July 31st, 2011

She sighed as she stared out the train's window watching the scenery as they sped through the country, catching glimpses of old billboard advertisements every few seconds. It was finally summer vacation and she was looking forward to being able to relax and take it easy, maybe even spend time with her mother if she could get away from work. She also planned on spending some time just hanging out with some friends, two of which sat beside her on the train.

"Do you have anything planned for the summer?" Suzume barely heard the question and just kept staring out the window, twirling a lock of strawberry blond hair between two fingers. "Suzume?"

"Aw come on, Miki, leave her alone. You know she's quiet," Hana said. She leaned forward in her seat beside Miki and smiled over at Suzume. "Isn't that right, Suzume-chan?"

She released the twirled lock of hair around her finger and it bounced. She spoke without turning to look at the other two. "Nothing much, really, I just wanted to spend some time with the two of you and mother."

Hana leaned back against her seat and readjusted the hem of her skirt. "Well, I'm just glad we can finally put these away for a while. I'm so sick of uniforms."

Miki nodded as she folded her fingers together, raising both hands outstretched before her and then above her, stretching her arms out on either side and bringing them down across the back of their seats, an arm behind each girl on either side of her. "Suzume, I heard a strange rumor today."

Having piqued Hana's attention she made a dramatic gasp with a hand over her mouth as she turned on her seat to face her two friends. "That's right, I almost forgot."

"Huh?" Suzume turned to look at Miki, dropping her hand into her lap.

"Did you break some boy's heart today?" Miki asked. Her head was only slightly turned toward her friend as she looked at her from the corner of her eye, a mischievous grin on her face.

"A boy?" She tilted her head in confusion just as the train stopped. The doors slid open and people began crowding around them as the seats began to fill up and the handles that hung from the car's ceiling became occupied. She recalled the boy from earlier that day who had approached her behind the music room and asked if she'd study with him for the exams after summer vacation. She was about to reply to him but then he had cut her off by confessing to her. She had quietly listened to him until he finished and had remained quiet for at least a minute after he had finally stopped speaking. He looked kind and gentle, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. When he asked her if she'd say something she flatly replied with a 'No'. His face had quickly gone from being a shy boy with a crush to something angry and mean, something completely twisted. He assaulted her with one question after another, telling her no girl had ever refused him and that she had to go out with him. Without another word she had spun on her heel to walk away but then he had reached out to grab her arm. She bent her knees and drove her elbow into his gut with enough force that she could have sworn she felt something break. She made no apology before walking way, leaving the boy down on one knee cursing her in various languages. "Oh, you mean Hyuri?"

"Is that who it was?" Hana asked, gasping for real this time. Suzume nodded.

"You know him?" Miki asked her.

Suzume folded her arms across her chest as she listened to Hana's description. She had already heard the same kind of details from other girls in her year. "You mean you don't know?" Miki shook her head at Hana. "He's gone out with several girls since he moved here, but they all broke up with him not long after. But not only that, they all say the exact same thing about him; He's possessive, controlling, jealous and, well… He's just an asshole, you know? There's a bunch of nasty rumors going around about him, I'm kind of inclined to believe some of them."

"Woah," Miki whispered, turning to look at Suzume. "You really dodged a bullet there. How'd he take your rejection?"

"Did you know he could speak in different languages?" Suzume asked them.

The train lurched and some people were pushed sideways, some into other people as well which resulted in a flurry of apologies and complaints. Both girls looked at her confusedly before Miki spoke. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I recognized five of the languages when he began cursing me after I elbowed him in the stomach." Both her friends looked at her in mild surprise. The man standing in front of her shifted his weight onto his other leg, causing that leg to brush up against her. "He reached out to grab me when I tried walking away after I rejected him. He should've known better." Suzume looked up at the man standing in front of her and their eyes met. When he didn't take the hint she narrowed her eyes at him until finally he made an annoyed expression and moved.

