The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi was first created by Nagaru Tanigawa and published by Kadokawa Shoten.
It is owned/licensed by its respective owners who had to pay for the license. In other words, not by me.
This is a fanwork made by fans for fans.
No money was made in production of this work.

A/N: No funny disclaimer!? You'll get over it, anyway this story has a very slow beginning so it might or might not suprise you, and that is the entire reason. For those who don't want to read through a lot of text and get what they didn't expect this is Haruhi and Kyon centered, not in a fluffy kind of a way - it's winter and they get trapped in the school building. Get my drift? And one more thing, it is horror. It won't describe any graphical violence so I guess it's ok to rate it T, but that might change... Reviews are kindly accepted, thanks for them in advance. I don't know what else to say, so just sit down and enjoy this (fairly long) chapter! Oh yeah, thanks for reading!

Chapter 1: Lieros

I had a dream.

In it a human sized lizard with a crown on its head bent over and began to launch hamsters out of 'You know where'. The furry projectiles traveled a several hundred meters and then exploded. The process was then repeated a few times as new 'ammo' was 'reloaded'. At this point I knew that it was dream. Weird, disturbing and extremely confusing. I guess you wonder why I didn't wake up violently drenched in sweat. I think it has something to do with what I encounter on daily basis, in other words the ridiculous and explicit things had become a routine for me. So I can't be surprised even by things that my imagination is able to sprawl up. Some of my worst dreams had become reality. I'm like a war veteran that won't flinch at the sight of blood, yeah it went that far.

Talking about war, is it just me or do I hear gunshots?

The scene with the lizard vanished and it got dark. I knew I was dreaming, yet there was a machine gun rattling somewhere. On and on, it went on forever, the gunner never reaching the end of the belt. Unlimited ammo. Damn it's annoying! Can't he find some other place to shoot, people are trying to sleep! And then I felt impact of something heavy on my chest, as if something fell on me. Was it some body the machine-gunner downed? I imagined myself hiding in a trench trying to return the fire when suddenly, hearing the ugly sound of human meat erupting, it kicks back some advancing soldier, the body falling over me.

But if that was true, the dead body certainly wouldn't start start jumping on me.

"All right," I slurred. "I'm getting up. So cut out the trampoline act."

She stopped jumping, and the gunshots stopped. "That took a while, what exactly were you doing yesterday Kyon?"

It took some effort to open my glued eyes, my sister was standing beside me on the bed ready to continue. Already experienced with waking me up she wouldn't let me fall asleep again, so she stood there at attention beside me like some aggressive bloodhound ready to bark and tear flesh if you go over the fence.

Why couldn't it be a dead body as I initially thought?

I pulled myself up and felt as if I just got out from a wrecked car. My back hurt, I felt dizzy, bones in my ribcage hurt and it was cold as hell. I know that's quite common during winter, but man it was cold. I might as well use our refrigerator to heat myself up. And why is it this cold, inside? Wasn't the heater on?

"Kyon you don't have time to sit around pulling the covers over yourself, you'll be late for school." She said as she jumped off my bed.

Sometimes having two mothers just irks me out of my mind. I mean, I am older right?

"Meh," I answered with gratitude I often present right after I'm pulled out of slumber.

"I told you the alarm wouldn't work didn't I," She flashed her teeth. "You're lucky mom told me to wake you up anyway."

"Alarm? What are you talking about? I don't have any alarm clock."

I really didn't. Trust me, I wouldn't buy such an unholy thing.

"You don't remember? You set some weird ringtone on your cellphone and said 'That ought to wake me up!'" She mimicked the pose I did yesterday.

I picked up my phone. "So that's why I heard gunshots. But why did I set it in the first place? I never do."

"I don't know," She said leaving the room. "But you'll be late if you don't go now Kyon!"

I looked at the phone again. Yeah, if I didn't eat breakfast I would still be late. Just how long was the thing going off before she woke me up? Sometimes I wonder if I sleep or if I am in a coma... nevermind that, gotta go.

I jumped off the bed, threw the things I needed for the lessons that took place in my bag. I dressed, there was no time to take a shower or to brush my teeth or anything like that, I just randomly grabbed some food off the table and went out.

When I opened the front door, I was punched right into my face.

I was punched by mother nature, and it was a knockout.

Cold so brutal it was almost unreal. Maybe it had to do something with the fact that just five minutes ago I was still under my warm pleasant blanket. But still... I hoped to God – no, scratch that let's just say I hoped - that it wasn't because of certain someone. It was white everywhere, my sister wasn't jumping all cheerful around over the fact that it's snow outside so I gathered it happened over night.

"Kyon! There's snow everywhere!" I heard her shouting from the house.

Here we go.

"Well, better get moving."

