She panted heavily, heart throbbing in her chest with every breath she took. Eyes darting from every corner in the room, she felt the coldest shiver known to man on her shoulder. It only tingled the more she thought about it, almost like a touch of sudden frost.
The sounds of notifications pinging on her phone mixed with the ticking of the antique clock on the wall was enough to make her go insane. Reluctantly, she picked up the phone and read out the several messages received within the last few minutes.
K (19:43): enanan
K (19:43): enanan where r u?
K (19:44): omg pls answer were all so worried
Upon reflex, she shook her head at the message, as if Kanade could see her through the screen. Seeing the messages upon messages all in messy, unorganised piles in her notifications made her feel sick to her stomach. So much so, she could feel her stomach close itself up as she gulped her saliva down bravely.
Everyone was urgently texting her, all in a panicked frenzy as they rushed to send their questions to her. Some people even went the extra mile - writing several messages in different apps, almost ensuring Ena would see it.
More and more notification bells went off, ringing constantly in her ears even seconds after they had gone. She scrolled through all of them, feeling sick to her absolute stomach as she read them in her head, the most repulsed look on her face as she groaned.
Yuki (19:37): Enanan???
Yuki (19:38): Enanan, what happened, where are you? You were just here a minute ago.
Yuki (19:41): Why are you ignoring our messages - are you not getting them?
Yuki (19:44): Ena, seriously, where are you? We're all so worried, please just answer us. Answer the phone. Call us, text us: we don't care. Just tell us what's up.
She contiuned to feel shivers as she hiccuped nervously upon looking at the screen, unsure of what to do. Her first instinct was to lie - it usually was. But these were her friends, who were genuinely worried about her. Despite all of this, she still believed they were worrying too much about her.
Everything always seemed to find a way with working itself out with Ena. It was just like that.
Although the number of messages creeping themselves up only clogged up her mind even further, she continued to gaze through them with morbid curiosity. Her eyes could hardly peel themselves open at the brightness of her screen and the worried words she read.
Amia (18:01): Hey!! We're already here, where the hell are you?! :/
Amia (18:01): You're always late to every gathering we talk about!!!! We should start setting up even earlier times so you get here lol!!
Amia (18:06): Oooh, i see you!!!
Amia (18:06): Do you see me?!?!?!? I'm waving at you so hard rn lmao!!!
Even seeing the messages from before it all happened haunted her, only making her feel even more queasy in her guts. Her eyes ached and her vision clouded up as she squinted her eyes, trying to get the brightness of her screen out of her retinas.
Suddenly, a new message popped up as the quiet, yet deafening to her, ping shrieked into her ears, She cautiously read it, breath heavier by the second as she saw what it contained.
Amia (19:51): Oh my fucking God Ena why the fuck aren't you answering our texts
Amia (19:51): Kanade told me she texted you almost ten fucking minutes ago where are you
Her eyes slowly shut themselves as she read Mizuki's horrified words, being able to imagine the sheer anxiety her band must've been feeling at that very moment. It only made her feel even more uneasy, reading all of it. And it only fueled her need for a rest.
She fell flat onto the ground, shutting her eyes tightly and praying this moment would end itself soon, that all this panic would just drift away from everyone. This wasn't the attention she had seeked, it was just the complete opposite.
Tossing her phone far away from her, she didn't even flinch upon hearing the thunk it made as it hit the ground. Hell, she didn't even stand up to check if it had cracked. She couldn't care less at this moment. She had to come first, and what she wanted next was the night to fly away from her grasp...
"Hey, waiter, a couple of non alcoholic drinks for me and my friends?"
"Of course - how many would you like, ma'am?"
"Just four, thank you very much!"
Standing patiently by the bar, Ena tapped lightly on the rock solid wood table, humming a tune to one of the songs Kanade had been composing for a while now. Nightcord were all together at a pub for a celebratory dinner together as they had recently surpassed a couple million views on one of their music videos.
Her peaceful singing was interrupted when a guy her age sitting by the bar commented, "Damn, you're a real cutie! What're you doing, standing around in a place like this?"
"Thank you!" She giggled, instantly claiming the thoughtful compliment. She offered the boy an innocent smile, explaining, "I'm here with my band - we've surpassed a milestone."
The boy let out an impressed wolf whistle, chuckling as he took a sip from his glass, "A band, huh? I bet you get on with all the guys!"
