Okay, so… my laptop… kinda broke… shortly after the last update I did. Which is why I haven't been responding to people. I'm currently on my desktop-which I hate-and will be getting a new laptop soon, thankfully. But I won't respond to other people on fanfiction on this thing. I refuse.
I wrote most of this during geometry. In a notebook. My handwriting is atrocious, so bear with me as I attempt to figure out what the heck I was writing.
Also, I got nominated for an honor society or something. I would join in I actually had leadership positions… Don't judge me, I don't have anything here I WANT to lead. We don't even have a book club at my school. Or a history club. Or science club… or English club… or anything that doesn't involve sports and/or farming and/or the Bible and/or sports.
AH, so a lot of you pointed out that, since Father Toujo was a priest and all, he couldn't have a wife. At least, if he was Roman Catholic like John most likely is (they said Catholic, and I'm pretty sure there's only Roman Catholic, but I can't remember and don't feel like figuring it out right now). So I've decided that Father Toujo is from another divination of Christianity. Maybe Methodist or something, as our preacher-priest-whatever his title is has a lovely wife named Marcy and two kids, Matthew and Melanie. Also, yes, his name is Morris. See a pattern?
Well, onto the story, mostly so I can get off this awful thing.
BLIND
What is the thing you are most afraid of?
A simple question, really. The answer, however, can give thousands of clues to a person's psych, how their brains work and what growing up must've been like for them. Answers shouldn't be taken as lightly as questions.
If I were to answer, it would be that I feared I would forget what 'sight' was. What did colors look like? What were their names? Do I have a favorite? A least favorite? How soft did the feather down of baby chicks look? How hard did the hardest rocks seem to be? How sharp and pointy did the spines of a bur look to me?
When I was younger, I had a blind (if you forgive the pun) hate for everyone that took seeing for granted. When they opened their eyes they could escape from the dark prisons that favored me as their favorite prisoner. Taunted by flashing orbs, which thinking back now could easily be assumed that it was probably my ESP showing those from beyond the grave. Dreams with explosions of colors and breathtaking details and landscapes almost beyond the imagination, only to awake to an increasingly uncomfortable darkness. It didn't feel natural to me. I knew I had been born with sight, but darkness had cloaked me for as long as I could remember.
Sometimes, when I couldn't remember the colors of my dream and I don't see one of the weird little flashes of lights that I now figure are ghosts, it hurt to remember a dream. The dimmest lights of my dream would hurt my eyes, even if it was barely lit. That was one of the parts that probably scared me the most. An imagined light could hurt my eyes because I had been in the darkness for to long.
I was, and still am, teased relentlessly for my handicap. No one seems to quite understand how or why I ended up like this. Criticized for something I couldn't help, but attempted to get past. Why don't you go read braille, idiot? Why aren't you with some other handicap friends? Blind girl, blind girl, what color is my shirt?
Then, oh then I'm told that the reason for this misery is because I was cursed?
To say that I was speechless (and immensely pissed)… well, that would probably be the understatement of the year.
"Cursed," I stated. "You're saying that I'm cursed?"
"I'm… I'm afraid so," said the boy.
I felt my anger flaring. "What do you know? How do you know?" I hissed out angrily. "How can I trust that you aren't the guy who did it?"
I might have been on the edge of hysteria and falsely accusing the messenger. I also might have cared if I hadn't, you know, not.
"Because," the boy said with a strained patience, much like my own, "the same people who caused it took me away from my family." His tone betrayed the pain and anger his words wouldn't, and his body seemed tense, once again seeming eerily like my own.
"… Really?" I asked sadly, almost feeling guilty at my lashing out. Almost. My body did relax itself slightly, however, and I felt a little less tense than before.
"Yeah," he nodded solemnly, his body also becoming less like a coiled spring. "I don't know much. I think I got hit by a car, and it was no accident…"
"What?!" I yelled, shocked.
He nodded again. "So my brother's looking for my body. You call him Naru, I think. Interesting choice, by the way."
"Wait, backtrack for a minute. Naru has a brother?" I said, surprised. First you get mad, then you get depressed, but you usually bounce back pretty quick after that. I guess I'm in the 'Bounced Back' stage.
"Yeah, believe it or not," the boy laughed slightly and smiled. "Actually, I'm his older brother. Though he's convinced someone mixed us up."
"Mixed us up?" I asked.
"We're twins."
"…Seriously?" He nodded. "Please tell me you're not as narcissistic as him," I grimaced.
The boy mimicked my expression. "Thankfully no. I don't think that's even possible. He doesn't show it much, but he's even more narcissistic than you think."
We both stared at each other, then we burst out laughing.
