Ch.3 a Rose for a Tear
Ryoma grips his chair for balance, which he had lost after he understood that he indeed, has his own personal stalker. One which watches him at night, at school, and practically everywhere he goes. He stares at the note; the silver decorations seemed to melt into the bloody red of the paper and the note runs through his fingers, dripping slowly onto his floor. Ryoma wishes for that to happen, so he could wake up from this horrifying nightmare. His hands tremble as he puts the note into his drawer next to the evil blue one, *what do I do now?*
"Hey, Echizen what's taking you so long?" Ryoma shuts his drawer and stares at Momo who barges into his room.
"I-I'm going!" Ryoma reaches for his sneakers but drops them, his hand had no strength.
Momo looks worriedly at Ryoma, "What's wrong Echizen, you're trembling…"
Ryoma takes a deep breath, turning stoic, "I'm fine, let's go play."
Momo scratches his head, "Well, about that…I have to go home, let's play some other time."
Ryoma sighs, sinking into his bed, "Fine."
Momo looks at Ryoma, "Do you want to come to my house for dinner? My mom would like to see you again and I got a new video game."
*I need something to distract myself." Ryoma smiles nervously, "Yeah, I'll come." They both drive to Momo's house, neither bothering to change out of their tennis clothes before they left. Ryoma uses the 20 minute drive to calm himself down and turn himself back to normal. He climbs the grey stones steps up to Momo's front door which prove to be familiar because of the hundreds of times he's been here. He smirks yet again at Momo's difficulty to open his door with his keys which are attached to a silver tennis racket keychain. He smiles as Momo's mother greets him and he greets back with his usually, "I'm fine, thank you." Ryoma avoids the several glomps from Momo's siblings and gets dragged up the stairs to Momo's room.
"Call me when dinner is ready Mom." Momo closes the door behind him and goes to his closet to find the game.
Ryoma smiles, reminiscing about the past, "What is this like the 235th time I come to your house?"
Momo smiles, "We've been best friends for a while haven't we?"
Ryoma sits on the floor facing the T.V, "Coming to your house is always a routine…" *my life was a routine, one simple to follow, why add a stalker to mess it all up. I already was recovering from Fuji sensei barging into my life, now a new problem…*
"Echizen, hey Echizen!"
Ryoma looks at Momo, "Hnn?"
Momo looks worriedly at Ryoma, "You've been spacing out a lot today, are you sure you're okay?"
Ryoma turns on the T.V and connects the game, "I already said I'm fine."
Momo sits down next to Ryoma and takes a controller, "Okay."
Ryoma smirks, "Ready to lose Momo?"
Momo laughs, "I won't." They play for an hour or two, laughing and of course, Momo loosing almost every single fight they fought in the game. Their fun gets interrupted by dinner in which Ryoma eats in a lively table with Momo's family and Momo. Then after dinner, Ryoma looks at his watch saying, "It's late, I have to go home", and gathers his things. Momo walks him to the door and wave's good bye as Ryoma drives away.
Ryoma sighs once in his car, "Routine, Huh? It was fun; at least I didn't have to think about my little stalker in Momo's house. " Ryoma parks his car and slams his head against the driving wheel, "Why now! Why is everyone and everything out to damage my senior year?" He drags his feet to his house, giving a weary "Good night" to his parents and drags himself to his room. He throws himself on the bed with the pillow over his face, "Please let me awake dead, I would be more at peace!"
Okay, if punching the wall wasn't enough, Ryoma would have liked to pound his head until it turned to nothing. Yet again, he was in his literature (aka English) class, staring straight at the grim reaper who would be the cause of his death, Fuji sensei. Why is the new book this tyrant picked called, "The secret eyes looking at you?" Why the hell did he decide to analyze a book about a girl who feels she's always being watch the day after Ryoma finds out he has a stalker? These are the questions that have Ryoma plotting his suicide attempt. *What's less painful, falling off a roof or drowning? Maybe I can cause myself to fall down the stairs, but that may not kill me immediately…*
His thoughts are interrupted by a few guys whistling and Ryoma looks up to see Fuji sensei walk to the door to talk to a young female teacher who also teaches literature. *Hanno sensei…why is she here?*
Two girls near him whisper to each other, "Do you think Fuji sensei and Hanno sensei are dating?"
One of them squeals, "I hope, they look so beautiful together! I've also seen her with Fuji sensei many times."
The other nods, "Yes, Hanno sensei is beautiful. Her silky, long black hair and flawless body makes her look like a model! Fuji sensei is also very, very handsome!"