I left hoping to avoid all that 'snow outside' stuff, including building up snowmen and a snowball fight. Things which had become a sort of ritual for my sister, she always wanted to play around in it with me. No matter the school and such unimportant things... But she still had to wake me up. There's something wrong with that.

Anyway, I left as fast as I could.

The snow wasn't so deep, it was bound to melt by noon. At least according to the forecast I watched with my parents yesterday.

As the angle of the road before me changed I began the mountain climb.

It wasn't that bad today though.

No new snow fell and the sky was clear. The air was cool, not that cold anymore and if I didn't take such a thick jacket I wouldn't reek of sweat by now. Young kids that didn't have to go to school played around. Even some high school students couldn't resist. The scene seemed too serene, too innocent. Something was coming, something dark and confusing. I knew it. It always did. Everything good or normal was turned bad and absurd. The simple and happy things will soon change into a mess of things I don't even want to imagine. Two words Suzumiya Haruhi. All the explanation you need.

"Appearances can be deceptive." I frowned.

Even though it was frozen, it was still hell.

"Okay maybe I'm overreacting, maybe today nobody would want to do anything bad and things will stay just as normal as they are now."

I hope.

As I neared the school, I couldn't see anyone who I knew. Nobody sneaked up on me suddenly. In fact nobody from the school even walked the streets anymore. I looked at my watch.

Great.

The first lesson already started. I kicked the ground and ran.

-

Gasping for air, panting and wheezing I finally got there. I stood before the door to my classroom trying to center myself and hold down my ragging breathing. You don't exactly run uphill that fast everyday. My back was wet with sweat and I still couldn't catch my breath. The muscles in my legs hurt and I barely kept myself up.

Am I really that rusty?

I finally built up enough courage and opened the door to my classroom. At first the students there looked bored out of their mind, some yawing, some even sleeping, some paying attention to the class. Haruhi was looking out of the window, but as she heard the door opening she looked in my direction. Well, everyone did.

And the boring atmosphere changed rapidly. The former sleeping students laughed their asses off and those who paid attention to the teacher were now snickering right into my face. Haruhi laughed so hard she had to hold down her stomach and almost fell down along with her chair.

"Sorry there were some problems on the way, I-" I tried to make some lame excuse to the teacher, but he just pointed to my seat closing his eyes.

Feeling like a clown I made my way toward my place.

Some students even brought up their hands trying to high five with me. I did, then I almost fell down to my seat as some joker brought up his leg to trip me. Yeah, funny as hell. I made my way to my desk and sat down.

"Kyon, got hit by a car didn't he?" Someone shouted loud and the whole class laughed again.

"Yeah he looks like a chipmunk someone ran over!"

Feeling the glee I turned to the class frowning as much as I could. It didn't help, in fact it only amplified the laughter. Oh, well. I propelled myself at the desk.

The day started just wonderfully, didn't it? Nevermind, I'll just bore myself to sleep.

Something stabbed me in my back. Not this again. I just pretended I didn't feel it. It stabbed me again, probably going through my clothes. The next time it happened it sank into my flesh.

I shot up. Then turned around like nothing happened, acting cool. "Yeah?"

Haruhi wasn't so cheerful anymore, she seemed rather angry with something.

"Isn't it polite to greet your friends when you meet them?" She said staring into my eyes.

I shrugged, "I didn't know you were into etiquette that much. Well whatever, better get this over with."

"Hi." I said and went back to sleep.

Now she hit me with her fist.

"I'm still talking with you!" She hit me again, "I demand your full attention right this instant!"

I sighed, you can't fight the deity. I decided that it would be safer to just listen to her. Why? I don't even need to explain, do I? She's like a bundle of C4 that's harmless until you do the one thing that trips it. Whatever that is.

I turned to her again. Waiting for the outburst of absurdness about what we'll do after school.

"Go straight to the clubroom today, we have an important mission to complete and I need every available hand." She spit out words I expected right into my face, "Even people as useless as you, Kyon!"

Almost tricked me there, I thought you'll forget to insert the insult.

Of course she didn't, it's the same talk everyday. Only she says it differently each time.

"Is that all?" I said after she was silent for a while.

"Just one more thing, don't you know that old proverb that the early bird catches the worm?" She said putting on an motherly expression.

"And the second mouse gets the cheese, my mom told me all about those." I said, "Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"Yeah, that's everything."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah!" She crossed her arms looking to her side, obviously irritated.

"Well excuse me then, I really can't afford to miss this lesson with my grades."

I turned around and went back to sleep.

-

The faint sound of the bell reached me in my sleep, but wasn't enough to wake me up. The next thing I remember was the feeling you have right after your head collides with the ground. Somebody took the whole desk and turned it over so I would fall down. You don't exactly have to be Sherlock to figure out who. As I turned over on the ground and put my hands under my head to sleep down here, I realized how it feels when someone kicks you in the stomach as you're lying on the ground. You know what I mean, like in the action movies. How many more wonderful feelings will I experience? Then something pulled me up by my tie, which finally made me open my eyes.

