Here's the next chapter! !
And the long awaited arrival of one character! :P (Only at a little bit though!)
Enjoy! :)
The next time Amu woke there was a clock flashing the time at her. She sat up and found that she was naked and in her own bed, not on the floor. She ran a hand over her back and she froze.
There was nothing on her back. No scars, no deep cuts, nothing.
"Was it all a dream?" Amu asked herself as she stepped out of her bed. There was no pain at all, in fact she felt refreshed and excited. She hadn't felt like this in years.
She walked over to a dresser and pulled out a matching underwear set and then continued to a different drawer after she put them on. There were many blouses, mostly white and long sleeved, some had short sleeves, but they were at the bottom of the drawer. They all had the schools emblem on them. It was a fancy S.A.A. with vines twisted around it.
After she put on the shirt she went to a different drawer. There were skirts. The original plaid and pleated kind, with the school colours. Red, black and silver. Amu put on the skirt only to find it was short. It went half down her thigh. She sighed and continued to her closet.
There was a shoe rack, blazers, sweaters, and sweater vests. Amu grabbed a red sweater and then black flats. There wasn't much choice in shoes anyway. She chose to forgo the socks as she slipped on her black flats.
She was content with her ensemble as she raced out of the room. Only to stop dead in her tracks a few steps out of the room.
"This is a joke." Amu begged no one. "It has to be a dream!"
Amu squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. When she opened her eyes the blood that was originally there when she walked out of her bedroom had disappeared. Amu sighed, "Thank god."
She grabbed her over-the-shoulder book bag to find it was abnormally heavy. She opened it and the book the principal had given her was there. She wanted to scream, but instead she pulled the book out and placed it on the two-person table near the kitchenette.
Just as she was about to put to book down a piece of paper fell from the book pages. She knelt down to pick it up, but she didn't stand up to read it. She stayed hunched over.
It read: Amu, I'm giving you one day off your classes to read through this book. I hope it won't take too long. It would be best to read it in the old dance rooms in the school. Remember I gave you the keys.
Amu flipped quickly through the book. It was empty. All the pages were blank. Her common sense was telling her to ditch the book and wander around the school, but her more curious side was winning this small argument. Amu decided to go to the dance rooms in the old school.
As she walked out of the dorm room she couldn't help but feel like something bad was going to happen. She looked both ways before stepping out of the room because she wasn't sure if she had dreamed all of yesterday up. No one was there so she proceeded to walk down the hall.
The dorm building was only three stories high so there wasn't any elevator like there was in the newer dorm buildings. Amu raced down the stairs with the book and keys, but she forgot her bag. She seemed excited as she skipped through a garden near her dorm.
Her feet seemed to know exactly where they were going as she happily walked through the vast and beautiful garden.
"I wonder who takes care of this?" Amu asked as she twirled and laughed. She felt normal for the first time since she was four. She had no secrets.
"I do." A blond boy stepped out from behind a rose bush.
"Oh." Amu beamed and giggled, "It's very pretty."
Amu stopped for a second and realized the way she was acting wasn't like her. She usually had a cold façade blocking everyone from knowing her. This boy was the first to witness Amu as herself, but it was a mistake and Amu knew it.
"Do you like pretty things?" The boy asked as he picked a rose.
Amu sighed; she couldn't go back now. "Yes." Amu smiled at the boy. He had red eyes. Not blood red, but more of a soft red, but not quite pink.
He slipped the rose into her hair and smiled at her. She smiled back, but something felt extremely off. However, she felt too normal and wouldn't let this feeling bother her. He slid a hand down her arm and to the hand that was holding the book.
"Could I see your book?" The boy whispered. Amu suddenly realized how close they were; mere inches from touching noses.
Amu felt a strong sensation to pulled her arm away and run, but something else was telling her the book meant nothing and was empty. She nodded as the two halves of her mind fought about which was the better solution. Show him the book or run.
