ACT 9: Skeletons in the Closet
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A/N: Sorry for the delay! Gosh, 2 years is such a delay! hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I really want to finish this fic so im gonna try my best :D
Disclaimer: Don't own Escaflowne, much to my chagrin.
Plug: Please read my other Esca fic, "Into the Abyss", if you have the time. It's an angst "what-if" fic. For Roswell fans: I suggest you read "It Was You", a Liz/Zan fic :)
Please review! Comments are welcome!
Inferna: hehe yep that's the van we know and love!
aoi-hitomi: sorry for the late update! hope u don't biggerstaff me lol and i hope you enjoy this new chapter!
kintora: blushes glad you like this fic! amano and yukari? now that you'll find out later on ;) sorry about the confusion with merle and folken but the confusion will be cleared later on. I'm not sure yet if i'll be pairing millerna up with someone. thanks for the review and i'm really glad u like this fic:D
azncopycat: hehe well amano's not a bad guy :p in any case, hitomi was kinda irrational but that's how hitomi really is even in the series, right? very emotional hehe.
Tramie: haha glad i surprised u there!
Rhapsody's Song: you'll have to read on to find out! ;)
Esca-lover: haha well you know how grade school fights go. they usually sound petty once you grow old but while you were in grade school, it seems so grave. :P glad u liked the previous chapter and hope you like this one too!
Sakura onto Hitomi: thanks! Glad you find it interesting :)
Dragoness: thanks! hope you enjoy this chappy too!
Annie: thank you:) glad you like it!
SabineballZ: hehe they're really frustrating you, ne? dont worry things will work out soon... but i figure misunderstandings occur all the time where van and hitomi are concerned. lol
Kute Anime Kitty: thanks! i kinda liked it too :) glad you like the chapter! mmm... candy! i want more!
erika: thanks for the input and for reminding me to update this fic:)
tigger093061: Here ya go, thanks so much for the review:)
zero-serenity: thanks for adding me in your favorites! hehe sorry but van and hitomi would have to endure a little more ;)
majka: thanks:D
Encuentrame: sorry this was like a year or more late. hope you'll still read it :)
Saotoshi: hehe agree with you, Van is quite the idiot! hope you enjoy this chappy!
dark-elmo: so sorry for the late reply!
Holly: glad to hear that :)
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Hitomi wiped her forehead with the back of her hand - her eyes in a calm repose that reflected her entire being, save the ragged breathing that caused her chest to heave up and down more dramatically than usual. Making one final stretch of her legs, she looked up at the greyish blue sky and noticed with a child-like curiosity the specks of yellow fighting its way up and the flocks of virgin white pigeons flying around like moving clouds. With brows furrowed, the girl rushed to her duffle bag, emerald-eyes rummaging through her crisp white shirt and faded blue jeans to find what she was looking for. Grabbing the object from the bag and placing it on her wrist, she mentally read the digits that flashed on its screen.
6:00 am.
Had she been running that long?
She had briefly recalled how the clock back in her home had looked like when she had set foot outside. It had only been 4:30 and the slate gray sky was further proof to that.
Hitomi walked back to her Jetta, dazed, her duffel bag lazily slung over her shoulder. Perhaps Coach Miguel's laborious training had finally taken a toll on her brain, programming her to wake up early and run around like a gerbil on a wheel. It was as if she had been on a trance the whole morning... As if invisible strings on her body were being pulled by someone.
Or something.
She remembered now the bitter feeling that she had woken up to, and it was what motivated her to get a therapeutic jog. Somehow, it had helped, not so much as to accept whatever went on just the previous day, but rather to forget for a short amount of time all the hurt and confusion that had coursed through her since the day she laid eyes on a particular auburn-eyed guy. She started the engine and headed back home for a warm shower.
By the time she got home, dawn had broken, announcing a sunny Saturday morning - very much the opposite of last night's dreary conditions. Silently, she prayed that this would be an omen of good blessings to come.
Silently, she wondered how that will ever be possible.
After stepping out of the shower and getting dressed in clean loose-fitting clothes, the shrill ring of the phone echoed throughout her room. Picking it up, she gave a heartless hello, and realized immediately that it was Merle, with her sharp, high-pitched voice.
"HITOMI!!!"
"Yes Merle?"
"Are you alright? You sound like your dog died or somethin, that is if you still HAD a dog."
"No I'm good. Just tired I guess."
Merle raised her eyebrows. She knew Hitomi well enough to know she was down and she knew just the thing to cheer her up.
"HEY! I know just what to cheer you up!!!"
"Merle, I'm OKAY, remember? But since that's not gonna stop you, what's your plan to cheer me up from my supposed depression?"
"Uh..."