"Boys are so stupid sometimes," Hana said, turning in her seat to face forward. Hana looked up when she heard the train's announcement over the speaker phone announcing that their stop was the next one. "We're next, ladies." The three stood up and used the bars as support to make their way toward the car's exit.

"Hard to believe that this year went by so fast…" Miki said.

The three had spent most of their school year living in a dormitory since the commute between home and school was simply too far to do on a daily basis. They attended school in the city while their homes were actually in a small town about an hour from the city by train, which is how they had met in first year when the three realized they had been taking the same commute during long weekends and vacations to the same little town. They had become friends easily and spent a lot of time together in and out of school.

Suzume lived alone with her mother since her parents divorced when she was two. She didn't have any memories of her father and her mother never really mentioned him unless when asked when registering Suzume at a clinic, school or a hospital, but even then she only gave vague information. There were also no pictures of her father anywhere in the house and any attempt she had made at going through her mom's things was in vain. If there were any pictures, or had been any, they were either hidden really well or simply no longer existed. She often wondered why he had left them and had several theories, but none of them made any sense since her mother was not only a good person, but beautiful as well. Who'd want to leave her? She was young, attractive, educated and worked hard. Maybe even too hard sometimes. A lot of the time when Suzume came home she was either working on a case, fell asleep at the office or at home. She was rarely around and though she tried not to complain (she knew how important her mother's work was to her) she still wished she were around more. The recent emails she had gotten from her mother had her excited for this summer vacation, though she knew to expect the worse and hope for the best. If her mother could wrap up her current case soon she could spend the entire summer with her.

"Suzume?" Miki poked her in the ribs.

She turned to look at her and followed her pointed finger at the doors in front of them, watching as the train began to slow to a stop in front of their station. "Oh, right." The doors slid open and they stepped out.

"You seem distracted today," Miki said. "Everything okay?"

Suzume ignored the question and turned her head ever so slightly to be able to look over her shoulder behind her as they walked onto the platform and toward the steps that lead down. She had been distracted since they had left school earlier today. The moment they had left together and began walking toward the train station she noticed a strange man in a tan trench coat, black shades and fedora hat following them. He had gotten onto the train with them, had stood near the back of the car the entire time and had just now gotten off at the same stop.

"Isn't your mom getting time off?" Hana asked. "Maybe she's just excited." Hana chuckled and bumped into Miki with her left hip as they began descending the steps. "Maybe they'll finally be able to go out for that ice cream her mom's been promising since last year."

Suzume returned her attention to her friends and watched their faces carefully, noting that neither of them had noticed him. "What?"

Miki adjusted her bag's strap on her shoulder. "Don't you remember? You waited three hours sitting on that bench outside the ice cream shop with a melted ice cream in each hand. Sometimes I wonder if you're an alien from outer space or if someone accidentally gave you a little girl's heart and an old woman's soul when they made you."

Hana burst out laughing. "Yeah, I remember that. Suzume sat there the entire time with a serious face and then almost started crying when you told her her mom wasn't coming. It was so cute."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked them.

"It means you're too serious sometimes and at other times you're sensitive, and when you combine the two it's both funny and cute to watch," Miki explained.

"Geeze, I love you too…" Suzume shot back, shoving both hands into her coat pockets.

They turned a corner and Suzume glanced over her shoulder again to see if the man was till following them and sure enough, he turned the corner as well, keeping at least a hundred feet behind them. When Miki turned to say something else she noticed Suzume looking over her shoulder and did the same, finally seeing the man following behind them. Hana saw this and turned to look as well before grabbing the other two, pulling them around another corner. "Who is that?" she asked them.

"I don't know," Miki replied, turning to Suzume. "What's going on?"

"He's been following us since we left school." Suzume returned her attention forward again. "I didn't say anything before because I wasn't sure."