She lifted the book up for him to take it, but he backed away like it was the plague.
"Could you open it?" He smiled shyly and then raised his hands. "I don't want it to get dirty."
However, he didn't know Amu. She could tell that what he just said was a lie because he refused to look at her, in her eyes or in her general direction. She dropped her arm and hid the book behind her again. She twirled around and continued walking.
The blond boy was quick to follow her as she weaved expertly through the garden. Finally, she reached a gate. She stopped and turned around. He wasn't more than five feet from her. It was creeping her out.
"This is off limits." The boy's eyes harden and became mean as he gestured to the old iron-gate.
"Why did you follow me?" Amu asked bluntly.
"You're new. I thought you might be lost." He looked around. "Apparently you weren't."
"Apparently." Amu mumbled as she looked around. The greenery around this area was not well taken care of. The flowers drooped as if they were bowing in defeat to the blazing sun. The trees were bare and when a breeze went by they seemed to shiver.
The boy who hadn't told Amu his named stepped closer to her. She took extra steps away from him. This pattern continued until she was against the rusting gate.
"This is a restricted area." The boy breathed. Amu was wishing this was a dream to, but it felt too real. She fiddled with her keys behind her back until one slid into the keyhole. She prayed this was the right key.
"Let me see the book." The boy demanded.
"No." Amu refused and flicked the key. A combination of locks unlocked and Amu slipped through. She slammed the gate shut just in time. She heard the locks locking again.
"What?" The boy exclaimed.
Amu didn't pay attention to him anymore she was running. She ran to the back of the school and slipped into the back doors that seemed to be waiting for her.
The old school was two stories high. Amu's feet carried her through a labyrinth made of hallways and the came to a steel door that looked brand new. She slid the key that opened the gate in to the door. With a flick of her wrist the door was easily opened.
This room took up both stories. However, there were five rows of lights that hung where the second floor should have been and beyond the rows of lights there were just rafters and beams holding the roof up.
When she turned on the lights, she noticed there were no windows and only one door and it was the one she was standing in front of. The other thing she noticed was that mirrors covered the walls, all the way up to the first beam from the floor. There were, however, curtains on either side of each mirror-wall.
When Amu stood in the middle of the room she saw thousands of reflections of herself. The book fell from her hands. She looked around completely freaked out, but it was replaced with fear as soon as the door started to shake.
Amu covered her mouth to keep her demands from flowing from her mouth. Instead she ran to the lights and flicked them off. The shaking quickly stopped. Amu sighed and turned on the lights, but wish she never did.
The curtains were closed. There were no mirrors showing anywhere. Amu squeezed her eyes shut and flicked the lights off. When she opened them the book she left on the ground was glowing. A lavender and silver light was softly lighting the room.
Amu silently walked over and sat down. She took a couple deep breaths and opened the book. The first page was blank. Amu began to think she was crazy as she slammed the book shut, but the book was flung back open to the page she was just on and words began to bleed on to the page.
"Title has yet to be found." Was what Amu read, what did it mean was all she could think of. She flipped the page over and it was another blank page. However, when she waited two words appeared on the page.
"Your beginning." It read, Amu wanted so much to slam the book shut, but she couldn't, she wouldn't and some part of her told her she shouldn't. She flipped to the next picture and she started to cry. What happened yesterday wasn't a dream. Or nightmare, it was real.
The page was filled with five similar pictures. First, Amu was on the ground. Second, Two small bumps formed on her back and the two nurses were frozen near her. Third, the bumps became bigger and they were breaking her skin. The nurses were midway of getting up. Forth, white tips broke out of Amu's back and blood was running down her sides to the ground. Only the feet of the nurses were seen in this picture. Finally, two identical structures made of bone were folded neatly over Amu's body and they were red from the blood.
Amu was sobbing, "This isn't suppose to happen." However, she flipped to the next page as if some supreme being ordered her to.
