Hey, I don't know if anyone remembers this story, but it was up for quite a bit. Just recently, though, I noticed it had disappeared. Like, gone. I didn't remove it, and am very frustrated at its unprecedented disappearance. If anyone knows how or why a story could have disappeared, or if one of theirs had done the same, please PM me!
On with the show!
.
.
"I'm not leaving this room until I know what's up."
"Okay, what have I got to lose? I'm already in over my head, so I might as well tell you."
.
How Yumi wished he had never said those words.
It had been five years since Ulrich had brutally and senselessly murdered Jeremie.
Some of her classmates were surprised she was still grieving, but no one ever said anything. The one person who did had regretted it.
"Hey Miss Misery!" A girl from a few rooms over had called. Yumi had ignored her. "Oh get over yourself! You're not still mourning some thirteen-year-old are you?"
Yumi had nearly been expelled from her college after the girl was sent to the hospital, unconscious. Now people just avoided her.
She sighed, staring out the window. Odd and Aelita were coming to visit later that evening. Odd was coming from Italy, Aelita from France. Both had been accepted into prestigious colleges. Aelita for intellect, Odd for art. Yumi stared at herself in a mirror. Her hair she had chopped short in a fit of fury when it had gotten in her eyes. She kept it that way, now she didn't need to tend to it, she just needed to chop it off now and then.
She began cleaning up her room. It wouldn't do to have Odd see her room in such conditions. Aelita wouldn't care, but then again, Aelita didn't care about anything much anymore.
.
"Hey Yumi!" Odd called. Yumi waved the two over as they made there way across the campus. Odd had aged the nicest of the three. He was tall, six feet, and had filled out nicely, no longer the scrawny boy, now a handsome man.
Aelita on the other hand, looked awful, as always. Her hair hung lank and greasy past her waist, and she was bone thin. She looked tired and worn. She gave Yumi a small smile.
Odd had been able to get over things the best. Though he would never forget Jeremie, he had managed to live past him.
Aelita found this impossible. Jeremie was the first human contact she had had, he freed her from the supercomputer, he did everything for her.
When the girls used to get together and sleepover at Yumi's house, they would talk about the boys. Aelita had talked about how she was worried that Jeremie just had a puppy crush on her and that he wasn't really serious. Aelita talked about them getting married, what she'd wear, who she'd invite, what jobs she thought they would each get, names for their children. She couldn't picture life without him, she had never thought she would have to.
"Hey," Aelita said, quietly.
"Come on upstairs, I'll show you around." Though they had been to the college before, it had a huge campus, and there was always something new being built.
They walked around, chatting about things.
"Yo, Yumi!" She heard the voice, belonging to someone who she had recently been arguing with.
"Yo," he called, "who's the pink-haired hobo?"
Yumi threw a pitying glance at Aelita. She no longer cared about her looks, wearing the same dirty black sweats and sweater for days on end, and going weeks without washing her hair.
Aelita turned dull eyes on the boy. Yumi turned back to him, eyes narrowing.
"Hey, Yumi, self-control, remember?" Odd said, cautiously. Yumi sighed. She'd need to practice, she had to get her temper under control.
"There wouldn't be a pink-haired hobo," she hissed to Odd, "if I hadn't been stupid."
"Stop it," he growled. "We've been over this, it wasn't your fault-"
"IT WAS! I could've-"
"Yumi, stop." Aelita's voice came quiet but forceful. The two met eyes. Yumi felt hers welling with tears. Aelita's eyes followed suit.
"Come on, let's go to your room." Odd led the girls from the open courtyard up to Yumi's room.
"Do you two have a place to stay?" Yumi asked, as Aelita sat staring into space. The pinkette nodded.
"Yeah, we're staying with a friend of ours. We don't wanna be a burden."
"You sure? I feel bad about having you guys not stay here."
"We're sure. Besides," his voice dropped to a whisper and leaned over, "Aelita doesn't like staying over with you. It reminds her of old times." He straightened up and ran a hand through his short hair, a habit he had picked up years ago when he first cut it.
The three ate dinner together and talked about school. Odd was able to get a laugh from Aelita as he told some story about a girl he had met. Yumi smiled. Some things never change.
.
"See ya tomorrow!" Odd called.
Yumi waved. "See ya!" She called back.
Once back in her room Yumi began her work. Once finishing she began deep cleaning her room, anything to avoid sleep. She knew the dream would come, same as it did every time they visited. The dream of that day, when she sat by and watched her friend be murdered.