They hurried down the street, picking up the pace every few seconds as they realized he kept up with them. "Suzume's house is closest so I say we go there and lock the doors, then call her mom if he comes anywhere near the house," Hana said in a hushed voice. The other two agreed and they hurried across the street and around another corner, her house coming into view at the end of the street. She noticed a pale blue car in the driveway and recognized it as her mother's, a sense of relief washing over her. The three broke into a run toward the driveway and around the car, stopping only when they were all standing on her front steps. Miki glanced behind them and found the street empty.

Finally Suzume got the door open and pulled her friends in, closing the door behind them.

(~)

"I should be back before you wake up tomorrow morning," she called from the entryway, pulling a shoe over a foot. Suzume sat in the front room with the television on, a local news story went on about some old woman complaining that her younger neighbors were being too loud. She stretched her neck up and looked over the back of the sofa at her mother's back sitting on the steps still fumbling with her shoes. It was all she could see since part of the wall blocked the rest of the view of the entrance. "We're bringing in the suspect tonight, and then I can finally have time off for the summer."

"You still owe me an ice cream," Suzume told her seriously.

Her mother sighed in exasperation. "You'll never let me live that down, will you?"

She recalled having been teased about it earlier. "Never."

Her mother leaned back on her hands . "If we get this guy tonight, I'll buy you the biggest ice cream there and we can share it." She turned her head to look back at her daughter looking at her from over the back of the sofa. All she could see was the top half of her face, everything below the bridge of her nose hidden behind the sofa. "Then you can complain that you have a tummy ache and we'll eat watermelon till we both throw up and fall asleep. How's that sound?"

"Awesome."

"I love you," she shouted as she stood up and reached for the door, smiling when her daughter returned the affection and wished her luck.

Suzume listened as the car pulled out of the driveway before changing the channel, wondering what to have for dinner. She thought back about the man who had followed them earlier that day, but it only made her nervous and uncomfortable. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone, checking to make sure the battery was fully charged just in case. She thought about calling the girls to see what they were doing but thought better of it. "They're probably busy with family…" She sighed and tossed her phone on the sofa beside her and stretched before putting her feet up on the table. Feeling sleepy, she closed her eyes for just a moment and reopened them, noticing that the channel she had been watching that had been showing a tacky cartoon movie was now showing the ending credits. She looked at the clock and realized two hours had passed since her mom had gone to work. She looked over and reached for her phone only to find it gone. Confused, she leaned forward slightly to see if it had fallen onto the floor and found nothing.

Her heart skipped a beat and thudded in her ears like a hammer against a drum. She froze on the sofa, remembering clearly that she had tossed it beside her. Her eyes followed the cushion to the edge of the sofa where for a second she theorized having knocked it down while sleeping and it could have somehow rolled under the sofa, but then her eyes darted to her feet which were still up on the table in front of her, nowhere near the cushion her phone had been resting on. She slowed her breathing and listened, trying to calm the sound of her racing heart so she could listen for any strange sound in the house. She concentrated but could only hear the sound of the clock on the wall, the television and her own breathing. She held her breath…

She could hear someone's breathing behind her.

"Tick tock…tick tock… I trapped a little mouse inside her clock…"

The voice was low and raspy, as though he had been running and was out of breath, almost panting. Her mind raced in a million directions with a million reasons, but with each theory her mind summoned it also caused more and more of her own blood to drain from her face. She suddenly felt icy cold in the middle of a heat wave.

"I know you noticed me today, but it's okay, I wanted you to see me…"

He sounded like he was only a few steps behind her, which meant he had to be between her and the front door. There was a back door, but she'd still have to pass him in order to get there. She looked around for anything she could throw at him when she heard a familiar sound behind her. Her cell phone played the song she had set as a ringtone whenever her mother called, a favorite song they had always enjoyed singing together during car rides and road trips. Her eyes darting frantically from one side of the room to the other for something, anything, that she could throw while making a dash for either door that lead to the outside world. The song finally stopped and the sound of her heart took its place in her ears, still pounding inside her chest. Her eyes also began to burn and her throat felt tight as she fought back the urge to cry.

