Black Fish

April 3rd 1996

A storm had been brewing over Odaiba for days. Everyone had felt the air crackling and a pressure rising over their heads. When the sky finally burst the night exploded into chaos. Thick spears of water shattered against windows and roofs; flashes of light pierced the darkness and ripped apart the sky; rumbles, growls and roars echoed around the sleeping island. Many people stirred while dreaming when the first angry howl shook the streets.

Yamato leapt up in his bed, ejected from his restless sleep by the sudden cacophony of noise that had erupted outside of his window. He gasped sharply and his eyes blindly searched around the room, seeing little more than thick shadows without defined shape. Darkness swirled around him in different shades and twisted faces faded in and out of the black, like lost souls dancing through a smog. Slowly his vision adjusted and his bedroom came into view. The panic subsided and gradually his breathing returned to a normal pace. The monsters that had been ready to leap at him retreated back into his imagination but, still, his heart vibrated in his chest - rattling in his throat -refusing to calm.

While he surveyed his room cautiously, reassuring himself that there was no threat, he felt a gentle tug on his shirt and whipped his head towards the source. Blond hair peeked out from underneath his bed sheets and fanned out across his pillow. The small, peachy hand that gripped his pyjamas tightened and a quiet whimper was muffled against his hip. Yamato softened his eyes in pity and swept a hand through his brother's hair to find his teary face. Takeru must have snuck into his bed while he'd been asleep. Sadly it had become quite a common occurrence over the past few months.

"Takeru? What's wrong?" he whispered and laid his head back down on the pillow they shared. Takeru pressed himself tighter against his older brother's chest, softly shaking and wiping his snotty nose against his shirt.

"He was outside my window." Takeru whined, repressing the frightened sobs that had plagued him since the storm had started. It had been a long time since he had last relied on his parents for comfort. Now his only sanctuary at night was the bed of the only person that understood his fear. Yamato would never turn him away and tell him to grow up. He never complained when Takeru cried too loudly or asked him to stay awake and keep him safe. Even now, when Yamato had managed to fall asleep for the first time in days, he gladly sacrificed rest for the sake of his brother. He just wriggled deeper under the blankets that covered them, wrapped his arms around Takeru and cradled his head against his collar. When Takeru reciprocated the comforting embrace he softly kissed the top of his head and murmured into his hair.

"He won't get you. Not while I'm here."

His words had the opposite effect from what he desired. Instead of calming down, Takeru became more distressed. His choked hiccups became agonising squeals and coughs. He smothered his face into his brother's chest to muffle his hysterical cries that were now too strong to control. Yamato winced when ten sharp nails pressed into the skin of his back, but he did not draw away from Takeru's embrace. He pulled him closer instead and pulled the cover higher up onto his shoulder until Takeru was almost entirely hidden beneath it. From the world that had abandoned them and the evil that had come to claim them, he hid his brothers tears.

"I can't take it anymore! No one believes us! No one will help us!" Takeru cried into Yamato's neck, wetting his collar with tears. Yamato petted his head tenderly.

"It's okay. We don't need them. I'll protect you."

As he said that he looked over his brother's head towards the dark window where he could still hear the pattering of rain against the glass. The thin curtains were drawn across it, shutting out the world, but he could still sense a presence looming beyond. Just looking at the closed curtains he could feel a pair of cold, black eyes staring back at him. He edged further away from the open space of his bedroom until his back hit the cold wall behind him and pulled Takeru flush against his front.

"As long as I'm alive I'll never let him get you." he said, but realised quickly that he'd said it more to himself than the cowering form of his brother. He needed to remind himself that there was a reason to be brave. He needed to know that there was something to fight for. If his brother hadn't been there he likely would have given in long ago and let the terror claim him to save from suffering any longer. They had suffered for far too long.

Takeru's shudders slowly eased into tired sighs, feeling finally safe in his brother's arms. Yamato gifted him with a final kiss to his forehead.

"Go to sleep." he commanded and Takeru obeyed. Soon enough he was sound asleep with his tears drying on his cheeks. His hands on Yamato's clothes loosened and his head rolled into Yamato's shoulder as exhaustion dominated his body. Although he had been sleeping a lot more than Yamato, he still woke up in terrified screams most nights.

As soothing as it was to listen to his brother's slumberous breaths Yamato remained awake, fixated on the window across the room. He fought hard to keep his eyes open despite his body begging him to rest. He could still feel them: the eyes watching him. He could always feel them. Everywhere he went he searched for them. He anticipated them to follow him, and they always did.

A flash of lightening illuminated the sky and shone through the window. Even though it had been obscured by the drawn curtains, and even though the moment lasted barely a second, Yamato knew that what he'd seen had been no hallucination. He knew all too well what lay in waiting outside of his window. Even on the fifth floor of the apartment block they could not escape the terrifying silhouette that watched over them. It would never leave. Until they were dead it would always be there; whispering into their dreams; reaching out to steal them away; haunting them; eroding their sanity until they submitted. But he would never let it take his precious brother.

'Until the rain stops' he thought to himself and crushed his family into his chest.

'I just have to stay awake until the rain stops.'

So, what's happened here is a massive, accidental story. I suffer from chronic nightmares - at least two a week - and one night recently I had a particularly bad one. So, at three o'clock in the morning, I pulled out my laptop and turned fear into fiction. Before I knew it my nightmare had been turned into a full on story. I didn't really know how to rate it, so I'm keeping it as M right now to be safe. I wouldn't want anyone to start this fic without realising what's going to happen. But, if you guys think I should lower the rating later on then I probably will. So, for the other horror buffs out there, I hope you like it.

Please leave a review and let me know if you're interested in reading the rest.

Bed. Of. Nails. And. Sandpaper

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