A flash of light, a deafening sound, and buildings tumbled down. The sound of the explosions echoed in Arisa's head as she looked around in confusion. Fire blanketed the festival stalls, the whole place was ablaze. All she could see were golden, red and blue. There had been an explosion? But how?
The demons had disappeared altogether, although she wasn't even sure if that's what she should call them.
She had to get out of there, she just had to. But would her friends be ok if she did? What about Cynthia? And where were they anyway? Come to think of it, she hadn't seen a single person ever since the explosion.
She looked around frantically, looking to find a safe passage through the fire, smoke and rubble. The tower clock in the middle of the festival read the time, analyzed the safest path, ran as fast as her legs could carry her.
She stopped when she found her escape route blocked by a ring of demons. These demons were different than the last, they had green faces which were covered in swirling white patterns. They would've almost looked beautiful, except for the fact that they were stopping her from escaping. A small part of her mind also registered that she had very little time before her respiratory system started inhaling too much smoke.
Arisa stepped away from the demons, and felt herself into the chest of another person.
"Kakashi?" She asked, looking back.
Kakashi's face was set in a frown, eyebrows furrowed.
"Arisa." He said, stepping in front of her, as though shielding her from the demons,
"Find Cynthia and Itachi. I'll find the others."
"But what about the-?" She stopped when she looked in front of Kakashi only to see the demons gone. Vanished. Just like before. What was going on?!
"There's no time to stall, they may be hurt." Kakashi interrupted her stream of thought, and she nodded, turning and running in the other direction.
While dialing Cynthia's cell phone, she ran past some of the buildings which had been caught in the blast. She heard a masculine voice call her name, "Arisa?"
Snapping around, she saw a pair of pupil less silvery eyes stare at her from under rubble.
"Neji?" she asked.
"Who else?" He grumbled.
"But-"
"I'm stuck here. My right arm's seemingly been crushed and so's my leg. Help me out." His voice was strained, as though he were in extreme pain
Arisa looked at the rubble over Neji, gauging if her physical ability alone would be enough to help him. Deciding it was, she moved to where he was and moved a few pieces of building parts. She dragged him out of there, supporting him on her shoulder as she stood.
"Are you okay to move?" She asked.
He seemed to be humiliated having been saved by her. Perhaps having a girl save him was a blow to his pride. Begrudgingly, he said, "You don't need to worry about that. Where are the others?"
"I don't know. I'm trying to call Cynthia, but she's not picked up yet."
"Try again."
Arisa was mildly annoyed with his telling her what to do, but nonetheless, she moved with Neji back onto the main street. In every direction, fires were still blazing harshly. It was a miracle that they hadn't had to deal with them yet.
"Arisa?"
Cynthia's voice came from the phone.
Bringing it to her ear, Arisa said, "Cynthia, where are you?"
"Umm...we're at the fireworks stall. Why?"
Arisa stopped walking, confusion apparent on her face, "The fireworks stall exploded. Cynthia, please don't joke around." The worry was evident in her voice.
"Joking? Ha, I think you're the one that's joking." She laughed a bit, "I'm at the fireworks stall with Itachi and Kakashi."
"Cynthia! There was an explosion at the fireworks stall! The whole festival is on fire! Are you drunk or something?!" Arisa was panicking now.
Cynthia's voice rang with concern as she said her next words, "Arisa, sis, are you okay? You're confused. There was no explosion. Are you in any sort of trouble- actually, stay right where you are, I'm coming to check up on you." She hung up the call.
Arisa stared at the screen of her phone for a minute. Her eyes widened in surprise as she noted the time, five minutes past 7. She looked around herself, Neji was nowhere to be seen. The stalls were all fine, as though nothing had happened to them. People stood at different stalls and displays. A kid bumped into her legs from behind, uttering a cheerful apology before racing ahead screaming with joy.
Arisa shook her head in confusion. What had happened?
Her phone rang again, the caller Sasuke. Picking up, Arisa heard Naruto's cheerful voice from the other end.
"Arisa! Where are you?! The fireworks are about to start! Come over here! Umm...Sasuke and Neji stole my phone that's why I'm using his."