"You know, I can see why Naru likes you, Mai," he said after we had settled a bit.
"He still probably likes his mirror more," I joked.
"Don't be too sure of that," he said with a light smile.
"By the way," I said, "how do you know who I am, and that I call your brother Naru?"
"Since Naru and I are twins," he explained, "we share a special… bond, so to speak. So, I can gather some information through him. I seem to be unable to contact him though."
"I'm sorry," I said.
"No worries. After all, I can always use you," he said.
"Me?" I squeaked.
"Yep. By the way, my name's Eugene. Eugene Davis."
Eugene Davis… Where have I heard that before? Sudden realization hit me and I exclaimed, rather loudly, "You're that medium guy!"
Eugene smiled, though a bit tiredly. "Should've figured you'd have heard of me somehow. You are a spiritualist yourself… though not that well developed yet…"
"Hey!"
Eugene laughed. "Sorry, but it's true." I grumbled angrily in response. "Here's a challenge for you. If I'm Eugene Davis, and my brother is Naru, then who is Naru?"
I hesitated slightly. "I'm guessing the answer isn't Kazuya Shibuya then…?"
Eugene smiled. "Nope."
If it's Eugene, he's a medium… Ah, but there's another Davis, right? Isn't he that parapsychologist guy… what was his name…?
"Oliver," I said slowly. "Naru… is Oliver Davis. What does that mean, exactly?" Then I bit out, "Other than him lying to all of us," as an afterthought.
"Naru, or Noll, another one of his nicknames, has written several books on parapsychology. He has a doctorate, though it's only honorary. He actually took a break from college to come here."
"Here, as in Japan? So he's not from Japan…?"
"We're British."
Okay Mai, getting mad at Eugene will not solve anything… though throttling Naru may help alleviate some distress… but I'm possessed and stuck here… wherever 'here' is.
"So," I said, "should I be pissed or stunned?"
"I would understand either, but I think I might have put you in a bit of a shock, considering your lack of a response…"
"No, really? I would have never guessed."
"Careful. The sarcasm may drip on the floor and leave stains."
I snorted out a laugh, then quickly snuffed it. "So, um… I understand that he's looking for you, but why lie about it?"
"Think of it like this," Eugene said. "You never heard of Oliver Davis because you're new to parapsychology, but he's pretty much a living legend. Naru doesn't care if people dislike him. He considers most people pumpkins anyway."
"Pumpkins?"
"Long story," Eugene let out an exasperated sigh. "Anyway, you guys see him as not only a sarcastic ass, which he is, but also as a person. Not an icon. The media, however, doesn't care a bit about that. They just see a story. Plus, not only are Naru and I twins, we're identical. If my murderer sees a picture in the news of the person you supposedly killed, wouldn't they freak out?"
"I suppose so…" I said.
"So he made a cover. Believe it or not, he actually cares somewhere in the black abyss more commonly known as his heart."
"That, infuriatingly enough, actually makes sense. I still want to throttle him though."
"Understood," Eugene said. "I thought that a lot too. He has a tendency to test people but blame everything on himself. It's extremely subtle, but if you can tell he's doing it then either you're very observant, he's letting you see, or you've just been exposed to him too long. Kinda like a virus."
"Aren't you a nice brother," I smiled.
"As always," Eugene smirked. I smiled back at him, wider this time, then we were quiet.
For the longest while, we simply stood there, staring at the colorful orbs. It almost sounded like music rung around, coming from the air itself, it seemed. I drunk it all in. Who know the next time I could get to see this without getting some creepy vision? At some point, we ended up sitting down.
"By the way," Eugene interrupted suddenly. "Lin's in on it too. Our, as in Naru and I, parents wouldn't let him leave alone after… well, what happened with me."
"Ah… I guess that makes sense. Remind me to poison their teas. Well, first have Lin actually drink the tea I make."
"If it makes you feel better, neither of them will drink my tea. I think Naru once described it at, "The swill that happens after a frog takes a bath in a bird bath that needs to be cleaned desperately after the winter snow had thawed with the leaves of fall still stuck in it'. Sad part is, he's probably right." Eugene paused. "Who am I kidding, he is right. I'm the enemy of tea lovers and kettles everywhere."
"I'd like to say that it can't be that bad, but I get the odd feeling that I shouldn't."
"Good, trust your instincts for once," Eugene advised, and I could plainly hear the double meaning. "My tea is poison I tell you. Poison."
We laughed a bit, then somehow… we ended up playing poker. Unknown fact about Eugene Davis… He can't play poker to save anyone. Actually, I wasn't sure where the cards came from, but I decided that it might be better to just let it be.