Ryoma stares out the window as his throat feeling dry and his vision starts to blur. He hears the bell ring loudly, and packs up his things in a daze. He stands up and walks towards the door hearing a "Wait Echizen" which he totally ignores. He keeps walking towards the door but stops when Fuji sensei grabs his wrist with a, "What's wrong with you lately? Are you feeling better because you ran out of the room yesterday?
Ryoma keeps his eyes on the floor, "Get off me! Don't touch me!
Fuji is taken aback, "Wait what's wrong Echizen? As your teacher, I want to know."
Ryoma glares at Fuji sensei, almost on the verge of tears, "Why would you care! Mind your own business!" He yanks his wrist away and runs to the boy's bathroom across the hall. He turns the cold water on, splashing it onto his face. *What got into me, how could I have said that to him?* Ryoma dries his face and breathes deeply before going to his next class, Physics 600.
If Ryoma could pick the time and day he would die, he would have scheduled it for today, before he opened his Physics book and found another dangerous note. This one was white with beautiful sapphire jewels and decorations framing the poisonous message. Ryoma almost falls off his chair from shock of finding the 3rd note and waits until his classmates stop staring at him to read it to himself.
It read, "Dear most beloved Ryoma, you played wonderfully against Momo, both in tennis and in the video game. I admire that you excel in everything you do. Why have you been so sad lately, it's worrying me? Oh I forgot do you finally accept that someone is stalking you? It made me sad that you didn't believe it since the first note. Love, Your dear stalker."
Ryoma swallows and looks all around him, trying to see if he could find anyone staring at him. Who could it be, that observes him all day? Ryoma waits impatiently for the bell to ring and dashes to his car, he was determined to do something about this stalker. He drives to a books store close to the school and parks outside. Ryoma pushes aside beaded strings hanging from the ceiling to get inside in which he is asked, "Do you need help sir?" by a flirty employee.
Ryoma sighs and shake his head, "No, just looking around." Ryoma walks to the back of the book store, shelve farthest left. He remembers coming a lot here when he was younger so he knows the book store like the palm of his hand. He runs his finger across the first row of books and takes out one named, "Learn about Stalkers!"
He looks at the table of context, "Hmm, how to deal with stalkers, pg 47." He turns to that page, "Step 1. If you think someone is stalking you, inform your parents."
Ryoma laughs, "I guess I should cross out step 1."
Ryoma sighs and he grabs milk to put into his cereal, even after lasting 20 minutes in that book store, he didn't learn much. In the first book he read, he had skipped the first 5 safety steps, Ryoma blames his stubbornness and hate of asking for help. *Maybe I should just wait until he tries to hurt me or something, then I'll tell the police and my parents.*
Ryoma walks up the stairs to his room, "Wait, is he a guy, or a girl?" Ryoma almost drops his cereal when he sees a white rose with another white note attached. He groans, putting his cereal down on his desk and reaches for the rose.
He takes the note off and reads it, "Dear my beloved Ryoma, How dare your teacher grab your wrist like that! It infuriates me so much! I am curious though, why were your eyes watery when you screamed at him? Well here is a rose to cheer you up! You are so cute, trying to learn how to deal with me through a cheap bookstore book? It seems that even though you lasted a while there, you still couldn't find the answers you are looking for. Don't worry; I won't hurt you because I love you. Love, Your dear stalker."
Ryoma sighs, and places the one he got in physics and this one in the drawer with the rest. The notes seemed to be piling up, yet Ryoma didn't want to do anything to stop them from continuing to flow to him. For some reason, these notes plastered and filled the cracks and gaps in Ryoma's heart. They gave him comfort and he decided, *I'm going to try to talk to him.*
Ryoma sits down at his desk, takes a piece of his fancy stationary paper, takes a pen, and starts writing. He reads out loud as he writes, "Dear stalker, why do you stalk me? What are you, a guy or a girl? How do you find the time to observe me like this? –Ryoma."
Ryoma sighs, he felt as if he was an 8 year old kid interrogating Santa Claus and his elves on how they made Christmas run successfully. He folds the paper into three and leaves it on his window sill, falling asleep like a kid waiting for the tooth fairy to come.
Authors note: Thanx for the reviews again! PWEESE KEEP REVIEWING, IT GIVES ME MOTIVATION AND MAKE ME HAPPY =] I hope you enjoyed..haha going to be fun from now on! I listened to Prince of tennis, Echizen Ryoma- Ichigan! IT'S A BEEEAAUUUTTIIIFFFULLL SONG..IT MADE ME CRY THE 1ST TIME I HEARD IT and also Echizen Ryoma-Yakusoku, also a beautiful song.
