Last Resort

By: Witness In The Silence


"Sometimes the end is just a new beginning." When Rei Kon moved into his gorgeous, cheap new apartment, he got a bit more than he bargained for...it didn't help that he was afraid of ghosts. Shonen-ai KaiRei

Chapter One: Boston

I think I'll go to Boston, I think that I'm just tired,

I think I need a new town, to leave this all behind...

I think I need a sunrise, I'm tired of the sunset,

I hear it's nice in the summer, some snow would be nice...

Boston... where no one knows my name...


The sun was setting.

Rei leaned against the windowsill of the re-opened window, amber eyes gazing out into the rapidly-approaching darkness that was enveloping the neighborhoods of Boston. Outside of his window, the dying sun's reflection glowed brightly on the windowpanes of the skyscrapers, creatings thousands of little stars.

Hm. That was nearly poetic...maybe his block was finally breaking. He had had it for nearly a month, ever since she left him. He had been unable to write, unable to think, barely able to carry out mundane tasks. He didn't commit himself to drink like other people had done; he didn't dive into his work, as the block obviously prevented that. He simply set himself on auto-pilot mode, and as his auto-pilot was very good, no one noticed until he started missing seriously important deadlines.

He had been sent to a shrink, a gypsy, several doctors, and some kind of mythical fortune teller for reasons he couldn't quite comprehend. He had tried to write down whatever came to his mind, but his mind was blank, leaving him with an equally wordless sheet of paper at the end of the day. Finally, he had had enough.

He had decided when his mother and editor both barged in together, declaring that they had discovered some kind of group workshop for something or other that they felt would help him. As their voices grew as they tried to talk over each other, he sank even further into himself, and he must have hit something deep down, because it was like a switch was flipped.

Ideas and thoughts began to move in his dusty head, whirling around brightly like ferris wheels on fire. He had slammed his cup onto the table so hard it shattered...that shut them up. "I'm moving," he said, and then he stood up to get packing.

Of course, they were distraught. "Where are you going? Where will you live? How will you be able to do this? Well, I'll come along and help. Of course. You're too young, too upset, too irrational, darling. You must think this through."

He had bought a plane ticket to Washington and left the next morning. He toured the state for a while, living off of the money from his last two books, making sure that they thought he was settled in. Finally, when they stopped calling every day to check on him, he bought a coach plane ticket to Boston, Massachusetts, and left. He made sure he left both his cell phone and his address book behind.

And now he was here.

He hadn't spoken to anyone besides the landlord, and he almost felt his voice rusting away from disuse. He was a social person, he recalled dimly, in the life that seemed cloudy and far away.

Most of his stuff was already in the apartment, his bed assembled and everything put away. He didn't exactly have much...a couch, a bed, a nightstand. That was about it. Lucky for him, the apartment was mostly furnished. Maybe he could sell the couch and nightstand...the only thing the apartment had been missing was a bed. Bizarre, really. Most of the time it was the bed that stayed.

Oh well.

He left the window open, the light breeze brushing against his cheeks. As he slid into bed and reached for the lamp, he realized that this was the first time in three months that not a single thought of her had crossed his mind.

He decided that he rather liked this apartment.


He hated this apartment.

The sun came through the window like some kind of grenade or something, blowing him away the second he opened his eyes. Closing them, he had rolled away from the sun and fallen off of the bed. Ow.

Wincing, he lifted himself up, moving over to the window, squinting in the glare. He needed to buy curtains...badly. He pushed the window open, frowning as he vaguely recalled opening it last night before he went to sleep. Hmm. Maybe the wind blew it shut.

Yawning, he stumbled out of his room and into the living room-kitchen area. Whoever had lived in this apartment before him had excellent decorating sense: everything was a rich mahogany that gave a warm feeling to the room. He liked it much more than the bedroom, that was certain. Plus, the large bay windows leading to the balcony had curtains, which made whoever the guy was a genius in his book.

The living room lead into the kitchen, the two rooms divided by the hallway to the door. The kitchen was fully furnished and functional...very modern, too. Stainless steel appliances, beautiful marble countertops, perfect tile work, modern steel barstools...jeez. It looked like it belonged to a mansion.

Rei was wary, however. An apartment like this for the rent he was paying? Bah. Still, he wouldn't complain/sue/move out until he found something that made the apartment unlivable. He hadn't yet, so who was he to ask?

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Rei almost leapt onto the hanging lights, his mouth open in a silent scream. He spun around, his hand searching pointlessly for anything to defend himself.

Leaning on the doorframe was a tall, gorgeous, supermodel-esque man. His skin was a creamy pale color, his semi-baggy clothes draping from his lean, slightly muscled form in exactly the right way. Perfectly messy hair hung into captivating burgany eyes. If Rei wasn't so terrified, he would probably be a puddle of mush on the floor.

He arched an eyebrow elegantly, moving away from the door and towards Rei, who stumbled backwards until he hit the counter. As the man came even closer, he scrambled up onto it, shaking violently, his eyes getting wider and wider. His breath began coming in quick little gasps and he began to feel lightheaded.

The man was directly in front of him now, so close that he could see, in perfect detail, the black rings around those intoxicating burgandy eyes. His finely-shaped eyebrows drew together and a frown crossed his features. Gentle fingers came up to touch Rei's cheek. "You...can see me...?"

"Hell yes I can see you," Rei hissed through his teeth. The man started, and his stare intensified.

"You're...you're not her..."

"I'm a goddamn guy, of course I'm not!"