"No, not really," She murmured, laughing along with him, "Mainly cos a huge bunch of the ones that go to my school are total and utter jerks. Huge lumps of bones and muscles - they look like clay figures, or even drawings a three year old might've made."
He let out a massive laugh at her words, leaning back in hilarity and almost falling off his stool. He admitted, "Y'know, uhh..."
"Ena. My name's Ena."
"Y'know, Ena... I really like you. Super funny, cute, got a bit of musical side... A real chick. Wish there were more out there in the world like you - you're a real killer!"
She once again giggled at his supposedly kind words, finding herself seen as highly by this random high school boy. She carefully paid attention to what he spoke about, blurring out all the background sounds.
"Do you, perhaps... have a man?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"A boyfriend - do you have one?"
She lightly blushed at the forward question, unsure as to how to possibly reply. Should she bring up Mizuki? Or lie and say she's already got one when she doesn't? Her mind raced between both the options viciously, thinking to herself, 'God, it's too early for this!'
"Sorry, but... I'm a lesbian."
The words came out... too quickly. And way too smoothly. And way too casually. She had hardly even came out to her father, and here she was blurting it all out to a random stranger at the bar. Ena gulped down her spit nervously, unable to read the boy's blank facial expression.
She feared that he'd take it the wrong way and instantly start swearing and attacking her ferociously. Hell, she wouldn't be too shocked to hear him shout a slur or two at her, given the more taboo subject at hand.
She felt her muscles ease themselves as a smile crept up on the guy's face. "No, you damn aren't!" And back her muscles came to becoming stiff again. Ena threw a confused look on her face, eying the boy cautiously.
"What... do you mean..?" Perplexed, she prompted her question to the stranger, clearly not understanding what he was trying to tell her. She felt as her throat closed itself up with unusual worry, her brows twitching as she frowned.
"That you obviously aren't a lesbian! There's no such thing!" The boy overconfidently explained to her, giving a hearty laugh as he spoke to her. "That' just a made up word girls say when they don't want to hook up with a guy they obviously like!"
'But I am...' She thought to herself, the corners of her mouth bending with disgust at the guy's so confidently wrong words. She felt butterflies stirring in her stomach, unsure of how to feel at this very moment.
"I know you're not into girls cos girls can't like girls and boys can't like boys," He continued to speak, now getting out of his chair and standing up bravely. She cowered over his humongous height - God, he might've even been taller, or at least the same height as Rui.
Her voice became shaky as her whole body trembled with a sudden feeling of unsafety. Usually, she'd listen to her head and heart over her gut, but at this very moment they were all telling her the same thing - he's going to do something to you.
"Wh-Wh-Wh-What are you going to do right now..?" Trying to keep herself from crumbling apart, Ena clenched her hands into fists, worriedly staring deep into the taller boy's eyes. "A-Are you going to h-hurt me?! P-P-Please don't..!"
"Oh, no, I wouldn't dare hurt you, you're all just too beautiful..." He tried to smooth talk her, leaning slowly as he closed the gap in between them. Although he wanted to ease her, she only panicked even further. Now it felt as though the butterflies in her stomach had been crashed, flat under a cold ball of ice.
"I'm going to prove to you there's no such thing as a lesbian, and you can't stop me."
The guy leaned closer into her face, shutting his eyes gently as he got closer and closer. He held onto her hands gently, almost as if to make the horrific moment more innocent. She jerked from side to side, noticing no one was paying attention - why was no one paying attention?!
His lips went closer to hers as she felt her senses get the better of her. She snatched her hands out of his and dashed out of the building. She didn't even bother looking behind her - she didn't want to know if he was following her. All that mattered was that she'd get out of there, away from everyone, just to get some peace and quiet-
The sound of her phone constantly ringing snapped her out of her sleep, making her swiftly lift her head up from the cold, flat wodden tile floor. She gazed at her phone as it vibrated across the floor, the same treacherous ringing continuing as she flatly stared at it.
She didn't dare lift it up from the floor; she didn't have the heart to do so. The heavy feeling in her stomach pressured as she could only imagine who was frantically pacing, waiting for her to answer. Knowing this, she coldly didn't even pick up the phone, not being able to strike up the courage to speak aloud.
Once the ringing stopped, she forced herself to crawl across the smooth floor, snatching the phone off the wood ground. Tiredly, she turned it on only to be faced by several new messages and... five missed calls. She winced at the number, only feeling worse about herself.