"Just what exactly do you think you're doing!?" Haruhi shouted.

I couldn't shake the thought that our roles were a little reverted.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I narrowed my eyes pulling out one of my serious faces.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm waking you up, it's lunch time already!" She shook with me as if to make sure I don't fall asleep. "You've slept through almost entire day!"

She let go of my tie and I steadied myself.

"And look at you! You look pathetic!" Haruhi commented the fact that I looked like a beggar, "At least straighten your uniform!"

I started straightening my tie. Then she ruffled my hair with her left hand combing it with her fingers. Why would she do that? With a corner of my eye I could see the classmates around, they were smiling and pointing at me. It probably looked as if we were in some kind of relationship. Great, now I'll be the talk of the class. Haruhi was done and stepped back to inspect me.

"Did you brush your teeth today?" She asked looking into my eyes.

I shook my head.

She put her hands on her hips, "Thought so, at least go buy some gum later okay."

I nodded.

I felt like a child that was going out and his mother tried to make him look better. That would make the number three on my list if I'm not mistaken.

She then put her attention back to my hair. I felt my heart skip as she licked her palm and shuffled my hair a little more.

Just what the hell is she thinking. People will misunderstand. I looked at Taniguchi. People do misunderstand!

"That's better, now you can represent our club to the fullest." She said, adding, "Since I helped you look better of course."

Right.

I pointed to her chest. She looked down on my finger, as she did I pulled my hand up touching her nose. The oldest trick in the book. But you got caught Haruhi.

"Thanks mom." I said.

She looked somewhat shocked and confused as her eyes widened.

"I'm not your mom..." She looked away almost blushing.

"You sure act like her." I smiled and pulled up my desk and the stuff that was sprawled all around the floor.

I picked up my bag and took out the food I managed to grab this morning. One plain roll, great.

You maybe ask yourself why I did that to Haruhi. She's a bundle of C4, right? Let's just say that I leveled up to the point where I know what I can afford around her. I had become the bomb squad member. I started pulling these harmless things that won't make her change the world when I realized that there was no competition. She can do what she wants with us, but we can't? I just couldn't swallow that. If there wasn't any poetic justice or karma or whatever to make the things she pulls on us come back to her, I decided that I would. I know it's just a feeble attempt, these worthless little tricks can't compare to hers. But it's still better than nothing.

I looked at my bag. And besides the thing I'm planning to do is far from a feeble attempt...

I ate the plain roll just sitting there observing the class. Some students were preparing for the next lesson, which basically meant two things: doing the math homework or copying the math homework. Oh, reminds me that if I get another bottom grade I'll probably fail in the subject. I put my hands behind my head. Like that's supposed to scare me or something. I continued to watch the crowd, each holding a notebook and trying to write as much as they could. Yeah crowd, pretty suiting if you ask me. From afar it looked like a bunch of crows trying to tear their chunk of meat from some decaying cadaver. At least the lesson will be accelerated, with everyone having the same mistakes the teacher will get mad as hell.

I almost jumped as something slammed against my desk. "Just be sure to make a few mistakes, I mean it would look weird if you got A+."

There was Haruhi standing above my desk and there was her notebook on it. Am I that predictable?

"What makes you think I didn't do it?" I asked out of curiosity.

Her smile spread from ear to ear, "Don't make me laugh, like you ever do."

"In fact I'm not sure if I saw you write anything in your notebook the past year." She said, "You're slacking off too much, you'll fail the damned subject!"

"What's it to you?" I said meeting her eyes, "Are you tracking my grades or something?"

She just 'hmphed' and closed her eyes. "Dream on, I wouldn't go that low. It's pretty obvious that you're the bottom of this class. Everyone with eyes can see that."

Sure. Everyone with eyes tracking my grades.

I just closed my eyes and smiled, "You think you can read me like a book, huh?"

I lazily reached my bag and took out my notebook. I opened it slowly, making a dramatic pause.

"Oh, what's that?" Then I played a shocked face, "Isn't that?"

She frowned, "You're enjoying it too much."

Yeah, I did the homework yesterday. Even I when I'm failing in something just take a moment to sit down and analyze the situation, then do something about it... Okay, my father asked about my grades the day before yesterday and found out. So I had to do the homework, along with hours of doing hundreds of assignments from the book.

I scanned her notebook. I think the work actually paid off, we got to the same result.

"But you're still in debt with me, even this counts." She said with a grin.

What?

"Why are you so surprised, I don't do this kind of thing for free." She exclaimed taking back her notebook, "In fact you're lucky that I decided not to punish you for embarrassing me in front of class."

Embarrassing you, how? By doing my homework?

If she cashed every debt that I have with her, I wouldn't be able to pay up even if I won a freaking lottery. Things can go wrong if you actually do your homework for once.

