Chapter 2: Unspoken Premonitions
Cambridge, May 2006
Several weeks had passed since the letter arrived.
Gene took the phone call from Madoka in the living room and sat down on the sofa. Martin and Luella were out to visit relatives and wouldn't be back until late this evening. Predictably, Noll intended to spend his whole day in his room reading. However, he would have to make his own dinner as Gene planned to spend the afternoon with his girlfriend. He would go meet her after he finished his phone call with Madoka.
Madoka wanted to book a flight ticket for him before the end of the month.
"Won't Noll come with you? I think he might find it interesting too."
Gene grimaced.
"You too, Madoka? Even my parents suggested I persuade that idiot scientist!"
His parents did not insist on having someone chaperone him, but it was obvious that the two were at least a little nervous.
"Parents never like it when a young child goes abroad alone for the first time. It's natural instinct."
He groaned.
"I'm not young anymore!" Gene insisted.
Madoka chuckled.
"I'm fifteen already!"
This time she laughed out loud.
Gene banged his head against the coffee table. This was not a laughing matter!
He complained: "Geez. How can you be so sure that Noll will get an interest in Japan too? I could just go by myself and let him know whether it's worth his time after I come back."
There was a short silence at the other end.
"No, I don't think even you can convince him," she said after a while.
"What?"
"Noll is a stubborn sceptic. He needs to see for himself."
Gene went quiet. Indeed, his brother was incredibly stubborn… he'd just think it would be a waste of time.
"That's true, but... I honestly don't want him with me. He'll just... nag," Gene muttered. "That's all he does these days and it's super annoying. ...I'm sure I get on his nerves too. I think he wanted to poke my eye out for talking about my girlfriend the whole time."
He said that last part in a 'Noll voice'.
"Hmhm." Madoka seemed to nod through the phone. "So you're worried that it will ruin your trip?"
Gene slapped the table for good measure.
"Exactly! You don't know what it's like. I need a taste of the twinless life - freedom!"
Ha! It felt good saying that word. Madoka laughed a little.
Gene continued. "I'll even leave my phone at home so he can't call me. Not that he would anyway."
"I see. Very well then," Madoka said, seemingly having understood his intentions. "However, do let your brother know if he's interested in going - not as your brother, but as a researcher of SPR. As I told you before, the Japanese field in parapsychology is very unfamiliar with our approaches. So it's a tough nut to crack - especially as a foreigner. Speaking from experience, the two of you will have less problems as you speak Japanese."
Madoka was the chief of the Fieldwork Laboratory. A little over a year ago she had gathered all Japanese-speaking people from the different departments in SPR's newly established research institute, and taken them under her wing. Lin, Gene and Noll were among them. It became increasingly obvious what her intentions were. Noll had flat out dismissed it at one point, but Madoka was very persistent.
"So you're still thinking of setting up an office there?"
Madoka laughed.
"Only if someone is willing to cooperate with me. Maybe in a few years after you graduate. Perhaps even sooner if Noll wants to. That would be most ideal."
"What about Lin?"
"Lin told me he's not willing unless Noll goes."
Gene huffed.
"Oh really... I sense favouritism."
"You might have an easier time convincing Lin than I do," she said. "I already ask too much of him."
Gene smiled wryly. He highly doubted that he would be able to convince Lin, but it was worth a try.
"Ha, I'll try then," he said as he looked at the clock. There was still some time left before he would go to his date. "Anyway, I already have a good feeling about this trip. I've always wanted to go to Japan."
"You'll enjoy it."
After the phone call ended, Gene walked into his bedroom and plopped down on his bed. He turned his head towards a corner in the room. A guitar case stood inclined against the wall. He had almost forgotten about it. He had asked Martin to buy him a guitar for his birthday, because his friend Craig looked so cool whenever he played guitar. Gene met him at the skateboard rink nearby his house around a year ago.
He walked over and opened the case. Gene took the acoustic guitar out and strummed the strings. He had not learned to play it yet, but he really wanted to.
Gene sighed.
Luella occasionally played piano in the living room, but neither Noll or himself had been particularly interested in playing the instrument. Gene had taken a few lessons with her, but eventually he stopped because he enjoyed playing football and skateboarding much more. He still felt a bit guilty about that, but Luella told him not to mind it.
He put the guitar back in its case, leaving it half-open.
