A/N: Thanks for reviewing, everyone! I love those so much! Review for this chapter because I don't know if I did a crappy job on it. -.-;
Chapter4
"Wait here for me," Dark told me, flashing his trademark grin. He opened the door to the Ferris Wheel car that we were in, and literally jumped. At first, I was going to follow, but I restrained myself.
"I'll wait for you, Dark!" I called after him.
I started, my eyes fluttering open. Heaving a sigh, I closed them again. Again and again, I inhaled deeply, but I could not fall back asleep. It was morning anyway, and I found myself groaning and sitting up in bed. I yawned, cracked my neck, checked to make sure I was still in my bathrobe (and I was), then sat. I didn't really want to get up, but I didn't want to fall back asleep and dream about the past... again. I was so tired of abusing myself.
I looked around at the room. I wasn't startled that it didn't belong to me. More along the lines of irritated. Yet I was strangely at peace with the whole ordeal. That is, until I found the couch empty.
I don't know if my scream was loud enough to wake the neighbors, but I was surprised that the windows stayed in tact.
"That stupid, selfish, son of a bitch!" I let out another scream and flopped down onto the bed. "Why do you always have to do this! Such a stupid bastard! You should have kicked his ass the moment we were stuck in this goddamn heap of junk!" My words were muffled, but it felt good to be letting out rage with no one staring at me. "You've told yourself time and time again that you need to be more careful-!"
"Harada-san?"
I stopped when I heard a voice, but I chose not to move. I hadn't even heard the door open, but I knew, just by the tingly feeling in my spine, who it was. All my anger suddenly disappeared and turned into embarassment. There was an awkward pause as I tried to say something that would return my dignity.
"It's Risa," I mumbled.
Dear Risa-chan,
We miss the old you! When is she coming back? You know we're always here if you want to talk about whatever has been bugging you. Trust us, we're your friends! You need to come back, ok? We'll help you too! How about ice cream, this friday night? We'll watch movies and laugh and cry and pig out until we explode! It'll be our getting-back-the-old-Risa party:) What do you say?
Sincerely,
Everyone who loves you (AKA: you're best friends)
"I went to get some breakfast," Satoshi said, setting a brown bag down on the table in the next room. "Are bagels, muffins, and coffee ok?"
I sat up in bed, embarassed as hell. I tried taking a few breaths and thought of what I could say to take away the redness from my cheeks. Nothing really worked, but I decided to stand nonetheless. As I entered the room with the table (it was too small to be called a kitchen), I yawned. Sunlight from outside almost blinded me, but I squinted my eyes. I also noticed Satoshi was wearing his normal clothes, which he had to be wearing if he went out in public, so I guessed my clothes were ready as well. I sat down.
"Thanks," I said, giving him a small smile.
Satoshi just nodded, grabbed a bagel (which he stuck in his mouth), picked up his coffee, and motioned that he was going to be outside. I was struck odd by him stuffing the bagel in his mouth, because that seemed like something Satoshi wouldn't do. I just shook it away and began eating my breakfast.
I stood, not really wanting to sit, and walked over to the door. I wanted to thank Satoshi for being so kind to me, I really did. I suppose I just wasn't really in the mood, though. I don't know. I ended up sitting on the windowsill, watching him discreetly from the corner of my eye. After all, I didn't want some hick to kidnap him. How would I face his parents?
"If you're going to stare at me," he spoke up, and I heard him through the crack of the open door. "You might want to be more surruptitious."
I felt my face heat up, but I rolled my eyes. "Yes, because I defintely know what surruptitious means."
"Secretive, sly," Satoshi explained. His back was still turned towards me. He paused before asking, "Are you alright?"
I stood, a bit shocked at the question. "... I'm fine. Not like that would effect you in any way, shape, or form." I mentally kicked myself for being so harsh. Exiting the motel room door, I sighed.
I could almost feel him stiffen. He was uncomfortable. And all I was doing was standing next to him. How strange. It still made me feel guilty, however, and I fiddled with the lid of my coffee cup. He would remain quiet, taking a sip of his drink every now and then. When he breathed, I noticed that the breaths were visible. I inhaled deeply and exhaled, seeing my own breath. It was a cool, spring morning after all. I smiled to myself, remembering the past with Riku. We would always be childish and pretend we were trains just to see our breaths disappear in the air.
