“Aaah.”
I yelled as I fell from the couch where I laid, awakening all my senses. I cannot think of anything but the pain I now bear in my head. I stood up from the intense drop and tried to balance myself as I see the world trembling and turning. I slouched back on the couch I fell from. Slowly, I tried to close my eyes again and lure myself back to the serene slumber. As I entice my senses to rest once more, a sudden instinct told me to open my eyes and abandon the thought of sleeping. There was something my mind tried to reach. Something that I accidentally forgot though very aware was I that it is highly significant. Then, after a second of thinking, the thought suddenly lunged at my consciousness.
I burst into tears upon comprehending the implication of the sudden thought.
It was Reina. I totally forgot about her. I recall her last night chatting with me while sitting on the same couch. I must have slept unknowingly. Where is she?! I told her not to leave and to spend the night here. If anything bad happened to her, I would blame myself a million times and never forgive myself. I just promised that I will stay beside her and take care of her until she recovers from the gashes inflicted upon her during her previous absence. Now, I sit here dumbfounded and mystified of her departure from here and the reason of it. What a rude friend am I!
What happened to her now?!
Will this disappearance be another mystery? Is she going to return here with her bloody and pitiful appearance? Is there someone behind these circumstances?
The answers to these queries…I don’t know. I cannot decode the hidden messages concealed beneath these incidents. No matter how hard I try to think how and why these are taking place, there are still missing pieces necessary to fully understand the reason of my best friend’s disappearances.
My face is covered with both dripping and arid tears. My head contains nothing but the image of my lost best friend. My body sits still and feels very numb and feeble. My senses seem to reject its ability to sense things. It feels like being deprived of feeling anything but melancholy and anxiousness.
I stared straight on the wall with my eyes blurred by the tears flowing down my facade.
Suddenly…
…something brought my senses back again.
It was a thump on my door. For a minute, I just gazed at the door as I listen to the gentle knocks.
Then, I had a sudden intuition which told me to stand up and open the door.
As the entry was unlocked, the daylight shone upon me so brightly that I only saw an ambiguous figure standing at my doorstep. When that figure started to become opaque and realistic, my heart thumped very fast as if it was overjoyed. I felt a gleam of comfort around my soul as though someone is caressing me so tightly.
Finally, the figure became very clear and definite. It was Aoi.