Invisible
Chapter 1
Omaki
It was nearly 9 'o' clock at night and I was running down the street to Runo's café to meet up with Shun. I was running late for our date again and I knew Shun would be mad. It was understandable because I was about 3 hours behind the time I promised to meet him. I had my reasons though. I was getting small little side jobs like babysitting, dog walking, and so on to buy a used car so I wouldn't be running or walking everywhere. But every job I get I only kept for a week or so, and at that rate I won't have enough to buy a car. Tonight Mrs. Linda was late getting home for work so I had to watch her son until she got home. Then she wanted me to stay and help get him into the bed and I had to tell her a small lie to get out of there. During all my thinking I realized I was about 15 minutes from Runo's and began running faster.
Chapter 2
Shun
I was sitting at a table in Runo's café waiting for Omaki to show up, and I was pissed. I had every right to be since this was the third time she was late for a date this week. I pulled my phone out and saw it was nearly a quarter to 9, and my grandpa wanted me home before 9:10. I stood up and put my jacket on and Runo saw I was leaving. "You leaving Shun?" "Yeah. Gramps wants me back before 9:10. If Omaki every shows up, tell her I had somewhere else to go." As I was walking out the door I heard Runo tell me ok and go back to cleaning tables. The streets were completely empty except for the occasional car going to or leaving a late night job. The cold wind was going through my jacket and making me shiver every now and then. I didn't see how Omaki could wear those skirts in the winter time without freezing. When I made it to my house, I was exhausted and went straight upstairs to bed.
Chapter 3
Runo
I just finished cleaning my last table and was about to lock up for the night when Omaki came through the door. "Hey Runo. Oh no. Please tell me Shun didn't leave. Please tell me he didn't." I didn't want to, but I had to. "I'm sorry. He left about 10 minutes ago. His grandpa wanted him home by 9:10. Listen, if you want you can spend the night here tonight." "No. It's ok. I'll walk home, but thank you." Omaki went and sat at the table Shun was at and looked totally defeated. We all knew their relationship was on the ropes because of all her jobs she can't keep up with, and I think she knew it to. "Hey Omaki. I know how you've been working to buy a car but can't find a job that pays well, and we need a few extra hands round the café. So, do you wanna work here till you can buy a used car?" Her eyes lit up with happiness and she went over and hugged me. "Oh thank you Runo! Thank you!" I told her what times to be here, what days she would work, and what times she would get off. After Omaki left I went to my room and sat on my bed and looked over at the picture of me and Dan. "I wouldn't ever want my relationship with Dan to be ruined because of a job. I hope it's a good thing I did this. Maybe it will save their relationship."
Chapter 4
Shun
I didn't sleep well last night and felt horrible. My muscles were sore and I had a splitting headache that blurred my vision. "Shun! Get up! You have training this morning!" I sighed and got up. When I went down the stairs I had stumbled a few times but caught myself on the railing. My grandpa yelled for me again. I had tried to yell back that I was coming, but I had coughed instead. I felt dizzy and sat on the steps and was constantly coughing to where I could barely catch my breath. My grandpa must of heard me because he called out to me in the kitchen, "Shun. Are you ok?" In between coughs I was able to answer back, but weakly. "I don't think so." My cough went from bad to worse in only a few seconds. My grandpa stepped out of the kitchen and saw me sitting on the stairs and leaning against the wall coughing and ran over to me. He put his hand on my forehead and it felt like he had stuck it in a bucket of ice. "Shun, you're burning up. Come on let's get you back to your room." I tried to stand up but was to weak and fell to me knees. I had finally gotten back to my room with the help of my grandpa and laid down on my bed. "Hold on Shun, I'm going to get you some more covers and try and find something in the medicine cabinet to help with that fever." My cough seemed like it had gotten worse and I could hardly keep my eyes open. When my grandpa returned he had several blankets, a glass of water, and a bottle of fever reducers. I wasn't able to take the medicine right then because of the cough, but my grandpa had gotten a hand towel that was soaked in cold water and put in on my forehead. "Now you get some rest and I'll see if I can set up a doctor appointment for you tomorrow. Ok?" "Ok." Not 2 minutes after my grandpa left, I had fallen asleep.