"Content with life?" Satoshi asked suddenly.
I gasped, a bit surprised. I coughed because I had sipped in hot coffee too quickly, managed to give him a glare, but was able to control myself. I then nodded. "Not really."
I heard a small, amused 'hmph'.
"How's your wound?" I asked.
He shrugged. "I was lucky to find advil in the bathroom closet."
I bit my lip, feeling bad. "Sorry about that. I really am. I just lost control."
There was a pained look upon Satoshi's face, and it was as if he was about to speak. He cleared his throat, but instead took to looking at the trees. We fell silent, listening to the morning doves sing.
Sooner or later I ended up back inside the motel room. I was in the bathroom, about to take my bathrobe off and take a nice... long... hot shower, but something vibrated in my pocket. I shrieked, but managed to calm myself down and I reached into my jeans and pulled out my cell phone. I mentally smacked myself, knowing full well that I could have called a taxi service or... something of that sort.
I hesitated before flipping it open. The number who was calling me wouldn't be very happy. "Hello?"
"RISA!" I had to hold the phone away from my ear. I heard foul words and someone else shouting. I cringed. "Risa, is that you!"
"... Yes," I said very quietly, bringing the phone back to my ear.
"RISA! YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!" Again, I held the phone away. I heard someone, probably mom or Riku, scolding Dad.
"What's the problem?" I asked, trying to sound as if I didn't care.
"Where are you?" Dad questioned.
"Practically the middle of nowhere," I replied truthfully. "But why would you care? I thought someone like you would abandon a dog if it wanders away."
There was an infuriated pause, where all Dad could do was stutter. I heard Riku shouting, "You are not a dog!" I guessed they had it on speaker phone.
"Risa," Dad said ominously. "Come home now."
I swallowed. "N-no." Before he could even repeat my words, I said them again. "No! I needed to be away for a while, ok? I'll come back soon enough."
"You will come back today, young lady," Mom said. Dad shushed her.
"I will send a squad team to find you, if that's what it takes," Dad told me. I didn't like the way it sounded; it wasn't a comforting statement. "If you don't come home today, Risa, so help me God, I will-"
"You do not threaten me," I said suddenly, surprising myself.
Dad shut up. "Excuse me?"
"You. Do not. Threaten. Me," I said, my words dripping with acid. "I will not be intimidated simply because you're pissed off." There was a long moment in silence, in which I was proud of myself for being so strong.
There was a knock on the door and I yelped, jumping back. Satoshi entered, looking confused.
"I didn't say to come in!" I hissed at him. He looked taken aback.
"Risa, who is that?" Dad piped up.
I rolled my eyes, turning away from my intruder. "Satoshi Hiwatari. He's a friend from school, who kind of got us into this mess-"
"What mess?"
"We're just stuck in a motel room-"
"WHAT! RISA, IF YOU DO NOT COME HOME TODAY-!"
Listening to Dad errupt over the phone, I felt my face pale. I wasn't so strong anymore when I heard him stomping around the room. Instantly, my thoughts went to Riku and Mom. What if they got in the way of his rage? Dad never really got this angry, ever. But I remember once when I was really, really, really little, Mom had a bruise on her eye one night... but then I noticed, in retrospect, that Dad had begun to go to counseling, and he had bought her roses, and he had watched chick flicks with her. He wasn't a horrible dad... he just... scared me when he was this angry.
"Dad?" I listened closly to the voices on the other side of the phone. "Dad! Dad, come back!" I felt myself shivering when I heard a door slam shut. I thought I heard quiet sobs, but I wasn't sure.
"Risa, honey, we'll call you later." It was Mom. She didn't sound hurt. But then again, she had been pretty well at concealing that bruise. I heard the phone line click, and I was stuck with dead silence. Slowly... ever so slowly... I could feel myself collapse.
I fell to my knees, tears coming from nowhere. I cursed. I cried and I cursed my brains out. Every now and then, I'd slam my fist into the ground, fed up with myself.
When had I become like this? When was I the cause of Dad's anger outbursts? When had Riku actually cried for my sake? When had I been such a dissruption to the family?
When had I stopped caring about everything?
A/N: Was it ok?
