Ch.2 My first encounter with the world
Jolting awake I sat up, but the whole room spun, and the urge to vomit made me fall back down. There was a numbing pain coming from my head, all I could do was lay in bed and let it pass. After the pain passed I slowly stood up and couldn't shake the feeling of being drenched, maybe it was that I had been sweating but as I touched my face and hands they felt cold. I slowly made my way towards the bathroom using my furniture to steady myself, I decided to take a warm shower. Since the dream in the morning, my sense of reality was fuzzy. I went to school and did everything I usually did but it was as if I was on autopilot before I knew it I was once again at home.
Staring at my bed I decided to study instead of going straight to sleep so I took my books and materials out of my bag and set up my desk, I prepared something simple for dinner and sat down immersing myself in making notes, after a long time I glanced at the time and saw it was 3am feeling tired I stood up and stretched thinking -maybe I should drink some water to wake me up
Getting water from the kitchen I chugged it and sat back down at my desk shaking my numb arms once again prepared to keep going until 7am, suddenly my eyes felt heavy and no matter how much I tried to stay awake my body slowly slumped onto my desk and my vision went black. As I looked around the black space I suddenly heard voices talking, a mixture of voices men and women were arguing and I quickly became overwhelmed.
Snapping my eyes open I shouted “SHUT UP!
The people around me were startled and it became silent in the room, noticing I was bundled up in a thick blanket and sitting on a fancy couch I sneered. Throwing the blanket off of me I stood up making my way to the door. As I reached for the doorknob a delicate hand gripped my wrist with brutal strength causing me to struggle against the tight grip “LET ME GO”
One of the women near the door spoke up in a restrained but angry voice “Eliza let the child go cant you see you're gripping her too tight”
At that Eliza slowly loosened her grip but did not let go and began to drag me away from the door, As I struggled I restrained my voice trying to stop it from cracking “Let me go! I need to go find him! I said let go you evil woman!!”
As if it struck a cord Eliza swiftly let go and aimed a slap at my face “YOU DARE?!
This woman didn't hold back not one bit against me and the slap caused me to fall to the floor as I shook away the buzzing in my ears I looked up to find some of the men blocking her from me as one of the ladies helped me up. As my hearing became clear hysterical screaming was all that echoed in the room. An older man came rushing into the room and sped walked toward Eliza taking her into his arms, a big argument ensued between the adults reprimanding Eliza.
“Fedrick this is completely unacceptable! She clearly not well my friend”
“My husband is right we always thought she was off but look at her!
“I’m sorry but the truth of the matter is she is a danger to herself and others right now!
Seeing the tides blowing against their favor Fredrick raised his hand “ENOUGH YOU ARE IN MY HOUSE SO YOU MUST RESPECT MY WIFE, IF NOT LEAVE”
Clenching my fist I wiped the blood off my lip and sneered at him “HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT EVEN NOW!
Looking at me Fedrick had a look of guilt but he quickly hid it “Child I understand you have experienced something traumatic but-
Walking up to him I trembled “I don't care about that what are you guys doing to find MY BROTHER”
Caught off guard a look of bewilderment appeared on his face “Ryo…..Hes gone”
Trying to keep calm I clenched my teeth “Hes alive you should be looking for him not sitting here wasting time on this monster!
Gripping Eliza tighter Fedrick questioned “Why would you say that? I understand that's what you want to believe but the world doesn't work like that-
“Did you find his body?
Avoiding my gaze Fedrick shook his head “We haven't but we found a lot of blood and traces of a struggle at this point it's been 5 hours now”
Tears streamed down my face “HE’S OUT THERE FIGHTING TO LIVE AND YOU ARE LEAVING HIM TO DIE”
At that moment everyone in the room felt their stomach sink and couldn't look at the young girl that was trembling in anger and fighting desperately because they knew they could do nothing but watch. This was the rule of the world these people lived in, If word of this incident came out none of them would ever recover. The president himself stated in order not to cause a public panic they must look for the child in silence and not let the word spread out thus everyone in the room had their hands tied in this matter.
Looking for anyone to help I gripped the pants of one of the men, who I call uncle fondly, The gentle-looking man with entirely gray hair had always fondly patted my head and so I begged him “Uncle, please! You have the best intelligence agency and you work with the police sometimes you can-
The man gently pried my hand off his pants and held back the pain in his eyes as he shook his head “Little rabbit….I cant, please don't do this”
A cold chill ran through my body as I looked around and realized these people only care about their reputation in that moment I felt my heart completely freeze over. My hands fell limp to my sides and a laugh escaped my lips once it did I couldn't stop, I laughed so hard I went into a coughing fit, the man I once called uncle reached out to pat my back but before he could touch me I violently smacked his hand away “DONT TOUCH ME”
Wiping my hand in disgust I turned to look at all of them and sneered "I know no one will hold you responsible and you will make this disappear but once you think you're safe ill be back to remind you… AS LONG AS IM ALIVE ILL NEVER LET YOU FORGET WHAT HAPPENED TODAY”
As I walked out clouds covered the moon and it seemed as if the world was covered in darkness, I closed my eyes and felt my body slowly become lighter until I disappeared. My first step was to retrace where I last saw my older brother so I found my way back to the lake. As I suspected the car had disappeared and the traces of the crash were wiped clean except for the piece of the bridge that was missing. I searched the entire forest and found a piece of my older brother's shirt in a bush. I didn't make much progress so I decided to search Eliza’s room.
