Never Take a Dare Because Life's Too Short

Chapter 5: Beginning of the End

Morbid/Dead DF103: All of us voices here and I might as well mention DF103, are suffering from hives. It's been four days now. And because we're not able to do ANYTHING…we're writing. Yeah! And it's a beautiful dark, stormy day to write this chapter; what a perfect atmosphere to work in. BWAHAHAHAH! Actually, there are golf-sized hailstones falling outta the sky, but no matter, still a beautiful day. So, we don't own digimon. ¡Caveat lector! This chapter gets a little graphic and violent, just a tiny bit…tiny, tiny bit. No, really…just a little bit.


That night, Rika lay sprawled out on her bedroom floor, reflecting upon how her day was. She frowned, recollecting the bitter words and attitude she had chucked at Ryo. In desperation to apologize, Rika picked up the phone, feeling bad about what she had said to him. When she really thought about it, Rika didn't even give Ryo a chance to say anything. She dialed the number, only to hear the busy signal.

Rika sighed. She continued staring back at the ceiling again. A mad rush of thoughts about Ryo circulated her mind. 'Is he good or is bad?' She still couldn't believe she saw Ryo hurting Takato. 'He didn't do anything to Ryo.' Remembering what Henry said, she thought, 'What possessed Ryo?' Nothing made sense to her even though she tried to piece together everything that had happened. Sighing, she pressed the redial number. Again, the busy signal sounded. "Who's on the phone!"

- - -

At Ryo's house, Ryo's dad paced around the living room with one hand in his pocket and the other clutched onto the phone. He was put on hold for the last fifteen minutes. In frustration, he ran his hand through his hair. A small voice was heard on the other line. "Yes, finally! I would like to report a missing person." He plopped down onto the couch. "Yes, my son. Ryo Akiyama. He's been gone since last night—"

- - -

Earlier in the evening, Rika, Henry, and Jeri called each other into a three-way call and discussed the possible 'things' that could've possessed Ryo. But, as Rika stared at the ceiling and then at her inactive digivice, a thought that didn't strike her earlier came to mind. "What if it was a digimon?" She shook her head and tossed the device to the side. "It can't be. Maybe Henry will know." She dialed Henry's phone number.

- - -

"Hello? Oh hey, Rika," Henry said.

Sitting in a tree outside Henry's window, a shadowy person listened to Henry's every word, waiting patiently for the right moment. Henry got up and walked around his room looking confused.

"A digimon?" Henry contemplated the thought before he walked past his sock drawer, hearing a light beeping sound. "Strange how you mention that…" He dug through his socks and picked up his lightly pulsating green digivice. "Is your digivice reacting to anything?" Rika's answer was a negative.

"I've been found…" the sinister voice outside murmured. He lunged at the window and clung onto the edge. Henry whipped around and saw a tiny shadow at his window.

Henry dropped the phone and peered at his digivice, which pointed its arrows towards the shadow. "Terriermon?" Henry slinked towards the being, before he picked up the phone and told Rika that he'll call back later. With the phone, Henry sidled out of his room and crept near the door.

"Where are you going?" Janyu appeared from the kitchen counter. "Especially in your pajamas?"

"I'm going…out. I won't be long," Henry innocently replied.

"All right. Don't take too long," Henry's father affirmed.

"Thanks dad. I'll be back soon," Henry sighed incredulously. 'He's a little off right now.'

The blue-haired teenager ran out of the apartment building and lurked around the side approaching the tree outside his window. He saw a person dangling off the edge of the window. 'Who the hell is that?' Henry climbed the tree, dropping the phone in the process, and reached the top only to find no one at his window.

Confused, Henry retreated, shrugging it off when suddenly, a hand clasped over his mouth. A large piece of tape was stuck on Henry's mouth, muffling his cries for help. Something was wrapped around his throat before he was kicked out of the tree. Henry gasped for air as he suspended from a tree branch with what seemed like clothesline around his neck. The shadow jumped off the tree quietly laughing to itself.

As Henry tried to loosen the cord around his throat with his hands, he kicked the person in the head, triggering an attack from the being. It tugged on Henry's leg, causing the line to tighten. Henry slowly lost his awareness, his eyelids closing and one hand falling limp.

A self-satisfied grin spread across the shadowy person's face.

Crack…thud. Moments later, the tree branch gave way sending Henry to the ground, with his back facing the person responsible. Weakly and indistinctly, Henry pulled on the noose and ripped the tape off his mouth. "Ah," he groaned in pain as he wheezed. "Come over here, you bastard." Henry gathered enough strength to get himself up and into a fighting stance.

"You're making a mistake," the voice said.

Still panting, Henry tilted his head in realization, lowering his fists. "Ryo?"

The shadowy figure stepped into the light. Ryo's fiery eyes glowed in the dim light. "That's Mr. Akiyama to you…" he grumbled, throwing a punch at Henry.

Henry ducked his head. "Why are you doing this? First, it was Takato. Now it's me? What's gotten into you?"

"Oh, let's just say…" Ryo paused as something emerged from his mouth. A bald, hideous, red-eyed, elf-like head that owned the sinister voice finished the sentence. "…A digimon."

Henry jumped back. "Holy shit!"

"Envymon, at Ryo's service." The digimon smirked before quickly retreating into Ryo's body. "Whatever Ryo secretly wants, Ryo gets and if anything gets in the way…kill."

"Kill?" Still exhausted, Henry stayed calm, stalling until he regained energy.

"He doesn't want anyone to get in the way between him and Rika."

"What? Rika?"

Ryo's voice changed back into his own, sounding stressed. "That's not…true. Tell Rika…I'm—" His voice changed back to the dark voice. "Quiet boy!"