"Then let's make it official." I reached out my hand, "Let's shake hands to confirm the deal."

She nodded and reached out hers. But just as she was about to hold mine, I pulled my hand up and she grabbed empty air.

"Fine. Debt it is then." I said. "Hope you're not planning to hire some executors."

She was about to explode right there and blaze me to hell...

But then the bell rang and she calmed down and cared about her own business again. I did the same.

I was right, the teacher spent the whole lesson testing the copycats so I was safe. And I actually enjoyed those faces they were giving me because I did mine myself.

But still it was boring, Math and all that - you know what I mean. So I just sat through it.

For the first time in god know how long I actually looked forward to the club. Well... not that much, just a little I guess.

The bell rang and Haruhi ran toward the thing she cared about the most, the SOS brigade. I just gathered my things calmly. There was no point to rush, I would be penalized anyway. Even if I teleported there somehow. Yeah, like 'Penalty! You're here sooner then your chief!'

Did I say I looked forward to the club? I did? Well now I don't. I was jealous of all those students just walking out of the building heading home or to normal clubs. I wanted to go home too. Just have a normal day, take a little break.

In retrospect, I should ran right home right at that moment and hide myself under my blanket. Instead I went to the other building like every other day. Ignorance was bliss. I didn't know what was coming to me, yet.

I opened the door, "Hey, Asahina-san."

She was there already changed just about to boil some water. Now that I think about it, I didn't even thought it was odd for her to wear a maid outfit anymore. Guess I just got used to it.

"Oh, Kyon-kun." She turned around, "It's nice to see you again."

And she smiled. Did I say I wanted to go home? Really?

Haruhi wasn't there probably searching the school or something, but Nagato sat in her corner as always. This time she didn't read anything thick, that got my attention. In fact it was as thin as a magazine, but was too small to be one. Just some small book.

"Hey Nagato, whatcha reading?" I greeted her.

She flipped a page, "I have no mouth and I must scream."

"Huh?"

"That is the title of this book." She said scanning the page.

Right...

I decided not to push it further.

As I sat down I noticed that even Koizumi was nowhere to be found. Work, probably. In his case work of course meant saving the world from being recreated. Maybe I should stop confronting Haruhi for a while. Well, screw it. If it was serious he would have called me and besides she didn't look depressed to me today.

I opened my bag and pulled out the little box.

"What is that, Kyon-kun?" Asahina-san turned from making her tea looking at the box.

"This? Oh it's nothing important." I said.

As she turned back to brewing her tea, I climbed up on the table and reached the tiles on the ceiling. Nagato didn't react at all and Asahina-san didn't hear me. The tiles were loose, just a cheap pieces of plywood covering the ceiling. But there was a gap between the wood and the ceiling. I pulled one tile up and put the box up in the gap. Just as I was about to open it the door opened and Koizumi walked in.

"Good afternoon Itsuki-kun... what are you doing?" Asahina-san started to greet him, then noticed what I was doing.

"Heh, well... kinda hard to explain." I didn't know what to say.

"Pilling up work for me?" Koizumi asked, "We need to talk about that."

Of course we do.

I jumped down and took the box with me.

Koizumi sat down, "Maybe you don't understand the damage you are causing by these simple things."

"I just got back from closing a rather large closed space and you are already planning on constructing another one."

He smiled.

"What is he talking about Kyon-kun?" Asahina-san asked me, putting on that hurt-child kind of face.

I told her, I have no idea.

"Tell her about those crickets in that little box you are holding and what you tried to put under the ceiling tiles." Koizumi smiled on.

"C-Crickets?" I could see tears well up in her eyes.

Yeah, I did plan to do that, because it would drive Haruhi mad. The crickets would spread there and start their little squeaking or whatever and she would be running around the room trying to find them while growing so angry she would... destroy the world.

"I think you do not understand the effect it could have on Suzumiya-san." He kept on smiling.

"All right I guess I would go too far with this one." I said putting the box back on the table, "But just imagine it, she would tear down, TEAR down every piece of furniture in this room and then-"

"Yes, and then we would all disappear due to her remaking the world." He said, "Or crickets would disappear from all over the world and would never exist as an animal again."

I know.

"It's just a joke..."

"I understand how you feel Kyon-kun, you just want to get back to her somehow for all the things she's done to us. But you can't pull practical jokes on your God, can you?" He said.

All right, I put the box back in my bag.

Asahina-san was looking down on her feet as she gave me her tea, Koizumi smiled, his smile looking faker then ever and Nagato just read her book.

"So everyone thinks I'm an idiot now?" I said.

Asahina-san was silent, Koizumi kept smiling and Nagato flipped a page.

Cool... Yeah, it was kind of stupid. Like if I tried to push the red button of some ICBM - unleashing armageddon upon earth. Too extreme to be pulled on someone that can do everything on a whim. Guess I was just too damn excited about it to realize what I was doing.

