Chapter 4
So I'm sitting bitch in the backseat with Kento on my right and Rowen on my left. Sage is driving, illegally. No one cares. We're out in the middle of nowhere. Cye is riding shotgun, and Ryo is riding Whiteblaze along the side of the Rei Fuan spare family car.
"You knew the whole time," snorts Kento, to no one in particular.
"You never asked," I reply, to no one in particular.
"Never asked?"
"You've never been home."
"Never been home?"
"Stop repeating everything I say as question!"
"Stop repeating everything I say with a question?"
"Don't make me come back there, you two," snaps Momma Cye. "So help me, I will have Sage turn this car around. I mean it."
After hours of driving through the wilderness, Kento can't let it go. What did he want me to say? I have bigger problems right now. If he thought he was mad now, what till he finds out I have powers. I had no intention of telling Kento this, but I knew he or one of the guys would find out eventually. Kento having his feelings hurt does not automatically move to the top of my list of worries. It's my feelings that are hurt. How come I don't get to ride Whiteblaze?
I fidget in my seat. We've been driving for hours, probably days. My knee keeps accidentally bumping into Rowen. My god, he even smells good.
"I don't like long car rides either," he says. I'm too embarrassed to talk to him.
"Are we getting any closer, Sage?" I ask, peering over his seat like a five year old.
"We'll be there soon," he replies. "And get back in your seat."
"I'm hungry," says Kento, peering over Cye's seat.
"And get back in your seat! You Rei Fuans, I swear."
This Mia girl must be wealthy. Her house is huge. It's nice seeing a home larger than mine for a change. The large, white and traditional home sits in front of an equally large lake. Bitch has lakefront property too.
I grab my two large bags filled with computer supplies and clothes. Rowen offers to carry one of my bags while the guys walk up to the home like they live there. I awkwardly give him one of my bags.
"Home away from home, huh?"
"Mia is family," replies Rowen. "She's like our older sister."
Mia is standing by the front door. She's definitely is the oldest person present. She's tall and lean and sports a cute little pony tail. I guess she's pretty.
"It's the guys!" yells a small boy from behind her. He comes barreling out the house and slams into Ryo. He then hugs Whiteblaze, and then hugs Ryo for a second time. He looks around Mei Ryu's age and size. Wonderful my escape from the little brothers includes having another little boy around me.
"And that's Yulie. He's pretty much family too," adds Rowen.
"Great, another little brother," I snap before censoring myself. Sage, who has apparently been walking next to us the entire time, laughs at my comment. Sage laughing is like an eclipse. It's somewhat rare, but mostly something you want to look at without popping your eyes out. Everyone stops what they are doing to observe the rare occurrence. This rare occurrence is quickly over however, and Sage disappears into the house.
I don't really properly introduce myself to my two new extended family members. With them, I think I have around two million, more or less. Kento introduces me to them. I thank Mia for allowing me to stay in her home. I tell the little boy not to touch any of my things.
I find my guest room and quickly unpack. I have work to do and the quicker I get to work, the less I have to socialize and explain myself to the guys, mainly Cye.
I had assumed that since Mia lives in such a large and expensive home, that her computer lab would be just as large and expensive. And it was, once upon a time back when people were hyped over being able to save their Legend of Zelda game.
The computers are large, dusty bricks that could not be updated. The computer cords are torn and worn down, almost to the point of a fire hazard.
I spend the rest of the day cleaning and repairing cords and trying to back up data on the few working computers. I am able to take the room of very old computers and transform it into a room with one, somewhat old computer. I knew I could do it with a little luck, skill, and a hell of a lot of cussing.
I leave the room in search of caffeine. I have a massive caffeine headache. Either Mia drinks a shitload of Coke Zero like I do, or someone forewarned her to make sure she has it available in bulk. I'm not hungry even though I haven't eaten much today. Not tired. I just want caffeine.
I think about just going up to my room. I can hear Kento and Cye arguing about something in their room. Nothing from Sage and Rowen's room. And nothing from Ryo's room. Poor guy must be real lonely. The tiger is staying in Yulie's room and purring up a storm.
I instead go out back and sit down at the end of the dock over the lake. I punch open my soda can and sit there, sipping and staring at the numerous stars. I may even recognize a few constellations. I begin to dive into a deep, internal philosophical discussion over the reasons why I stare at the stars so much. I am pulled out of this trance when Whiteblaze sits next to me. The little bugger must have finally gone to sleep.
"Roar."
"What do you mean I am avoiding the question?"
"Roar roar."
"Like I'm concerned about what is happening to me. I don't care."
"Roar."
"Fine. Maybe I am a little concerned about what is happening to me. I mean, I feel like, I don't know, like I'm somehow responsible for what has been going on. I feel guilty for some reason."
"Roar."
"And I'm concerned about the nosebleeds and ear bleeds I've been having." I should have probably gone to the hospital or something about my bleeding episodes. Probably. I am afraid of what I may be told. Things like I need to stay in the hospital for observation. Your parents have decent medical insurance, right? I would be put on the medication that makes me sicker rather than better…again.
"Rinfi?" Cye sits next to me on the dock. I am sandwiched between big brother/sister and big cat. Cye's out here for either one of two reasons: One, Cye won the argument he was having with Kento. Or two, Kento fell asleep.
"I thought you'd be in bed by now with all the work you did today on short notice," he says. "That and your hard work at avoiding conversation with me all day."
"I managed to save most of her files," I say. "Cleaned and backed everything up. It wasn't that hard. And I am not avoiding you. I am just making sure you don't run into me so I don't have to talk to you."
