~*Invasion from the Dark*~
Tea slowly opened the door towards her home. The week was definitely not a good one. Serenity still laid in a coma. Mai, however, did not survive the long winter night. By the time the paramedics have arrived, they found a faint pulse. Unfortunately, when they reached the ER at Domino City Medical Facility, Mai had not made it.
A funeral was held for her earlier that day. Everyone she knew had shown up. Joey caused quite a scene but who could blame him? He went crazy, tossing all the duel monster cards she had possessed, hurling the ice skates right at the wall, puncturing it slightly. As crazy as it seems, the security guards had to carry him out.
Making her way towards the living room, she laid on the couch, gazing up at the ceiling. It has been quite a day. A small sense of relief washed over her. Her so-called "Secret Santa" did not call her yet so far.
Suddenly, her phone rang. Groggily, she reached for the cordless phone on the nightstand beside the couch. "Hello?"
"Silent Night…" the caller sang in a dark voice. "Holy night…"
"What the fuck?" Tea sat up. "Who the hell is this?"
"…All is calm...all is bright…."
"What the?"
"Round yon virgin…mother and child…"
"Hey!" Tea was getting pissed off. "I know you can hear me!"
"Holy infant so, tender and mild…"
"You're starting to piss me off!" Tea fumed.
"Sleep in heavenly peace…" Suddenly, the electricity went out, shrouding the whole house in darkness. Tea's eyes darted around in fear, her fingers gripping onto the phone.
"Sleep in heavenly peace…" the caller laughed softly before the line of silence buzzed the earpiece.
Minutes passed by and nothing happened. Soon, a huge noise rang through the house as a brick was hurled right through the glass door that led to the backyard, shattering it, creating a huge hole. A cloaked figure with a bleeding masked and a knife in hand stood there.
"Oh my God!" Tea took a step back as the figure leapt inside. Making a run for it, she dropped the phone and started to run, not caring where, as long as she got away from this…this madman.
Her feet shuffled towards the kitchen, rummaging through the drawers, seeing a huge butcher knife. Alas, a weapon worthy of her need.
But before she could even pull it out, her attacker shoved her right into the wall, causing her to drop the knife. Her chest slammed right into the plastered wall. She then felt a hand wrapped around her neck, pulling her towards him before slamming her back right by the entry.
Taking out his knife, the cloaked figure pressed his body onto Tea's to prevent her from struggling. He could taste the fear running through her skin as he ran the blade right on her, slicing her arm very slowly, watching the blood seep out.
Screaming, Tea tried to flinch but to her dismay, made things worse as the blade ran down her wrist. She held her arm, crying in pain. With her foot, she kicked her attacker as hard as she could right on the stomach. Success! Her attacker managed to stumble back while her hand gripped onto her bleeding arm. Struggling to stand up, her attacker slowly came to.
As fast as she possibly could, Tea sauntered to the hole through the glass door, jumping outside and sprinted as fast as she could around the house and to the front, running down the street.
Taking a slight glance, Tea noticed that her attacker was after her. Panicking, she continued to run down the road. Suddenly, she remembered Marik lived a couple of blocks down ahead. With her long legs, she sprinted as fast as she could towards their house, pounding on the door. "Marik! Ishizu! Somebody open the door!! For the love of God hurry!!" looking back, the masked man continued to run after her with his knife in the air.
Instantly, the door opened and there stood Ishizu. "Tea, what's going on?"
Tea raced inside, slamming the door shut. "God, he's after me!!"
"Who's after you?" Ishizu looked worried.
"My…my…my Secret Santa…" she pointed out the window.
Ishizu made her way towards the window, looking outside. "Tea, no one's out there." She then took notice of her arm that continued to bleed. "Oh dear, let me go get a towel!" she then ran into the kitchen.
Tea sat on the couch in the living room, still holding her arm. She heard the door to the basement creaked open, her eyes taking a glance, seeing Marik emerge from the basement.
"Tea?" Marik's eyes widened in surprise. "What brings you here?"
Tea opened her mouth to answer but Ishizu stepped in with a wet towel. "Her Santa finally had the guts to show up."
"Well, is that so?" he made his way towards the couch opposite from Tea.
Ishizu pressed the towel onto Tea's arm, looking up at her brother. "Marik, could you take over for now? I have to make a few phone calls."
"Oh well," Marik stood up, making his way towards Tea while Ishizu left the living room. Taking the towel, he wrapped it around Tea's bleeding arm. "How did this happen?"
"Well, I just got home from Mai's funeral and was about to fall asleep when he called and started to sing Silent Night. Next thing you know, all the lights in my house went out and he broke in."
"Did you get to see his face?"
Tea shook her head. "No, he was wearing a mask."
"Well…" Marik trailed off. He couldn't think of anything else to say.
"I called Namu and Yami." Ishizu returned to the living room. "Both of them should be here any minute." She then turned to Marik. "By the way, did you kill the rats in the basement?"
"Rats?" Tea freaked out as soon as they mentioned about the furry creature. It was the first present her Santa managed to give her.
"Why yes," Ishizu turned her gaze back to Tea. "There have been rats running around our basement. At least that's what Marik's claiming."
Suddenly, a knock sounded off throughout the whole house. Ishizu got to her feet, making her way towards the door. "I'll get it!" opening the door, she only saw Yami standing there. "Yami?"
"All right Ishizu," Yami ran his fingers through his blonde hair. "What is so important that you had to bring me all the way…" his eyes glanced at Tea before they widened in shock. "Tea!" he brushed past Ishizu, making his way towards the living room, sitting next to Tea, pulling her close to him, holding her tightly. "Tea, are you all right? What happened? Who did this to you?"
"Santa…."
Suddenly, Detective Rishid and Namu entered the living room. "Well, well," Rishid sat down. "I have been meaning to talk to you Mazaki."
"What about detective?" Tea looked up at Rishid, feeling Marik's hand applying more pressure onto her cut.
"Me, Namu, and the police chief have been running background checks on your house and cell phone accounts," he then reached inside his bag, taking out papers. "And what came out totally surprised the hell out of all of us."
"You will never believe what we found." Namu folded his hands on his lap.
Just before Namu could continue, another man entered the living room, fixing the turban on his head.
"Sensei?" Tea, Yami and Marik looked up at the tall man in his own robe.
"Chief?!?" Rishid and Namu looked up at Shadi in surprise.
"Chief?" Yami and Marik looked down at the authorities. "What does that supposed to mean?"
"Well," Namu scratched his head. "Long story short. Shadi is posing as your substitute teacher and has been ever since the case of Midori Hamasaki, your cousin, had came about."
"Basically, I've been investigating the case off and on." Shadi sat on the rocking chair. Ishizu came in with a cup of coffee, handing it towards Domino City's top police chief, who took it eagerly.
"Anyway," Namu continued. "We have found breakthrough evidence in your phone accounts. It seems…well…" he handed Tea the papers. "I think it's best if you read this yourself."
With her left hand, she took the papers looking it over. Her eyes widened with shock as her eyes scanned the numbers. "This…This can't be! No way! It can't be! It's impossible! There's just now way!"
~*To Be Continued*~