Gene went back to his bed and closed his eyes.
Going alone. It didn't seem so bad, but it scared him at the same time. Maybe his parents were right. He had not been apart from Noll for very long periods. Noll had done a case in the US a few years ago, but he didn't take longer than a week to return to his side. Gene would be gone for a month. Not to mention that the two of them were already familiar with the US, so it didn't have the same excitement and apprehension. Japan was a connection to their previous home language and family roots, but he had never been there. As far as he was concerned, not even their biological parents stepped foot into that country.
To tell the truth, he'd welcome some company on his trip abroad.
Gene rolled over and caught a glimpse of the envelope on his desk.
...And that letter.
Gene sighed and got up from his bed. He moved over to his desk and pulled the envelope from between the pages of his school book. He had been using it as a bookmark - a charm which reminded him of Japan. For some reason he couldn't really throw it away or let go of it. He placed the envelope on the table. Gene turned and looked over to the room on the other side of the hallway. He should let Noll know about Madoka's phone call, even if he knew Noll would brush off her suggestion.
Gene slowly walked over and paused in front of the door.
"You in there? I had a call from Madoka."
Noll washed the plates and cutlery he had used for dinner. He had not cooked. Luella made him something before she left so he could heat it up in the microwave. He quickly rinsed off the plates and let them dry. It had been a while since he ate alone like this. If Gene wasn't here, he would usually eat with his parents. A few hours ago his brother came into his room to deliver a message from Madoka, and then he left again.
Today was… quiet. It was nice.
Gene had left to go on a dinner date with his girlfriend. Her name was Lizzy or Liz. She was a Korean-English girl at his school and in Gene's words 'the most beautiful girl' he had ever met. He was completely taken by her.
Noll had seen them together by chance in the neighbourhood when he was sent out to buy some groceries for Luella. Gene and Lizzy were sitting in a park with their mutual friends. She seemed like an attention-seeker, proudly showing off that she dated the most popular boy in school. Noll and Gene often encountered those types when both of them were still together in school. Unfortunately, Gene had the idiocy to fall for one of them. It was annoying to constantly hear him talk about her. However, they were equally clingy, so at least Noll had some peace of mind when it came to brotherly hugs and kisses. He very much liked his personal space, so the same annoyance brought him some welcome relief.
Gene was to go to Japan in the summer for a month. That should bring him relief too.
Thinking about it this way, he wasn't as close to Gene as most people would expect from twins. However, twins were often the farthest thing from best friends. He and his brother were very "close" in the sense that they knew each other very well, but they were too dissimilar otherwise. In other words, had they been strangers, they probably wouldn't even have become friends.
Therefore, even after hearing about the things Madoka had said to his brother, he still didn't feel the need to accompany him on his travels. He would hear from Gene if Japan was worth his time. It was a waste of money to send both of them on the trip. He doubted that 'seeing Japan' for himself would change his mind. However, something in Gene's eyes had changed. As if someone had sowed a seed of doubt in his mind. Something bothered him.
After he finished drying the plates, he went upstairs. The door of his brother's room was open. Unconsciously his feet moved into the room. The room was messy as usual. Gene often coaxed him into cleaning the room in his stead. Their mother usually wasn't pleased with that, but it wasn't much of a bother to clean up.
He noticed the half-open guitar case. It wasn't open the last time he looked into the room. Noll wondered why Gene never played the guitar even though he pleaded Martin to buy it for his birthday. It seemed like a huge waste of money. Noll slipped his hand inside the case, touching the strings - as expected, Gene had touched it just recently. It seemed like he was still fond of the guitar.
Then some unexpected emotions burned into him.
Guilt. Intense longing. Unfulfilled.
Noll pulled his hand away. He shouldn't be prying. This wasn't what he had come for. His head turned towards the desk. He saw the envelope.
Haruka Tooyama's letter.
Noll walked over and slowly reached his fingers out. He sighed as he held the envelope in his hand.
Time to dispel all doubts.
Noll strode back into his room, closed the door behind him and sat down on his bed. He opened the envelope and took a deep breath. He easily synced into the vision as he took the letter out of its container.
Almost too easily.
It felt like someone pulled across the room and threw him outside the window at a frightening speed. Once the movement stopped, a weight pushed down at his shoulders.
He sat down.
A surface under his forearms.