Then the door blew, no that would be an understatement, exploded open.

"Great news!! I have a mystery for us to solve!!" Haruhi shouted without actually greeting anyone, "Let's go everyone!"

She grabbed me and just as she flew in, she flew out.

"Wait, where are we going!?" I tried to break free.

"To the photography club, they have something that they don't want the outside world to see!!" She shouted.

"What do you mean?" Why was I even trying, "What do they have?"

"I'm not sure if it is real, but if they go through such lengths to hide it..." She made an epic pause, "It has to be true!!"

Then she stopped and I finally broke free. But she was already kicking down the door to the Photography club. That was fast.

The startled members all jumped, one tripped sprawling photos all over the floor.

"Allrite! We're here to seize the videotape! Come out with your hands up so that you may be shot without mercy!!" She shouted putting her hands on her hips.

We don't have guns...

The members just started to scream and flee in terror probably familiar with what happened in the computer club. I wondered if those computer fellas told them... or if it was just Haruhi's fame.

"Maybe we could try not to blackmail this time?" I tried to keep things calm.

She turned to me displeased, "What do you mean, 'We could try not to blackmail this time?' That's crazy talk! This isn't some stupid conversation piece, you know. Time for Carnage!"

Some guy crawled out from under desk and tried to run away, "No! It's her! She came for us! Run for your life!!"

Haruhi put on her smile, "Relax, we won't hurt you, we just want the videotape. NOW HAND IT OVER!!!"

"Please don't make pictures of me grabbing that girl's chest!" He cried pointing at Asahina-san, " Please-please-please-please-please-please-pah-leeze! I'm too young to go to jail!"

"Fine." She crossed her arms, "Give us the tape or Nagato here will suck your brains out with a long sharp metal straw!"

"What?" Is she making an alien out of her now? Wait...

"Yes she will." Haruhi said to me then turned back to the guy, "Now give us the tape, uber-nerd, or your skull will suffer the grisly consequences!"

"I'll do anything you want!!" He shouted kneeling down before her.

"What the hell is this with brains?" I repeated myself not getting any answer.

She's making Nagato alien now, not knowing that she is an alien.

"Why, I don't think I've ever seen her so thirsty for brains." She pointed her TM finger at him, "You better come up with that tape soon, or she'll be drinking your gray matter like... well, like a brain sucking alien."

"I am not going to feast on his brain matter." Nagato said calmly.

"You are so going to suck his brains." Haruhi turned to Nagato now, "And you'll damn well like 'em too!"

The guy tried to sneak past them while Haruhi was arguing, I stepped aside not really trying to stop him.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, MISCREANT!" Haruhi shouted pointing at him.

"Aiee!!" He jumped back covering his head.

At this point I sighed, she actually made a guy that was older than me squeak like a little girl.

"I've got the Producer." Then Koizumi entered dragging some other guy with glasses.

That asshole, I didn't know he would keel this deep to kiss her ass this low.

"Outstanding. Hundred points to you." She said to Koizumi, then turned to the guy with glasses, "Give us the videotape or get your brains sucked four-eyes!"

This one was actually more calm then the first, "What videotape, the ComicCon segment?"

"No."

"The Evil Clown piece?"

"No."

"Our project from middle school?"

"God, no."

"The Haunted Strip Club?"

"No, but we'll take a copy of that one." She said still beaming, "What we want is... The Hamster Cannon footage."

What!?

The guy stepped back, "You... sick... bitch..."

"What? It's just strippers! And it's for promotion only!" Haruhi said.

"No, I meant the hamster thing." He was getting irritated.

"Oh, that... We just want to check the myth." She closed her eyes, "So stop stalling and give it to us already."

He looked down, his eyes shadowed, his face spreading into a freaky grin, "Fine, you sick bastards may have won this round, but the truth will come out someday and you'll all be exposed for the sick bastards that you are! You'll see! You'll see! You'll all see!"

"Whatever, let's go back to the clubroom to play it." Haruhi brushed it as nothing.

We watched the Hamster Cannon footage. And it was true, that dream I had. It was all true. Everything, the lizard, the launching part, explosions and reloading. I didn't know if it was CG or real, but I still wanted to vomit.

Some nightmare, right? Well... we're just getting started.

After that Asahina-san and I were recovering and Haruhi along with Nagato began the frame-by-frame analysis of the material. But she didn't know how to get the footage from the tape to computer so I had to look at the pictures again. I'll get you for this Haruhi! I'll get you...

So I ripped it, using the hybrid dvd/vrc recorder she confiscated some time ago, on the hard drive. And then we began going through each second of it.

It was long and horrifying work that'll be rewarded with nothing but me getting a penalty for some trivial thing.

I noticed that it started to snow outside.

-

As she insulted me for hundredth and one time that day I heard Nagato closing her book. Thank God. I closed the program and began to pack.