Chapter 5
Dan
We were all meeting up at Runo's café to hang out. When I got there Jake, Murucho, Fabia, Ren, Julie, Omaki, Alice, and Runo were sitting at a table talking. The first thing I noticed was that we were missing Shun. "Hey everybody. What's up?" Omaki was the first to speak. "Hey Dan. We were just waiting for you. Have you happed by chance seen Shun? Because I wanted to tell him I'm sorry for missing our date last night." "Isn't that like the fourth date this week? Anyway, besides that I haven't heard from him. But I could call him." Omaki told me that would be fine. I pulled out my phone and looked up Shun's number in my contact list. The phone rang 5 times before he answered. "Dan? What do you want?" The person that answered didn't even sound like Shun. "Shun, is that you?" "Who else would it be? You called me, now what do you want?" "We were all just wondering if you were gunna meet us up at Runo's." "No. If you haven't been able to tell from how weak my voice sounds, I'm really sick right now. I mean, I couldn't even get back to my room without help." "Oh. Well, we all hope you get to feeling better. Bye." Shun had already hung up and I did the same. Omaki had asked me if he was coming or not. I told her that he wasn't and that he was sick. Murucho had made the point that Shun must be pretty sick since he rarely ever is. And that was true.
Chapter 6
Shun
Last night had to be the worst night of sleep I had every gotten in my entire life. Not only did my cough keep me up, but any time I did fall asleep I had a nightmare produced from my fever. The only good thing to possibly come out of today was that my grandfather was taking me to see a doctor that worked at the local hospital's E.R. Somebody was knocking on my door and my grandfather entered. "Shun, don't worry about changing clothes or anything because I'm taking you straight to see that doctor I found." "Ok." I still couldn't stand up on my own for more than a few seconds before my legs gave out from under me, so my grandfather helped me to his car, and were headed for the hospital. When we arrived at the entrance of the E.R., my grandfather told me to sit in one of the chairs while he told the woman behind the desk we were here. I found a chair next to window that was far away from the other patients, and sat in it. I began to shiver which told me that my fever had spiked. I didn't realize it but I was doubled over in my chair moaning in pain. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked and saw my grandfather and a doctor. Through my blurred vision I saw he had a flashlight in his hand that he had turned on and began shining it in my eyes. My pain was so bad that I didn't even bother closing or squinting my eyes from the light. My grandfather was speaking to me but it sounded like he was standing in a tunnel or cave. "Shun, you're going to be ok." The doctor finished looking at me and stood up. "Nurse, I need this patient to be taken to ICU and stat. The nurse wheeled a hospital bed over to where we were all standing and the doctor and my grandfather both picked me up and laid me on the bed. All I remember before they put the anesthesia on me was the doctor saying something about me being really ill.
Chapter 7
Dan
We were all worried about Shun since we found out he was sick yesterday. Alice was over to my right helping Runo wash tables and told me, "Hey Dan, you should call Shun and see how he's doing." "Yeah, ok." I flipped out my phone and dialed Shun's number, but his grandfather answered, so I assumed Shun was probably asleep. "Hello? Daniel? If you're trying to talk to Shun then you're out of luck. He's not available at the moment." "Oh, well we all just wanted to know how he was doing. I'll call back another day." "You won't be able to talk to him until he comes home." "Comes home? What do you mean? Where is he?" "Oh, that's right, you all didn't hear. I took Shun to a doctor the other day and they admitted him to the hospital. And they don't allow cell phones in the ICU." "Wait, Shun's in a hospital! Why? What's wrong with him?" I didn't realize that the others were listening in on my conversation and when I said hospital they all let out a small gasp. "It's a long story. Why don't you all come and visit him at the hospital? Considering they'll let anybody in since they've been running tests back and forth." I told him we would go see Shun and he gave me the floor and room number then hung up. I looked over at the others, who all had worried looks on their faces. "Well it turns out, Shun's in the hospital. And seriously sick."
Chapter 8
Shun
I had opened up my eyes halfway and was looking around the room I was in. They had an oxygen mask on my me, a heart monitor to my left, and an IV drip in my arm. Dang. How sick am I? My room was silent except the beeping from the heart monitor. Then the door opened and broke the stillness. The doctor that was examining me in the waiting room entered through the door with a chart. "Oh, I see you're awake. That's good. You gave us all a pretty bad scare back there. Well, I'm just here to check on your IV, I wont take long." He wrote something down on his chart and was about to leave, but I stopped him. "Wait, so what's wrong with me anyway?" My voice was still weak, but he heard me. "Well, we don't have a definite diagnosis yet, but we do know it's a virus, we just don't know which one yet until the test results come back. But when we figure it out we can start treatments on you and then you can go home. Now I have other patients to see, so you get some rest, kay?" "Ok." I don't see how a virus could make me this sick. Why do I feel queasy all of a sudden? I heard the heart monitor flat line, nurses run into my room with a crash cart, and my body shut down.
