Chapter 2: Awakening
Even with the heater cranked up to the highest, I shiver uncontrollably. Vanille has slept on the couch, all warm and wrapped up in the spare blanket from one of the cupboards. She has a peaceful appearance on her face, an appearance all kids have when they drift off into their dreams. The real world is too harsh, too terrible to face, and even the bravest of men struggle in an effort to come to terms with it. Young people have it easy, oblivious to the cares of reality. Sometimes, I did wish that I was still immature, naïve and childish. Being a responsible adult sucks most of the time.
What Vanille had told me sent a chill down my spine earlier. I try to recall the conversation we had, but I forgot most of it because it some parts of it are simply too disturbing. I have to do something to clear my already cluttered head. I need to relax a little, maybe.
I splash some water on my face in the bathroom and look into the mirror. My reflection shows a woman who had overworked herself too much, being a workaholic and all. She didn't bother to give herself a makeover, despite her sister persuading her to do so more times than she could count. Never the one to pamper herself with useless luxury, this woman sought pleasure in labour and hard work. Now, stress had taken its toll, and she seemed utterly exhausted.
I take out my headphones, plug it to my smartphone and listen to some oldies. I lie on my bed, allowing myself to be one with the music, humming to the tune and muttering the lyrics here and there. This is way better than jamming your ear with what people listen to nowadays. My parents used to play this kind of music all the time on the car radio, and I somehow naturally learned to enjoy it.
Once I have enough, I proceed to think through some of the things Vanille had said. These are not the exact words, but the conversation went about something like this:
VANILLE: You know Hope? The boy who's missing?
ME: Yeah. He's my sister's student.
VANILLE: Well, he's been taken… by some people. [Looks down] Well, sorta…
ME: What do you mean?
VANILLE: How do I put it? [Hesitates] They weren't human.
ME: Wait… They weren't human?
VANILLE: They looked all strange and spindly and bizarre, all at the same time. Like some crazy, deformed aliens. They really scared me.
ME: Look… Uh, what was your name again?
VANILLE: Vanille.
ME: Look Vanille, as much as I want to believe you, I honestly say I don't. How did you get to know Hope in the first place?
VANILLE: I've been classmates with him since last year. He's one of my good friends. We hang out at school a lot.
ME: I assume Miss Farron – who, by the way, got married not too long ago and I have no idea why you call her 'miss' when you should be calling her 'madam' – is your teacher, am I right?
VANILLE: My Biology teacher, as a matter of fact.
ME: Did she tell you to look for me in the first place?
VANILLE: Something like that. I called her and she said she was too emotionally distraught to talk things over. She instead gave me your address, saying that you could probably do something about this.
ME: Figures. I know as much as what you know. I'm literally in the dark.
VANILLE: But Miss Farron told me you are a policewoman with the Tokyo Police. Can't you go and investigate Hope's disappearance?
ME: Sure, once my break is over. The other policemen are handling the situation pretty well as for now. Why don't you tell me how your friend got kidnapped – if you could call it kidnap – by these weird alien creatures?
VANILLE: It happened on our way home from school. Hope was cracking this hilarious joke when, all of a sudden, two of the creatures came rushing out of an alley, wailing and running towards us like a madman. One of them grabbed me by the hair and I screamed at the top of my lungs. I closed my eyes and began punching and kicking wildly, too afraid to even look at the thing, whatever it was. Under my blows, the creature made belching noises and splattered goo onto my face, which made it all the worse. Then, it shoved me to the ground and left me there. When I finally opened my eyes, I just managed to see Hope being snatched away by the two of them.
ME: Just like that?
VANILLE: [Nods] Just like that…
Vanille then took out a handkerchief from her pocket and unfolded it. It was smeared with a sticky, mucus-like substance. I wanted her to get rid of it, but instead put on some rubber gloves, took the disgusting piece of cloth from Vanille and stowed it in a sealable bag. It might come in handy as evidence.
We talked a little while longer and I found out that Vanille is living with a guardian as she had lost her parents for some unknown reason. She's just like Serah and me, minus the guardian though. I had to be the sole breadwinner when our parents were gone, making sure that Serah and I got the best out of what meager salary I earned from the part-time job I went to after school.
I go over to the couch and wake Vanille up. She rubs her eyes and yawns, giving me an approving nod and wriggling out of the blanket to place her feet firmly onto the floor. I hand her some biscuits from the kitchen pantry and she eats them heartily.
"Okay, now that you have taken your nap," I said nicely, "are you going to go home soon?"
Vanille swallowed. "What's the rush? My curfew is until eight o'clock."
I check the digital clock on the wall. It says 7.23. The curtains are already drawn but I know it's quite dark outside. I should probably call a taxi to send Vanille home later. It's not safe for a girl her age to be out in the open like that this late an hour.
"What's that book over there?" asks Vanille, pointing to the paperback I had left on the armchair. "Can I read it?"
"When you grow a little older, maybe." I smirk nonchalantly. "Murakami's not for children. It's an adult novel."
"That's a shame." Vanille crosses her arms. "Why do they have to rate everything these days? Anything age-appropriate, then?"
"Not that I can think of. I would be happy to give you a short synopsis of the book, though."
"Nah, forget it. It could be too deep for me to understand."
Never judge a book by its cover. Time and time again we have heard this wise saying. Vanille, if you didn't heed to my warning and just went ahead and read it anyway, I assure you, you will enjoy it. The book, 1Q84 is about two individuals who find themselves in a parallel world with two moons in the sky. They don't know how the hell they got there, but they do know that they are in a world depicted in a book initially written by queer girl by the penname of Fuka-Eri, a world where strange beings called the 'Little People' take strands of white threads from thin air and weave them into an 'air chrysalis'.
I always liked the idea of parallel universes. They open up numerous possibilities, each one either horrifying or wonderful or both at the same time. Imagine a universe where Serah is not my sister and we are standing on opposite sides of the street, waiting for the traffic lights to signal for pedestrians to cross the road. We'll walk past each other at the zebra crossing without the smallest acknowledgement towards the other party, as complete strangers do, having no idea whatsoever that we are indeed related in another alternate reality. Now that's cool.
"So… you think you can find Hope?" Vanille gazes thoughtfully at me. "I'm worried sick."
"Hopefully…" I shake my head. "I'm still trying to grasp what you told me a little while ago."
"What I told you," said Vanille, getting up, "is a hundred percent true. Period. Hope's in trouble and I can only pray for his safety."
"What if something's already happened to him? What if he's –"
"Dead? No, I believe that he's still alive. I just know it."
I call up a taxi and make sure Vanille gets on it. As I watch the taxi speed off down the wet streets, I wonder how this girl can remain positive despite all the odds. Perhaps it's just mindset differences. Perhaps I'm too negative a great deal of the time. Perhaps I've lost hope on even the simplest things…
Once I enter my unit, I make myself dinner before dialing up the police office. My annual break is about to be cut short.