There is a blank paper in front of him. A pen in a girl's hand. She is writing. The pencil steadily writes the letters down on the paper. No hesitation in her mind. She has to do this for her friend.
"But what if I don't?"
The vision changed to a different time and place within an instant. He instantly noticed the lack of senses other than sight.
She leaves for the last therapy session. There are two girls in her group. She is close with both of them, but she is particularly fixated with one girl. Time to say goodbye. She leaves. The vision branches out. She focuses on the one where the girl didn't follow her, and never posts the envelope.
Then he dove into a series of visions which didn't seem to belong to the girl herself. Noll couldn't feel any of it either, so it felt like he was rushing through a fragmented soundless movie on flash forward without stopping.
In the fragments of this "soundless movie" he sees a boy who looked just like him and Gene. He only seemed a little older. A white van. An old building. Its architecture was unfamiliar to his eyes. However, Lin was there, so it seemed to be a case. Then he notices other people, mostly of Asian descent... They appeared to be Japanese.
This definitely takes place in Japan.
The next thing he knew he was falling into a dark space. He sees the boy performing coin tricks - and realizes the boy is Noll himself. But for whom is he doing this? Then a there is a flash of him on the floor - passed out. Lin's form helps him up. Then he sees himself in the hospital, seemingly recovered.
Sometimes he smiles a little, but for whom?
Then there were many instances of being in an office somewhere. Bringing tea. He enters a room where he sees himself sitting at a desk, studying various maps. He regularly sees himself leave with a somewhat sombre look on his face. Then there's only Lin in the office.
But where is Gene in all of this?
He only saw himself, so where was Gene?
Noll only looked for Gene. He didn't really remember or care to recognize the other faces. They all looked like people he personally wouldn't associate with. But they got along well with the person. The only one who the person didn't seem to get along well with was Noll himself. It strangely reminded him of the quarrels he got into with Gene.
But why was all the focus on him?
Sometimes the visions would branch out into different visions, as if it was playing out all the possible outcomes in a situation. But he wasn't able to tell what the true outcome would be. Noll realized the sequence played out over a long time - possibly in the span of a few years. The more he saw, the more the visions splintered and grew weaker. After a while his sight grew hazy from the splintered visions. He couldn't keep up. His head was starting to ache.
However, one thing was certain. In all of these visions he wore black clothes.
Gene, where are you? he called out for him unconsciously, but there was no reply.
At one point his sight cleared up. The van stops on a road near a lake. The lake surrounded by mountains and a dam. He sees himself stumble out and stare at the lake for a long time. Then the vision took him to an old building - it quickly changed to a view of the lake again. He sees himself walking towards two divers who had taken something out of their boat, that something is wrapped in yellow sheets - the size of a body.
Then he sees himself with his parents.
His mother was crying. Barely recognizable. As if years had sucked out of her face.
It didn't take long to connect the dots. No, he didn't want to see any of this.
No more, no more.
Noll forced himself out of the entire sequence of visions. His eyes slammed open and he found himself panting against the sheets of his bed. Dizzy. He closed his eyes as he tried to regain his control of his breathing. He wiped the arm of his shirt over his moist eyes.
Lizzy had taken him to a pizzeria. She told him it was popular with students from the university. Gene could understand why: it was cheap and pretty tasty. He would have to remember to take Noll to this place next time. He wasn't sure whether he would like it, but the place had many vegetarian options. Not to mention it would informally introduce Noll to the student life he would experience after two years.
Noll.
His reaction to Madoka's suggestion seemed lukewarm, but it was… expected. However, Gene couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Now that he thought about it, it would be great to experience new things and places together. It also made him worry that Noll was turning into a recluse - stuck in their parents' home till the day of his death. Going on a trip would make for a nice change of pace. Perhaps it would bring him - both of them some inspiration.
That's why it would have been nice if they experienced university life together - leave their parental home, become roommates - but Noll obviously had different priorities and ambitions. It couldn't be helped, Gene idly thought as he chewed on a pizza crust.