Chapter 9
Dan
We all had pilled into Murucho's limo and were on the way to visit Shun at the hospital. His grandfather had recently informed us that Shun was in the ICU and gave us the floor and room number. We arrived after fighting traffic and found the entrance to the ICU. Hard to believe Shun's in here. When we walked through the door we went up to the nurses' station and asked if visitors were allowed to see Shun. "Only family members are allowed to see patients in the ICU. I'm sorry." "But all of us are like family to Shun, and he needs us right now. Please, can't you pull some strings?" She stood there and thought for a minute before she spoke. "I'll see what I can do, but there's no guarantee you'll be able to see him. Wait here." She went into another room and returned 10 minutes later. "I worked something out with his doctor and you can see your friend, but only one of you and only for 5 minutes." We all wanted to see Shun, but couldn't decide who would go. Then, Runo came up beside me and told me, "Dan, you should go. You've known Shun your whole life, and you two are practically like brothers." The others agreed and the nurse walked me to Shun's room. I walked through the door and the person I saw in the hospital bed didn't look like my friend. Shun looked weak, pale, and in pain. "Shun." I had practically whispered it, but Shun must've heard me because his eyes opened and he looked at me. "Dan? What are you doing here?"
Chapter 10
Shun
"Dan, what are you doing here? I thought only family members were allowed to visit." "The nurse worked something out with your doctor and let me in here, but only for a few minutes." "Ah. I guess my grandfather told you I was here." "Yeah." Dan took a seat in one of the chairs and asked me exactly why I was here. I explained to him everything that I remembered from the past few days, minus the whole flat line heart monitor thing. Dan then had told me about something that happened to Jake a few days ago and we were both laughing, but I stopped. "Hey Shun, you ok?" I had my head tilted down some to where Dan couldn't see my eyes. "Shun, are you ok?" "You know I don't have to be in here. I'm not weak, and it seems like that's what they're treating me like. Like I'm weak and can't do anything for myself." "Shun, you know you're sick and the only reason you're in here is because of that and your grandfather wants you to get better and make sure you don't have the same thing as you're mother." "Shut up! You don't know anything about my mother! And why would that old man care about me! All I am to him is the thing he never could amount to, and a pawn in his sick game of chess!" I don't know why what Dan said got me riled up, but it did. "Shun, calm down. I didn't mean to offend you, but it's the truth. You're grandfather is worried about you and that's why you're here." My voice had lowered and I wasn't yelling anymore, and told Dan that he should probably leave. Dan left out and I laid back and looked out my window at the cloudy sky. I'm not weak, and I'll prove it to all of them. To Dan, those doctors, and even my grandfather.
Chapter 11
Omaki
Dan stepped out of Shun's room and closed the door behind him. "So Dan, how's Shun doing?" "Uh, he's feeling better, I think." "Oh, that's good." I still wanted to see Shun and tell him I was sorry. Yes, I still hadn't told him I was sorry only because I haven't seen him since then. Then Shun's grandfather and doctor came up to us. Dan went up to the doctor and said, "So doc, what's up with our friend in there? You know, the black haired one named Shun." "I am fully aware of who you are talking about, and I was heading this way to talk to his guardian in private, so please move to the side and let us by. Thank you." They both left out and went somewhere in the hospital. "I wonder what they're talking about. I hope it's not about Shun." Murucho looked at me confused and said. "What wound it matter if it was about Shun? I mean, he is getting better, why would they keep something about Shun from us?" "That's just it Murucho, what if something's really wrong with Shun and they can't tell us about it." "Oh. I didn't think of that. I guess that is something to worry about." We all stopped our conversation because of a loud growling noise. "Wha- what was th- that?" We all looked over in the direction the sound came from and Dan was rubbing his stomach. "Uh, sorry. I didn't eat this morning." Runo mumbled something under her breath but I knew it was something about Dan. You never had to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. I laughed and said, "Ok, how bout we all get something to eat down the street?" After deciding where we were all going to eat we left the hospital and hopped inside Murucho's limo.
