AN: Rated M for the last chapter. First FF I wrote in english :
His key clicked into the lock of the door and, as always, swung open with a terrible loud screeching sound. He stepped in the small apartment and tried to close the door as silently as possible. It was impossible to do so and he knew, yet he tried it every single time.
To his surprise silence welcomed him.
Usually, the TV would be annoyingly loud or music filled the apartment.
If you even could call it an apartment. It was actually just one room, with two small couches to sleep, a table with a few chairs, a TV, an empty shelf unit and other random objects. Added to that was a bathroom with just the necessities and a kitchen that was more than filthy.
The silence could only mean one thing...HE wasn't here. Vector wasn't here.
It was rare but it still happened now and then that Rei would come home to this. He quietly thanked whichever God blessed him today and made his way to the table.
At least he could get some homework done. With Vector breathing down his neck or just with his presence in general, Rei couldn't get anything done. Especially not homework or any other things that required thinking and concentration. He probably wasn't the only one. Vector was known for being just the most inconvenient, annoying person.
With that strange silence surrounding him, Rei could even hear his stomach growling. Right. He hadn't eaten yet.
Normally he ate at school with Yuma and the others at the cafeteria or went after school with them to eat somewhere else. But today was Friday. So no eating at school and everyone went home on their own, leaving Rei only the option to go home himself and eat something there.
The tiny kitchen next to the main room was a mess as always.
Dirty dishes. Old food. Empty cans. Not like Vector would tidy up. It was always Rei.
He tried to organize the mess a little bit and put everything in safer piles, as the ones now were close to just fall apart and destroy the few dishes they had. Rei never got to know how Vector even got this place. Probably illegally with a bit of mind-control magic. Or he just killed the former tenant. Not something that would surprise Rei in the slightest. Thinking about it, he actually didn't even want to know, if he was honest with himself.
After cleaning a few dishes so he could eat out of them and throw away anything that was empty or had mold in it in the overflowing garbage bin, he opened the fridge in hope to find something edible. Or just anything that wouldn't give him food poisoning or made him throw up afterwards.
More old food.
Why the hell were there empty cans of beer in the fridge?
Something that had so much mold on it that Rei wouldn't be surprised if it started to come alive and jump at him.
Was that a fucking dead bug?
Oh God there was another one.
He really had to contain himself not to throw up on the spot.
Somewhere in between all the garbage, he found a small container of pasta. As he opened it, he didn't find mold and decided that the smell wasn't that bad, and took it out before pouring the remains on a clean plate. Looking at this sad meal for a while without taking a single bite, he kind of didn't want to eat at all despite his hunger. Maybe he could sneak out later and just buy something fresh. If he could find money. Or maybe Vector would come back and be in an unusually good mood and give him some probably stolen money to get new groceries for him. Vector didn't have to eat since he was a barian but still enjoyed human food and drinks now and then. Rei, however, being just a human clone needed to drink and eat like a normal human being.
He stabbed the pasta with his fork and took a few bites of the cold meal before deciding to just throw it away and ignore his hunger for as long as he could.
Maybe his homework would make his mind wander to other thoughts.
Suddenly he stopped in his movement.
Did he hear something?
He listened for a few seconds but there was only silence in the room... and the muffled sound of the neighbors fighting as usual.
Rei shrugged his shoulders and made his way back to the table in the main room. He fished his folders out of his bag and put everything he would need on the wooden surface. But before he could even reach for the chair his head was suddenly slammed with so much force on the table that his breath cutout for a second.
He was too careless.
„...My, my, my, "he could hear Vectors smug voice behind him.
His one hand was tangled in Rei's orange hair and still pressed his face on the table. His other hand loosely around Rei's throat ready to choke him whenever he wanted.
„.Did you think I wasn't here? Did you think you were SAFE? "
Vectors voice was suddenly very close to his ear.
Rei could even feel his breath and the quiet chuckle in response of his own shocked reaction.
