Ghost
Step Nine: Interlude
I couldn't believe that Eric had the courage to ask me and Sky to dinner after what he had done to me; after all of the pain and suffering he put me through, he was acting as if I was just supposed to forget about it and forgive him. It sickened me that I was working with him, but to protect the safety of my investments, I needed to cooperate with him. He'll have my cooperation and nothing more, he could never hold my respect again.
He said he wanted to discuss the details of the plan, and catch up over dinner, and insisted I bring Sky as well. To even suggest that I wanted to attend any social event in his mixed company showed he was possibly the densest person to exist.
Both of my parents were dead because of this person, the fact that he still breathes air makes me sick to my stomach. The fact that he was brought back after taking others lives was simply an indication that there is no justice in this world; all of that for money, money that he didn't even get. He killed them for no reason.
"Why are we even meeting with this scumbag?" Sky hissed.
"Look, I hate him just as much as you do, probably far more; but we have little choice in the matter. He knows too much, so we have to entertain him for now. Believe me, if strangling him with a piece of barbed wire was an option, I'd have done it already." I sighed.
Sky let out a girlish laugh. She was apparently amused by my hatred for Eric, which wasn't surprising. He essentially ruined her life too. She went to a boarding school after that, and from there to Astraea Hill. She had spent her whole life in private and boarding schools. This was probably the first time she got to experience the outside world.
Come to think of it, perhaps this is why she was so excited to come with me. She wanted to experience the outside world. Sky never really was cut out for that rich girl life. She had dreamed of a middle class existence, and it was being lived right now. That explains why she's been so excitable during this whole venture I suppose. She is able to experience the world for the first time. She's fortunate that her experience was not the same as mine.
"Let's wear something nice anyways." I suggested.
Sky nodded in approval.
She had picked out a nice sky blue summer dress, along with her signature hair pin. She had a flower like piece of cloth sewed to the right strap of her dress. She had chosen sandals to go with her outfit, which being that the weather outside was nice, I suppose that was a good choice, plus you had a chance to compliment her toe nail polish.
My choice was a more elegant red dress. Clearly I gave off the impression that I was older and more mature than Sky just from my appearance. My dress had one sleeve that draped over my left arm, and hide my hand down to my nails. The other side was held up by a small strap with no sleeve. It was creative to say the least. The skirt only came down to about six inches above my knee, and was jet black in color. It was a really nice two piece dress.
I had paid closer attention to my make up than usual, even if I didn't like Eric, I didn't like to go out to eat looking like I had just rolled out of bed. My Mascara was nice and tidy, and I decided against lipstick, as I usually did. Most of my make up related attention was put on my eyes. I never wore lipstick or anything really, except perhaps nail polish, which I was not wearing currently.
"You look really pretty Chikaru-sama", Sky commented standing behind me.
I stared into the mirror at her and me. We were both pretty. She was so adorable, that I was proud to be related to her.
"You look, amazing Sky. You've really grown up into a beautiful woman." I smiled.
"You're just picking on me", she blushed.
I turned and touched my forehead to hers, holding her there for a moment while I spoke.
"No, I mean it", said I.
Her face turned a shade of crimson at my words. She was so precious.
"Let's show that asshole what he screwed himself out of getting", I smirked.
Eric had chosen a rather classy place surprisingly. He had money, but he certainly had no class. He was just a dick in a suit really.
He had decided to wear a more business casual look. He had a nice button up blue shirt that had some darker blue stripes. His pants were black dress pants, nothing out of the ordinary. Clearly we out dressed him, which was just one more thing I would chalk up that I beat him at.
"You two look, fabulous", he was in awe.
"And you look like a piece of shit that rolled out of the dirt", I replied harshly.
"Yeah, what do you want Larkin?" Sky was trying to back me up it seemed.
"I wanted to talk. I know you don't trust me right now, and I understand that; but I would like to know what's going on. I want to be filled in on what we're doing", he insisted.
"No way, you can go an-", I cut Sky off.