"Neji? He's okay?" Arisa asked, still confused.
"Yeah, he's fine. Although I'm not sure why he wouldn't be. Why d'you ask?"
Arisa was quiet for a while.
"Arisa?"
"…Sorry, umm… it's nothing. I'll come and join you now."
"Be sure of it!-Hey wait, stop it Sasuke, don't break my phone! Sorry Arisa, I'mma have to save my phone now. Bye" He hung up.
Arisa took a shaky breath and looked around her to check if the stalls were really ok. Having decided there was no better alternative, she walked in the direction of the fireworks display.
As she broke into a jog, she bumped into a strange man.
"Sorry." She said. But the man caught her hand and when she looked to see his face, she saw the same hawk faced demon which she had encountered earlier on.
"Wha-?"
She tried to run away but its grip on her was as strong as it had been earlier- that is to say, unbreakable.
Arisa looked around her, and saw the same demons as before, surrounding her and blocking her view in all directions. "It's happening again." she whispered, before her vision blurred in the ensuing explosion.
This time when she analyzed the safest escape route. She decided to take the more dangerous one rather than the one she had taken last time. Seeing the central clock tower, the time once again read 7:13. Her instinct kicked in and she moved to escape.
Whilst running she bumped into Kakashi, though the surroundings were different.
"Kakashi!" She said, panicking.
"Arisa, are you ok?" He said, looking worried. "Come with me." he turned around, grabbing her arm and pulling her along through a path which would lead them to the woods.
He stopped suddenly and she almost ran into his back as she looked up. In front of them were the same green demons as before, which blocked their path. Kakashi turned around, put his hand on Arisa's shoulder and said, "You go back the way we came, and find another way to get to the woods. There's a lake in the middle, stay by that."
Arisa was confused, why was Kakashi acting like that? "What about you?"
A crash came from behind them, the sound of the green demons moving closer, and Kakashi said, "Go! Go now!"
Arisa turned around and ran, but when she looked behind her, both the demons and Kakashi were nowhere to be seen. She heard a scream to her right and looked to find Sasuke on the floor, writhing in pain.
"Sasuke?"
She realized that his jacket had burned through and his arm was badly burned.
"Are you okay?"
He looked at her, eyes coming into focus, saying, "I got careless, my arm's badly burned. The fire's gone though."
"But...Naruto? Sakura? Where are the others?"
"I have no idea,"
Arisa helped Sasuke up and said, "Kakashi told us to go to the lake in the woods nearby. I think he knows where the others are."
"Let's go there then, Try calling the others."
Arisa couldn't even begin to comprehend what was happening. So somehow, when it happened the first time, it wasn't real? And the rest of it was a repetition? But it didn't play out in the exact same manner, she had found Sasuke, not Neji.
She took out her phone and dialed Cynthia's number. She picked up on the second ring, as Arisa and Sasuke started moving towards the woods.
"Arisa?"
"Cynthia, are you okay?" Arisa's voice was strained.
"Umm...yeah," Cynthia giggled slightly, "Actually, I'm great. Why wouldn't I be?"
Arisa's eye widened in surprise. Again? Cynthia's reaction was almost the same as the last time.
"B-but, the explosions, the fire, where are you?"
"Honey, I'm at the mask stall with Itachi."
"What?! No..."
"I know, right? I'm alone with him, Kakashi went somewhere else. What explosion?"
Arisa looked around, and her eyes locked onto the burning banner of what used to be the mask stall, which happened to be near her location. The whole display was on fire, and the roof had already caved in.
"Cynthia, you are not in the mask stall. It's on fire." It was the only thing Arisa could say. How else was she supposed to reason with whatever was happening?
Cynthia laughed, "On fire? Okay, maybe it's popular, but definitely not on fire. Why would it be in the first place?"
"There's been an explosion! Cynthia, where are you?!" Arisa's voice was pleading, almost on the verge of tears.
Cynthia's voice was soothing, quiet and concerned. "Sis, there is no explosion. Where are you? Are you okay- I'm coming to find you now. You're worrying me."