This page was filled with five pictures. First, the bony structures were half folded awkwardly and starting to go back into Amu's back. Second, the bony structures were gone and all the scars on her back had vanished. Feet appeared in the photo. Third, a man in a hoodie knelt down. Forth, this man was carrying a naked Amu towards her room. Finally, she was in her bed and sleeping.
Amu stopped and took a couple deep breaths. Who was the man, why was this happening to her, who was the woman that ordered her to disappear? These things came flying at her with full force.
"Who was that and why did the book start from last night?" Amu heard herself ask, but, of course, no one answered.
She flipped to the next page. It was simpler than the last two pages. This page only had three pictures on it. First, Amu was dressed and heading towards the door. Second, Amu froze and there was blood on the ground from the previous night. Finally, Amu was finding the book.
She didn't hesitate this time she flipped to the next page. There were only three pictures on this page. First, Amu was walking down the hall. Second, Amu was entering the garden. The last picture wasn't of Amu. It was of the boy with blond hair. He was walking behind Amu from the moment she entered the garden.
The next two pages were like snap shoots of Amu's encounter with the blond boy. She didn't spend much time on these pictures. The next page after those were of Amu running here and finding this room.
The page after was the one that confused Amu the most. There were five pictures again. First, Amu was staring at a shaking door. Second, she turned off the lights. In the third picture, the lights were on and Amu saw who was closing the curtains. It wasn't someone, but something. Vines of ivy were silently pulling the curtains closed. Forth, Amu had turned the lights back on. Finally, Amu turned the lights off and the book was glowing.
Amu could finally shut the book because that was the most present moment the book wanted to show. She relaxed for a couple seconds, but it wasn't until the voices started to speak to her that she tensed up again.
"He was I." A male voice spoke with confidence.
"The book began with your creation as one of the devil's spawn." Another voice cackled.
These voices had answered her spoken questions, but not the questions in her head and that made her calm down . . . a little.
"This is happening to you because the crazy doctor wants revenge." The first voice spoke again, but this time with loyalty in his voice.
"No one knows who that woman was." A female voice answered the last question on her mind.
Amu gathered the book in her arms and stood up. However, some things that felt like hands were holding her down. Amu felt calm suddenly and she twisted her head to stare in the direction of the first and confident voice.
"Let go of me." Amu heard herself demand, but it didn't feel like she was the one speaking. Nothing changed. There was only snickering and then a light shuffle, but Amu moved her head to follow the sound.
"I said," Amu demanded again, but this time if felt like she was the one talking.
"We know, we know. Let go of you." The voice mocked.
"No." Amu stated as she felt a pressure push her to the ground.
There was a silence, almost as if they were waiting for her to continue, which she did but with a kind of ferocious fire in her voice.
"Get away from me." She commanded with that fire in her voice. Instantly there was silence. Not, like before with the waiting tension. This silence felt lonely, like she was actually alone.
Amu got up and raced to the lights. When she flicked them on there was nothing there and the curtains were open again. Amu ran back to a corner to pick up the book that fell. On her sprint there she tripped over something.
When she landed on the ground she froze, and then slowly turned around. She wholly believed there was going to be some monster there, but there wasn't. It was only a brass handle. She crawled over to it and pulled it open. There was just enough space for a book.
"What on earth is going on?" Amu spoke to the stale air in the room.
She retrieved her book and placed it in the hole. She shut the hidden door. She didn't remember the handle being there before, but she didn't want to start thinking about that now. The handle was still showing and all Amu worried about was the voices coming back to take the book.
"How can I keep the handle hidden?" Amu asked, but this time the handle vanished right before her eyes. She numbly got up and walked to the door.
She quickly looked back to make sure the handle didn't reappear.
"The man in your story was I." A boy spoke from behind her. Amu spun around to face the door.