Amia (19:59): Ok Ena i don't know what's up with you but at least answer the phone
Amia (19:59): Ena are you fucking ignoring us????
Amia (19:59): I really hope youre not cos we're so fucking stressed out
Amia (20:00): Ok it's just turned 8pm we cant handle it anymore I'm calling up Akito
Ena felt her eyes widen as she scrolled through her notifications, seeing all of her brother's messages. God, what would he think of her? How would he react knowing his big sister had practically gone missing? Shit, thinking about it too much made her head dizzy and her stomach cramp...
Akito (20:02): Ena what the fuck
Akito (20:02): You told me you'd be out with your friends tonight I thought you'd be safe
Akito (20:03): Shit
Akito (20:04): Don't make me have to actually back down from practising with Vivid Bad just to go running after you
Akito (20:05): Holy shit Ena why are you so fucking dumb
Those had been from almost an hour ago - over an hour now, have they all been searching for her. Sick, absolutely sick. That's how she felt. Feeling absolutely sick to her skin. God, how could she be so heartless to leave her friends and her brother worrying about her for so long?
What didn't make her feel better was some of the newer messages, only from less than half an hour later after Mizuki had to rat her out to her own brother. Fuck, she was being so stupid; what was she thinking?
Yuki (20:26): Oh my God.
Yuki (20:26): I'm so so so sorry Ena.
Yuki (20:27): We went to the bartender to ask him if he'd seen you and a couple other people and him said a creepy guy tried to kiss you.
K (20:27): oh my fucking god ena that mustve been horrible
K (20:28): absolutely disgusting weirdo
K (20:28): i have no idea what he was thinking but he mustve been insane
K (20:30): ena please just tell us where you are we wont judge you based on what happened. just please tell us if your safe, mizukis freaking tf out and its not helping mine or mafuyus anxiety
Amia (20:25): ENA PLEASE ANSWER OUR TEXTS WE'RE SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU
Amia (20:25): PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU'RE SAFE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WE'RE SO SCARED FOR YOU
Akito (20:27): I'm going to kill him.
Akito (20:27): I'm going to fucking kill him.
Akito (20:28): I take back everything I said, I'm going to fucking end his life Ena.
You missed 3 calls from Akito
Akito (20:47): Oh my fucking God how could I be so dumb.
Akito (20:50): I know where you've gone - stay right where you are I'm coming for you.
You missed 2 calls from Akito
God... That last message had only been sent twenty minutes ago, which didn't make her feel any better. She growled under her breath as she struggled to keep her eyes open, still staring blankly at the bright, white screen she held in her hands.
She couldn't help but feel worse about herself as she scrolled aimlessly through all of her messages, not even attempting to directly read any of them. She felt as though she was going to cry, but no tears would escape the corners of her eyes. There was no hope left.
Suddenly, she jolted right on the spot as she heard keys jangling from outside the house, rattling in the lock as the person outside groaned as they struggled to turn the keys the right way.
This was the only thing she needed to properly wake up. She, within a second, stood up onto her two feet and scrambled to the kitchen, rushing for the drawers. She took out a steak knife, warily clutching onto it in both of her hands. Walking carefully over the creaky floor, Ena aimed the knife forward, ready to stab someone's heart out.
She tiptoed as lightly as she could until she reacted the door. Once she got there, she could hear the lock click loudly, before she could practically feel the door edge in another direction - forward. Knife poised and teeth clenched, Ena was ready to fight, before she noticed the figure at the door...
"..Ena..? What the fuck are you doing holding the steak knife? Did you think I was a fucking burglar?!"
"Akito?!"
The knife instantly clattered to her side from her sheer shock. The last person she had expected to be at the door was her ginger brother; why was he here? Too many questions circled her mind and there was such a lack of answers that she gave up and embraced it.
"Why are you here?" She protested, rubbing her eyes eagerly and fixing up her dirty clothes. "I thought that Vivid Bad had to practise for next week - why the fuck are you here?"
"Because you're my older sister!" He yelled cautiously at her, a sternly serious look on his face as he scolded, "There's nothing more important than family, right? And I won't just stand by, ignoring you, when you're in pain! I'd be a total dickhead to do so!"
Her eyes lightly widened at his caring words, the glimmer returning in her brown irises. She shook her head and grumbled in confusion and misunderstanding at Akito, "But how'd you know I'd be here? How?"
"Cos whenever you go running away when you get really scared, you like to go to the quietest place known to man," He explained more calmly to her, clearly trying to soothe her. "And what place is quieter than our house after our dad goes 'running errands' when he's actually dumping us?"