Her phone played the same song again, meaning her mother was calling again. Suddenly she could see a familiar object from out of the corner of her right eye as the phone had been flung into the air. There was an explosive bang and she screamed before sliding off the sofa and ducking to hide between it and the table with both hands over her ears. Tears she had been fighting back finally streamed down her face as the deafening sound of the gunshot still rang in her ears. She could no longer hear her phone now, pieces of it strewn across the room, the faint smell of burnt plastic making its way to her nostrils.

"Get up…" She didn't want to move. "Get up or I'll kill you."

A strangled sound escaped her throat as she stood up on trembling legs, her face wet with tears. She held her arms across her stomach in some feeble attempt to shield herself. "Please…d-don't hurt me…" She opened her eyes and when they cleared she could see the man standing in front of her, the gun pointed in her direction. Her heart nearly stopped in her chest when she recognized the man from earlier today. "P-please, I d-don't know who you are, just p-please…" she pleaded with him.

"Hurt you?" he asked, almost as if he couldn't believe it himself. He reached up and slid the shades off his face and tossed them aside. "I wouldn't hurt you, dollface. Why on Earth would I do that?" His eyes were glassy and vacant, the kind of eyes that drug addicts have when they've not only reached the end of their rope, but had reached literal rock bottom after having completely lost themselves to the despair and loathing that kept them company in whatever hole they had fallen into. "Oh no, I won't hurt you," he continued, shaking his head. "I'm going to carve my name into your pretty little body right before I put holes in it and watch you bleed until there's nothing left of you but a lifeless corpse." He began breathing hard again as he unbuttoned his trench coat, the excitement in his voice was obvious in more ways than one once his trench coat was thrown wide open. A wave of nausea threatened to overwhelm her and it took everything for her to be able to keep standing there without throwing up. "Then, I'm going to fuck you right before I cut you up In tiny little pieces so I can mail you to your—"

Her nausea had nearly reached her pained throat just when she heard tires screeching across pavement like a pair of scorned banshees. The sound was so relieving she nearly relieved herself but held on, constricting her bladder and whatever else that threatened to escape her.

He had turned to stare toward the front door. "Shit…your fucking whore of a mother wasn't supposed to find me." He turned to look back at her, pulling the safety back with a click. "Fuck!" Enraged, he kicked the stand that had been standing in the hallway beside him into the entrance, the table knocking into the door just as it flew open, knocking the little table back against the wall and smashing from the sheer force of the door's impact against it. He turned on his heel and walked backward into the front room, the gun never wavering from her direction.

"Suzume?" she heard her mother's voice call to her.

"Oh my god, mom?" she cried back, her voice hitching in her throat.

She could hear her mother step forward and Suzume could finally see her crouched low behind the wall that separated the front room from the entrance. "Did he—"

"N-no, h-he didn't t-t-touch me mommy," he cried mockingly. "No, I haven't touched your fucking brat. But if you take one step closer I'll fill her up with lead instead of my—"

"Shut your mouth! You have nowhere left to run, Takeo. Just surrender so no one else has to get hurt. She's just a little girl for fuck's sake!"

Suzume quickly glanced at the man and then back toward her mother, wondering if she'd be able to make it if she jumped over the sofa. Before she could make up her mind she finally heard sirens in the distance, as did he. When mother took a step forward everything happened so quickly and yet so slowly it seemed almost surreal. He swore again and turned his gun on her, pulling the trigger. The entrance frame her mother hid behind exploded and splintered. Suzume screamed and just as she was about to take that jump over the sofa she saw movement out from the corner of her left eye. She had only time enough to turn to see the gun turned on her right before the second shot exploded.

Everything went black.