The blond boy from the garden was standing in the doorway, the only doorway to this room. Amu didn't believe him because of two reasons. One, she didn't want it to be him and two; well there is no two. He was looking at her in the eye, so it was hard to tell if he was lying, but ultimately Amu refused to believe he was the one who tucked her into her bed. The gesture was too nice for this threatening boy to do.
"How did you get here?" Amu questioned.
The boy didn't answer.
"Where's the book?" He asked after he realized Amu wasn't going to talk.
Amu shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe one of those voices took it. How did you get here?"
He looked at her as if she was crazy and she felt like she was crazy, but she had a feeling that he knew more than he was letting on.
"Lucky, I guess." The boy was putting on a nervous, prince-like impression. If Amu wasn't in this kind of situation she might actually fell for the boy, but it was too late for that.
There was more silence and Amu could tell the boy was getting annoyed.
"Where is the book, Amu?" The boy demanded, but he made a fatal mistake.
Amu froze, "I never told you my name."
Amu's body instinctively hunched over and started to change. She felt like she was going to have to fight to get away.
"Just tell me where it is and I'll let you go." The boy started to negotiate with Amu.
Amu, on the other hand, was far past any kind of talking especially negotiating. She wanted out of this room that seemed to be shrinking and she wanted out now. If he was in her way then he was going down.
Amu's hair became shorter, a new thing that surprised Amu. Her nails became extremely long, and claw-like. Her eyes became the cat eyes again. When the boy looked at her he was disgusted.
"You're one of those cat-freaks." He spat.
Amu felt her leg muscles bunch and she charged start at the boy with no name. He moved in time, but Amu caught his cheek in a last effort to leave some mark on him before she left. She looked sideways as she continued out the door. He had four neat and parallel cuts diagonally down his cheek.
She smirked and ran down the hall in the opposite direction she had come.
"You're going the wrong way." The boy shouted.
"That's what you think." Amu hissed quietly.
It took her twice as long, but she eventually made it out of the school. When she ran out the front school doors she noticed that she had changed back into herself. She caught her breath and walked around to the back of the school. She saw the boy exit and look around for Amu.
She sighed and then silently jumped over the fence. She was in the garden again and she ran back to her dorm. She was walking down the hall when she noticed a swarm of people around her door.
"I wonder what she'll look like." Somebody mumbled.
"I'll wait until she comes out or comes back." Many others whispered. The whisper that go Amu moving faster was, "I wonder what kind of secret she has."
However, Amu was already half down the stairs trying to be silent and go unnoticed. She wandered around the back of the dorm building and saw stairs going to the roof. She shrugged and walked up the shaky stairs.
She sat on the roof and sighed. She thought she was completely alone.
"What happened to you?" A low voice asked from behind her.
He surprised her so she leaped to her feet and her eyes became the familiar slits.
"Easy now." The boy said with his hands up defensively.
Amu relaxed and sat down again.
"Why are you here?" The boy asked. Amu was taken back by the honest question.
However, she just shrugged her shoulders. After awhile of awkward silence, Amu spoke up. "I wanted to go to school. Why are you here?"
"My parents moved us here to run away from a 'bad omen'." The boy stated and then Amu stiffened.
She glared at him and then stood up. She took three graceful steps and then leaped off the roof.
"Amu!" The boy yelled and raced to the roof's edge.
Amu landed with ease and then turned to him.
"You worry too much," Amu smiled at him. She was happy someone she remembered actually seemed to care and remember her, unlike Utau. Amu continued, "But you don't have to, Ikuto."
Amu ran off and disappeared.
Ikuto froze, "You aren't suppose to remember me."
He jumped off the roof and started to jump through the trees. He was heading in the direction of the principal's office. He needed answers and the principal was the only one still around that could answer them. Or so Ikuto thought.
I had a lot of fun writing this chapter!
I hope you had just as much fun reading it!
Like always, Read and
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If you don't, how will I know you like it?
Or
How will I improve the story? (Give examples if you do critique. :D)