"Fair enough," She let out an exasperated sigh, eyes staring down at the solid floor. "But... you heard what happened, right..?"
"Yeah."
"..Do you... not judge me for it?"
"Ena," He placed his hand comfortingly on her shoulder, a smile creeping up on his face. He assured her, "I have no right to judge you based on what that guy did, nobody does. Because none of that was your fault, it was his. He just couldn't take no for an answer, and that's his problem, not yours."
"So... you won't tell dad?"
"If he was a better father, I would. But we both know he'll be no help and ridicule you. I wish I could, but I'll respect your choices."
A warm smile grew on Ena's face, although she looked slightly deranged due to her messy, unkempt hair and tattered, dirty clothes. "Akito..." She showed all of her teeth as she smiled at him even wider, "..Thank you."
He returned the smile at her before slowly stepping his way away from the door, with Ena stopping him. She protested, "Where... Where are you going now..?"
"Well, someone decided to tag along with me and they've finally got here," Akito moved out of the doorway to let Ena see for herself a salmon-haired person running towards her house as fast as they possibly could. Her eyes gleamed again with hope as she recognised this figure. "I also thought I should give you two some alone time."
The ginger man walked his way away from the house as the salmon-hair zipped right past him, scaring him slightly. As they got even closer to the doorstep, Mizuki began to yell at the top of their lungs wildly, trying to catch onto their breath, "Ena! Ena, Ena, Ena!"
They finally reached her, encapsulating her in the tightest hug known to man. Tears dribbled down Mizuki's face as they could finally hold onto Ena in their arms, almost as if they were prompting her to cry along. But she just couldn't - she was dry.
"Ena, oh my fucking God..." They hiccupped as they spoke, tears creating a practical fountain down their face as they dragged back from the hug to see the brunette's face close up. "..We were so scared, Ena, so scared... We thought that guy might've taken you and... And we couldn't bear the thought... And..."
Their words crumbled as they spoke to her in the softest tone she had ever heard them speak in, which was enough to make her eyes begin to slowly dribble. Down her face, a single tear drop fell off her chin, and another came after another before it was uncontrollable...
She found herself crying along with them, sniffling and tearing up further and further until they were both cuddling and crying together, both weirdly comforted by the whole fact. They were both silent, and no words were shared for several minutes, but it seemed better this way.
The two of them, their love uniting each other through their greatest sorrows they had felt. It was needlessly poetic, almost as if it were written in a story passed through generations - love conjoining two close friends, or indeed lovers, in their darkest times.
They continued to sob, but now Mizuki stroke up a conversation, still holding closely to Ena, "Ena... was it... really scary..?"
"Yeah..." She hiccupped in between her words, now gripping tightly onto Mizuki's shoulders in heartache. "I... didn't know if he wanted to hurt me or not - he was just so tall compared to me, and-"
Ena struggled to even get the words out of her mouths as she had to quaveringly breathe through her mouth due to blocking her nose. Mizuki simply pattered her on the back as their way of reassuring her, almost telling her, 'Everything is fine - I'm here'.
"You didn't deserve that," The salmon-hair tried to regulate their breathing, taking in many deep breaths. "You did absolutely nothing wrong; you shouldn't have faced that."
"Y-Y-Y'know..." The brunette tried to pick up her words steadily, taking all the time she needed. She breathed slowly as she spoke, "Y-You hear about it, but... you never think it'll happen to you... y-you know..?"
"I get it..." Mizuki admitted, still patting Ena's back as lightly as possible, "J-Just breath... Me and Mafuyu and Kanade were so worried about you, and... Oh, God, I'm just so happy to see you safe and sound here, and... If this ever, God forbid, happens again, don't run back home - tell us and we'll help you out."
She looked up at Mizuki's dried up, red cheeked face with uncertainty, mumbling lightly under her breath, "..R-Really..? You'd do that..?"
They lightly chuckled, wiping away Ena's tears as they ducked back from the hug to see her face, "Of course. We're your friends and we love you. And I'm your girlfriend, so I love you even more."
The two spent the next few minutes in silence, just breathing in and out gently together, almost as if they were preparing to do some yoga. Nothing else mattered in those momentary minutes, just them. They were both the two most important people in Earth in those few minutes, as they stood peacefully side by side, crying all of their pain out, so the only thing left to give out was their love for one another.