"Rikuuu, that's not fair!" protested Sora, jumping under Riku's hand, looking very much like a puppy to the older boy. Riku only had to hold the orange, rubber ball his own arm's length above his head to keep said basketball away from the shorter brunette. "Stop being so tall!" Even though Sora had less of advantage, it made him feel slightly better that Kairi had cheered for him the entire game, and not Riku.
Kairi giggled from the sidelines, huddled up in a sweater, trying her best to keep warm. She couldn't believe the boys were playing basketball in only t-shirts and jeans, while she thought it was freezing. Fresh Autumn leaves were scattered around her, tumbling slightly in the wind, only serving to intensify her chilliness. "Hurry up, you two," she said, ducking her nose into her pulled-up knees. "I'm cold. I wanna go back home!"
"We're almost done, Kairi," said Riku, still holding the basketball up while Sora tried to grab it from him, with no avail. With a sudden quick movement, Riku had the ball back onto the pavement, striking the ground with a loud smack each time he dribbled the ball to the net. Sora was a whole four steps behind him, chasing the silver-haired boy down the court. It was two steps and the swish of a basket later, that Riku declared himself the winner.
"Sora, stop pouting," said Riku, looking at Sora, whose bottom lip was sticking out in a childish pout.
"I'm not pouting," said Sora, crossing his arms and turning away before guiding himself over to where Kairi was pulling herself up. Kairi grinned.
"Of course, Sora. We believe you," said the auburn-haired girl. Riku grinned, pushing Sora slightly. He stumbled a little bit, but stood back up, still pouting.
"Christ in a hand basket, Sora. You're 17, stop acting like a 2 year old," said Riku, running his fingers through his disheveled hair. Kairi wrapped her arms around herself, shivering slightly.
"Hurry up, guys," said Kairi, dusting herself off. "It looks like it might rain." Clouds were gathering overhead, and in on a dreary Seattle day in the lower-middle-class part of town, people were starting to go inside. The only sign of life on the entire street were a few cars and the three teenagers playing basketball, in a court made out of cracked pavement and rusty hoops.
"Aww, poor Kairi's afraid of a little bit of rain," said Riku, poking said girl in the ribs. She giggled and batted him away with her hand. "She doesn't want it to mess up her hair." Sora grinned. They both knew Kairi wasn't like that. And that was why she was in a sweater and jeans for comfort, when most girls would bare the cold in a miniskirt and tanktop in the middle of winter. Due to hanging out with Riku and Sora since she was little, Kairi had become a bit of a tomboy. She wasn't as bad as she used to be, but still preferred the company of boys to girls.
"Well, we should go home. I don't want to get rained on, regardless of screwing up my hair," quipped Sora, his voice dipping into sarcasm near the end of his sentence. Riku rolled his eyes.
"Then come on, numbnuts," said the eldest boy, before Sora pouted again and begrudgingly followed. Kairi laughed, jogging ahead to catch up with Riku.
The street itself was dreary. There wasn't any other colour aside from the falling leaves. The buildings were all identical, large apartment buildings that spanned the entire street. Walking down the street like the three were, Riku couldn't help but feel a sense of claustrophobia. Everything looked the same. Everything felt the same. It was almost unnerving. They walked in almost silence, the only real noise to be heard was the chattering of Kairi's teeth and the occasional sound of a car roaring by.
"Uh-oh," said Sora, feeling water slide down his cheek. He looked upwards, and as he did, the downpour started. Kairi let out a surprised shriek, as the water started to come down in waves, making her clothes stick to her skin. Riku looked over to Sora, who looked like a drowned rat with his usual spikes plastered to his neck, and began to laugh. Sora, pouting yet again, looked back to Riku. Riku's shirt was nearly see-through and his hair was just as transparent, but the older boy was doubled-over, laughing at something that Sora suspectedwas himself.
"Stop laughing, and hurry!" shrieked Kairi, grappling Riku by the hair and dragging him down the street. Kairi was sure fast when she was angry. Sora had to jog, just to keep up. It seemed they were running for a long time, and the buildings didn't change at all. There weren't any cars anymore.
All of a sudden, Kairi stopped, and Riku (whom she still had a hold on) crashed into her back. "What the fuck?" muttered Riku, and Kairi released his hair. Kairi suddenly looked around, breathing slightly faster than normal.
"Something's," mumbled Kairi, observing the towering structures surrounding them. "..off." Sora blinked at Kairi, slightly shaking from the cold.
"What are you talking about? The street always looks this clone-worthy," insisted Sora, his usual humor slipping into his voice. But, upon further inspection of the street, something was indeed weird about the place. There were no street-lights on, even though it was quickly fading into a cold Autumn night. "That's weird. No clouds, but… it's still raining." The only building that seemed to have any lights on at all, was the one across the street from where the three were standing.
