape. Fay walked to the window, her heart hammering against her ribs. She looked down at the courtyard gate.
Kei hadn't left.
She was still there, huddled against the stone pillar of the entrance. She wasn't wearing a coat just a simple tshirt with pants. She was holding the bento box tucked inside her shirt, trying to protect the food from the heavy rains even as she herself was being drowned by it.
"Fool," Fay hissed, her grip tightening on her wine glass. "Utterly pathetic."
She sat back down. She picked up a medical journal. Thirty minutes passed. The rain turned into a horizontal roar.
Fay marched back to the window. Kei was now sitting on the wet pavement, her head resting against the cold iron of the gate. She looked like a broken doll. The sweet potato bag was a soggy mess at her feet, but she still clutched that bento box to her chest like a shield.
"She's doing this on purpose," Fay whispered to the empty room, her voice trembling with a mixture of rage and a terrifying, rising panic. "She wants me to be the monster. She wants to see if I'll actually let her die out there."
Fay looked at the thermometer on her wall. The temperature outside had plummeted. If she stayed out there, Kei wouldn't just get a cold she'd hit stage-one hypothermia before midnight.
"Dammit!" Fay slammed her glass onto the table, red wine splashing onto the marble.
She grabbed a thick, oversized towel and her spare keys. She didn't put on a jacket, she didn't have time. She ran to the door, ripped it open and sprinted down the hallway to the stairs
When the lobby doors opened, the cold air slapped her in the face. Fay ran into the courtyard, the rain instantly soaking her silk blouse, turning her hair into a tangled mess. She reached the gate and fumbled with the lock, her fingers shaking from fury and chill.
"Kei! Get up!" Fay screamed over the wind.
Kei didn't move at first. Then, slowly, her head lolled back. Her skin was a ghostly, translucent white and her lips were turning a bruised shade of blue. She looked up at Fay through blurred, wet lashes and offered a weak, shivering grin.
"You... you came out," Kei whispered, her voice barely a thread. She held up the bento box, her hands shaking so violently the plastic rattled. "It's... still... a little warm. I kept it... under my shirt..."
"You absolute idiot!" Fay grabbed Kei by the arms, hauling her upright. Kei was ice-cold, her body weight leaning heavily into Fay. "Are you trying to kill yourself? Is this your grand plan? To die on my doorstep so I never forget you?"
"I just... didn't want to... leave... again," Kei gasped, her teeth chattering so loud it was audible over the rain.
Fay felt a sharp, stinging heat behind her eyes that had nothing to do with the storm. She wrapped the towel roughly around Kei's shoulders and tucked the woman under her arm, dragging her toward the house.
"I hate you," Fay choked out, her voice thick with a decade's worth of repressed tears. "I hate you so much it hurts to breathe, Kei."
Kei leaned her frozen face into Fay's neck, a small, triumphant sigh escaping her blue lips. "I know... I love you too... Fay."
Fay didn't answer. She just gripped Kei tighter, her heart racing as she pulled the "ghost" of her past back into the warmth of her present.