A Hero is Never Alone

Chapter 2: Remains

Darkness.

Pitch-black.

There were no lights or colours.

With nothing to see, Satoru Fujinuma had no clue where he was. The scary thing about it was there's nothing he could do. His small body was too heavy, forcing the boy down and unable to move even a finger. Inexplicably, the huge weight crushing his body was the one thing he could feel. No ground to touch, no wind blowing, nothing warm or cold either. As if he's reached a whole new plane of existence and couldn't run away from it, Satoru was certainly stuck.

There was no sound, obviously. With these puzzling facts making the most sense out of this bizarre predicament, all Satoru did was wait.

Waiting for the strength of this heaviness to weaken.

Or maybe it becomes worse?

The answers were unknown, but the boy knew this couldn't last forever. This paralyzed state had to disappear sometime soon.

But how long would it take? A minute? An hour? A day?

It suddenly appeared then.

Colour. The darkness became painted with emerald green, giving Satoru a sense of comfort and peace. Erasing all the previous fears within his struggling mind. Yet it seemed as if he's felt this a long time ago.

A new colour had exploded out of green: blue. A vibrant blue, filled him with a gentle warmth and granted him everlasting serenity. This was all too familiar.

Another colour arrived but this wasn't like the others.

It was red.

An explosive red.

Packed with an animalistic anger and has a terrifyingly cold touch.

The weight lost all of its strength on his limbs and chest but focused on the boy's neck, choking him slowly. The need to breathe was becoming stronger as every second passed. Satoru felt his will to fight shrinking without any sign of stopping.

The colours had a similar conflict, clashing over who can prevail out of the three of them.

Various flashes of colour resulted in green fading away, leaving blue by itself against red.

But soon, red had vanquished blue and flooded the place in its colour.

And then...

When all else failed, a white, glimmering light shined down from up high. Its light was a sharp blade, piercing the red sea around the boy and blinded him with its intensity. In disbelief and torment over how bright this new colour was, Satoru closed his eyes.

And after he opened them, the red sea, the darkness and the blindingly bright light were gone along with the agonizingly painful weight on his neck. Not understanding how or why, Satoru's eyes darted in every direction, taking note of his new surroundings. There must have been a mistake but it appeared as though the room around him was flooded with the colour white.

White curtains. White ceiling. At the very least, pale flourescent lights.

He's willing to bet the clothes he has on are white, too. But the return of touch and sound made him forget about it as they truly belong here. Electronic beeps echoed inside the room, coming from the machines beside him and allowed Satoru to accurately estimate how large the room was. It also made him realize where exactly he was.

A hospital room.

It almost made him laugh. Him, inside a hospital? Must've been his Revival getting him into trouble, again. Wasn't having a time-travelling ability supposed to save you at the most dire of situations? Not send you into one? Satoru wanted to know if there was anyone else in this world that had the same problem. If not, he must have the most rotten luck.

At that moment, the boy noticed three things. First, his bed was dreadfully uncomfortable, feeling more like a stack of bricks covered in a woollen blanket. On his list of beds to lie down on, a stack of bricks was most certainly not one of them.

Second, despite having his sense of touch, Satoru's body wouldn't move on command. This wasn't paralyzation, rather his body felt like a solidified pool of jelly with little pebbles for muscles. Whatever this was called officially, it didn't matter. The point was he can't move his body.

Lastly and most importantly, a tall figure was found sleeping on the bottom of the bed, next to his right leg. The figure indicated an older woman, with her long, shiny blue hair tied up in a ponytail and her sweater looking homemade, having her familiar initials stiched onto her collar: "さ(Sa),ふ(Fu)". Actually, her appearance and initials not only looked famillar but her voice sounded familiar, too. Her light snoring and tiny grumbles filled Satoru with nostalgia, answering his inner questions. After all this time, she's here. With her beloved son.

For someone who had an impeccable sense of timing, his mother, Sachiko Fujinuma, didn't hit the mark this time.

There were so many things he wanted to say. How he loved her. How he's sorry for all the trouble he gave her. And, most of all, his Revival ability, explaining why he had been acting so weird.

Attempting to reach out to her, Satoru couldn't as his body wouldn't listen to him, lying stiff despite the touching reunion. Concentrating on the thought of hugging his mother, the boy tried moving his right leg just to nudge her head a bit. Easier said than done, Satoru realized, as the leg was practically frozen on the spot.

Said?

Perhaps that's another way. Satoru didn't know how long ago since he last spoke. He wasn't even sure it would sound the same.

He opened his mouth but only a whisper came out. "M-Mom..." His mother didn't hear it.

He spoke a bit louder this time. "Mom..." She was moving a bit but still sleeping.

Louder, Satoru called out for her, noticing his voice cracked. "Mom." Sachiko grunted, clearly getting upset of the attempts to wake her up.

This time, it felt like he was screaming. "MOM!"

She couldn't ignore it now. Waking up, his mother slowly moved her head. Forgetting about sleeping and stretching her arms out, Sachiko's eyes were finally open. Putting her head on her right arm and looking directly at her son, she squinted, thinking her eyes were still tired.

But when she let her eyes see her son again, Sachiko had all the hair on her body stand up straight. Can you imagine how it would feel to have your child nearly die and fall into a coma for a year? To wish everyday they'd wake up and hug you?

A parent shouldn't have to suffer like this. Yet Sachiko didn't care for she was filled with an indescribable joy that overshadowed any doubt or sadness she could've felt. She had her son back.

She rushed over to the boy, holding him tightly. Tears running down her face, she cried out his name over and over. "Satoru," said Sachiko in between short but heavy breaths. "Satoru. Satoru, my little boy. My boy." Not holding back any of her strength, the poor, suffering mother hung onto him for dear life.

Satoru didn't mind. He wanted to hug her, too. Its just he never saw this side of her, this vulnerable, fragile woman who looked like she could collapse any second now. Unlike the freakishly strong, amazing yokai mother he knew.

All he could do was cry on her shoulder.

THE END