Chapter 4- Falling Apart

Here it is! Chapter 4 of If Dreams Came True, aka Driving Miss Suicidal (out of her mind, that is).

Haibara: Excuse me, but I only try to kill myself for the good of the people around me!

Conan: Don't run from your destiny, Haibara…

Light played on her eyelids, causing them to blink blindly in the morning sun. Haibara woke slowly and looked around at her surroundings sleepily. Where was she? Oh, that's right. In the office of the Mouri Detective Agency. What time was it? She looked at her watch. 9:15!! She was late for school!

Why hadn't anyone waken her? Haibara climbed the stairs to the top floor. The door was wide open. "Hello?" she called. Silence. A deep dread grew in the pit of her stomach. "Anyone there!?" She bounded into the rooms. Empty. Empty! Empty!! It was almost as if the inhabitants had disappeared into thin air…

Heart pounding madly, breath coming out in ragged gasps, Haibara sunk to the floor in the living room. They were gone…all of them…The organization must have come and disposed of them during the night- no, wait, surely they would have gotten ridden of her too, surely they would have seen her sleeping in the office… then why- where- how-

Suddenly another horrid thought pushed all the others away. The children!

Without bothering to change into fresh clothes, even forgetting to put on her shoes, Haibara dashed down the stairs, out the building, and went straight for Teitan Elementary School.

It was never the thought of death that left her in such horror. In fact, if she were on her own, she'd welcome the chance for an escape from the miserable existence called life. But she wasn't on her own. If death were to come to her, that would also mean that the people she'd become so unwillingly fond of would be in danger too. They still wanted to live. They needed to live, if only for the simple fact that many dear things were still left unsaid.

And it was all her fault. Because she had made that drug, because she had come into their lives. Because she had let her grief take over…

A column of black smoke rose above the buildings into the sky. Her breath caught in her throat. As she turned the last street corner, Haibara saw that her fears were confirmed.

Half of the school was missing. The building spewed out fire like crimson blood while firefighters fought the steadily growing flames within. There was screaming and chaos everywhere, mixing together in a frenzy of spine-chilling mayhem. Children ran to and fro with police officers chasing after them, crying for their parents, crying for it all to stop. Nearby, teachers sat quietly in the rubble with their faces in their hands or moaning despairingly at the carnage. There were only three of them, after all.

Haibara couldn't move, couldn't breath. The whispered gossip of onlookers reached her ears.

"They say there were bombs hidden under the desks."

"Poor things, they never had a chance."

"And they were only children!"

"Do they know who did it yet?"

"I heard the police are looking, but can't find any clues."

"What a shame. Those poor, poor children…"

A gray fog swirled about Haibara's feet as she stumbled down the ally. How she'd gotten there, she didn't know nor care. The sky was gray also, menacing clouds smothering the world from light. She hung her head as she went, eyes blind to all around her. For the moment she was nothing more than a shadow among a world of shadows: emotionless, silent, unable to comprehend.

"We've been waiting."

She looked up. The black figures were grinning at her again. One of them, a tall man with long blond hair and piercing eyes, tossed something at her feet. A paper bag. Normal, if it weren't for a dark substance staining its interior.

"Look in the bag, Sherry." Gin hissed.

Haibara stepped back. She did not want to know what was inside.

A cruel snickering brought her attention back to the dark men. Gin wielded a pistol. Her body froze still as stone as he pointed it at her.

"Now it's your turn."

The shadows spun round and round, all laughing, all sneering at her helplessness.

"Bye-bye, Sherry…"

BANG!!

With a yell, Haibara was jolted out of her sleep, nearly falling off the couch as she did.

"Ai-chan?"

Ran was kneeling over her with a mixture of worry and surprise. The morning sun filtered through the windows of the office in a dazzling shower of light. "I came to wake you up…did you have a bad dream?"

A dream? Haibara looked down at her shaking hands. Yes, it was a dream. Only in her dreams was she left to be the last to suffer. But it felt so real…so real…

So it was that the young-woman-turned-little-girl found herself sobbing on the shoulder of the person she least wanted to be comforted by. Ran spoke softly, stroking her back with all the gentleness that a mother would have. "There, there, it's okay. It's all over now."

Haibara dearly wished it were. But no, it would be a long time until anything would be okay…