Coming back to the fact that Eugene can't play poker, he really can't. Yet, despite this, he decided we should do a bet. Each time I won, Eugene would tell me something. Each time he won, which was a grand total of zero times by the way, I would tell him something.
"I won. Again," I said happily. Last time he told me about his twelfth birthday. Something about a woman named Madoka also nicknamed 'She-Devil' and some pink dresses…
"Alright, I guess I'll tell you my favors I'll have to ask of you then," Eugene said, suddenly less playful than usual.
"Favors?" I echoed. Eugene looked so serious….
"Yeah," Eugene said. "Don't tell my baby brother that we've talked. I can't even imagine that going well right now, since he's still looking for me."
"Well, it would be awkward to bring up anyway…" I trailed off. "So I guess that won't be too hard. I suppose the whole 'Oliver Davis' thing is a no-no?"
"Precisely. Also, I need you to look after him for me. He's quite reckless, more than he'll admit, so just keep a quiet eye on him."
"Reckless," I said, disbelieving him. "Naru?"
"Think about it. He is. Plus, he's nearly as reckless as me, and I thought it would be a good idea to wear all black on a lonely road far from people and hospitals in a foreign land in a wooded area in the middle of a moonless night."
"Er… you have a point," I said.
"I know I do. Just wait, he'll end up getting pinned under a ceiling or something," Eugene said. "Alright, one last thing, though this one may be a bit difficult."
Slowly I responded. "Okay."
"Alright, so although I'm your spirit guide, I can't go onto the physical realm," Eugene said.
"Spirit guide?" I asked.
"I'm a spirit. I'm guiding you," Eugene said. "Back on track, I also have a spirit guide." Almost on cue, a rust-red fox showed up from behind Eugene, darting around to sit in front of Eugene, close to his knee. "He doesn't talk, and I don't know his name. I've called him Balgair for simplicity."
"Balgair…?"
"It means fox." Said fox had a look on his face saying nearly as loud as words, 'You don't say, you twit'. "Plus, Balgair just sounds cool."
"I think Balgair has other thoughts on that one."
"I think I don't care." Balgair proceeded to turn and bite one of Eugene's resting hands. "Ow! Dammit, that hurt. Balgair, you're abusive." Balgair simply turned his head the other way in the sign of, 'You deserve it, and I don't care if you're in pain'. I recognized it from Ayako and Monk's fights, though I hadn't actually seen them do it like I had with Balgair seconds ago.
"Er, um… Well, you could call him Crevan. That means fox." Balgair just glared at me. "Hey, if you don't give us a name then we'll just have to use Balgair." Continued glaring. "Fine, you're stuck with Balgair then."
Eugene took the reins at this point "Ah, but I have a task for Balgair that involves you Mai," Eugene said as he nursed his bitten hand carefully. "Since I can't go on the physical plane, I need Balgair to do it for me. You don't need to do much."
I hesitated and carefully put out a shaky, "Okay." I mean, who knew what the heck this guy had in store for me.
"So, since I kinda… literally dropped off the face of the planet, I'd like to say goodbye and stuff… but if I give you what I've written now, the other people of SPR might find it, and then Naru will be exposed. Plus, it will expose your contact with me. So Balgair here will have to get the papers to you later. You just need to get by yourself with actual paper, lots of paper, and a lit white candle. And you have to make sure you're completely alone."
"Um, not that it'll be as hard as trying to get a Christmas tree to the office and somehow it not being taken down," I interjected, "but I have to ask why I need the lit candle and the papers."
"The candle will bring about Balgair, and the paper is the physical form of what I want written," Eugene explained. "I can't give you actual paper from here. The other reason why Balgair has to do this instead of me."
"What about ink?" I asked.
"Blood appears out of nowhere. We're just not using blood. I mean, we probably could, but that might be a tad too weird, if this isn't weird enough as is."
I had to agree, but before I could express it, I suddenly shivered. Did it get cold in here? "What the heck?" my teeth slightly chattered. How did it get this cold this fast?
"Looks like you've been outside the church for too long," Eugene said with much concern in his voice. "Lin kinda made Kenji upset, so he's hiding, and consequently making you hide. They need to find you soon, or you may freeze."
I don't want that! I quickly yelled out, "Hey! If you can hear me, I'm outside!" in a small fit of cold-induced desperation.
"I don't think that's going to-"
Suddenly another voice rang out. "Mai?" Eugene quickly shut up with a shocked look on his face.
Wait… The voice sounded like Eugene… which meant… "Naru? You can hear me?"
"Yes, are you okay? You've gone missing," Naru's tone hid the worry, but Eugene had this smug look and I could hear it plainly. Take that, narcissist!