He stared at Lizzy - or Liz as she was usually called by her friends - who was eating her last slice of pizza. Other than the food itself, they had been talking about various topics relating to school and their friends. Liz was part of a popular clique - and he naturally gravitated to that group, but only connected to them on a superficial level. If he recalled correctly it had happened after Noll passed his GCE exams and no longer attended their school. Gene hadn't been sure how to deal with that event. He had his own set of friends, of course, but his twin brother was like an anchor. Once Noll went out of the picture, Gene became even more 'approachable'. It seemed like many people were less restrained if they knew that they wouldn't mistake his brother for him. Noll had the tendency to avoid other students or ignore them completely. It made Gene wonder if his twin brother had acted like a deterrent, whether consciously or unconsciously.
In any case, Liz was the one who reached out to him and 'adopted' him into her circle of friends, so he quickly got attached to her. One thing led to another, and they ended up dating.
She was his first girlfriend.
After leaving the pizzeria, they took a walk in a nearby park. The air was a little cold, but bearable. Gene loosely held her hand as they walked. Her hands were small and her fingers were thin.
It was cute.
Liz leaned her head against his shoulder.
"Are you really going to Japan?"
He nodded.
"Yeah."
"With your brother?"
"He's not interested," Gene said. "Want to come with me?"
He winked. It wasn't a serious question.
Liz laughed.
"Haha. No way, my father wouldn't let me."
They walked into what seemed to be a less public path in the park. Large patches of grass stretched out next to them with trees on each side of the path. The path itself was overgrown with moss.
Suddenly there was a flash of long grey hair - covered by a hairnet, as they turned a corner. An old wrinkly lady stood on the path right before them. She looked out at the grass field with some flowery bushes.
"Oh, excuse us."
He went out of the way, letting go of her hand, but Liz didn't budge. She gave him a quizzical stare.
"Who're you talking to?"
They passed right through the lady.
His facial expression froze. Ah, he screwed up. He totally screwed up. He accidentally greeted a ghost!
"Gene?"
"No- Nothing. Nothing at all."
Liz didn't look convinced by the frown she gave him. She looked away from him with a pout.
He wanted to cry right on that spot.
This had been the second time this month. Dating her was like a dream, but it quickly turned into a nightmare depending on how much he put his psychic ability on display by accident. Is this the reason why she had been quiet around him recently? He was starting to feel awkward around her.
They stopped at a garden. It was unkempt, but still pretty due to the mix of red and yellow flowers.
"The garden is lovely, isn't it?" he said with a forced smile.
"Ah, yes."
Gene sighed, pondering what else to say. His parents would come home in less than two hours. He would have to be back soon. Gene stared at Liz. He often talked about his family, but Liz rarely talked about hers. Oddly enough he had not met her parents yet even after a couple of months of dating. For some reason she wouldn't invite him to her home. He also thought about inviting her to his house, but he decided against it ...It wasn't his parents. They'd welcome her. But Noll. He didn't like her.
He couldn't really stop thinking about him ever since they talked earlier this day.
No, stop.
You're on a date, Eugene Davis!
His eyes scanned the environment. No one was around. They had no choice but to seek out places hidden from people's view.
"Liz."
He took her hand and pulled her under a tree. Gene placed his lips against hers. She responded quickly. The kiss lasted for several seconds before he pulled away.
"Wow," she said under her breath.
"... How was it? I don't suck anymore?"
A month ago she politely 'complained' that he was awful at kissing. He had made it his personal goal to blow her brains off by the end of the month with a wonderful kiss.
She replied with another kiss, going in deep. He pulled her body close to his.
"Hey, stop snogging under that tree!" An old woman's voice complained. "You're ruining my sight."
It was the ghost, but he did not stop. He was determined to ruin the ghost's sight even more after it nearly blew his cover. He wasn't going to let this date go to waste.
"Youngsters these days... snogging like wild animals," the old woman muttered as she judged the kissing couple against the tree.
Eventually Liz decided that it was too cold to be doing "that sort of thing" outside. Raging hormones aside, Gene couldn't blame her. ...He wasn't sure whether to blame the cold on the English weather or the chilly glare of the old woman. The mood got lost once the woman launched a tirade of curses.
However, the ghost seemed rather harmless otherwise, so Gene mentally noted to come back and purify her on another day.
In any case, he walked her home. Well, to the street where she lived. They didn't really talk much. For some reason the joy of dating her had worn off. They only seemed to feel good whenever they were together with their friends, but... whenever they were alone it was like they were holding each other back.
Gene, where are you?
"...Noll," he muttered. It wasn't Noll's usual tone. There was something else, but he couldn't place it…
Desperation, perhaps?