(~)

She groaned and rolled over onto her left side before crying out when pain flared and radiated from her left shoulder. She quickly rolled over onto her other side and onto her knees with her forehead to the floor, grasping her shoulder with her other hand. Hot tears streaked her face as the pain throbbed, making it difficult to breath.

"You have awoken. Welcome."

She gasped for air and swallowed hard, wiping her face with her right hand before pushing herself up onto her knees. She looked toward the direction the voice had come expecting to see a doctor of some sort but instead stared into the eyes of some strange old man sitting in a seat in the center of the room. She blinked several times and wiped her eyes again before looking around, realizing she wasn't just in some room but what looked to be the inside of an airplane. She finally noticed the sound of the engines and the windows that lined on either side of them. The floor was covered in a purple velvet carpet long with the seats, the walls and ceiling. Everything in the entire room was a dark, rich purple velvet except for the old man sitting in the center a few feet away from her. She turned to look at him and then at the man standing beside him, just as equally strange as the old man himself.

The old man's nose was the strangest of all, being long and resembling a bird's beak more than an actual nose. His long eyebrows were dark while his hair, long and straggly around the top bald spot on his head, was white. He wore a black, tailed coat tuxedo and black cravat over a white chemise. His companion, on the other hand, stood tall with equally white hair. Unlike his master's mostly white eyes, his eyes were a gold color. He wore black trousers with a blue stripe that ran down each side and ended in black, leather shoes. His jacket was also blue like the stripes on his trousers other than the lighter shade of blue that also colored his lapel jacket, hat and blue tie over a black chemise beneath the jacket. White gloves covered both hands, one of which carried a large, brown book. He looked every part the male attendant. Her eyes met his golden irises and for a moment she had nearly forgotten about her pain before it flared up again, reminding her of her mortality.

"Do not worry, your life will not expire here in this place…" he told her, intertwining his fingers. "A place that exists between dream and reality, mind and matter…" His grin made her uncomfortable.

"Looks like an airplane to me," she managed in a low voice. Suddenly she remembered something important and felt a pang of hurt for having forgotten about it. "Where's my mother? Is she—" He raised both hands to stall her questions as she rose up to stand on both legs before him. "Where is she?"

He lowered his hands into his lap, his smile gone. "It is my sincerest regret to inform you that while you are alive, your mother did not survive."

Her knees buckled and she crumbled to her knees, all color, blood and life drained from her as she could no longer hold anything back. Pain and tears overwhelmed her and everything else around her seemed irrelevant to the moment. "N-no, you're lying…" Tears fell and soaked into her jeans beneath her. "She was right there!" she screamed at him.

"Dear guest, all things happen for a reason." He waved a hand and a table with six cards hovering above it appeared, each card except for one descended to the table. The card that remained flipped over and revealed a grim reaper with its scythe, the very picture of death. "Ah, Death in the upright position, this does not always mean an end but also signifies a change, a phase in life that serves its purpose—"

Suddenly the table lifted up off the floor and was flung toward and over him, crashing into the wall behind Igor. The tarot cards were flung in every direction.

"A reason for my mother dying?" she growled through gritted teeth, her swollen eyes narrowed at him. "You think I give a shit about your fucking reasons?"

"Theodore, perhaps you could escort our guest back. It seems she is having difficulty accepting reality." He lifted a hand and gestured toward Suzume and for some reason that pissed her off even more. She took a step forward and raised her right fist and was about to bring it down into his face when the other man grasped her wrist with a strong grip.

"Of course, Master Igor." While still holding her wrist he bowed and gently guided her away from the old man. "Please forgive my Master, he only means well. I also apologize for being abrupt," he said, releasing her wrist. "My sisters would have been here to greet you, but alas, they are currently preoccupied with other pressing matters." He bowed before taking a step back, placing one hand on his chest.

"Until next time, dear guest…"

Suzume barely had time to turn to look at the old man when the one he had called Theodore removed his hand from his chest and waved it in front of her eyes.

Everything went black.

Again.