"I'm aware of that. I'm fine. I think I'm outside. I'm not sure. It's kinda cold here." Okay, so it might have been more accurate to say that I was more than 'kinda cold', but no need to get him to over react.
"We've combed the outside. We couldn't find you."
"Well, didn't you check the trees?" I said.
"…The trees?"
"The only people who look above constantly are said to be sinners. So the first rule of hide-and-seek is to be where people won't look."
"Mai, appreciate this the one time I say this, and I'm only saying this because I'll doubt you'll remember and that you're probably a figment of my imagination. You're a genius," Naru said. Then it got strangely quiet, as if the link or whatever had been cut.
"… Can I tell him that I'll remember?" I said hopefully.
"Keep it to yourself. Then you can keep it as your own little secret. I'd also suggest playing dumb about what happened to you," Eugene said.
"And here I wanted to rub it in…" I pouted.
Suddenly, the darkness that surrounded us started to change… almost as if this were a normal dream. Te will-o-the-wisps grew and distorted into shapes and sizes that started to fill in the scene from all sides, no matter where I looked, and the air became the seemingly normal not-cold-not-warm atmosphere it seemed to remain at constantly.
"Looks like Kenji let go of you," Eugene said, swiftly pocketing the cards I hadn't realized he'd gathered.
"Already?"
"Time can get a little warped around here, slowing down and speeding up as it pleases. That's why it got cold pretty fast," Eugene explained. "By the way, I forgot to mention, I'm usually called Gene, so if it comes out that you have a spirit guide, call me Eu. Then you can just say it's the Greek word for Truth, or spell it like Yu, or something. You're on your own after that though."
I nodded just as the scene completed itself. I tried to call back memory and attach what my senses told me in the physical world and apply it to the picture, since I couldn't sense anything other than what felt to be either warm or cold mists. "Is this… rain?" I asked. I said rain, but is more like buckets of water was falling from the sky.
"It's been a while since you've seen it, I guess," Eugene said sadly.
I nodded faintly. I then that my senses clicked with the picture and realized this must be the church from our case, only when it was under construction. Scaffolding lined basically the entire front of the building, except directly under the sculptures.
As stated before, it was raining, raining hard. It had to be close to midnight. Three men in rain ponchos stood around the fallen scaffolding, flashlights beaming onto the mess. "Any sign of him?" asked one man, clearly the leader. I recognized him by voice as Father Toujo.
"It doesn't look like he's here," the man to his left said.
The man on the right spoke up. "Let's spread out and keep looking." And so they did, dispersing to separate places.
But they wouldn't find him. I knew it. If they had looked up…they would have seen the little boy up on the leftmost statue inlet, curled into himself, trying to keep warm in the cold night. I thought back to the skull I had sensed when I first came to the church. That was Kenji? Maybe that's why he possessed me…
I had found him and I hadn't even known.
Kenji's breath came out in shuddering puffs. 'What should I do?' I heard the thoughts of a voice I knew as Kenji's. 'Father Toujo and the others are about to leave. I'm right here!'
The rain turned to snow as it got even colder. By this point, I had some come to be in a standing float near Kenji and Eugene and Balgair had disappeared. 'I'm so cold.' I knew what would happen. It's even worse when you have to sit there and watch while knowing what was going to happen. 'Daddy, please come get me soon,' Kenji's pleas turned desperate. It was hard to watch… but I knew I couldn't leave even if I had the heart to try. 'I miss you so much Daddy.'
Some of the snowflakes that fell to the ground changed course, shifting into a transparent body of a tall man. More snow passed through him, as if there wasn't an abnormality at all. The man set his glowing hand on top of Kenji's head. The boy creaked his eyes open and looked at the man. Admittedly, if I were to try matching my senses of Lin to the ghost man, I guess they would be similar, though I couldn't be sure. The snow that had been falling down turned to specs of light and lightly raised themselves skyward. 'Daddy…' Kenji smiled.
At that moment, the puffs of air that made up Kenji's breath ran out.
The little boy had died.
But he was with his father. And Kenji was happy.
An innocent soul had died without another want in the world.
BLIND
I woke up slowly. I could feel tears at the corners of my eyes, but I felt warm and cozy physically.
Mentally I was in a state of wondering how to get away with poisoning someone and NOT get caught. And in bit of a depression, due to Kenji.
Regardless of how I felt, I found myself in what seemed to be a sort of nurse's office, lying comfortably on the bed, tucked under the covers snuggly. Smelling the smell of the strong peppermint tea that Mrs. Toujo made, I found Lin to be sitting beside me holding a hot cup of the holiday-themed substance.
I could throttle you, blame it on Kenji, and go back to sleep.
