Living In a Dream
Chapter 8
Author's jibberish: Wow, it's been awhile. Fear not! I did not abandon you all! I'm just incredibly lazy…
Meimi ran as fast as she could. With Seira following, she ran to Little Gems, banging on the door. "Madam Saomi! Madam Saomi! Open the door!"
"What if she's not in there, Meimi-chan?"
"She had to be there! For Asuka Jr's sake, she has to!"
A figure came towards the door. "You…" Madam Saomi said. "What do you need? The shop is closed."
"This," Meimi pulled out the trinket, "Was bought from my friend. Now he won't wake up."
"I…" Madam Saomi started to close the door.
Meimi slammed her hand on the door. "Please!" her eyes watered. "He…he may never be the same again."
Madam Saomi opened the door all the way. "Come in," she invited reluctantly. She led them to a room in the back of the store. She made a pot of tea and served them both.
"We need to know about what happened," Seira explained.
Madam Saomi pulled out a small notebook in a locked case against the wall. She showed it to them. "This was my great-great grandfather's journal. There are entries about his niece, Heiko Mianema.
"The cross was found under her pillow when they found her dead body. The newspapers reported that she died in her sleep but…she killed herself. She stabbed herself. Her father paid lots of money to keep the secret."
"Why? Why did you sell it?" Meimi asked.
"It's a curse. My great-great grandfather locked it up but my mother found it. She placed it under her pillow one night and started hallucinating, seeing a man who shared my dead father's face. Soon, after time, she went crazy. She…she killed herself too…" Madam Saomi bowed her head in shame. "I had to get it out of my house. That bobble was the cause of my mother's death."
Meimi gasped in horror. "Asuka Jr. has been sucked into the curse. We have to destroy this thing!" she held it up in the air, ready to slam it against the table corner. When collision occurred, the table end was chipped but the cross was not mauled at all. "How…?"
"I've tried a hammer, a saw…but it still remains intact. Nothing can help your friend now. The only escape is death."
Meimi's eyes watered, tears falling down her face. "No! Asuka Jr. can't die on me! He…I…"
"I'm sorry," Madam Saomi apologized. "Nothing can bring him back to the real world. Nothing can wake him up."
By now, Meimi buried her face in her hands, trying to hold back her tears. What if Asuka Jr. becomes crazy like Madam Saomi's mother? Will he share the same fate as both women?
"Meimi-chan, we have to find a way to wake him up." Seira turned to Madam Saomi. "There has to be a way to wake him up. It's a curse so there is a way to lift it, right?"
"I…I don't know."
"There must be something that started it."
Meimi looked up. "Sleep."
Madam Saomi and Seira turned to her.
"I'll sleep with Amelia's Dream under me. Maybe I'll understand what happened. You know…why it's cursed," Meimi suggested. "It's worth a shot."
Seira gasped. "No, Meimi-chan! It's too dangerous! What if you get pulled in too?"
Meimi grasped Seira's hand. "I need to do what I can. Asuka Jr. is leaving before my eyes. I'd rather risk it than not even trying."
Seira sighed heavily. "Al-Alright."
They left Madam Saomi's and headed for the chapel at St. Paulia's School. The night was thick and the moon was in a perfect crescent.
Seira came out from the back room with a throw pillow and thin blanket. She placed them both on the first pew, right next to Meimi, already dressed as Saint Tail.
"After an hour of sleep, I'll wake you up, ok?"
Meimi nodded. She pushed the pillow near the armrest and pulled the blanket over her. She pulled out Amelia's Dream from her pocket and placed it beneath the purple pillow. And slowly, she drifted to sleep.
…to be continued -_-