Disclaimer for WHOLE story.~ Don't own.
For YarningChick. Thanks for all the hours of entertainment. ^.^ Keep up the awesome work, kay?
Haru glanced at the piece of paper in her hand, then at the street sign and back. She looked briefly at her watched. 4:10. No sign of Machida. Was he just playing with her? Her heart tightened in her chest. Twenty minutes later, she had convinced herself he had forgotten, or something had come up that was more important. Anything to stop the burning ache of her heart being cut in two with a dull spoon.
She would ask Shibi later. Her stepfather, after all, was best friends with Machida's father. She stood, and began the long walk home.
Five o'clock found her standing outside of her modest home, eyes filled with tears. Inside, she could hear her mother and stepfather yelling again.
A crash, like shattering glass, told her someone threw the old red and yellow vase on the in table in the living room. That was okay. She hadn't really liked that vase since throwing up in it when she was six.
A scream, shrill and full of not anger, but fear, echoed around the silent block. It was followed closely with a sharp bang like the shot of a gun. Haru panicked.
She wretched the door open, and dashed into her living room. What she found, what she saw, would haunt her nightmares for years. Somehow though, she doubted she'd make it that far.
Her stepfather stood over the bleeding form of her downed mother. The red haired woman turned slightly and locked eyes with her daughter. "Run..." She whispered. That small movement caught her husbands' eyes, and he turned to Haru. A lecherous grin made its way over his face, and he began slowly approaching the girl. She opened her mouth and screamed, loud, long, and hard. She screamed with all the power of the lungs her mother possessed, and then found the strength to scream louder.
A police siren sounded in the distance. Shibi snarled his rage and cursed the girl.
Another gunshot sounded, this one much closer. Haru felt nothing at first, as her legs buckled beneath her, and Shibi ran out the door.
Excruciating, horrific pain laced its way up her side. Her heart beat loudly in her ears.
Bu-bum... Bu-bum... bu-bum... bu-bum... bu-bum...
In the distance, nearer than before, a siren sounded, drawing closer with each second. Haru stared at the dead, terrified eyes of her mother, hypnotized by the glorious brown that mirrored her own.
Bu-bum.
She knew no more.