I dismissed the thought quickly. Although I knew very little about Lin, I knew I probably wouldn't survive the ordeal. Instead, I softly called out, "Oh, hey there," to make him aware that I was conscious. It was not at all because I was completely out of it because I just woke up or anything. Nope, not at all.
Lin turned his head towards me, a ghost of a smile on his face. I felt a stinging wateriness in the corners of my eyes and brought one hand out of the warm covers and gently whisked away the tears in my eyes. With a sniff, I thought about Kenji. For now, I suppose I'll let go of this whole entire Davis thing. I smiled, remembering the warmth that had temporally been brought on when Kenji left. "Well," I said softly, "I guess Kenji made it just in time for Christmas." Lin seem to agree silently, and looked out to the cold glass window. I wonder if it's snowing now?
"Taniyama," Lin suddenly broke the silence. I turned my attention towards him, sitting up as I did so. When Lin saw I was paying attention, he continued. "As part of your rather sudden employment, I had to go through your medical files, as you said to do in your filing."
He knows…. He knows I'm blind… Here it comes… Am I about to be fired? It was a good almost-year.
"It said you were visually impaired… but it's more than that, isn't it?"
"The most you've ever spoken to me," I sighed, "and it's an interrogation. But you're right. Though it's not 'visually impaired'. I'm blind."
"Then why doesn't it say that?" Lin asked.
"They must've changed the standards for blindness. But if I were to guess… Because while I can't see with my eyes, I can 'see' with a… sonar sort of thing. It's hard to explain, but that's all I've got," I said. "Doctors don't know what to make of it. I can 'see' but I can't. So I guess they compromised with their brains and said I was visually impaired instead. But as you can tell, it's pretty easy to figure out that I can't actually see."
Lin nodded and went back to staring out the window again. I waited to be told that I was going to be let go, I was fired, early retirement, anything that told me that I was booted out.
But Lin didn't say anything more. I could faintly hear a beautiful, yet somewhat sad singing coming from another part of the building that I assumed was the church. Accompanied by only a handful of instruments, it somewhat reminded me of the almost unheard song of the wisps, though this was quite a bit more human, and not quite as unearthly. Still, it was a somber sort of song, and it calmed me. It was probably part of a Christmas sermon. If I was right and we were still in the church, then it would make sense for that to be the cause.
It was then that Mrs. Toujo came in with more tea and confirmed my suspicions of my location. We exchanged pleasantries, and she told me that she'd tell the rest of SPR I was up—if she could find them. They had scattered a while ago. Now seated with hot tea, I asked Lin one of the questions I had been wondering since our little 'talk'.
"How did you figure it out?" I asked. "My blindness, I mean."
Lin sipped his tea before turning towards me to answer. "When Kenji possessed you, you clung onto me for dear life, convinced as Kenji was that I was his father. I noticed that your eyes were a clear brown, but usually your eyes aren't that clear, and seem more… filmy. Since I already knew of the visual impairment, I put two and two together."
"That… makes sense…" I processed what he said. "Well, I guess that makes… five now. First John, then Monk, after that comes Kasai who in turn brought Ayako in on it… Plus you, that makes five people in the team that know."
"That only leaves out Naru and Masako, correct?" Lin said.
"Yeah. Monk said I have to tell Naru… But I can't gather up the courage. And I can't see myself confiding in Masako as is," I said. I then answered an unasked question with, "And yes, the group I mentioned is the group that always pops in on Saturdays."
"I just thought that they made a point of bothering Naru, though John doesn't seem the type."
"Well, that too, but that's more of a 'side effect of medicine' sort of thing."
Lin nodded again, and returned his attention to the cold glass. Nothing more was said. I speculated that perhaps Lin's voice was hoarse after talking so much. He probably would not talk to me again, and now that his questions were answered, he didn't need to say anything else.
"Wait," I realized suddenly. "Does Naru know?"
"No. And I don't have intention to tell him. Either you tell him or he figures it out," was Lin's reply.
"…Okay. Thanks." I could tell by his crisp answer he still didn't like me much.
Well… I did cause a locker set to fall on him and land him in the hospital… then he came back to find I was working his job, and would continue to be a thorn in his side. This was a rare moment brought on by the fact that I apparently clung onto him like a mosquito all day, the fact that he had a revelation about something pretty major, and then today being Christmas Eve… And Gene was still missing. So, this will probably never happen again.
Again, silence prevailed.
I wonder… does Lin have a family back home? What does 'back home' mean to him? Maybe some things are better left unasked.
"It's snowing, Taniyama," Lin said, not looking from the glass as he sipped more tea.