"Hey, why don't we go there?" said Riku, pointing to said apartment across the street. His words came out a little bit broken, since his own teeth were chattering along with the rest of the groups'. "You know, to get out of this damned rain."
"Riku, I don't want to go inside," said Kairi, looking slightly afraid. "…there's something wrong." It was then that Kairi started to get a little bit hysterical, babbling about how there was something wrong with the apartment building. Sora shook his head, putting a hand on Kairi's shoulder.
"Let's get her inside," said Sora, his hand slipping down to Kairi's hand. He pulled her towards the building, Riku following quietly behind them. The afternoon had taken an odd turn. Besides the cloudless rain and the never-ending street, it was peculiar for no lights to be on anywhere. Unless there was a power outage?
When they arrived at the covered entrance to the apartment, Riku realized their sudden dilemma. "How are we supposed to get in?" he questioned, looking at the door. There was no usual keypad anywhere, or a buzzer or anything. He looked over to Kairi and Sora who were shaking beside him. Kairi was edgy, always glancing over her shoulder, but Sora was just attempting to leech off of Kairi's body heat. Really, it was a bit of a pitiful sight. Riku was briefly reminded that he was probably the sole care-taker of both of these people. Sora did, of course, live with his mother (his mother had no idea who Sora's father was) but she wasn't home much and he didn't grow up with another male individual in his life aside from Riku. Kairi lived with her older sister, as her parents had both been killed in a car accident when she was thirteen. Riku himself lived with his drunken father. Really, Sora, Kairi and Riku were like a family on their own.
"Riku, why don't you just try opening the door?" suggested Sora, teeth chattering noisily all the while. It was still pouring rain, even with the clear sky. But there was no moon or stars, aside from there being no clouds. It was odd.
"Sora, that's not going to work," muttered Riku, but tried anyway. He pulled on the handle to accentuate his point. It didn't open.
"Riku, it says push."
"Oh."
the door has opened sora
Sora shook the odd sense of déjà vu out of his head. Kairi was still shaky, and he gently pulled her inside of the apartment complex. The lights were all off, but there was something illuminating from up the stairs. Riku scoffed upon entering the building. It looked the same as every other building on the street, inside and outside. He didn't understand what Kairi was so worried about. Riku immediately set to wringing the water out of his hair, and his shirt. He didn't feel like being wet.
Despite her chattering teeth, Kairi peeled off her soaked sweater and allowed the indoor heat to touch her frozen skin. She twisted it, and rung the water out onto the muddy, faded carpet floor. Her dark-purple tank top was plastered to her body, and hadn't survived the soak either; the sweater she had been wearing hadn't been very thick. And now, the three of them were standing in an entrance way, soaking wet and freezing, with no idea what to do.
"I wonder what we should do…" Sora asked no one in particular. Riku rolled his eyes at Sora's useless comment.
"Obviously, and see if we could borrow a telephone from someone," growled Riku, heading up the stairs. "I mean, Kairi, your sister's probably worried and Sora, your mom's gonna wonder where the hell you are." Riku didn't even mention his own father, because, all three of them knew that Riku's father didn't care much about his son.
Neither of the younger teenagers said anything further than that. Riku's father was a bit of a taboo subject, and usually left all of them in a distressed mood. They all knew to keep away from it.
And so, they reached the first floor. The doors were all numbered, starting at the barely visible door with the words 'Number 2' in large, metallic letters. "Where's number one?" asked Sora, though it was more of a thought than a question. There was no sound on the floor at all, besides the creak of the old flooring below Kairi's foot. She still looked awfully frightened.
"Maybe we should just… leave," said Kairi, glancing around. She looked about ready to cry. Sora sighed and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"It's alright, Kairi," he said, smiling warmly at his friend. "Riku knows what he's doing." Well, at least he hoped that Riku knew what he was doing. The silver-haired boy knocked on door number two, feeling a little bit silly, but having no other option.
But nobody answered the door.
Riku spent some time knocking on other doors, trying to open some and yelling down the halls. Nobody was there.
"Should we try the next floor?" suggested Sora, when Riku was on door number 22. Riku gave a groan of frustration, before barreling ahead to the stairs. Sora and a shaking Kairi followed in earnest, attempting to keep up.
About halfway up the staircase, Riku yelled, falling backwards into Sora, the other boy's chest holding him up. Sora had fallen backwards, himself, but managed to catch himself before he landed on the smaller girl. Sora couldn't see ahead of Riku, so he had no idea what had spooked the other boy.