Chapter 12
Dan
I leaned back in my chair and sighed with happiness. "Well, I'm full." Runo looked at me and said, "Well you should be, you pretty much ate the whole horse." We were both sticking our tongues out and Julie was trying to stop us from fighting. I stopped when I heard my phone ring. "Hold on Runo, I got a text message." It was from Shun's number, but sent by his grandpa. I didn't know the old man knew how to text. Ha. The more you learn. I read the message which read, Hello Daniel, Shun's doctor wanted you to meet us in front of Shun's house in 30 minutes. He only needs you to help us search for something in particular, and to ask you a few questions. Send me a message back if you can. I sent a text back saying I'd be there and told the others what I had to do and left. I grabbed the attention of a taxi when Omaki ran up behind me. "Dan! Wait! I want to go with you!" "What? Why? I'm just going to help gramps look for something." "I just wanna go. It would make me feel like I'm doing something to help Shun." I sighed and gave in. I don't see how Shun puts up with her at times. When we arrived at Shun's house, the doctor and gramps were standing outside and greeted us. As we walked though the door I let my curiosity get the best of me and I asked, "So, what are we exactly looking for?" The doctor looked at me with a serious look on his face and said, "Anything that says your friend may of tried committing suicide." My eyes get wide and I was shocked, so I looked over at Omaki to see if she heard what he said, and I knew she had the same facial expression as I. "What! Shun would never try to kill himself! Never!" The doctor didn't say a single word and began looking in the drawers on his nightstand, and pulled out a brown paper bag. The doctor asked me, "Do you know what this is?" I looked at the bag and shrugged my shoulders and said, "No clue." "This is what we mainly find in suicide attempts. It's a mixture of pain killers, drugs, and whatever else a person can find that would aid in the end of their life." The doc put the bag in a Ziploc and continued searching the room, where he and gramps found several different narcotics and more pain killers. Me and Omaki were both lost for words, and all I could think of was, Shun, why? Why'd you do this to yourself?
Chapter 13
Shun
The doctors had moved me into a regular hospital room as soon as I showed more signs of improvement. So now Dan and the others were able to visit me whenever and however long they wanted to. I thought about how I had yelled at Dan, but put it in the back of my mind. Runo, Murucho, Jake, Alice, Fabia, and Julie were all sitting in chairs or on the couch as I was flipping through the TV channels. Then we all heard the sound of somebody running towards the room and Dan, Omaki, my doctor, and my grandfather came busting up in the room. "What the? What's going on here?" They were all panting and covered with sweat. Then I diverted my eye sight to the brown paper bag in the Ziploc that he was holding. Please tell me that's not what I think it is. If it is then I know they'll try and get me some psychiatrist to help me. "Uh, so what's in the bag?" My grandfather asked everybody to go downstairs in the lobby while they talked to me in private. All of them left without a minute of hesitation and as soon as they were gone, the doctor tossed the bag on the couch and asked me, "Why did you do this? Why did you try to kill yourself? All you have to do is tell us why and all the ingredients that are in that bag. And we can make you better and get you some help." They think I tried to kill myself! "What! I didn't try to kill myself!" Omaki then stepped out from behind my grandfather. She had tears going down her face and she said, "Shun, please don't lie about something this serious. All you have to do is tell us and then we can get somebody to help you." "Please! You all have to believe me when I tell you I did not try to kill myself!" They still didn't look convince that I was telling the truth. The doctor looked me right into the eyes and said, "We'll determine whether you tried to take your life later, right now tell us everything in this bag so we can help you get better, and start your right treatments." "Fine. The contents in the bag, and these are the correct measurements, is 300mg of high dose pain killers, 50mg of cocaine, and 3mg of carpet cleaner." The doctor wrote down everything I said and walked out of the room, and I looked over at my grandfather. "Grandpa, I didn't try to kill myself. You have to believe me. Please." He only shook his head and left out of my room. Dan and Omaki then followed him. God, how am I going to tell them the truth? It's not like I can just go up to them and explain to them that I got involved with the wrong people and developed a drug problem. And I thought the reason I was in here was because I had a virus, not because of a small amount of drugs I did the night before I got sick. I then felt tears rolling down my cheeks and felt that lump you get in your throat when you start to cry. I then reached in my pocket and pulled out a syringe with 40mg of pure methamphetamine. All I needed now was a rubber band to tie around my arm to cut off my circulation. I found one in a drawer and tied it on my arm. As I stuck the needle into my arm, and slowly pushed the drug into my vein, I started saying in my mind, This will help me. I don't know how, but it will. What I didn't realize was that, as I was injecting the drug, I was also slipping into a coma.
