Fallen From Oblivion
by Ridley Silverlake
"Mikan, wake up. You're going to be late. Hotaru will be upset if she finds out you've been taking school too easy."
'Hotaru?'
"Come on. Breakfast is ready." I listened to his footsteps slowly hush, followed by my bedroom door closing.
"…Grandpa," I mumbled to myself. "As always."
I sighed and sat up, rubbing my eye boogers off. I kicked the sheets off and headed straight to the bathroom to get ready for school.
I miss Hotaru, I haven't seen her in eight years; two of which I remember nothing of.
You see, six years ago I woke up in the hospital. According to the doctors and grandpa, I was in a coma for two years after Hotaru left. They said I tried to go after her, but a huge accident happened; so big that I don't even remember a thing from that night.
What's strange though is that when I returned home, my room looked as if it was emptied and carelessly put back in order, like someone was trying to find something, and was really bad at making it look like he was never there. Now, I know grandpa would never do that. I would have let it be if I didn't find a strange item in my belongings—a bag that I could swear on my mother's grave I never had. It was a small white backpack packed with clothes that I used to own.
Something more peculiar caught my eye, however. Inside the pocket of one of my jeans, I found a picture of Hotaru and me with two boys I'd never met in my entire life. Written at the back was a note in my handwriting.
December 25
I think I kissed Natsume tonight.
We fell, and he humiliated me in front of everyone telling them how bad of a kisser I was.
Those were lightly scratched off using the same pen, though. Under that was:
Natsume kissed me tonight.
I decided not to tell anyone about it and I never tried visiting Hotaru again since Grandpa's gotten really ill and I don't want him to worry.
"Don't forget to drop by the supermarket after school," Grandpa reminded me before I left.
"Of course, Grandpa," I said, making my way to the door. "Have a nice day. I'll see you tonight."
I go to college now, as hard as that is for anyone to believe. I did have to turn down the opportunity to go to a big university because of Grandpa's condition, but I feel like college alone is already a big achievement for me.
As I crossed the road after getting off the bus, I felt me phone ring.
"Hi," I answered.
"Mikan, you can't be late today. We have a test," I heard my friend say from the other end.
"Relax, I'm outside the school already," I lied.
"Okay, see you, then," she said and then hung up on me.
I pocketed my phone and walked faster, avoiding contact with anyone I came across. Before I could even approach the last junction before school, I caught a glimpse of a familiar person and found myself running to hide behind a post.
I took a deep breath. "Not possible," I told myself and closed my eyes. Not possible at all.
I stepped out from behind the post, took the item out of my pocket, and, slower than before, carried on with my trip to school.
"Mikan…" I heard someone say from behind me, making me stop dead in my tracks. With much hesitation, I turned around to face him.
I looked at him and, without even knowing why, I felt tears rolling down my face. I clenched my fist, unconsciously crumpling the photo in my hand.
He looked at me with the same ruby eyes I'd stared at every single morning for the past six years. His eyes held the same darkness as the boy in the picture, yet I could somehow feel something more as he looked at me. He had the same hair, the same eyes, the same expression… They were the same person.
"It's nice to finally meet you," I said as my tears started falling faster than ever, "Natsume."
The End.
Author's Notes: That didn't turn out as nice as I'd hoped, but yay! I finally updated this.
Ridley Silverlake
x
