Hi guys!
So, this is going to sound weird, but...this isn't Chapter 4. I mean, it is - in both a numerical and concept based sense - but it isn't the actual chapter that I wanted to end up giving you. It's best that I explain later. Enjoy!
Also, I own none of the recognizable works. All rights and characters go to their respective owners.
Chapter 4
I thought you were joking…
The last of the shopping bags is placed in the trunk. Her mother, mind still spinning from the conversation that they'd had earlier, says nothing when Zoe slams the door of her baby (because she loves that car like it's her child…err, another child.) a bit more forcefully than she would prefer. The car starts up. The radio blares loudly from the speakers, both sets of hands darting out to turn it down. A head on collision of hands occurs, leading to awkwardly mumbled apologies.
"So…" her mother says, once the car has cleared the parking lot and begins to race toward the freeway. Her eyes shift to her daughter at the first red light. Zoe fidgets nervously in her seat, pulling at the strap over her shoulder. She fixes her skirt. Her mother smiles at her, then says nothing. The car moves again.
"So…?" Zoe parrots after the (right, then left, then right) turn that leads to a stop sign just before the freeway. Her mother is staring again, she notices out of the corner of her eye. She glances up timidly to meet the lighter-colored (but still original) variant of the eyes she sees in the mirror. Another smiles appears on her mother's face, yet Zoe is still uncomfortable with the situation. She feels like a fish being circled by a shark, and though she can't explain why (maybe because her mother is…her mother), she has a feeling this isn't going to be a fun conversation.
For her. It won't be fun for her.
"Does your father know?" Her mother asks without looking away from the road. Her fingers lazily tap against the steering wheel as they begin merging into the left lane. The ramp to the freeway is up ahead. Some obnoxious pop song is playing that neither of them know the words to.
Zoe freezes. Then she pales. "No!" Her mother glances at her quickly, then turns back to the freeway. Cars blur in and out of lanes as her mother races home. "No," she repeats softly, "he doesn't. At least…"
Her mother takes the turn off the freeway, drives around for a bit. Then parks near a surprisingly empty playground. She turns the crappy pop song off. "At least what?" Her brown hair rests just behind her shoulder blades, pressing softly against the brown leather of the car seat.
"At least – no, nothing," Zoe stammers, still unable to look her mother in the eye, "it's nothing." Her mother grabs her chin and gently jerks her face so that they can (finally) look each other in the eye. (On purpose.) She withers under the stare that her mother is giving her. "Um, it's just – he – I –" She averts her eyes, head turning as best it can in the grip of her mother's hand.
"Sweetie."
Zoe looks again (purely out of instinct, she swears), and suddenly she's spilling the beans about…well, everything. She hadn't exactly been planning on telling her, but she didn't want to not not say anything…and then this happened. Her hands gesture animatedly at points, while her face flushes (whether out of embarrassment or…no, she's pretty sure it's just embarrassment) at others. During the course of her rant, her mother has started the car, but has yet to move an inch, swept up in the strange story her daughter is telling. She idly notes a loose clump of clouds cuddling together in the graying sky.
When she finishes talking, hands sitting in her lap, she catches a glimpse of movement – a flash of red on the still landscape of the park. Her eyes are wide and unfocused, even as her mother asks what's wrong. Her name being called sounds distant, like she's miles away from her mother instead of mere inches. Her mother lines up her gaze with her daughter's, and smirks before starting the car in earnest.
No. No, no, no! Shit!
"Mom!" She yells, voice stricken with panic. "Mom! What are you doing?" Her mother glances at her for a moment. "Stop the car! Let's go home! Let's go anywhere but here! Please!" She continues on anyway. The window is rolled down. Her mother stops the car, calls out for him. He doesn't hear her.
"Izumi, honey, be a dear and go get your boyfriend."
Panic strikes her like a bolt of lightning. Her mothers' face is deathly calm. It's all too eerie. "No. Mom, no. No way." She can't believe this. Her hand flies to her forearm, gives it a pinch. (And another. And another. And…) No. This can't be real. She's dreaming. She's got to be dreaming. She can't – this can't – it won't…
…/…
Suddenly, she is outside. The air is brittle and pulses with the dark energy of an oncoming storm. The car is several feet away, buffeted by the earliest bits of rain. She sits under the cover of the scant few trees that hang above her head. The earth is rough against her feet. Soil clumps loosely in between her toes, and she wiggles them in a vain attempt to free them from her feet.