Chapter 14
Dan
Why is Shun denying something like this? I just don't get it. Me and Omaki decided not to tell the others about what Shun tried to do to himself. Then a nurse went running by all of us with Shun's doctor following behind her, and turned into Shun's room. We all ran into the room and saw they had an oxygen mask on Shun along with who knows how many IV drips with medicine going down the tube and into his arm. "What happened! What's wrong with him!" The doctor didn't pay any attention to me and kept on with what he was doing. Then gramps walked into the room holding a soda in his hand, and the moment he saw what was going on, he dropped the cup and the soda spilled all over the floor. The doctor lifted his head above the nurses and said, "Nurses, get them out of here so I can work." Two nurses led us out to the hallway and told us to go into the waiting room. "Hey! What's going on with our friend! Is he going to be ok?" They ran back to the room and closed the door. It was nearly 11:30 at night and the majority of us had fallen asleep in the waiting room's chairs, except for me. I was waiting for that stuck up doctor to come out of the room and explain to me what was happening to Shun. My patience had paid off because in less than 10 minutes the doc came out and took his gloves off and threw them away. I ran up to him and said, "Now that you have some free time, tell me what the hell went on in there!" He pulled out an empty syringe and said, "Your friend tried to take his life again. We figured out that over half of this was filled with pure methamphetamine, which is enough to kill someone. But your friend got lucky and only slipped into a coma." "A coma! That's lucky! What if he never wakes up!" "Calm down kid! Your friend is going to come out of this eventually. Usually methamphetamine comas only last around less than a week, that is, if they are caught in time." "What do you mean caught in time?" "If somebody that is slipping into a coma isn't put on life support quickly, they can become brain dead, and there's no hope for them then. The question now is, if we got to your friend in time. Now, I have to go and tell the ICU that they'll be having a new patient soon." Then he left. God I hope Shun was saved in time.
Chapter 15
Shun
I could hear everything going on around me, but couldn't see or do anything about any of it. But during that time, I knew Omaki was by my bedside as much as she could be. I then began to wake up. My eyes slowly opened up, and I saw Omaki next to me crying. I don't think she knows I'm awake yet. She then began to talk through her sobs. "Shun….I know you probably can't hear me, but I went to the doctor today and found out I'm pregnant." I opened my eyes up the rest of the way and replied weakly, "What?" She stopped crying and gasped. "Shun! You're awake! Thank heavens! Did you hear what I said?" "Something about you being pregnant." "Yes! Oh right now I don't care! I'm just happy you're back!" I still wasn't fully awake, but I recall her kissing me on the head and running outside and telling everyone that I was awake. Oh no. I have to deal with Dan and everybody else. After an hour of dealing with Dan and the others, I called out to Omaki to stay in here. "Ok Shun. What is it?" "Promise me you won't tell anybody that you're pregnant. Ok? For me, please." "Ok. But why?" "It's best for all of us if they don't know." "I promise Shun." She smiled and kissed me. Oh man, I'm going to be a father.
One year later…
There was blood everywhere. Omaki's blood. "Shun! Take Albany and get the hell out of here!" "No! I'm not leaving you! I can stop them before they come back!" She kept telling me to go, but I kept refusing. I heard the door open and looked at Omaki's beautiful brown eyes. She said in her sweetest voice, "Please Shun, for my last request, take Albany and get out. For me." I held back the tears and scooped up my crying daughter. We were a little over a mile away when I heard the final gunshot. It stopped me dead in my tracks, and I fell to my knees. They had ambushed us in the street and kidnapped Omaki and Albany. When I chased them down and got there as soon as they had finished raping Omaki and shooting her in the side. I saw Albany over huddled in the corner of the fence crying as her mother called out for help. Splash. A raindrop fell on my head and snapped me out of my horrific flashback. I looked at Albany, who had her head buried in my shoulder crying, and told her, "I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you. And I'm not going to abandon you. No matter what." What I didn't know was, I wouldn't be able to keep one of those promises.
The End!