Stepping into her room I scrunched my nose and started searching every nook and cranny. She had a whole room just used as a closet and since I had never come into her room before but maybe 3 times I was at a loss for where to look, I knew she had gone to go drop off my brother at school and shouldn't be back for at least 3 hours seeing how she would usually go get her hair and nails done after. Hearing noise in the hallway I panicked and hid in the closet behind her big fluffy ballroom dresses. Holding my breath I thought as I heard Eliza’s voice I thought she would be gone longer what the hell is she back for??
Eliza’s tone was light and sweet as she talked on the phone “I see thank you for letting me know…..He shouldn't last long that child is scared of the dark haha”
Freezing I listened closely as she walked leisurely into the closet and began choosing accessories “Id say give it 3 more days and he will be begging to let him out hasn't it been almost 2 weeks now”
Shocked I thought to myself Two weeks?? Hasn't it been only 1 day, whats going on
After laughing and chatting for a bit Eliza hung up and walked out of the room in a good mood. Once she left I came out of my hiding spot and looked around once more realizing the jewelry she had looked familiar, the way she displayed them also seemed odd. The jewelry doesn't even seem like the stuff she likes to wear so why
Pausing my thoughts I walked over to her vanity and dragged over her little stool she uses and set it in front of the big glass display climbing up I took a bunny backpack that had dirty spots and tears in it, the inside was still intact so I could hold things in it still. “Crazy bitch took my backpack? What? are these her hunting trophies” Looking at the jewelry I realized “These are my older brothers…These are his mother's heirlooms”
Not hesitating I tried opening the display but it was locked and the key wasn't in the room, looking at my hand I did my best to imagine it going through the glass one failed attempt after another I got frustrated and punched the glass only for my hand to go through. My eyes sparkled and I quickly grabbed as much of the jewelry as I could and stuffed them into the backpack after repeating this process around four times the case was finally empty.
Thinking of Eliza's crazy temper I found paper and a pen and jotted down a note:
These don't belong to you and never will, everything will go back to who they belong to in the end and ill be the one to make sure of it.
As I closed the door to the room I was startled to find my brother standing against the wall his arms crossed against his chest, without looking at me he asked “Did you take stuff from my mom's room?
Nodding my head I confirmed “I did….Arent, you supposed to be at school?
Looking down at his feet he was silent for a bit then shook his head “I snuck back…..Please find him….but take him somewhere far from here”
Seeing his shoulders shaking It dawned on me he was crying “D-Don't cry”
His tears continued to drop to the ground, sighing I dragged him down the hall and into his own room, once the door was closed I stared at him. Felling embarrassed he wiped his eyes “I-I’m not crying”
Sighing I took him into my arms patting his back I spoke through clenched teeth “It’s ok in front of me there's no need to hide”
The young boy sunk into my arms and cried into my shoulder making sure his cries were muffled, looking up to the ceiling I tried to blink the tears away. In the end, I coxed the boy to sleep and stroked his head as he dozed off. As he fell asleep he mumbled, “Even if you don't come back im glad I have you in times like this….Sister”
Chuckling I responded “How could I leave you willingly? I’ll always come back to you”
Sneaking my way to the kitchen I took a large trash bag and found the play shovels we use to dig holes with and made my way to the forest where I proceeded to dig a hole and burry the bunny backpack after I was satisfied, I decided to try and find out exactly what I could do. I found an empty place deeper in the forest and sat down with a rock in my hand practicing making it go through my hand Seems like time works differently for me than others so I have to hurry
The rock sat on my palm and I imagined it going through my hand slowly, it took a lot of tries before I saw the rock slowly sinking into my palm and falling down. Curiosity took the better of me and I closed my eyes remembering how I had suddenly appeared on the bridge as an older me. I could suddenly hear a mixture of my younger and older brother's voices.
“Mom I-I don't want the company…PLEASE STOP I’M NOT HAPPY!”
“scared…..dar…..no……why….Let me out”
Focusing on my older brother's voice I began to feel as if my body was being tugged, once I opened my eyes my surroundings were still dark and as I tried to move forward my foot touched something so I stopped moving.
A raspy voice sounded “Who’s there?
Recognizing the voice I fell to my knees and used my hands to feel around “Big Brother”
In the dark, I heard shuffling and the sound of something clinking together and soon a hand reached over to me, I grabbed his hand and put it to my face “Big brother it's me”
The hand that felt around to feel my features were rough and occasionally I could feel his fingers leaving behind a wet feeling. The smell of blood was heavy and I tried my best to not think about what that could mean.
“Bunny...How are you here?
“I-I finally found you, I’m sorry I’m late”
Ryo took his hand back and silence overtook the room, nervous I explained “Now that I know where you are we can think of ways to get you out”
A slight chuckle resounded through the dark space then he sighed “If you are the only one…..That means they abandoned me huh”
My nails dug into my palms and I bit my lip There was nothing I could say because he was right
Hearing another sigh I looked up and could hear the clinking noise again as he sat down against the wall “Even if I leave where would I go?”
Scooting closer to him I explained “You can come with me! We can both run away and-”
Ryo chuckled once again and reached out to pat my head “Where would a 14-year-old and 9-year-old go?
Carefully I snuggled into his arms “Big brother Please don't give up on yourself”
Big brother Ryo didn't answer so we sat in silence everytime he shifted position the smell of blood rushed into my nose and I held my breath until I could handle it. After a long time, Big brother pushed me off of him “It's time for you to go…they'll be here soon”
Nodding I silently held his hand for a second before he pinched my palm “Go”
As I made myself disappear a sharp light flooded into the room causing me to flinch, I slowly tried to open my eyes and I was startled to find half of my older brother's hair was a blinding white. As my vision faded I felt a sharp twinge in my chest.
