Chapter 4
Awakening to the eerie call of the neighbour's hound was a rather bizarre replacement to my alarm clock, even more confusing, was the sight of a moving shadow, barely noticeable thanks to the light seeping through the cracks in the scaling, scabbed over blinds, said shadow disappearing very quickly, not through the door or the window like I had come to expect, but instead of through a wall, with nothing but vacant space on the other side. This was an odd revelation, one that had managed to put me off, disturb me so, as to raise myself from my curious entanglement within my bed sheets, before standing, and glancing at the nearby orange glow of my alarm clock, 6:36. Whether that was morning or afternoon I couldn't tell, hopefully morning, don't want to miss Nat, do I?
After various early morning rituals, breakfast and the like, I grabbed a nearby bobble, tied up the dirty blonde fop atop my dome like a Russian gulag, and set off for education... and perhaps another healthy serving of flat justice from Natsuki herself. The walk to school was pleasant, however remained mundane, However this mundane nature was set off by my use of the journey as time for pondering the future, and Yuri's involvement.
Was she actually a threat? Is she ally or foe? Is that knife still as sharp as it was last time I met the 'Blade of Markov'? A number of questions, that only provided more questions, curiouser and curiouser.
My arrival at the school was particularly anomalous, as I was 'bum rushed' by a certain small pink object flying at me like a freight train being launched at Mach 4 speeds.
"Oi, The fuck you pouncing me for, you wanna go that far already, eh?" I mumble into the pink fop, which now looks like a tomato more than a person, who rather timidly replies "...maybe later." before slowly letting go of me, and smirking.
Cheeky little minx.
When did she get so confident in her actions, or is it merely the past actions of previous timelines piling up in her psyche, at this point, I could care less.
Class literally flew by, perhaps because I wasn't there, physically, instead, the ever intelligent Ty decided to lay around on the roof until the lunch period began, a cold and weighted atmosphere had begun to swamp the entire school complex, and attempting to listen to a pencil sketch teach under such conditions was rather difficult. At least it was, until the appearance of a familiar face, one that I didn't expect, Sayori. Noticing her presence I raise myself from the floor, staggering slightly at the force on my right leg, before exhaling and providing Sayori with a questioning glare. "What are you doing up here, ain't class on?" her face provided me with a coy grin, replying "I could ask you the same Ty." "Touche." I reply, smirking as I walk towards the roof's edge, staring off into the woodland distance, it was a strange sight, it seemed never-ending, almost as if the world I was in was not reality, which would, in fact, be the case. Turning to Sayori, I spot her also staring into the vast, and seemingly infinite wooded miasma ahead, stating "This world, it's... not real, is it?" Shock temporarily invaded my psyche, her statement surprising me, I don't think even Nat knows of this worlds fake presence, so her knowledge was disgruntling. How she managed to conceive such a conclusion was beyond me, Nat still believed her connection to me to be mere epiphanies and psychedelic visions of her future state, Sayori may have discovered a way to access the files, or maybe she just became independent, like Monika and I have managed to pull off... Now that I think about it, I'll need to convert Nat to my side, Independent. "...yeah, it ain't the real one, that's locked off." Her face gains a slight frown, quickly rectified by my further comment of "But I think I can find a way out, into the real one." Her face then gains an ecstatic smile, her feet leaving the ground for a few moments as she bounced in the air. After calming down, she proceeded to bury her face into my chest, muttering out muffled "Thank you"s. Then she thought about it our escape.
"What about the others?" she pondered, I responded with "Nat will join us, as for Yuri and Monika, I... We cannot risk taking them, Monika is manipulative, and will control the situation into her favour, and possibly attempt to remove us from the equation, for her own greed, and Yuri, well she isn't of the right mind, and appears to be hiding something, something a bit more dangerous than anything else here."
"...Okay, I understand, let's work together on this!" Sayori exclaims, before running off back into the school, past a loading barrier, and disappearing in the blink of an eye. Turning back to the ever incandescent sunset, I mull over the happenings of today, and the possibilities of tomorrow, Will we actually manage to escape, or will we remain ever trapped into the darkest pits of this dark, and dismal place, left to rot in the blackened and brainwashed pit, left to allow our emotional turmoil to continually build up like a tumour, before exploding in a flurry of violence, blood, and scrawls left by memories past upon a faded, well worn and tossed aside journal, for not a soul but our own to see?
That's the big question, the only one I have ever had the extreme displeasure of being unable to answer or even guess at.
To Be Continued...
Authors note:
Be aware that this particular story may end up on a rather long period of hiatus, inspiration for writing comes and goes quickly with me, hopefully someone can wait it out.
However, to calm your nerves, (That includes you Vanillapowpow.) This story ain't stopping till its done.