A Life With or Without You
Chapter 7: 1st Day: Looking Deep
By: KawaiiLeena
Chapter 7: Looking Deep
Dagger opens her eyes as the morning sun rises to the blue-tinted endless sky. The turns around to face the white ceiling that stood above her. She quickly remembers her family that she loves so much that she never expected for them to be killed like the way she remembered.
If she could only revisit back time, she would go back to when her family got killed. She'll go back home earlier than usual, don't attend the meeting and POOF! She'll get killed with her family! Really, really simple, isn't it? If only it DID happen.
Now, one thing has been added to her none ending problems: The reaper and the crystal diamonds.
Dagger sighs as she turns around again and faces the bedroom window and started to gaze at the outside world. It is such a wonderful view, big and tall trees, emerald swaying grass, cheerful and chirping birds, sky-blue sky, so beautiful.
Dagger smiles at the sight of this as she slowly sits up and stretches her arms. Another Saturday morning! …Of course, without her family… She remembered that every Saturdays, she and her family would often go to picnics, to the amusement park, shop in the mall, many other sorts of old-fashioned families do.
But now, all those will be no more.
The brunette sighs as she jumps out of bed and goes to the bathroom to take a quick shower. She opens the bathroom door and gracefully enters, and starts taking off her pink cherry blossoms printed pajamas off her.
She turns on the shower, feeling the cold drops of water falling to her naked body. She sighs once more as another moment pass…
XXX LATER XXX
After 30 minutes, Dagger walks out of her bedroom door her midnight black hair a little wet, wearing a simple, plain white T-shirt with a blue short that is up to her knees. She walks down by the wooden classic stairs to the neat germ-free kitchen.
Suddenly, the doorbell rings. Dagger turns around as she wonders who could that be. She walks through the living room to the door, and as she opens it, she is very much surprised to see her bubbly best friend, Eiko, on her porch, smiling as usual, wearing a lavender dress up to her knees.
"Ohayoo?" Dagger greets dumbfounded, blinking. Eiko rolls her eyes as she pouts like a child. "What?"
Eiko crosses her arms as she looks away. "HMPH! I can't believe that my only best friend would be very sarcastic to greet me!" she complains, not noticing Dagger roll her brown eyes.
"Oh really? You want me to exclaim, 'Eiko! Eiko! You're here! It's so nice to see you! Come in! Come in!'" exclaims Dagger, mimicking a high-pitched voice while her face disgusted. Eiko giggled in reply as she nods.
"Well, kind of!" Eiko replies back, smiling. "Aren't you going to welcome me to come in?"
"Huh? Oh, sure, come in," Dagger quickly adds, widening the door for Eiko to come in. Eiko grins as she walks out like a very sophisticated lady, or a queen. Dagger shakes her head as she closes the door. "Cut the act, Eiko. It's disgusting."
Eiko giggles as she playfully slaps Dagger on the shoulders. "Aw, c'mon, I was just playing around," she says with a proud grin. She walks to the living room and starts to sit on one of the single-sized sofa. "So, your family hasn't gone back yet?"
Dagger bit her lower lip as she replies; "N-no… they said they have to fix some papers in my grandparents neighborhood. They won't be back after some… months?" Dagger tries to reason enough, but her voice didn't sound too much convincing.
Eiko arches an eyebrow, and she could feel a tint of nervousness behind the tone of her best friend. Also, she could sense that someone is watching them, but she brushed it off.
"Oh ok!" Eiko say in her usual happy tone. The purple-haired girl looks around again as Dagger goes to the kitchen. She frowns a bit as she could sense sadness around the house. Two years ago, whenever she'll visit here, noise is always to be heard. Dagger and her older brother, Steiner, would never pass a day without a fight of insults and screams. She also remembers that Mr. Alexandros would sometimes watch T.V., ignoring the shouts of his two children, making it a lot noisier. And then, Mrs. Alexandros would always be in the kitchen, trying out new recipes, her kettle boiling with water.
But now, it looks empty, totally empty.