Arisa closed her eyes shut tightly, as though she could block out everything which was happening around her like that. She scrolled through everything she knew in her head, looking for something, anything, which could provide an explanation for this turn of events. She found nothing.
She heard Cynthia end the call, and she opened her eyes. Once again, she was in the middle of a crowded, unharmed festival, which had been untouched by any sort of explosion. She looked at the lock screen of her phone, almost instinctively, and saw the time; 7:05.
She took several shaky breaths. Was she going mad? She desperately wanted to see Cynthia. Cynthia had always been there for her, and would definitely know what was happening to her. But what if she didn't believe her?
Arisa stood in that spot for several minutes, and simply observed the people walking past her. Nothing seemed to be amiss. Nothing to even hint that what Arisa had just witnessed ever happened. She almost felt her mind torn apart in the turmoil. What was wrong with her?
She felt a hand touch her shoulder and she jumped, turning around, almost panicking.
Cynthia stood behind her, a worried look on her face.
"Are you okay? Did something happen?"
Arisa hugged Cynthia and held on to her, standing like that for a while.
"It's okay; you can tell me what's wrong. I'm here now."
Arisa let out a long sigh of relief.
"I'm okay. I'm still alright."
Cynthia smiled, and Arisa drew back to look at her properly.
"Okay, now that you're alright, tell me, where is it?" She hissed the last words as her face contorted into the same hawk like face which she had come face to face with twice before.
Frantic, Arisa stepped back, almost screaming, "Who are you?! What do you want?! Why are you doing this?!"
"You are a fool to not know. Where is it!" The demon hissed.
Arisa almost had tears in her eyes, "What have you done to Cynthia!?" She screamed and looked around her, the monsters weren't surrounding her, in fact there was no one. Everybody must have been at the field, ready for the fireworks. Everybody except her.
She heard her phone ring, but she couldn't move to answer it, and neither did the demon. She looked into it's beady eyes for a moment, half expecting the festival to blow up.
At the sound of the first fireworks shooting into the sky, she looked up. At first she was dazzled by the bright colours, but then her eyes widened in surprise as the saw the bright sparks combine to spell out the words, "Prepare to die!"
And then once again, her world exploded as she ran for her life away from the demon.
"G-Gaara?!" Arisa asked, as she drew back having collided with the red haired boy.
"Arisa." He said, a frown etched on his face. "It's not safe here."
"Where are the others, have you seen my sister?" She had seen nobody. Not a single person. Why did people keep on randomly showing up? Utter madness…confusion…
"They are not the ones in trouble. You're the one they're after. Come with me."
Arisa had had enough of being bossed around without being told a thing of what was going on, but it seemed she had no choice but to tag along with Gaara. His grip on her arm was as strong as the demon's which had grabbed her earlier; besides, Gaara was a friend wasn't he?
He dragged her along for what seemed like an hour, though it was probably only 15 minutes, until they reached the sea. Arisa was confused why Gaara chose to take her to the beach. Suna had a lot of beaches but this was the largest and incidentally the one where a great white shark had tried to kill her when she was 6 years old. Naturally, she tried to avoid that beach.
They kept running over sandy soil until they reached a cliff rising out of the water. At the base of the cliff, Gaara led her to a small, dark cave and said, "Stay in here."
"B-but-"
He pushed a large boulder in front of the cave entrance.
Arisa cursed to herself. The boulder would fit right in with the rest of the cliff face, and nobody would find her unless Gaara came back to get her out. What on earth had he been talking about? She had seen the size of that boulder, no way could one man move it let alone move it with one hand in the casual manner Gaara had done. What was going on? She took out her phone, trying to call Cynthia, but got no connection. Not just that, she was starting to panic. Maybe Gaara, whatever he was trying to do, had put her in that cave to keep her safe- but the thing he didn't know is that she was extremely claustrophobic. She used all the strength she could muster, desperately trying to move the boulder and get out of the cave. She could no longer think rationally, the walls of the cave were moving in on her, just like that time... That time... So long ago...
Hyperventilating, she sunk to the ground, curling up in a ball, screaming and sobbing violently.
At the end of the day, she was still back to the one place she never wanted to be. No matter how hard she tried... Weak and helpless...as always.