In that one sentence, I could find the newfound understanding between Lin and I. 'I don't bother you too much, you don't bother me too much.' "Thank you," I said, turning my attention to the panels that offered a literal window to the outside world to so many. I couldn't see, hear, feel, touch, smell, or taste the snow, but I knew it was there. And it calmed me. Even though I couldn't remember the last time I had seen snow in real life, or if I had at all to begin with, I knew from the vision of Kenji's death what it was like. It was a Christmas present from an unknowing person. Or, who knows, he knew it all along. If I just push aside the sadness of the death, I can remember the warmth of his passing over, and how gentle the snow had been as it drifted down. I can imagine that I could look beyond the glass.
I felt a dull throb of pain behind my eyes. A headache now?
Must've been from staining unused eye muscles from where Kenji can see and I can't.
Well, rather, I'm not supposed to. Things are different now that I know I was cursed. But why would anyone curse me with blindness? Sure, it was an irritation most of the time, and without my sonar-like abilities it really would be a different case entirely, but it doesn't seem like there's anything more to the curse.
Considering I can't remember a time during which I could see, what could I have done between my birth and about the time I started school for the first time could I have possibly made someone that pissed at me?
I suppose… I'll probably never know.
BLIND
We eventually did leave. The rest of SPR said general condolences about how they were happy that I was back. They also told me what happened while Kenji controlled my body. I think I apologized to Lin over two dozen times. I'm absolutely positive that Lin said, "Shut it before I regret knowing you more than I usually do day-to-day," under his breath.
We stepped out into the cold, and immediately my senses got excited at finding that little ice crystals falling from the sky. No one snowflake is unique and all, and so even though they got smashed together slightly, I could feel the tiny details if I concentrated enough. I wasn't so detailed as to be able to tell all of the snowflakes as they fell, nor could I feel more than just blurs of cold coming down if I wasn't paying attention, but when I had the time to concentrate, it was magical.
Sometimes…. Sometimes science is magic. I knew that it was water freezing around dust molecules, but who cared? It was magic.
Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jostled slightly before turning to find Monk standing right behind me, his hand being the one on my shoulder, the rest of SPR having, for the most part, found their way closer to Mai. "Well," he said, "what do ya say about throwing that party now?"
"I'm in," Ayako agreed happily. "Now, who want's cake?" she said as she held up one of the wrapped Christmas cakes.
John instantly cheered with an, "Alright!" He even let his arms out in the cheer. Monk did a similar motion, and I got a sneaking suspicion that maybe those Saturdays at the office were finally starting to wear off on John. I was happy regardless, because after all the drama that had apparently happened over cakes and wrapping them with Lin, I felt a need to unwrap and eat one of the damn things as revenge.
I found myself looking over to Lin, Masako, and Naru. Oliver Davis, my subconscious mind reminded me.
Again, I decided I would be pissed after New Year's. That was one resolution I could keep. But for the holiday spirit, I would let it be for now.
I found myself looking exclusively at Naru, silently asking if he was okay with this. After all, we didn't have to use his office, but it would be convenient, and we didn't want the two ice blocks left out.
No… not quite ice blocks. Naru is more like an ice case around a somewhat warm water. I don't know what's in the water, but it's there. Lin's just like a strong AC blaster who doesn't want anyone coming close.
Naru turned his head towards an icy puddle. "A party sounds nice," he said.
I cheered happily. "Alright!" I said, turning to the others.
"Come on Mai, I'll race you there," Monk said, and with that we started a race to the vans, mostly because it was cold, but we were also rather happy.
Naru agreed to a party in his office. That was a miracle in and of itself. I noticed that, while Masako and Naru had calmly followed behind, Lin had only taken a few steps before stopping. I hung back to see what he was doing. He had turned to face the church as the bells rang out. Lin looked up to the angel statue that hid Kenji. A burial service would be held at a later date, but we were helpless to get Kenji down until later. I don't think Kenji really minds. Lin… I think Lin was paying his respects, in his own way. I guess he came to be somewhat fond of the mute boy in the hours they had been together. As the bell chimed seven, indicating the time, Lin closed his eyes.
I smiled softly at that, before turning and catching up to the others. Lin would follow soon. After all, he does drive one of the vans. The whole thing had only taken a few seconds, and no one seemed to notice.
I'll keep this a secret. Looks like I have lots of them now, huh?
BLIND
Our little party had gone rather smoothly. No one got drunk, we had cake and tea galore, and we even managed the office duo to join us for at least a little while.
After the rest had eventually left, it was around nine thirty-ish. Lin and Naru had retreated to their offices a while ago and had not come out since. I didn't feel like leaving yet, so as I set the office back into regular order—not that it was in much disorder—I took time to just think.