In reality, Merle didn't know just the thing to cheer her up. Hitomi was quite the complicated female who wasn't so easily beguiled by things like Ben and Jerry's and drama movies. She knew, though, that there was one thing that Hitomi was very passionate about - tarot card reading. And as much as she hated the damn cards, she had to make a sacrifice for Hitomi's sake.
"Something you've been wanting to do for a long time now - do a reading for me!"
Immediately, emerald eyes brightened up.
"Are you serious?? I thought you were terrified with tarot cards?"
"I'll make this one an exception."
Hitomi grinned. "Great! I'm on my way to your place!"
With a shudder on Merle's end and a giddy clap on Hitomi's, the phone clicked as Hitomi ran to her closet to get some decent clothes on, carefully placed her tarot cards wrapped in a velvet cloth inside her handbag, and left the house.
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"Are you sure you're up for this?"
"Well?"
"Merle..."
"OKAY, OKAY FINE! Let's do this then!"
"May I remind you that this was YOUR idea, not mine. I don't even know why you suggested this in the first place."
"I know! I know! Just... JUST let me think this whole thing through for the millionth time."
Hitomi raised an eyebrow.
"WHAT??!? Do you realize what you're making me do here?"
"Merle, you're obviously making a big deal out of this. I'm just going to flip a few cards on your behalf and that's it! You sound like I'm gonna pin you to the wall and offer you as a sacrifice or something!"
"WHAT?!? SACRIFICE???"
"Merle..."
The pink-haired girl took in a deep breath.
"Ready?"
A nod.
"Well then, here goes."
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The room was drowning in silence.
Despite the loud noises coming from the idiot box just inches away, the chestnut-haired girl could only stare lifelessly away and focus on the dull whir in her mind as she tried to digest what had just happened. What started out as an innocent reading turned out to be a horrendous yet not entirely surprising revelation.
Perhaps what bothered her the most though was lying to the person she had just made a reading to and merely waving off her momentary lapse and shocked expression as fatigue.
Lying, however, was the only thing Hitomi could do.
After all, how can she just blurt out to Merle that she knew she was terribly missing Folken?
And so, the remaining time Hitomi spent in Merle's house was filled with guilt, remorse, and anxiety... It was hard putting up a front - smiling to the Filipina while she popped in her favorite movie (Legally Blonde) in the DVD player, and laughing with her at the humorous parts. She was, however, going to stick to her feigned ignorance... It seemed like a complicated task but in the long run... It was easier that way.
Luckily, her friend was too immersed in the scenes unfolding that she had not noticed how the other had been biting her lip most of the time or looking nervously at the peach ceiling and the delicate glass chandelier that lazily hung at the center. Once the wedding ceremnoy ended, and the credits rolled, the ominous sound of the television screen being turned off echoed through Hitomi's ears, while Merle happily sighed and plopped down the bowl of popcorn on the glass coffee table.
"So what should we do now?", Merle asked, still suffering from a hang-over of cheesiness, as she gave this far-off smile.
Hitomi did what she knew best to do in situations that might lend itself to danger - "Uh, I think I better get going. I need to help my Mom with some... stuff at home!" - escape.
Merle looked at her quizzically. "What stuff?"
"Uh... the usual..."
"Uh-huh... You sure are acting weird today... WeirdER i mean."
Hitomi pouted. "Whatever, Merle. I'm not the one who's watched Legally Blonde for 10 times already... Or is that 15? Who's counting anyway..."
Merle put out her tongue.
"Fine then, Ms. Kanzaki. You better go do your 'stuff' at home. Next time I get these crazy ideas to cheer you up, remind me not to push through with them okay?! It seems like they aren't appreciated anyway."
"Oh come on, Merle! I did appreciate it. I really do. I just really... need to go home now."
Merle smiled slyly, "Looks like someone still falls for my dramatic acts."
Hitomi playfully slapped her arm.
"Seriously though, Merle - thanks. You don't know how much this meant to me."
This time, Merle's smile was sincere as Hitomi gave her a quick hug. "The world can use more friends like you."
"No problemo, Tomi. I'm sure you would have done the same."
Hitomi nodded, and with a last wave, left her house.
The chestnut-haired girl heaved a sigh. 'Nice people like Merle don't deserve to be so heart-broken.' And she was going to make sure the quote holds true. Now she needed a plan to make that possible.
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The lunch hour was, again, a rather uncomfortable time of the day. This time around, Merle and Dilandau were there to witness the display of uncertainties and awkwardness in the simple acts of Van forking his soup, which was of course not very normal, and Hitomi sprinkling her sandwich with pepper every so often. Merle and Dilandau looked at each other quizzically, until finally Dilandau attempted a lame conversation opening.
"So hey, last lunch time Merle and I weren't here because our chemistry lab teacher got mad at us... again." Merle rided with the conversation even though it wasn't such an exciting ride. "Well, it wasn't quite a shock. You know how Dilandau is with all the burners." She laughed, and Dilandau followed suite. The other two weren't even remotely amused.