"Tell Rika what, Ryo?" Henry ran up to Ryo and shook him. "Snap out of it. Fight it, Ryo!"

"Shut up and die!" Ryo took the cord around Henry and tugged on it. Then he grabbed the branch, attached to the other end of the rope and sprinted. Henry fell face first on the ground and was dragged along the roadside. "Not much of your karate skills can help you now, can it?" He laughed maniacally.

Henry climbed up the rope, loosening the noose a little after each tug, and eventually grabbing Ryo's leg. Ryo tripped. With one quick jump, Henry was back on his feet, his body and face severely scratched, covered in blood. "Ryo, I'm sorry for doing this, but…" Henry jumped up and kicked Ryo in the nose. A loud groan slipped Ryo's mouth as he fell backwards, with his hands over his nose. Henry, too, fell over gasping for air, but he was glad to still be alive.

Ryo got up silently and grabbed the stray branch, which was still tied to the rope. A car turned and stopped in front of the two, the headlights blinding both their sense of sight. A person got out of the car. "My god. What happened?"

Ryo cleared his voice. "My friend passed out."

"Do you guys need a ride home?" the stranger asked.

"No, we're fine. It's right there," Henry replied, completely relieved that he heard Ryo's voice again.

The man nodded his head and went back into his car. In the headlight, Ryo's crimson red eyes glowed and the blood running from his nose gleamed. When Henry caught sight of this, he called out to the man in the car, but he'd already started his engine. Ryo jammed the stick into the bumper as the car drove off. "Bye-bye. Enjoy the ride."

The car picked up speed and Henry was dragged behind it.

- - -

The next morning, the police secured and searched the whole residential area of the city for Ryo Akiyama. Though he wondered why Ryo was missing, Janyu was more concerned about his own son who didn't come home last night. Because the phone was missing, he couldn't call the police. Janyu walked around the apartment building, wondering if Henry had past out. Instead, he found their phone.

"Daddy!" Janyu turned around and was greeted by Suzie.

"Hey!" Janyu placed Suzie on his shoulders. "Hi honey. How was your trip?" He asked receiving a kiss from his wife.

"It was nice to get out of the house. How were you and Henry while we were gone?" Henry's mother asked, carrying her bags.

"Um, about Henry. He said he was going to be out for a little last night, but he never came back."

His wife dropped her bags. "What? Did you report him missing?"

"I will now."

"Hendwy isn't here?" Suzie asked, as she was set on the ground.

Janyu just shook his head.

The search party arrived in the neighborhood where the apartment building resided, searching for any leads to the Akiyama case. "Hey! We've got some blood here! Actually, it looks more like a trail of blood."

"Blood…around here? Could it be Henry's?" Janyu thought aloud.

"Get the forensic crew here. It could be Akiyama's."

- - -

Rumiko knocked on the bathroom door. "Rika, Jeri's here."

Rika opened the door with her towel wrapped around her. "Now?"

"Yes, she said it's urgent. So, hurry up and get dressed."

"Okay, okay." Rika returned to the bathroom.

Rumiko walked back to the living room and gave Jeri a smile. "If you want, you can go wait in Rika's room. I know she won't mind."

"Thank you, Ms. Nonaka." Jeri got up and sauntered into Rika's room. She found the digivice carelessly lying on the floor beside the wall.

"Hey Jeri. What's up?" Rika stood at the door putting her hair up in a ponytail.

"I got a call from Ryo this morning…but he was very demanding. He wanted to know where Takato was being taken care of," Jeri whispered.

Rika rolled her eyes. "Like I said yesterday, he's been acting strange."

"Yeah, tell me about it. Anyway, I told him I didn't know. And then, he threatened to kill me if I didn't tell him." Jeri broke out into tears. "I just hung up on him. I didn't know what to do so I came here. Can I stay here for a couple of nights?"

Rika kneeled down next to Jeri. "Of course. Jeri, don't worry about Ryo. He threatened Henry and he didn't do anything yet. He could be bluffing." Rika grabbed the tissue box off her desk and handed a tissue to Jeri. "Besides, Ryo wouldn't do that. Anyway, I'll be back. I have to let my mom know you're staying."

Rushing out her room and into the kitchen, she grabbed the phone. Her mom was cooking breakfast when Rika said, "Hey mom, Jeri's staying for a couple of days, if that's okay."

"Of course. Jeri's welcome anytime." Rumiko scrambled the eggs in the pan. "Breakfast will be ready soon."

"Okay."

"Oh, by the way, I might be home late tonight. I've got a photo shoot."

"All right." Rika ran back into her room. "We've got the house to ourselves tonight, though that kind of creeps me out. This whole Ryo situation is really getting to me."

Jeri looked up. "Rika, why was your digivice out?"

"Oh, I don't know. I was just looking at it and then an absurd thought came to mind." She took the digivice and put it in her side-table drawer.

"And that absurd thought would be…?"

"I thought a digimon possessed Ryo. I called Henry about it—actually, he said something about the digivice reacting…and he was supposed to call me back."

The two glanced at each other. "You don't think…" An unsettling silence struck them. "Here I'll call him and hopefully he's fine." She dialed the number, while Rika grabbed her digivice again and examined it.

"Hi, may I speak to Henry?" Jeri's face blanched. Rika peered over at Jeri's face before an uneasy feeling obstructed her. "Okay, I'll call the others and see if they know where he is." She put the phone down, turning it off. "Mr. Wong said that he went out last night and never came back."


Morbid/Dead DF103: Any mistakes are due to the fact of just overlooking them because it is 3:30 in the morning and I want to post it before the big busy weekend. DF103? Anything you want to say?

DF103: Yeah. It's gonna be a busy weekend because I have to work on the Blah, Blah Box with my crew. Yesh. But, the third chapter of It All Comes Down To This is coming soon.