The Christmas tree was staying until I came back the day after Christmas. I technically had more time than that, but there wasn't much else I wanted to do. My school friends had all left for the holidays with their families.
Family… I thought about Naru, and how Gene and Naru might have been like.
A reflective window, an icy puddle… a reflection… We're twins. Didn't Gene mention that Naru and himself were identical twins. As in… identical in a mirror.
During the times that he had decisions to make, he looked in a reflective surface. Granted, reflective surfaces meant completely nothing to me. But to someone with a twin who died… to someone who need some guidance.
Naru wasn't looking towards himself. He was looking towards Gene. His older brother.
With that, I quickly set my resolve to get Gene's present to Naru ASAP. I found lots of blank paper and tucked it under my arm, along with a set of matches.
A white candle… white candle. White. Candle. White. Who the hell tells a blind person to find something white? I know it's probably a spiritual thing, not sure as to how or why, but it is. But still. If I grab a red one, it's Gene's and Balgair's fault.
I went to the kitchen and quickly grabbed a candle. No use in trying to guess correctly. I was either right or I was wrong. Just in case, I got an extra. Who knew that a power outage procedure drill would actually be useful to a blind girl?
Taking my supplies to the rarely-used girl's bathroom, I quickly locked the door quietly. I don't want to know what either of the guys in the office would think I was doing if they knew I locked myself in the bathroom. I grabbed some hand towels from the dispenser and strung them along the bottom of the door. I turned the light switch off with a very, very faint click. Again, I do not want anyone raising suspicion. I laid one of the candles on an extra paper towel and set the papers down in front of me. Thinking twice, I laid them out one-by-one next to each other all over the floor. I still had an extra stack, but this was a one-person office bathroom. It wasn't made very big. I took a match and lit it, lighting the hopefully-white candle. Nothing. Wasn't Balgair supposed to come?
After a minute, I snuffed the candle out and switched it with the second one. Please be white. I don't want to go out there and leave this here. Plus I'm barely not stepping on these papers, and I know I can't make it to the door without stepping on at least one of them. I lit the candle, and the reaction was almost instant. I couldn't see it, obviously, but an animal made up the shape of the candle flame. It was small, and it wasn't a giant reaction or wind. It just shaped itself out of the thorn of flame from the candle.
A faint and strange scratching came about the place. It was faint, and if I wasn't in the middle of it all, I wouldn't have heard it. On the papers around me invisible hands seem to write on the numerous papers around me. They soon filled up and stacked themselves, but Balgair did not leave. I hesitantly put the rest of the enormous stack on the ground, and that's where the insanity began. The papers flew up in a whirlwind, attaching themselves to every flat surface. The floor, the walls, the window—too cold for it to be open—the mirror, the ceiling, everything. Just as quickly, it was done, until one was left. Slowly, I could tell it was being signed.
Eugene Davis.
I wasn't the best at English, but I was getting better. I could read at least that much. That paper flew itself to the bottom of the stack, and the papers set themselves neatly into a nice pile. A small stack of about five papers laid next to it, unused. Balgair nodded his head, and the candle snuffed out. I blinked before bringing myself out of it.
I put the paper towels in the trash. The papers went into a neat pile, on top of which it read 'To my dearest family' in such a fancy script that, had I not been even remotely familiar with any of the words, I could not have read it. The matches went into a fake potted plant, where they usually resided. Fire was dangerous. Ghosts were dangerous. Angry clientele were dangerous. Therefore, the plant had matches. The candles went back into the cabinets, and everything seemed normal. I had even turned the girl's bathroom light on. Except for the Christmas tree, an oddly wrapped present, and the pretty impressive pile of papers under the tree, this was a normal office. Well, for a ghost hunting company, that is.
I looked at the CEO office door. With a smile, I set about to making tea for the two still in the office. I poured Lin a cup, then knocked on his door. He opened it a moment later. I held the cup out to me. "Drink it, pour it down a drain, throw it at innocent bystanders, I don't care. Just humor me and take it, okay?" I said. He simply looked down his nose before taking it. I smiled and turned around as he closed his door. At least it wasn't a slam.
I quickly poured another cup of still-burning-hot liquid and took it to Naru's door. I knocked twice and came in without waiting for an answer.
Normally he'd look up and say something about how knocking usually indicates I have manners and yet I still came in without waiting for an answer. This was not 'normally' though. This was Christmas Eve without his twin brother. Maybe they had hated each other. They cared enough that Naru was in a foreign country, pouring over maps to find his brother and Gene made me do a séance in a practically abandoned bathroom so he could get letter to his family.