Liz turned to him.
"Did you just say something?"
Gene smiled awkwardly.
"No. … I just remembered I had to do something at home," he said quickly. "You live in that street, right? I'll walk you to the front door."
As expected, Liz shook her head.
"You really don't need to."
He stopped.
"I've been meaning to ask for a while, but is there a reason I can't?"
Liz looked away and sighed. She seemed restless.
"…You can take a look, but make sure they don't see you."
Gene frowned and walked with her until they reached the beginning of the street.
An Asian woman with a young boy came into their view. The boy was playing with a football. The woman stared at her for a while and then a deep frown covered her face. Liz gasped a little.
"Liz!"
It was her mother.
The woman started yelling and Liz yelled back at her. The entire conversation took place in what he presumed to be Korean, so Gene had no idea what it could have been about. The next thing he knew the woman pulled Liz and her son into their house and closed the door behind them. Her mother didn't even spare a glance at him.
Gene put his hands in the pockets of his jacket and walked back home with a heavy heart. He considered texting her, but for some reason it didn't feel like the right thing to do. So he decided that he would talk to her tomorrow at school. Before he reached his home he walked into a nearby park and sat on a bench. He needed to cool his head before he entered the house.
A minute later he received a text from Liz:
Let's break up.
He stared at his phone for a minute. The words didn't settle in at first. They didn't feel real. Period.
His jaw slacked. His fingers didn't know what to do. Sweat started to form on his hands. Confusion made way for panic. This wasn't happening, right? She was going to leave him? No way.
However, judging by how she behaved in the past week, it sounded somewhat believable.
He calmly typed a reply and sent it.
Liz. Before I respond to that could you please tell me wtf happened. I don't understand any of this.
He didn't have to wait very long. Her response was swift, as if she had memorized it in her mind.
I don't think you want to know the reasons. Let's just say my parents are against our relationship.
That much was obvious. Gene had more or less expected something like that going by the fight with her mother just now. But still. Is she really going to obey them? He wanted to know.
We haven't even met properly. How can they be against it? Tell me, I deserve to know!
Her reply was blunt.
You don't understand because your parents aren't Asian. My mother's side of the family hates the Japanese and my father says I shouldn't date until after graduation and hang out with playboys.
Gene stared and he was unable to digest it without feeling anger. He decided not to reply to her first comment, because it didn't make much sense to him. His fingers furiously typed.
Okay... that's just fucking awful. I can't do anything about being Japanese and I am NOT a playboy, you know that!
She replied very quickly again.
I told them many times, but they won't listen! Don't tell me I haven't warned you.
Gene bit his lip. If she had told him about this earlier, maybe they wouldn't have gotten into this mess. Gene couldn't type a full response, so he settled for a short message that encompassed his current feelings.
Fucking hell.
This time she didn't reply immediately. He stared at the screen for a long time.
Then what about you? I've held it in because I have my own problems, but I really don't like you didn't introduce me to your parents even though you say they're nice? And you have a twin brother but you never let him meet me?
He stared at her message for a while. So it really did bother her? He felt stupid.
Another message came in:
And what about just earlier, you saw something, right? You were distracted the whole time after that. This happened before too. You're really strange.
You're really strange. That sentence stuck out to him for some reason. And it hurt.
Tears started to form in the corners of his eyes as he slowly typed a reply, hitting the final nail in the coffin.
Okay. let's break up. This isn't going to work.
He hung his head and waited.
I won't tell any of the others about that if you don't say anything about my parents. understood?
It was an oddly cold message. It sounded like she was trying to get away from him with an undamaged reputation.
Deal. Goodbye, Liz.
That was it. He slid the phone back in his pocket.
Eugene Davis sat there and decided it was the worst breakup ever. Even if she had only been his first girlfriend. He never would have imagined that they would breakup through texting. …Not to mention he currently felt like used goods. Thrown away the moment it got inconvenient.
Suddenly he heard a familiar voice behind him.
"Noll?"
Of all the people he had to meet.
He turned his head and coldly gazed back at the man behind him. Lin was on a bicycle and blankly stared the boy. Gene did not feel like correcting him. He wanted to jostle the man off his bicycle. Just because. Just because it wasn't his damn fault in the first place. Why were people blaming him for something he did not do?
Lin stepped down from his bicycle. It seemed he had not noticed the tears on his face due to the darkness.