They gave up. If they wanted an uncomfortable lunch, they were gonna get it.
And so the rest of the lunch hour was dead silent.
Once the trays were piled up haphazardly on the table and the students left the cafeteria just as haphazardly, Hitomi pulled Dilandau to the side in a hush hush manner. Merle and Van had already dashed for their algebra exam.
"Hey Dilandau, don't go first. I need to tell you something... important".
Dilandau raised his eyebrow.
"Look who finally has a voice."
She rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. Now listen, you need to help me. You see..."
"Will this involve lighting a fire somewhere cause then I'm game!", Dilandau again interrupted, with a sinister, otherwordly cackle that might have caused goosebumps to most.
Hitomi's reaction, however, was annoyance.
"Stop interrupting me. This. Is. Important."
Dilandau shut up immediately and made a salute, which Hitomi chose to ignore.
"Look, we need to find Folken."
"Folken, as in Merle's...?"
"Yes, Merle's..." she bobbed her head from side to side thinking of an appropriate noun to relate Merle to Folken but couldn't. There were just some things that had been buried deep in the past that proved difficult to rehash. Perhaps the Merle and Folken situation was at the top of the list.
"I thought Merle didn't want to have anything to do with Folken anymore?", Dilandau asked, quizzically, as though he was trying to solve an algebraic equation that just did not... equate.
"I thought so too..."
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Now, breaking and entering is certainly not a very nice thing to do. But when breaking and entering is done without really "breaking" anything (Merle HAD volunteered the information on where she kept the keys to her house long ago) and when it was for a good cause, perhaps it wasn't that very evil...
At least that was what Hitomi reminded herself over and over again, while Dilandau giddily opened Merle's door and stealthily went inside. Worst case scenarios kept swirling in her head. 1) A busybody neighbor could suddenly pop out of nowhere wondering what the hell they were doing, 2) Merle's parents could have gone home early from a meeting to break their usual "late night at the office" routine, or 3) Merle could have decided to skip her favorite yoga classes because she wasn't feeling well.
Although all three scenarios were quite impossible (The neighborhood was especially quiet, Merle's parents were obssessed with work, and Merle obssessed with yoga), Hitomi could not help but feel her palms getting sweaty by the minute, like she had suddenly been part of a Mission Impossible-esque situation and she was going to face death penalty if she was ever caught.
Dilandau, on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying every minute of it, humming the Mission Impossible theme song while he went inside the house and ran up the stairs, looking right and left every now and then for the added dramatic effect. Hitomi rolled her eyes but decided to let him have his fun. Telling him to keep quiet was futile.
One could be 100 sure when they had already reached Merle's bedroom. The hot pink walls were certainly a break from the austere peach and cream that dominated the other rooms.
Then, there was also the hot pink bed, the hot pink phone, the posters of several boy bands Hitomi and Dilandau were too afraid to mutter the names of, and all the pictures of Merle that were displayed on every empty corner.
Dilandau made an exaggerated shudder.
"This room always gives me the creeps, you know."
Hitomi grinned. "Hurry up and look for some evidence, before you puke here or something."
"Roger."
Looking for evidence was certainly difficult amidst the plethora of pictures, scrapbooks, letters, fashion magazines, and other knick knacks. Finally, thank God, Hitomi shouted victory, after looking through a worn shoe box in one of her closets, hidden underneath a pile of magazines dated a year ago. It contained around 20 letters from Folken, all at least a year old. His neat, precise handwriting was very distinct - straight and thin. Words of apologies were scattered through each letter, and hopes of receiving a letter in return. She skimmed through each of them. The latest among those 20 letters wrote that he was going to move again, but he did not say to where.
Frantically, Hitomi looked for more recent letters so she could get the return address she needed. All she got was a picture of Folken dated six months ago. No return address. At the back was a note:
"Merle.
I'm sorry.
-Folken"
It was probably the very last note Merle got from him. He had given up... Merle had refused to reply.
Could anyone blame Merle though? The pain had been made - a sharp pain that could not be blunted by nice words, sincere apologies, and the hope that things could go back to way they were before. And yet...
That was the most painful part of it all. That Merle still did think of the what if... Of the small possibility that she could see him, that he would just get down on his knees and apologize and the hurt will disappear. That he would make her his world again and she would make him hers...
To think of all this while still denying any of these thoughts and feelings to anyone who asked... It was sheer torture.
Hitomi snapped back from her deep thoughts. She felt the hurt that Merle felt. The hurt of hopefulness and helplessness...
Gingerly placing the photo inside her binder, she and Dilandau left the room. Dilandau looked at Hitomi's determined look and back at the happy photos of Merle on her room, and inwardly cursed Folken for all the pain that he caused Merle all these years. If they ever do track him down, Folken was going to meet his fist first.