"What do you think you're doing, Kyon!?" Haruhi glared at me, "We're not finished yet, open it up again!"

At this point my left eye twitched. I turned back to the screen. Before the end of the day I'll be a nutcase for sure.

And why it had to be just me anyway? What about the others?

Asahina-san, Koizumi and Nagato excused themselves said their regards and left us there alone.

So it was just Haruhi and me, and we worked and worked.

I had to look at each snapshot, pixel by pixel so Haruhi could put her seal of approval on the fact that it's fake. Every second went past as an hour and we still didn't find anything.

It was late afternoon when she finally grew tired of it and started to pack.

"Guess it's fake after all..." She sighed, "Let's go home. Delete it, I don't want to watch it ever again."

"With pleasure." I deleted it, shut down the computer and picked up my stuff.

"Damn... I forgot my notebook in class." Haruhi said and left the room walking as a apathetic corpse.

It probably got to her, not finding anything unusual about it and stuff. Well I on the other hand felt refreshed and relieved so I decided to take my chance and just leave very quickly.

I got to my locker, changed shoes, got my jacket and was about to leave.

But I stopped, holding the front door open.

Something inside my mind clicked. I can't just leave like that, I told myself. So I let the door close and went back to the building. If I look at the mistakes I made at this point, that was probably the biggest. I should have taken my chance and leave right there. But I was a stupid fool blinded by a flickering bit of sympathy I so suddenly felt for Haruhi.

As I walked through the hallway back toward our classroom I looked out of the window. Outside the snow fell like ash from post-apocalyptic sky. I never seen snowflakes that big before. Forecast was a little off that day. That had to pile up.

I met Haruhi in the hall going out of our class.

"Did you get it?" I asked.

"Well, I just realized I had it in my bag from the start." She said looking out of the window, "Wow looks pretty bad, I thought they said it wouldn't last."

"Yeah, we better hurry." And that was it, we stopped talking at that point.

Expect.

"So why didn't you leave...?" She mumbled, almost a whisper.

I pretended I didn't hear it, "Did you say something?"

"N-nothing."

And that was it.

We came to the door and I opened it... wait.

"What are you doing just open the door." She grew impatient behind me.

I pushed again. No. No, not possible.

"I can't." I said, "It's stuck, probably froze shut."

Now I frantically tried to pull it open, but no matter how much force I used I couldn't.

Fuck.

"You mean you really are that weak?" Haruhi exclaimed pulling up her sleeves, "Step aside you useless little girl!"

I stepped aside, "Knock yourself out Hogan."

At first she tried calmly, but then grew just as desperate as me. Then she turned around like nothing happened, brushing herself.

"Nevermind, there has to be another way out." Haruhi started to walk away not waiting for any sort of reply.

I tried to keep calm.

I placed my hands together, fell on my knees, looked up and started to pray, "Please God, if you're there and you're not Haruhi... if you're the all-knowing, all-capable... just let me the hell out of here."

I really tried.

"Come on! What are you doing there, do you really want to leave!?" Came from the hall.

There is no God. Just Haruhi. She murdered him. Or he committed suicide.

I took a deep breath and stood up, no point in pitying myself.

We tried every exit even the emergency ones with no luck. Either they were frozen too, or just locked. We couldn't open any windows either. After that Haruhi got so irritated she grabbed a chair and smashed it against a window. But it didn't break.

"Remember that speaker incident when you tried to find aliens among people in this school with a loud guitar riff?" I knocked on the window, "I wouldn't be surprised if these are bulletproof."

"Hmph!" She pouted, "Like you're trying to do something to get us out of here!"

I shrugged, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Call someone! You have your cell don't you? I forgot mine home." She actually had a point this time.

I pulled out my phone, it was dead.

"No battery."

She grabbed it and smashed it against the window. As I watched my phone break into pieces I suddenly felt very calm and collected. In fact I started to smile.

Now, now we were truly screwed.

I opened my bag to show her something, "Recharger. Planned to recharge it at the club, but didn't have the time."

"So what? Nobody would come in this weather anyway." She turned her back to me crossing her arms.

I unzipped my jacket breaking into a laughter.

"Is that the only excuse you're able to come up with? What about the police?" If we called them, they would have to come here, "Besides you owe me a new cellphone."

She completely ignored my comment, "We can still try the school's telephones, let's go to the teacher's room."

Just as she finished talking the lights started flickering then went out.

Just our luck. The day was just getting better and better.

It was still afternoon, so it wasn't dark yet.

I didn't panic, I felt this was coming the moment I stepped outside my house. I don't know how, I just knew something would go wrong.

"What was that!?" But Haruhi jumped.

"Must be the circuit breaker, I guess the power went out because of the weather, happened before." I reassured her and put my bag on the ground.