„Mhmmm...how was school today? "
Every other time from every other person this would be a nice questions but this was Vector and Rei knew what kind of answer he wanted to hear.
His tongue felt numb and his whole mouth went dry even though he didn't say anything yet.
„I asked...HOW WAS SCHOOL TODAY? ". Vector wasn't screaming but his words made Rei shake with fear.
He really shouldn't provoke Vector anymore but talking was suddenly a 100 times harder than usual.
„...it...was...good? ", he stuttered his words with a shaky voice and he could feel Vectors hand around his throat getting tighter.
„You know what I meant", hissed Vector.
The barian wasn't known for his patience and Rei had been more than one time his helpless victim when he lost control of his anger.
But the problem with the situation he was in right now was that Rei hadn't made any progress he could tell of.
Nothing had changed in his relationship with Yuma.
And that was his only mission.
Go to school.
Befriend Yuma.
Get Yuma to fall in love with him.
Get kidnapped.
Get killed.
Make Vector's revenge complete.
Everything so Vector could break the poor boy and the bond he shared with his friend from the astral world.
Right now Rei had barely completed step one.
And Vector was already impatient even though it had only been 4 weeks since Rei made first contact with Yuma.
The grip around Rei's throat was getting tighter.
He needed and answer.
A good answer.
An answer that would satisfy Vector at least a little bit.
„You know Rei...", Vector began to say in a waaaaay to sweet sounding voice.
„... I really REALLY hate to say this to you, but...". All of a sudden Vector let go of Rei's throat only to pull the boy up by his hair so that now Rei was standing in front of him. Rei could feel Vectors body pressed against him but he was too scared to move. In fear of what could come next he closed his eyes shut.
Vector was so close.
Too close.
Rei felt the barians hot breath against his ear.
„YOU. ARE. REPLACABLE. ", Vector started and Rei knew what would follow.
„If it wouldn't cost so much energy to create and independent thinking and acting clone... And if it wouldn't despise myself so much to interact with those humans... YOU. WOULD. NOT. EXIST. ANYMORE. "
Rei's whole body tensed up. If he wasn't panicking before, he was now.
„But that doesn't mean I can't hurt y..."
„Yumaaskedmetostayovertheweekendwithhim", it suddenly blurted out of Rei's mouth.
The room went silent again.
What did he just say?
And why the hell did he just say that?
Rei could feel his blood pressure rising to ungodly levels.
That.
That was a straight up lie.
„Huh..."
Vector seemed just as surprised as Rei.
„Did he..."
All of a sudden Vector pushed Rei away from him but still kept his hand around his throat.
„You better not fuck this up. ", Vector stated.
„Or else! ", he finished the conversation with a light squeeze of Rei's throat.
Rei didn't dare to move.
He was still shocked by his own lie. And everything that would come with that lie slowly settled in.
Yuma did NOT know he would come over.
WOULD HE LET HIM STAY OVER NIGHT?
WHAT IF NOT?
VECTOR WOULD KILL HIM!
Well...no...Rei knew Vector wouldn't kill him because he was still important to the plan.
But he would not hesitate to hurt him.
And torture him.
Flashbacks were swarming his brain when he was interrupted by the loud noise of the TV.
It was so loud, Rei couldn't hear his thoughts anymore but maybe that was better at that moment. Everything was suddenly back to the usual afternoons they had. Vector in front of the TV. Rei trying to do his homework or clean the apartment. He still had a whole day to think about his plan of visiting Yuma and if staying with him for the night would work.
„I'm going out. ", he nearly screamed against the noise of the TV so Vector would hear him. When he got no answer he just quickly threw over his coat and rushed out of the apartment.
It wasn't like he could just ran off of his own and leave everything behind him. Rei didn't know if it was because he was his clone or just Vectors incredible skills of finding people but Vector would always know where he had been.
Finally outside on the street Rei was greeted by a refreshing breeze.
Maybe a walk and some fresh air would calm him down and help him with his stupid panic-plan.
wooooooo first chapter finished :
I'll upload the next one in the next few days!
-Kura