"Sky, let me handle this." I pushed her back down into her seat.
"Look, it's very simple really." I started.
"If it's so simple, then why has it taken this long to explain what's going on?" Eric was starting to lose his patience.
"If you'd shut the fuck up, I can explain that", I scolded.
"During Grace's death, I had changed the rules of life and death for that moment is my theory. Thus causing me to be returned to life, I'm assuming that for some reason your connection to me created the same effect on you. That much we both know." I explained.
"Right, so where does that put us now?" Asked he.
"Well, something happened when I died", I got quiet.
"What was it?" He leaned in with interest.
"I saw the end of the world." I explained.
"What?" He raised his brow.
"It's true. I saw how our world was going to end." I insisted I was telling the truth.
To my surprise Eric seemed to believe me. He nodded and leaned in to hear more of this information. I guess with all the strange things that had happened to me before, nothing was really too strange to be happening around Chikaru Minamoto.
"So what exactly happened?" He seemed a little excited to know even.
"In about three year's time, this world will meet a great disaster." I explained.
"What kind of disaster?" Asked he.
"I know it sounds farfetched, but there will be another race that will appear and defeat us all." I said.
"Like an alien race?" Asked he.
"Yes. They will surpass us in technology and take our planet from us. Years of slavery will ensue, and the world population will be dropped to about .4% of what it is now."
"And we'll eventually be killed off by them?" He leaned in more.
"No. There is another cataclysmic event that will take place, but I don't know what it is. The aliens taking our planet will mean nothing when this next event happens. I don't know what that event is though, only that it will happen." I sighed.
"What if we prepared for the invasion?" He suggested.
"Won't do any good; even if we prepare for them, they will defeat us. Their technology surpasses ours, and their strength is far greater. The war must happen, and the suffering after it must also happen, there is nothing we can do to prevent it. All we can do is set forth for humans to have a chance at saving themselves from that second event." I told him.
"What do we have to do?" Asked he.
"We have to vanish from the world. We have to wait until after the war happens to reappear to the world. Before that though, we have some information that must be delivered to the public, leave that to me though." I said.
"Alright, and what do I do?" He questioned.
"Whatever I tell you to. Right now I need you to go and delete records of me in England from when I lived there briefly." I instructed.
"Consider it done." He nodded.
"You don't think I'm making this up?" I asked honestly.
"What reason would you have to? Clearly something supernatural has happened to us both, so whatever you saw we can't just ignore." He answered.
"I suppose so." I yawned.
"We still don't trust you Larkin, don't think for a moment this means that we do." Sky hissed.
"She's right, Eric. We are not friends, nor shall we ever be, you blew that chance already." I nodded.
"Look, like I said, I want to do my part to try and help. I'm trying to do the right thing." He said.
"If you wanted to do the right thing, you'd have killed yourself the moment you woke back up; you'd have never come to find me and Sky. All you have done so far is bringing pain and bad memories back to two women who have not only been trying to forget, but to move on with their lives. Don't bother trying to act like a hero now." I glared.
"I'll try and be more sensitive to the situation", he attempted to calm us both.
"You changed me Eric. You turned me into something I didn't want to be. When you killed them, you essentially killed me with them. Chikaru Minamoto is dead, and you're responsible for that." I looked away in disgust.
"Believe me, Eric Larkin died that day too." He commented.
I was a little confused by his words, but I shrugged them off and picked up a menu.
"Let's just eat and get out of here." I insisted.
The meal was short, but the entire time I had the vision on my mind. Even in my head it sounded crazy, but it was what I saw. It may have been a trick, or an illusion, but it was what I saw. For some reason I believed it. With what had happened before to me, anything was possible now. Maybe I had gone crazy though, either way I didn't care. This is what I knew now, and I would do everything I could to try and work with it.
A/N: Is Chikaru crazy? Well I suppose you'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out more, won't you? Also the last chapter made us have exactly 20,000 words, and that is just plain neat.
FUN FACT: I was actually having trouble deciding what to have Chikaru wear to this dinner.