The noisy house before is now the sad, empty and quiet house. The noise and screams are gone. She noticed that since two years ago. She remembers that when she goes home from school everyday, she noticed the house dark, sad, empty, and the liveliness gone for good. She also noticed she had never seen any of the Alexandros family members ever since.
'I guess everything change once in a while,' Eiko thinks as she sighs. Then something struck her. 'Or maybe something tragic happened that Dagger does not want to tell me? A dark secret maybe?'
XXX EIKO'S POV XXX
Maybe something strange did happen! As I see to it, ever since two years ago about middle 2002, I never saw any of the Alexandros family before. Like, they were gone or something. It's as if they just disappeared all of a sudden!
Something is fishy around here. And I'm sure Dagger is hiding something from me, but what? But first, let me get this mystery solve!
First clue: Whenever I ask Dagger about her family, she gets really nervous and starts to stammer. She also gets really jumpy and sometimes pauses a little, like thinking of what to say.
Second clue: Ever since two years ago, I never saw any of the Alexandros family members again. Well, except for Dagger that is. It's as if they disappeared instantly.
Third clue: Sometimes, when I walk home from school, I always see the Alexandros house dark and empty. Like no one is home. I find that too hard to believe because Mrs. Alexandros is always home and there would always be lights on.
Fourth clue: I noticed a sudden change of Dagger since two years ago. She became more and more distant, and sometimes, I notice she is in another world, a world far away from reality. Her mind is sometimes on the clouds and I have to get her attention to listen to me.
Well, that's all the clues! And I'm sure behind that, there is a story to tell. I sense something wrong also is going around here. And I have to figure that out! Even all by myself!
(A/n: Poor Eiko! So naïve, ne?)
XXX NORMAL POV XXX
Eiko finishes her thoughts as she stands up and joins Dagger to the kitchen as the brunette herself cooks breakfast. The cheerful purple-haired girl walks beside her best friend as she watches her peel off hot dogs (A/n: Yeah, we have hot dogs for breakfast sometimes!).
"Want me to help?" Eiko asks with a bright smile. Dagger turns to her and nods willingly. "Great! Um… what will I do?" she asks quite awkwardly as she paces down to the refrigerator.
"Can you please mix a pitcher of orange juice?" Dagger politely asks as she turns to the stove and turns the gas on. Eiko nods as she opens the ref. and pulls out a pitcher of cold water. "The juices are in that corner," Dagger points to the side of the sink where many kinds of fruit juices are to be seen as she starts to cook her hot dogs.
"Gotcha," Eiko answers back as she starts to mix the ingredients altogether. It was fun for a while, helping things out, but what bothers Eiko most is that the fact that it is terribly quiet. Dagger didn't utter a single word.
'That's strange… whenever we do things like this, we are always chatting…' Eiko thinks disappointedly as she looks down to the orange juice. 'What happened then? I don't get it why she is so distanced now…'
After a few minutes, all preparations are done. The hot dogs look totally delicious, as the sweet aroma filled the room, making the two girls hungry. Dagger puts it in the middle of the table as she picks another plate and stuffs it with rice.
"Want to join me for breakfast?" Dagger asks with a forced smile, turning to her best friend while she puts the rice and the juice on the table.
"Sure! I guess there's still room in my stomach!" Eiko exclaims cheerfully as she pulls a sit opposite of Daggers and starts to eat. It was a very delicious meal, but like always, very quiet. Eiko decided to start a conversation.
"So, Dagger," she starts. Dagger turns her complete attention to her best friend. "What are you planning this weekend?"
Dagger shrugs as she swallows. "I dunno, hang out in the house with Zi—" the brunette immediately stops as she realizes what she was going to say that she quickly continues, "…with somebody. Talk about something important."
Eiko arches an eyebrow as she says suspiciously, "Oh really? And who is this somebody?" she asks, looking at Dagger intently. Dagger starts to feel uneasy as she shrugs nervously. Eiko then burst with giggles.
"Huh? What's so funny?" Dagger asks with a confused look, looking up from her meal. Eiko shakes her head and smiles. "Okay…. If that is what you want…"
After their quiet meal, Dagger offers to wash the dishes while Eiko decides to stroll around. This made Dagger anxious. What if Eiko finds about the grave in the back? Then her secret will be spilled.
