Chapter 5: Backtracking Forward
Note: The first half of this chapter takes place before the last chapter (Chapter 4). I couldn't find anywhere to insert it earlier, so I'm sorry for any confusion. But honestly, if you are someone that gets confused very easily, then you probably shouldn't be reading this story…
The Frog from Hell
"Hey, Mom, I'm leaving for school!" Called Tai from just inside the front door. It still felt a bit strange calling her "mom" even though he now knew she wasn't actually his mother.
"No, Tai, wait!" yelled Arisa, who bounded into the living room. Her hair was still soapy and she had a towel wrapped around her- she had obviously just run out of the shower. "I don't want you walking to school alone! Don't you remember that story on the news? There's a killer around, and I don't want you to run into him, squirt." She ruffled his hair. "I'll take you to school today."
"Don't you have to be at work in ten minutes to do that article thing?"
"Well, I was going to be late anyway, so I might as well take you."
"Why doesn't Dad take me?"
"You ask way too many questions, squirt…" she was trying to sound like she was joking, but something in her voice sounded a little uneasy. "Just get in the car. I'll be ready in five minutes, okay?"
"Okay." answered Tai. He picked up his "Adolescent Deformed Samurai Tortoises" patterned backpack and went out to the car.
He sat in the front passenger seat, although his mother didn't like him to because she was afraid he would be killed by the air bag. He took out his illegal school item, his Walkman and headphones, and began listening. He stared at his watch and saw the minutes go by. 1 minute, two minutes, five minutes, seven minutes… if his mom didn't hurry up, he was going to be late for school. He looked out the window, hoping to find something interesting. The day before, his neighbor had accidentally blown away their Chihuahua puppy with a leaf blower. Hopefully, he'd be lucky again today…
However, there was nothing interesting happening in the neighborhood today. There wasn't even anyone out on the street… wait… there was one person. He was walking casually along the street, smoking a cigarette, with his free hand in his coat pocket. His blackcoat pocket. In fact, the man's entire outfit was black, even his gloves and shoes. For some reason, Tai felt a bit scared. On the news, they had said that the man who burned down that building was wearing all black, right? But then Tai realized that he was jumping to conclusions, and nervously laughed to himself. He was really turning into his mother… But still, for some reason, he felt oddly nervous…
Then, all of a sudden, something hit the window. Tai jerked his head around. He uttered a sigh of relief when he noticed that it was just his mother knocking on the window. She mouthed 'unlock the door' and he noticed that he was clutching the armrest with a shaking hand, and that he had in fact locked the doors. He pushed the unlock button and his mother got into the car.
"Miss me?" She said jokingly. Tai did not reply, because he was still watching the man on the side of the street. Then, just as the engine started up, the man, having heard the noise, looked over at their car and locked eyes with Tai. Well, not exactly eyes; the man was wearing sunglasses, but Tai felt a strange sensation travel throughout his body. It was as if he knew the man, or that he had at least seen him before, although he was sure he hadn't. It was unnerving. Tai looked away from the man, trying to rid himself of the odd sensation. It made him so nervous; for a minute he was sure that that man was the killer. But he was just jumping to conclusions, right? The car pulled out of the street, now too far away to see the man's single lock of orange hair hanging down in front of his face.
Tohru got out of bed, still shaking from her disturbing dreams. She wandered over to her door. For some reason, she turned the handle, although she knew that it was bound to be locked. But wait… it wasn't locked! Had they forgotten to lock her door that night? That seemed to be the only explanation. But it was very strange- in all of Tohru's twelve years at the Institution, they had not once forgotten to lock the doors. Tohru stepped out into the hall. If they had forgotten to lock her door, then they had probably forgotten to lock Mrs. Johnson's door as well. That was why she was out of her room late at night. It all made sense now. Tohru's stomach growled. She remembered that she hadn't had any lunch, or dinner, for that matter. The only time she had been this hungry before was… her head began to throb with the dull beat of the music. She shook her head, shutting it out of her mind. She absolutely could not afford to think about the past… especially not that aspect of it…
She wandered down the hall to the kitchen, being as quiet as possible and looking out for the night watchman. The kitchen was not far at all from her room, and she soon stood before the large metal doors. She turned the handle, expecting the doors to be locked, but they weren't. Maybe the whole wing was unlocked… She quietly made her way over to the large refrigerator, looking for some left over macaroni or perhaps even some chocolate cake. But before she opened it, she noticed something- there was someone lying sprawled on the floor. She ran across the room and knelt down by the figure. It was a girl, with blonde hair spilt across her face. Oh, no… she hoped she was wrong, but this girl looked an awful lot like… Uo!
She frantically felt for a pulse. To her relief, she found one- but it was racing! She had to go to the first aid wing! She tried to pick up the collapsed woman, but just as she started to, she heard a voice demand,
"Who goes there?" She whipped her head around and saw the night watchman looming in the doorway. Why had she not closed the door? But there was no time to explain herself now.
"There's someone who fainted! I mean, she's out cold and I don't know what to do! Please help!" She cried out as quickly as she could. The watchman looked skeptical, but then came up to her. He noticed Uo and noticed that Tohru was telling the truth, and his voice took up a much more urgent tone.
"We've got to call an ambulance," he said. He took a cell phone out of his pocket and dialed "911". He had a brief conversation, explaining to them what had happened, and then closed the phone.
"Now, you go back to bed," He said, "and since all this happened, maybe you'll be lucky and I won't tell Dr. Sherman you were out here," he winked at her. She nodded and started back to her room. Now she would definitely not be able to sleep tonight…