"Where are you going!?" Haruhi sounded almost as if she didn't want to be left alone.

"To the basement, to get the power running again." I said not stopping, "You can go ahead and find a phone to call for help or are you scared?"

"Of course I'm not scared!!" I heard her put her bag down, "I'm coming with you, we can call for help later!!"

Afraid of being left alone, huh?

"N-no, of course not!" Haruhi made a pause, thinking about what to come up with next, "To the basement!!"

And she went.

Whatever.

As I opened the door to the basement we saw wooden stairs leading down into the absolute darkness. There were cobwebs around the door.

Haruhi looked over my shoulder, "So I'll just stay here and cover your back, so no murderer would try to attack you from behind."

I sighed. All right, better than having you along.

I just gave her the most angry face I could muster and dove down into the darkness. The stairs were old, creaking along with my every step. I tried not to think about it breaking and me falling down twisting my neck. I gulped, cursing myself for not being a chain-smoker like many in this school, if I was I could use a lighter I would certainly have. It was so dark that I was stepping blindly, reaching out with my foot before actually stepping. I looked back at Haruhi, I was some three meters away from the door.

Damn, I thought I was down already.

"What?" She asked me with a Kyon's-afraid-of-dark face I just categorized now.

"Nothing."

And I continued down. Suddenly I got an idea, yeah even I have one of those bulb flashing moments from time to time. I pulled up my left sleeve and pushed the button on my watch, trying to use the background light to see a little. I began to scan the darkness before me with my watch. I felt like one of those random characters in sci-fi movies fooling around with their all-knowing wrist scanners.

Too bad mine wasn't working at all. It was just as dark as before.

I won't lie to you, I was scared out of my mind. You know what I'm talking about. It's not like I'm scared of dark or monsters hiding under my bed, it's just when you're down in some basement alone and you can't see nothing... you will get a little afraid.

Well that was to be expected. But I felt strange, like if there was something down there.

I had the exact same feeling as the one when I left my house. It was a deep kind of feeling, something in my stomach, something I don't know how to describe. A hunch, maybe?

Suddenly something touched me from behind. I jumped and turned around so fast I almost fell.

"Stop fooling around and get moving already!" It was Haruhi, thank god... yeah for once.

"Just follow me, it'll be a lot faster with me taking the lead." She boasted.

"Of course it will, you're the x-ray vision alien here." I joked to relieve myself of the fear.

"No, unfortunately not." The common sense look was not suiting her at all.

And then she disappeared. No, she just went ahead into the darkness. She didn't look scared at all now. Where did that previous 'N-no of course not!' average school girl vanished to?

After that I couldn't catch up with her, she was just too fast.

"Hey lend me that NV goggles, would you?" I said to confirm where she was.

"If I had those I wouldn't give it to you even if paid me." She said not that far ahead of me.

And then the pain came. No at first just a sound, a thud and after that the pain. I smashed my head against something.

"Shit!" I cursed, opening my eyes, "There are pipes everywhere."

"Come on, Kyon!" Haruhi giggled at me, mocking me, "Why can't you keep up?"

And I smashed my head again.

She laughed as she ducked underneath a series of pipes that were hanging low overhead.

I panted, "Well, chief, it could be because you are quicker than I am, but the real problem here is that you are shorter than I am, and I keep bashing my head on these stupid pipes. Now slow down a little, would you? We should keep close."

"And then what?" She turned around and stopped for a brief moment, "Hold hands? In your dreams idiot."

Haruhi laughed, "Come on, stupid, there ought to be ghosts in here." Now she sounded happy again, no sing of that previous depression, "Everyone says this school is haunted, and we both know I love ghosts. I love the spooks, I love zombies, you know, anything fun."

I groaned, "I hate this place. It's damp, stinks like crap, and it's dirty as hell. There is some kind of murky water dripping from these pipes, and I keep hitting my head on them, and the water is running down my face and stinking me out. Just that, there are no ghosts it's just a school basement, nobody died in here."

I tried to kick some sense into that sucker for supernatural brain of hers, because if she wishes they might actually appear.

Luckily my eyes already adjusted to the dark, so I saw a few things.

Haruhi looked around, "Well, that is because we have not gotten to where the ghosts are yet probably. We could stumble upon a mass grave or a mad scientist lab! Those would reek with ghosts."

I ducked a series of pipes again, nearly going to my knees to avoid bashing my brains out. I looked ahead, and took a deep breath before staggering to my feet. As I drew the dank air into my lungs, I smelled something funny beside the damp mold and rotted wood. It was a smell unlike anything I had ever experienced before.

Haruhi stopped suddenly, looking at a room that opened up before us, "What is that smell? Do you smell it?"

"Just a dead rat probably." I said.

"Maybe." She didn't sound that convinced to me, to tell you the truth I wasn't either.

I looked around the room. I couldn't see much just plain walls with nothing to catch my attention. There was no breaker in here, but there were two doors on each side of the room.