When did my life get so strange?
I carefully set the tea in front of his eyes, very careful not to touch the maps. That could only end badly… and/or jobless-ly.
Naru noticed the tea cup in front of his eyes, then trailed up my arm to look at me. "Mai?" he asked, taking the tea from me. "You're still here?"
I straightened myself up. "I'm about to leave, don't worry. I don't care when, but you should probably check underneath the tree when you leave," I said before turning to leave. "Merry Christmas."
I left the office on that, closing the door behind me. Carefully, I double checked that my teacup present was more prominent than the papers. That would be my excuse about telling him to check under the tea. When I had asked Lin if he wanted anything for Christmas, he gave me a glare that said, 'Don't bother, if I'm just not around you for that day, I'd be happy.'
Naru had said more tea. Being that we had enough actual tea to make the Japanese army through a year, I got him a teacup. I had brought John with me, and he said that the cup was all black with a cute little ghost on it. We even got it wrapped in white and green wrapping paper with little ghosts on it. I did write a note on it, saying the general Merry Christmas sort of stuff and that yes, Lin, I would leave you alone on Christmas. The others of SPR… I wasn't sure what to get them, but it was fine, seeing as we didn't exchange presents.
With that, I left with a happy smile.
To home.
Quiet, peaceful, empty home.
BLIND
… The things I can do when listening to 2 hours of Celtic music… on repeat… and if this doesn't tell you how bad my handwriting is, I don't know what will; One of the things I had written was 'Eugene looked so serious'. What I saw? "Eugene baked so seriously', as it meshed with the next sentence…
What. Just what.
Also, I didn't bother pulling up the manga. This wasn't much about the series itself, and once again I was trying to NOT be on this computer.
I guess this is a Merry early Christmas. BUT IT'S NOT EVEN PAST THANKSGIVING DAMMIT. Oh well. I'll make an exception.
I'd say the beginning was kind of deep for a kid who's never been blind… now watch next time I actually update I'll be telling you how I ended up with an eye patch….
Oh, and you know how I talked about not knowing how to spell Tanatte's name? Well, as I was posting, I was listening to the credits at the end. I looked at the right moment and found his name in the credits. Thanat. It makes more sense, definitely. I am not going through it again just to change his name, though, because it is technically still correct. (Why I didn't do that before, I haven't the foggiest. I may be book smart, mostly, and I may write at least decently but I am an idiot.) Also, my laptop is still out of commission, so I might not reply for a while.
Okay, so I felt bored while I was making some characters for this story—clientele, actually—and I was curious. If you had to make a character for a Ghost Hunt story, what would you name them and what would you make them look like? A kind of 'What would my readers do' kind of thing. Even though I was making clientele and therefore no powers, why the heck not ask what would their powers be, if they had any? And do they end up having some insane personality trait(s) like I seem to end up having? (For example, one client is constantly writing on everything with chalk, even paper, and another cannot be in a room that they cannot figure out all the sounds it can make. While usable, I still had to make a more unrememberable versions of them, as I did not want to get into backstories with them. Nor did I want to go into mental illnesses.) Again, curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. I just wonder if some people have the same troubles I do. Plus, I'm curious of how many people make a Good Character before they make an Evil Character, and what the 'average' is a far as making characters go. Because I've done the process Good-to-Evil and am about to try Evil-to-Good for a story character list and see if that's much different. If you're wondering when I have time to do this, it's usually when I'm procrastinating on work, chores, or cooking. Or all three. Backstories are also interesting to read. Again, curious (though I will admit I may end up borrowing one or two of them. Not necessarily, don't think this is some OC contest or something, chances of this happening is around… 8 percent, so I really am just curious and I miiiiiiight have been watching too many 'how the brain works' YouTube videos).
In unrelated news, I'm teaching myself origami…. At the very least, it lets me think of various ways to use paper cranes as projectiles while considering why I choose to do this to myself. I don't think my hands were made to make origami. I'll try, but considering how my flower went… let's just say it has a whole lot of folds and not a whole lot of flower.
Also, just a thought, pray for the ones in the Philippines. If you don't know what happened, basically one of the biggest, if not the biggest, storm on Earth has hit there. Thousands are dead and things are not going well for them. Remember that life is short, and that it isn't something you should take lightly. Also, to EverlastingRyo, if you can respond to this and say that you're okay, I'd be thankful. Seriously, I hope you're okay. I know that you might not get to respond, and I might be posting this in vain, and maybe you'll never see this, but I'm hoping for the best for you and everyone out there right now. As such, even though I didn't post it at the top, this chapter is dedicated to you and all those in the Philippines. Be safe, EverlastingRyo. Be safe.