"A...a guy?" The man blinked once, confusion evident. "I...how..."

And then he was gone, leaving Rei alone in the kitchen, perched on the counter, trembling and very much afraid.


"I'm telling you, there was a guy in my apartment!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kon. I didn't see anyone enter the building, nor did I see anyone of that description leave."

"Well, you're useless. Where the hell is the landlord?"

"Um, he's in Europe on family business. He didn't leave any contact numbers..."

"Well that's just dandy."

"I'm very sorry, sir. I don't have the authority to pull the files on the apartment, and I only started working here a few weeks before you arrived."

"Does anyone besides the damn landlord have any authority around here? Rhetorical question. Don't answer."

"Um..."

"Never...never mind. Sorry...you're just the messenger. I'm not supposed to shoot you."

"Shoot me!?"

"...You're not exactly the brightest bulb, are you?"

Without waiting for an answer, Rei stalked away from the panicking doorman and made his way towards his silver Volvo. He slid into the leather driver's seat and slammed the door before he let himself semi-relax.

He took several deep breaths, clutching the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. He slowly, slowly relaxed his grip, using the old exercise his father had shown him long, long ago. He imagined all the tension in his body, squeezing his eyes shut until his cheeks became sore. He slowly let his muscles relax, loosening his hold, taking continually deeper breaths until he was completely relaxed and in control. He opened his eyes.

"Okay. Okay. First thing to do is start looking for apartments, houses, anything. Okay."

He could do this.


He couldn't do this.

As he slid back into his car, he fought the urge to scream. His search had proved absolutely futile. Everything was either too expensive, falling apart, or already occupied. What the hell!? He liked Boston, too. Dammit.

He took a deep breath as he began the drive back to the apartment, wondering if maybe it would be wiser just to rent a hotel room for the night...but no. Maybe there wasn't a guy. Maybe it was just the stress, sleep, and writer's block talking. Maybe he should have just had some coffee and forgotten about it.

Yeah. Yeah. He had totally overreacted...he was half-dead when he had "seen" the guy, anyway...heh. He was such a fool, reacting like that. A whole day he had wasted, running around Boston looking for apartments. Sheesh.

Laughing slightly at himself, he waved to the still-slightly-freaked-out doorman, smiling. He took the stairs because, hey, he had the energy, and a bit of exercise couldn't hurt. Nope. Still smiling, he unlocked his apartment and threw off his shoes, bouncing into the bedroom...maybe he would have a sh -

SHIT!

He froze, eyes widening, as the man from that morning looked up from where he was seated on his bed.

"What the hell!? You're just a damn figment of my freaking suppressed imagination! What are you doing here!?"

"...I'm a figment...? I rather think not."

"Yes! Yes you are!" Rei pointed a shaky figure at the illusion. "I was half-dead this morning when I saw you...I have writer's block...you're just some imagined little thing. You are't real."

"Well, I surely wish someone would have informed me of this sooner," the man said in an acid-filled voice. "It's quite a shock."

Rei growled. "I'm just more tired than I thought I was, that's all. Yep, no reason to be scared. Just a half-dream...just my imagination. I'm going to run and jump on my bed, and go right through this damn illusion, and nothing will be real." True to his word, he closed his eyes and took a running leap onto his bed...to find his face met with a lap.

He and the illusion both scrambled back at the same time. The man's face was as red as a lobster. "What is your problem? I'm real. I'm right here. I'm not a damn illusion!"

Rei was breathing heavily. "Then what are you doing in my apartment!?"

"...I don't really know. It used to be mine...but I left."

"Then it's not yours anymore, you freaking psycho! I'm paying the rent, here!"

But now the man was frowning, obviously very, very confused. "Where...did I go?"

"My guess? The funny farm. But hey, that's just one man's opinion."

The man was ignoring him, obviously. "I...I didn't go back home. I didn't go anywhere else abroad. I...why can't I remember?"

"...Because they upped your meds?"

"...This was my apartment. I designed the whole building, I built this apartment for me and...and for her. For both of us. We were so happy. What happened? Where did I go? How did I get back here? Why did I leave? When?"

"If you say 'Who am I', I swear I'll kill you."

The man frowned at him. "I know who I am, dumbass. Who the hell are you?"

Rei shot him a glare. "I think that I should be the one asking the questions, seeing as you're in my apartment."

The man shrugged. "Fair enough."

"So who are you?"

"Kai. Kai Hiwtari."

"How old are you?"

"Whoa, whoa. I answered your question, now you answer mine. Who are you?"

"...Rei Kon."

"Okay. Shoot."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty seven. You?"

"Twenty six. How long ago did you leave?"

"...Um. I left when I was...twenty two? Almost twenty three, I think."

"So about four to five years?"

"Yeah, I guess. When did you get here?"

"Yesterday afternoon."

"Huh."

"Who is 'her'?"

"Huh?"

"You said 'I built this for her'."

"Oh. Her."

"Yeah."

"Juliette. She's French. We were lovers...I don't know if we still are, or what. Do you have a 'her'?"

"I did."

"What happened?"

"...She...well, um...she kind of...uh..."

"Left you?"

"...Yeah."

"For another guy, or did she just..."

"No, no, it was - hey, I don't even know you. Why the hell am I telling you this?"

"Damned if I know."

"...Look. Are you planning on going away?"

"Where would I go?"

"...Just take the damn couch. We'll find you someplace tomorrow."


A/N Moving way too fast, and the chapter's far too short. They'll be slightly slower and longer in the future.