"Look there are no zombies and stuff like that, you're not fooling me you really believe any of those stupid stories about this school." I said dusting myself.

"Oh, playing the hero?" She said her left hand on her hip, "Well then let's split up and find out."

"We're not chasing mysteries here, let's just find the breaker, get it on and then leave." I protested.

"There are two doors, if we split up we'll find it faster." She said already opening the door near her.

I realized that I was gritting my teeth, back and forth. That odd feeling was back, "I still don't like it. Anything can happen. Just be careful."

But she was already gone.

I gave up and opened the other door.

I decided to get to the breaker as fast as I could so I started to run. I ran for about twenty feet when I suddenly slowed. I could see a faint light shining on a wall in front of me. Quickly glancing around I realized that there was a sudden turn to the left, so I picked up the pace and continued to follow the hallway. As I made the turn, I saw the opening into some room. I dashed into the room and slowed, looking around. There was something about the room that made me very uncomfortable. I looked around for a moment, pondering this until it suddenly hit me. The light. We were underground. There were no windows in this room, and yet, there was light everywhere.

What the hell?

The ceiling of the room seemed to glow under a power of its own. I glanced up trying to figure out what was giving off the light, and then I fell down on my ass. I blinked hard, trying to swallow what I saw. I stood up and shook my head rubbing my eyes. What in the world was that? When I gathered enough courage I glanced up again. The light was moving.

"You've got to be shitting me..." I weeped.

The ceiling of the room was literally covered with thousands of little white writhing worms that put off a surprisingly bright light. I looked at the little worms, trying to think rationally, trying to figure it out, trying not to scream like a little girl. Maybe it really existed, a kind of a worm that glowed in the dark. Maybe Haruhi did it, something she saw in a cheap horror flick. They seemed harmless enough, but there was something dreadfully familiar about them. I looked down trying not to think about it. I hoped they weren't in the room Haruhi had gone to. Then hell would break loose.

Then I heard a loud, "Found it!" Coming from the other side of the wall.

I heard a clicking noise and sound of something powering up. Guess Haruhi found the circuit breaker and switched the power back on.

But I was too afraid to move. I decided to leave as quietly as I could, so I wouldn't disturb the worms. But I couldn't take my sweet time either, I had to get out before she came here.

I barely took two steps when I discovered what it was that would draw the worms that were on the ceiling. With a great sucking noise, all the worms over my head suddenly released their hold on the ceiling and dropped down on top of me. Wherever there was bare skin, I could feel a burning coming from the worms. I closed my eyes, frantically fighting back against the terror that threatened to overwhelm me. Shit, shit, shit. No matter how hard I tried to stay cool I was still fucked. Closer to the top of my head, where I hit my head before, I could feel the worms trying to burrow their way into my forehead.

With the panic finally overtaking me, I started to swat at the worms with my hands. As I swatted at my shoulder, I heard a faint sizzling noise, and the smell of something rotten assailed my already overwhelmed nostrils. I paused for a moment, trying to center my running mind. I tried to think happy thoughts.

Green leaves.
Happy animals.
Girls cheering my name.

The worms were still eating me up.

"What the FUCK is this shit all about!?" It didn't help, "Can't she think as a normal human for once!!!?"

I started squatting the worms all over my body, it probably looked as if I were on fire and tried to put out the flames with my bare hands. The sizzle of the worms as they popped was nauseating, but worse still was the stench of the blood coming from the bursting worms. I started to laugh, it was just too damn funny. I wished for excitement when I entered high school, I got it. Laughing, I banged my hands around my head, touching the worms wherever they were on my head and shoulders.

"This is some serious bullshit!!!"

I shouted as I dove for the ground and began rolling around.

Then I heard a creak and sudden light blinded me. Big worm queen trying to finish the job!? I covered my head.

"What are you lying around for Kyon?" It was Haruhi standing in the door.

I stopped rolling and opened my eyes. The worms were gone, not on my body, not on the ceiling. I looked at my hands, they were reasonably clean. Even the blood and the stench were gone, as if the worms never existed. A figment of imagination.

I pulled myself up, still a little shocked.

What... just happened?

"What do you mean? I turned the power on, now come on let's go find that phone, I don't want to be stuck here with you forever." She said, "Why were you on ground covering your head anyway?"

I tripped.

"Whatever. Let's go." And she left.

I watched her back for a while just standing there.

What... was that?

Was it real? I looked around, there was no evidence of the worms whatsoever.
Was it just my imagination? No, I'm not crazy or anything... right?
Was I dreaming? I pinched my arm, it hurt and I didn't wake up.
Was Haruhi recreating the world again? Didn't feel like the last time.

I shook my head, brushing it off as an illusion and ran to catch up with Haruhi.

I decided it was just my imagination.

And made my second bigger mistake that day.