"Cute. I sure appreciate your help and I know the others and Kento do too." We all sit in silence for a moment or two. We watch the small waves on the lake wiggle from the lake to the shore.
"So you really knew about us and our armors this whole time? I thought you would at least tell me before the others."
"The right opportunity never came up. I would have told you, Cye, if it had come up. You and the guys haven't been around that much lately."
"But you told Rowen."
"That was different."
"I'm sure," says Cye. He smiles and winks. Thank goodness I saw him as an older sibling otherwise; I would have to say I thought he was cute right then. Cye always glowed he was around water. They need to bottle that glow up and sell it.
I stare down at the water a few feet under my feet. I am surprised at how deep the lake is here, not too far from the shore. I wave one foot. The waves move a little faster and become little bigger. I am playing with death. I am not the best swimmer. I have three fears in my life: the fear of great heights, the fear of drowning, and the fear of no more Coke Zero or Diet Mt. Dew in the world.
"I worry about you sometimes," says Cye, watching me shake my foot. "You run off into that own little world of yours more and more now. It's harder to bring you back."
"I worry about myself too," I reply. "I don't know what is wrong with me."
"Wrong? I didn't mean there was something wrong with you."
The waves under our feet are now stronger, faster, and bigger. Cye now notices the relationship between my foot moving back and forth and the waves getting bigger and faster.
"There is something wrong with me, Cye," I say, no longer censoring myself. "I don't know what is happening to me." The weight of almost a year of secrets creeps up on me. The guilt of not telling anyone for so long what I can do and what I remember when no one else does is too strong for me to swallow back into my body. The thoughts of how others might react. Instead of telling people who would understand like the guys, I told my girlfriend and used my powers to fuck with teachers' cars. The memories of the hospital and medications and sickness are here right now. I am once again a scared little child, hiding under the covers of her hospital bed.
I feel responsible for the recent attack yesterday, and I feel scared of this guilt I am feeling. Why the hell do I feel responsible? Why me? Of all times, why now?
I am crying now. Cye is completely confused. He places his hand on my shoulder. Whiteblaze begins to growl.
"There is something wrong with me, Cye, and I should have told you because something has been wrong with me for a while now, and I can do things and see things and I'm—" Whiteblaze's growl is finally loud enough for me to follow his gaze. I see Oura, the creepy little girl, standing on the shore of the lake across from us. I scream. The support beams of the dock snap, and we fall into the cold water.
I continue to scream under the water as I sink deeper and deeper. I frantically kick and wave my arms. Nothing. I am not a good swimmer. The water around me spins and spins, and I feel like something is holding me there, wanting me to experience my mortality.
I gulp a lungful of water before Cye grabs me. Cye must have gotten us back to shore. Cye must have carried me onto the shore and resuscitated me back. I am now puking up water.
The guys come running up to us. How much have they seen, heard?
"What the hell happened?" asks Kento. He easily picks me up in his arms. I forget how strong he is sometimes.
"Not quite sure," says Cye. "The dock just collapsed." Whiteblaze shakes off his fur. I can feel Cye lying for me.
"Not cool," says Kento.
"We heard a scream and saw you guys in the water," explains Rowen.
"That dock is not that old," adds Ryo. "Maybe Whiteblaze's weight brought it down."
"Roar." Whiteblaze is insulted.
"It's alright, Rinfi," whispers Kento, who knows of my fear of drowning. "You're out of the water now." If only Kento could whisper.
Sage is attending to my leg. My leg caught a nail from the dock as I fell into the water.
I turn my head away from Kento's chest and glance across the shore. She is there, now closer and on the same side of the lake as me. She is walking closer and closer, then her body dissolves. She is coming for me. That bitch is going to try and drown me in the lake.
"Not again!" I scream and push myself away from Kento. I hit the ground and run for the woods. I'm getting the hell out of here.
I can hear Kento and the guys yelling at me. What's wrong? You shouldn't be running! Rinfi, get back here! Roar!
The woods are dark and damp. I can't see where I am running. My leg stings like a bitch. Don't care. Fear is keeping me going. But gravity kicks my ass. I trip on a fallen tree branch and fall on my face.
My pant leg is now tangled and twisted into the tree branch. My right wrist hurts like hell from the fall. I fight with the tree branch and turn myself around in the direction I was running. Oura reappears, smiling. She lifts her hand out, like she is going to attack me again.
Sage leaps over me. He is in the Halo armor. Looks pretty nice. Sage lifts his sword in front of his face. Through his blade's reflection, he now sees Oura too. He then lifts his sword higher.
"Thunderbolt—"
"Strike me and you strike her too," Oura says. Sage hesitates on his attack and glances back at me with a look that sarcastically reads "awesome."
The others show up in armor too. Oura is now visible to everyone. Sage must have rendered her visible or maybe she just wants to be seen now.
Cye is holding me while Rowen tries to untangle me from the tree branch.
"Who is that?" asks Ryo.
"It's just a kid," says Kento.
"No," corrects Sage. "She's not a little girl. She's something worse."
"Then she's an evil kid. Iron rock crush—"
"Kento! You can't attack her!" But Sage's warning is too late. Kento unleashes an earthquake on Oura. Oura shatters like glass into a large mass of darkness and reforms into the woman in black armor.
Everything is becoming blurry now. I am breathing in the dirt floor. I see Mia and the kid running towards us. I hear the guys fighting, I assume, an older Oura.
The pain I feel is indescribable. Every muscle and fiber in my body is being squeezed and pulled. So much pressure is being exerted on my body. And then I feel nothing.