Warm hands embrace her shoulders from behind her. She's turned around slowly. Brown hair hangs in her face, hovering in clear view of her eyes. Lips that she can't see are making sounds that she can't hear. The words hum low against her throat, and she feels like she can relax for just a moment.
"Hey…"
…/…
…Izumi?"
Her mother is shaking her gently. She's still in the car. Gray clouds swirl angrily in the sky, a bleak and foreboding omen of the storm that's sure to come. A light wind whips at the grass outside. The sound of thunder rumbles well off into the distance. She shrieks, startling her mother into removing her hands.
"Where…Mom? Wh-What?" Zoe says, clearly confused. She looks around the park, peers into the clump of trees. The playground is devoid of life. Swings move and creak gently. Bushes rustle as fat squirrels dart to get to the tall trees "Where…is he?"
"Who are you talking about?" Her mother says, obviously worried. She reaches for her daughter, places her hand on her forehead. "Honey, are you okay?" Anervous look dances in her mother's eyes.
A light tap on the window stops her from answering. It is the first bit of rain to fall. Zoe watches it trickle down, slither toward the next droplet to fall. They combine, plummet faster. It's oddly fascinating, even if it's something she's noticed hundreds of times before. Once it reaches the bottom, she sees red again. She gasps. Her mother whips her head to look in her direction. "What is it?"
She points off toward the trees. Red fills her vision. Faintly, she hears her mother call her name. She consumed by the red before she can respond.
…/…
"…Zoe."
He says, moving high enough that their eyes meet. She looks deep, deep into brown with green. She sees the soil, rich and dark, spreading to the forest floor. Trees shoot up to the sky. Green leaves sprout on thick, limb-like branches. Shrubs litter the floor. Then red comes and burns it all away.
"Takuya," she replies back, "you're here now. You have to help me. I need you. Please -"
…/…
"…you have to help me! Please help me!" The world is screaming. (At least, her world is.) There might be some crying too, but she can't really tell. Her head hurts a bit too much for that. Her eyes open, and she covers them at a flash of lightning ripping the sky apart. Through the veil of her raised hand, she can see her mother on the phone in hysterics. She groans to grab her mother's attention.
"Izumi!?" The car stops abruptly. Her mother's voice is laden with surprise and relief. Tears gleam in her eyes. "Mia fatina poca!" (Right. She forgot her mother slipped into Italian when she got worried.)Horns blare as they pass the car by. Her mother pays them no mind, intent on hugging her daughter and flipping off the rest of the world for trying to stop her. "Are you okay?"
She's still wrapped in her mother's embrace, but she feels the tension in her hands, sees the question in her eyes, hears the worry (and an unhealthy – but not unfounded – dose of fear) in her voice. Zoe pauses for a moment. Snuggles closer to her mother. Just…breathes. Once. Then twice. "I-I'm not…"
…/…
"…sure?" She nods. He repeats his question again anyway. "Are you sure?" She nods again, and he sighs. He takes his hands off of her shoulders. They clasp their fingers together. Move closer. Inches separate them. He takes one away; she takes two more. Space between them is tight, then nonexistent.
Pebbles skitter at their feet. Soil digs into the space between their toes. The bark of the tree presses roughly into his back. He pushes off, and they end up sprawled on the ground under the cover of the trees. She looks into the brown of his eyes. Her skin tingles where he presses it into the ground. The earth rumbles beneath them. She is enveloped in brown.
She lets it – lets him – take her. Down, down, the rabbit hole.
The earth swallows them whole.
…/…
So...yeah.
That was Chapter 4. I'm calling Chapter -4, because it got kinda weird in a dark way (to me) that I wasn't expecting it to go, like I made Izumi look batshit insane. That may have been the plan, though.
As always, tell me what you think with a review. They make my day. (Plus, I want to know if you want me to continue with this line of writing OR go back to the original ending that isn't entirely finished yet.