"Jesus Christ, kid, watch where the fuck yer goin'!" yelled a gruff voice from beyond Riku.
"Why don't you look out, stupid old man!" protested Riku. He was already in a bad mood, that was getting increasingly worse as the day wore on. When Riku regained his balance, Sora took the time to look at who exactly this man was.
The man was rough, in all meaning of the word. He was un-shaven, with guilty eyes and messy blonde hair. Sora let his eyes travel, and realized that the man was in a work uniform. "Janitor?" mumbled Sora. This man did not look like the type to be a janitor.
"Yeh, so what?" muttered the man, looking extremely pissed off. He had to cart a damn vacuum down four flights of stairs, who wouldn't be angry?
"N-nothing," said Sora, suddenly becoming very interested in his shoes. Riku scoffed, his body heat finally starting to return.
"Look, we're trapped in this damn building, there's no power out in the street and it's pouring out," insisted Riku, "Can we borrow a phone or something?" The man gave a grunt, crossing his arms and leaning against the large, stand-up vacuum. The thing looked ancient, really.
"Phone lines are down. The street's floodin' fast, too," grumbled the man, "Look, you can stay the night in apartment one on floor three. There's no occupant, so yeh, whatever."
"There isn't a single occupant in this entire place! Why that room?" said Riku, getting a little bit anxious. The man gave him a weary look, that just said, 'Don't fight it.'
"I'm too old for this… Jes say yes, or ye can go drown outside. The door's open, now git goin' before I lose my damn patience," he muttered, motioning for the three to get by him. Riku rolled his eyes, taking his time in moving, but Kairi scurried ahead with Sora right behind her. The man gently pulled his vacuum down the stairs.
Riku continued up the steps, not paying any attention to his friends. Sora and Kairi followed Riku, as they went up yet another flight.
Floor three.
"Who puts apartment number one on floor three?" wondered Sora, scanning the signs on the doors. There was still light from somewhere. Presumably, floor four. But now that they had found a room, they weren't about to go another floor. There was no point. He looked over to Riku, who was also studying the doors, looking for the number. But when he glanced back, Kairi was frozen at the stairwell with wild, frightened eyes.
"Hey, Kairi?" called Sora, raising an eyebrow and slowly making his way back to her.
"Sora, I found the door," said Riku, from just beyond. "Kairi will come on her own, just get over here." Sora turned and smiled at Riku.
"No, I'm going to go get Kairi. She seems a little freaked, you know?" Riku gave him a disapproving look, and opened the door himself, disappearing into the room.
"Kairi, come on, let's go," said Sora, upon reaching her. Tears drizzling down her washed-out face. She looked genuinely afraid. He placed one hand on her shoulder, looking down into her afraid eyes with a concerned expression. "Hey, you okay?"
"Sora, we have to leave. I'm serious," she mumbled. Sora sighed.
"Alright, I'll go get Riku, if it's what you really want." He turned on his heel to leave but Kairi shot out a hand, and with an iron grip on the back of his collar, she pulled him back against her own body.
"Let's go. Just the two of us," she said, losing her fear and quickly replacing it with something that was a little frightening, even to Sora. Kairi had never shown anything like this before. Suddenly, she began chewing at the inside of her bottom lip, and Sora could almost hear the teeth clacking as they met between her flesh.
"Kairi, we can't leave Riku," said Sora, feeling a little uneasy, but giving her a grin. "He'd kill us for leaving him behind." Kairi slowly released Sora, and the other boy looked at her like she was a little bit crazy.
"He's already entered the Room, Sora!" yelled Kairi, before going back to chewing at the inside of her lip. When she had chewed away at the flesh there, she began just chewing on the lower lip itself. "He's lost." Blood was steadily dribbling down her chin, now.
"Kairi…" muttered Sora, backing away slowly. "Are you okay?" He stopped, because he didn't want to leave anyone behind, regardless of Kairi's protests or not. Kairi's expression of anger, went to fear and then to worry, and whilst biting her lip she started scratching the insides of her arms. Sora grimaced at the gruesome display that was the girl's mouth.
"Come on, we'll get Riku to help you with your lip," urged Sora, taking her by the hand and pulling her towards the room.
"I don't want to go inside, Sora," said Kairi, near tears yet again. She was a pitiful sight to behold, with a bloody, swollen lip and mascara trails down either side of her cheeks.
"Kairi, it'll be alright. There's nothing wrong with this room. I don't know why you're so worried," mumbled Sora, before pushing Kairi into said room. He couldn't see Riku anywhere. Perhaps he was looking around. Shaking his head, Sora entered the Room.
those who know nothing
And then Sora saw nothing.
understand
nothing
end prologue
---
begin the Room