Twelve
...
Darkness, it's all around her, stretching out for miles. Reluctantly, Rima takes a step forward clutching at her chest. "H-Hello?" She calls, voice echoing around the darkness.
There's the jangling of bells coming from behind her followed by high pitched laughter, Rima whirls around, squinting. "H-Hello? Is there anyone there?" She calls, heart pounding against her chest. The laughter comes again, somewhere to her left this time and Rima takes a step back only for something to graze against her bare arms.
She screams, scrambling forward and suddenly the darkness explodes into light. It flickers overhead, burning Rima's eyes as she drinks in her surroundings.
Dolls, its porcelain dolls again. They're all arranged on tall shelves that reach the moldy ceiling and as the light dims Rima moves forward. This place, it's oddly familiar, as if she's been here before. There's a door at the end of the hall, incandescent light pouring out from it.
Footsteps light, she walks towards it. "Rima." A soft whisper calls, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. She ignores the voice, those jangling bells ringing in her ears.
"Rima."
"Rima."
"Riimaaa."
She reaches the door, hands trembling as she leans forward, peeking in through the tiny crack. There's a thin woman there, hunched over a high table. She's humming, hands busy. Rima leans forward, breathing shallow as she tries to get a better look of the room.
It's eerie here, lights hanging from the ceiling, walls concrete. A stainless steel counter occupies the back wall with what looks to be surgical equipment expertly placed atop it, the sound of a leaky faucet tickles Rima's ears. Her gaze flits back to the woman then, her humming ceaseless and eyes dropping to the table, a shudder runs down Rima's spine.
There, dangling over the side of the steel table is a scrawny pale arm, and when the woman moves for the sink the world's suddenly slanting. The girl lying unconscious on the table is her.
...
Hands trembling and face pale Rima tries pouring herself a glass of milk only for it to spill all over the counter. She jumps, wide eyes taking in the mess. She places the milk carton down shakily and yanks at the roll of hand towels.
All right, Rima calm down. It's not working.
The milk's cold as it seeps through the paper towels, wetting her fingers. She reaches for another, her mother hurrying into the kitchen, pausing when she spots the mess.
"Rima,".
"S-Sorry!" She squeaks, dropping to her knees and works at mopping the liquid from the floor. Her mother dismisses the mess as she steps over the blonde and heads for the coffee machine, scowling.
"I'll be home late today," she says snatching a mug from the cupboard. She spares the girl a glance over her shoulder, brow raised.
"And don't forget to collect the mail from Yamada-san." Rima nods, chewing on her lip.
"H-Hai."
Her mother turns then, pouring herself a cup of black coffee. "That's my girl, did you sleep well?" Rima's shoulders sag forward, she chews at her lip.
No, no she hadn't slept well. She'd watched herself die. How did one sleep after something so gruesome?
"A-A-Actually, Kaa-chan –"
"...And in other news the body of missing sixteen year old Ibari Minka was discovered early this morning – "
What?!
Springing to her feet, Rima spots her dad standing in the sitting room, TV remote in hand as he turns up the volume. Eyes trembling, Rima stares at the screen where a smiling photo of Minka is being shown.
She's dead.
Rima wrenches her fingers together, face paling. She doesn't hear anything else, ears ringing, stomach churning. Minka's dead – she'd seen the girl's killer – she'd spoken to her and now Ibari Minka's body had been found.
"Poor girl," her mother croaks and Rima continues to stare at the screen, vision swimming.
"W-What did they say about her killer?" She asks, her dad spares her a look. He shrugs, eyes finding the screen once more.
"Not much, only that he's still at large and that –"
"...The body was discovered in a clearing outside of Seiyo by a farmer"
A man with a fuzzy mustache appears on the screen. He's got on a flannel shirt tucked neatly beneath a set of overalls, ball cap pulled down over his eyes. He's frowning, hands on his waist as he shakes his head about and strokes his chin.
"I was just driving my tractor up to the station to get a little something sweet when I saw something really odd. It was this body; you see...it was just sort of dumped in the middle of nowhere." Rima nods at the screen face pale, hands clutching at her necktie.
"...I thought it was some kid who'd had one too many drinks and passed out – that happens a lot in these parts so I went over to shake the kid awake and that's when I noticed it wasn't no sleeping kid it was a dead corpse in a kimono..."
Now that catches Rima's attention, she blinks, swallowing the pack of quarters lodged in her throat.
Kimono?
Rima's knees buckle beneath her. "Was it blue?" She shouts at the screen, her parents eyeing her oddly.
"Rima, are you all right? I know this whole kidnapping thing must be hard on you..." her mother struggles for the right words, looking at her dad for help. "Maybe you should just stay home today –"
"I have to go." Rima says dashing out of the kitchen. Her mother sighs.
"Come straight home after school!" She hollers, the front door slamming shut.