"Okay, you can stroll around, I guess," Dagger nervously stammers. "But please, I beg of you, don't you ever enter in the backyard. Please."
Eiko frowns and turns around and puts her hands on her hips and sighs, "Why not, Dagger?" The amber-eyed girl just looks down and mutters a please. The emerald-eyed girl pouts and nods, "Fine, fine. I won't." A sneak peek won't hurt…
Dagger forces a smile and bows slightly, "Thank you." Then she turns around to the sink and starts to do her job of washing the dishes. – I'm sorry, Eiko…- Dagger thinks. – I'm not ready to tell you yet. Maybe when the right time comes. Maybe. -
Eiko then starts to leave the kitchen and walks to the living room. It is quite an elegant room, and she remembers so well that Mrs. Alexandros was the one who designed it. She was quite a designer, with great taste. She smiles at the idea.
She then walks towards a small table with several portraits of the family. There is a picture of Dagger when she was still 3 years old, hugging a teddy bear and a smile on her face. There is another portrait of Steiner, so big ands strong, standing proudly. Another portrait is to be seen of the couple, Mr and Mrs. Alexandros, hugging together, and another frame of the whole family, laughing and smiling.
"But what happened…?" Eiko asks with a sad frown as she starts to slide her index finger on the smooth material of the family picture. "Why has everything changed?" she whispers again. She sighs and stands up and continues to explore.
She walks past the hallway to the Steiner's room. She opens the door, only to reveal not the before messy and smelly room, but a neat, clean, fresh and empty room. She frowns at this and enters, studying the surrounding. Yes, the play station and TV is still there, the study papers and books, the dark bed. Everything is in their place, but it feels so empty.
Eiko sighs and whispers to herself, "This is very unusual. Something is going on." She narrows her eyes as she remembers Dagger's words, "Don't you ever enter the backyard…"
Maybe Dagger is indeed keeping something from her, and the secret is from that backyard. She has to go there! She has to! But she promised Dagger she won't… she won't…
"I'm sorry, Dagger," Eiko says, looking down and clenching her fists. "But I have to go there. Forgive me with this one." She sighs and turns around and leaves the room and walks to the kitchen, since the door to the backyard is located in there.
She glances slowly, surprised to see Dagger gone. She furrows her eyebrows and slowly walks towards the door, and glances again to the door window. Her eyes went open when she sees Dagger crying before… before… three graves.
"W-what is this…?" she asks to herself, suddenly understanding the problem. "So this is it… The Alexandros family… is… is dead. Dagger is hiding this secret from me, but why…?" she soon starts to feel sorry as she sees Dagger crying over the flowers she is carrying. "I'm sorry, Dagger…"
Cannot taking it anymore, Eiko softly and slowly opens the backyard door, making Dagger look up in surprise and to have red eyes. "Eiko…" Dagger mumbles, and starts to wipe the streams off water off her face. "So, now you know… don't you? I'm sorry I was keeping this from you… I just don't want to get hurt…"
Eiko's green eyes soften and smiles, as she walks forward and hugs her best friend tightly. "No, I should be sorry, Dagger… I should've been here to comfort you… I'm sorry, I didn't know."
Dagger accepts the open arms and cries on Eiko's shoulder, "It hurts, Eiko… all of them was killed by an unknown murderer. I can't take all of this… it's driving me insane."
Eiko rubs her friend's back and reassures, "Don't worry, Dagger. I'm here for you." She says this with a weak smile, her eyes in water. "We're best friends, right? No matter what the consequences, we will be together."
Dagger doesn't reply but only nods and continues to cry in Eiko's arms…
"That's what you think, Mistress," a man with a dark cape over his head mumbles to himself evilly, a wicked grin on his face…
To be continued…
I'm very sorry for the late delay! Studies are cramming up and you know what? The next chapter of the One Day We'll Meet Again was accidentally deleted! DAMN! I was so close, so, hope you understand. Again, I'm sorry for the long delay! Please read my YEARS AFTER fic! It's gotten better:)
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