Chapter 8
You felt yourself on some sort of cloud, no...it was too soft to be a cloud.
This feeling was familiar, but you liked it.
You wanted to sleep forever on the cloud, and not let anything break this peace, but a blurry image of a dark figure towering above you just had to ruin it.
You forced your eyes open and sat up.
“Hmmm…” A familiar voice hummed.
You looked up to find Soranagi sitting on the same log, roasting marshmallows, like last time.
His back was turned to you, which made things easier.
“Soranagi!” You cried, as the memories spilled into your mind.
“You can call me Sora.” He said.
“I was so terrified...you have no idea--”
“Yes, I do.” He interrupted.
“What do you mean?” You asked.
“I saw,” He said.
“Wait, so you were watching me?”
“Technically, yes.” He replied.
“Then why didn’t you help me?”
“I did.”
“Couldn’t you have done it sooner?!” You felt your voice cracking and rising in volume.
“Well, I did have some business that I needed to attend to, and remember how I said you were going to be in that world for a week?” He asked.
You nodded.
Somehow he knew you nodded, even though his back was turned to you.
“Well, once you got there, you were ‘asleep,’ and then woke up two days later in that world, then you fainted, and fell ‘asleep,’ for another day in that world...so technically, I teleported you back here, in less than a week, when you were supposed to be there for a week.”
“Was I out for that long?” You asked, a little surprised as you wiped the tear away.
“Yea.”
“You got to be kidding me.”
“Why would I lie to you?”
“Because you’re too mysterious, and I don’t feel like trusting you.”
You imagined him frowning.
“What makes me mysterious?” He asked.
“What makes you think that makes me think that you’re mysterious?” You argued.
“I’m not sure, what?”
“Are you sure you’re just not acting dumb?” You asked.
“And for the last time, what makes you think I’m lying to you?” He said calmly, which made you even angrier.
“Can I go back home now? I’ve decided not to stay here anymore.” You said.
“You can, right now, but you’ll be back tomorrow.” He said.
“Why won’t you just let me go?”
“I guess I can’t”
“That literally makes no sense at all.”
“Well, good.”
“Why’s that good?”
“Don’t want you to know.”
“And you claim that you have no idea why you’re mysterious.”
“Okay, I guess I kinda do, but what of it?”
“I don’t trust you.”
“That’s fine.”
“I want to go home, even if it’s just for a day.” You repeated once more.
“Fine.”
“Wait, really?”
“I don’t lie, I do hide things from you, but I don’t lie.” He said.
He raised his hand up, just like the way he did when you saw him before blacking out.
He snapped.
Darkness followed behind.
...=`<;_;>`=...
You woke up, and an alarm sounded
You opened your eyes and sat up.
You looked around, ignoring the ringing.
‘This...is my room?’
You missed this place, and you had no idea why. It felt like you’ve been through a lot, but it also didn’t feel like it.
Yesterday...you went to bed, and something happened, but you couldn’t recall what exactly it was. It was almost like a part of your memory was taken.
You looked at your annoying alarm, and placed a hand on top of it to stop the ringing.
You got up, and quickly got dressed. You ran downstairs, to find a shocked mom and dad. They had dark bags under their eyes.
You missed them, you ran over and gave each of them a tight hug. A tear slipped down your cheek.
You were crying? Why? You feel like you missed them, so much in fact, that it started hurting. Why? Didn’t they just say goodnight yesterday?
“Where were you?!” Mom yelled.
You flinched.
“Do you have any idea how worried we were?!” Dad shouted.
“What do you mean? Didn’t we just say ‘goodnight’ to each other last night?” You asked, confused. You studied them closely, wondering if they were joking--but they weren’t joking, it was written all over their faces.
“Don’t put on an innocent look, we know you’ve been off somewhere.” Dad continued to shout.
“I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!” You screamed.
Your parents looked at you, horrified.
“Sorry, I don’t know what’s gotten into me.” You quickly added after seeing their faces.
“Darling, maybe we should forgive her, after all, she looks completely fine, and she came back without a scratch on her.” Mom said, facing Dad.
“Yea, I know, but we can’t just ignore the fact that she’s been missing for FOUR MONTHS. FOUR, and she mysteriously appeared upstairs, in her room.” Dad argued.
“I’ve been gone for four months?” You asked, shocked.
The expression on your face was so innocent that it silenced them.
“You don’t remember?” Dad asked quietly.
“Remember what?”
“Well, about four months ago, there was a night, where you just…” He couldn’t finish, but you knew what he was going to say. Disappeared.
Where though? How come you have no memory of that?
“We need to tell the police to stop the search.” Mom said quietly.
“How come I have no memory of it?” You asked.
Your parents stared at you.
“We don’t know.” They said together.
Another tear slipped down your cheek.
“I’m so sorry.”
...=`<;_;>`=...
It’s been 2 weeks since your parents last talked about your disappearance, and since then, they’ve never mentioned it again. Neither did you. But everything wasn’t the same.
There were times when your mom asked if you wanted to sleep with her for the night, and have your dad sleep in your room, but you declined the offer, feeling a little embarrassed that they asked you such a question, but you did understand why they had offered.
They’ve also mentioned something about placing a security camera in your room, just in case you disappeared again, but the thought of being watched when sleeping--even if it was just your parents, gave you the creeps.
Your friends were worried like crazy. They were constantly bringing up questions about your disappearance, but you had no clue what the answer was for each and every one.
Sometimes boys would come up to you and ask if you could “hang out” with them, some even asked if you could go to their house to tutor them, but you declined. Every time that had happened, your heart started racing, and your brain screamed danger--which you weren’t sure why.
You felt like you had been waiting for something, waiting for something to happen, but you weren’t sure what it was. It worried you how people were whispering about “the girl who disappeared” around the school--even on the streets.
Another 4 weeks had gone past, and so far, nothing had happened, until one day, sometime around three o’clock in the morning, something that felt familiar occurred.