Let the Rain Fall
pass the broccollini
Author's Note: Usual delay, my apologies. Please read and review!
Chapter Nine:
Arima paced back and forth in his room. This had become more than a preoccupation. The carpeting below his feet was worn in a thin path from his habitual stomping. Could he really get rid of her? Kill her? She was still a person, still a living, breathing person. To hate was one thing, but to destroy was another. It would destroy her family. It would destroy him. He'd get caught. No. It was out of the question. They only had two more years of high-school anyway. They would go to different colleges and lead different lives and forget about each other. Everything would be fine. In a few years, she wouldn't be a figure in his life anymore.
You can't forget something that's always there.
There it was. That voice again. He stopped, mid-pace. Was he going completely insane? It must be the pressure of exams...which were...in four months.
"Soichiro?"
His head snapped up immediately and broke his trance. The sound of shoes clopping up the stairs became louder and louder until the feet paused outside his door. The voice was his uncle's. Arima didn't move to open the door.
"Yes?"
"Ca-can I come in, son?"
"...sure."
Mr. Arima entered the room. A small smile was on his face. He, like his wife, was getting old. Climbing up the steps to his room took effort, but no effort for Arima, his pride and joy, was ever wasted. He had noticed peculiar behavior in his child lately. The boy prodigy seemed constantly preoccupied, he wasn't eating well, he wasn't sleeping enough, and sometimes he'd get this strange, peculiar look on his face. It reminded her of...no, she mentally berated herself for even comparing Arima to his biological father. But still, the thought pestered him. As Arima grew, his adoptive father noticed a few similarities between the two. Still, Arima was his son. Nurture over nature. Even if his real father went insane, Arima wouldn't.
The relatives always kept quiet about it, but everyone knew the real truth. Insanity ran in the family, particularly through the males in the family. It was something to do with their genetic code, possibly a faulty piece of coding on the Y-strand of DNA. The Arimas were doctors, not genetic specialists. Even if the technology existed, admitting that there was a problem was always hard. He had been lucky. Sure, he had a bad back (no matter how many times his wife told him to correct his posture, he continued slumping), but that was not nearly as frightening as insanity. Ever since Reiji was a child, he had been...different.
"Reiji? Reiji, where are you?"
Akino Arima, age twelve, searched for his little brother. It was almost dinner time, and his mom had sent him out to find his younger brother. They were enjoying their first vacation of the summer, in a lovely house in the country. Even their puppy came! Akino searched the large, vast field for his brother. There, sitting amidst the golden-brown fuzzy-wuzzies (Akino had thought it was wheat, until he put it in the oven. He had been hoping for a nice, golden loaf of bread, but instead got some burned weeds and an angry mother.) was the ten year old Reiji. His dark hair was in his eyes as he scooped up dirt in his hands and let it sift through his fingers into a large pile he had made.
"Reiji, didn't you hear me? It's dinnertime."
"I'm not hungry. I ate already. The voice told me to."
"Well, too bad. Mom told me to come get you."
Reiji stood and wiped his hands off on each other, and when that didn't remove the dust, his shirt. The younger boy remained silent, a small smile on his face as he giggled at a joke that only he could hear.
"What's so funny?"
Reiji just smiled. Moments later, they arrived back at their vacation home. Their mother had cooked them a nice meal of butttery vegetables and salted fish. Dad had been working on a steak all afternoon. He had cooked it perfectly, and kept it covered so that no bugs would get it. The mother and her two sons sat down to eat, and Mr. Arima brought in his masked masterpiece from outside.
"Chew your food, Reiji."
Akino snickered.
"You too, Akino. And elbows off the table."
"Here it is! The delcious—", Mr. Arima removed the lid from the "steak". But what was inside was not a steak.
Mrs. Arima shrieked and Akino's eyes became enormously wide.
"Oh my gosh, it's—"
The severed head of their puppy, "Beauty", was on the platter instead. Her eyes were open, frozen in her first and last moment of pure terror. Mrs. Arima started crying and rushed to the bathroom to throw up. Mr. Arima was in a state of pure disbelief,
"This is...disgusting. Who—who would've...?"
Akino remained in place, staring into the eyes of his one true friend. He turned to Reiji beside him. Reiji smiled and snickered.
Mr. Arima went to the kitchen and dialed the police's number on their emergency phone. As he gave the address, he noticed neither of his children was eating.
"Yes, thank you. That's 561—Kids, eat some food, ok. Mommy and I need to---oh yes, ok so it's Maple Avenue..."
Reiji's smile was still intact. "I'm not hungry."
"What did you eat?" asked Akino, who was so revolted by the bloody massacre he had seen that he could not force down a bite.
Reiji smiled and replied sweetly. "Steak."
--
Mr. Arima sat on the bed and watched his son's pacing slow to a halt.
"Son, I've been...really worried about you lately. Is something wrong?"
"Just the voice that keeps talking to me and trying to get me to commit felonies", Arima thought. No, he couldn't tell his father. They'd just lock him up in an insane asylum. This was all just a phase. It probably had something to do with puberty. Growing pains, deeper voice, homicidal tendencies...
"No, nothing, father."
"A-are you sure? You've been acting...different, lately."
Arima forced a small smile.
"Oh, it's just the pressure of exams. Yukino and I are neck-and-neck, so it's sort of stressful."
"I'd imagine so. That girl is very competitive."
Kill her, Arima.
"What?"
Mr. Arima eyed his son with confusion. "I said 'I'd imagine so. That girl is—"
"No, you didn't say anything else? No...u-uh, never mind. I just need a nap."
The elder of the two sighed and gave his son a small pat on the back.
"Well, I'm here if you need me."
"Thanks, Dad."
"And son? If you're having problems with your girlfriend, why don't you invite her over? Talk things over?"
Arima paused and considered. That was a good idea. They could communicate. Communication was key to healthy relationships!
"Yeah...that's a good idea."
Yes. Invite her over when your parents aren't home. Make sure the knives are sharp.
No. No. No. I'm master of my emotions. I'm going to invite her over tomorrow, and there's nothing you can do to stop me.
The voice went silent. Arima enjoyed the rest of the afternoon, and it wasn't until he lay in bed that the voice replied.
I'm not going to stop you. You can kill all on your own. I'm just helping you along. You've always wanted to kill.
Well, Miyazawa comes over in the next (most likely final) chapter! What did you think? I thought I had to provide a little scientific background type thing about The Voice, because it offers another explanation of why Arima has gone completely insane. Was the flashback poorly written? Opinions? Comments? Questions? Concerns? Review!