"I came here for a visit. What are you doing out here?"
Gene just remembered that Lin had an appointment with Martin after they would return from their trip.
"Nothing," he said, trying to prevent any emotions from leaking into his voice.
Gene stood up from the bench and walked towards his home. Lin followed closely after him. He spotted his parents' car outside the home. They had returned already, but he did not feel like meeting with them right now. He opened the door and entered the house. Lin entered soon after him, but Gene did not pay any attention to the man after this.
Unusually enough, his twin was sitting on the staircase. Noll raised an eyebrow when he saw Gene's tear-stained face.
His voice finally broke.
"Out of the way."
He pushed Noll aside and went straight to his bedroom. He threw his jacket on the floor and laid on his bed with his face half-buried in his pillow.
"What happened?"
Noll had followed him into the room. He picked up Gene's jacket.
Gene let out a sob.
"We broke up. I'm going to sleep."
His twin let out an audible sigh and closed the door. The room went dark.
Gene opened his eyes sometime after that.
But he was no longer in his bedroom.
A dream? No, it wasn't.
For a moment it seemed like he had synced into a psychometric vision. But he felt numb. His senses would normally connect to a person within Noll's vision, but he felt absolutely nothing. He did not hear anything either. He could only see what was happening in front of him.
The thin curtains of the room were closed, making the room sufficiently dark enough to obscure some of the details within it. His gaze was focused on a bed with a man lying on it. This man was connected to various machines through tubes and wires.
A hospital room?
He focused on the man's face, trying to decipher the finer details, but everything was fuzzy.
Gene could make out his short black hair. His long bangs covered his eyes, but he could see they were closed. He appeared to be Asian... Japanese? He looked strangely familiar.
Wait.
An identical form started to emerge from the man and sat up from the body. This person had died. For a very brief moment the ghost looked straight at him with deep dark eyes.
No.
Suddenly, another figure moved through Gene from behind... a woman threw herself at the foot of the bed. Her shoulders shook and her head hung. She leaned against the bed. To the right he saw a screen with a straight horizontal line - his heartbeat had stopped.
No.
He looked back at the identical form of the man in the bed - the ghost. The ghost looked at the woman and put a hand on her head with a sorrowful face. It was a very pained look. He knew. The man knew he was dead.
Then many more people started surrounding the woman. Gene did not recognize any of them.
He could only look at the ghost. I know you. Who are you? The ghost lifted his eyes. He had seen those eyes before in his own mirror and in Noll's, but never on a face of that age.
The lips moved - Gene.
Gene couldn't comprehend the situation.
Noll?
If this was not a past, and not a present... Then Gene decided it had to be a dream. It couldn't be anything else. But dreams were not supposed to look this real.
The woman stood up. The ghost tried to point at someone else near the bed, but she wouldn't look. She couldn't see at all. She had fallen into grief and tears clouded her vision. The ghost stepped out of the bed and walked up to the man he had pointed out - ignored by everyone else. The man's head hung and had not moved for a while. Gene could not see his face at all. The ghost stared at the man for a while. Then he moved towards Gene's point of perspective.
The ghost was right in front of him and gazed intently at Gene. Their gazes aligned evenly.
Then Gene knew, this is Noll. This is Noll, but older.
What?
Suddenly he synced into a conversation. But it wasn't a conversation through sound. It was similar to a telepathic conversation, and yet it wasn't. There was a lot of static. And something filtered out the noise. Only scraps of sentences made it to Gene.
- crows - found - deathbed - sooner than - thought.
But - worry -
She will cope.
No, you worry more about -
The ghost - Noll briefly looked behind him. His expression was impenetrable.
- because no one knows about him.
The ghost turned his gaze to Gene, who was looking at the mourning people.
- forget - this.
But Gene could only watch the woman and man crying at the bed.
I don't want to see this.
His head turned to look back at the ghost. Noll looked pained and began to walk.
- are you going?
He could barely make out the following words:
To the light.
The static vanished the instant Noll walked through the door of the hospital room. Gene wanted to follow him, but he couldn't move. He looked back at the other people in the room. Then he noticed a woman staring at the door as well.
She knew.
He didn't know whether it was the same woman as before. She simply shook her head, and her mouth moved. She spoke in Japanese. He could only read her lips, but for some reason he understood.
"Go, go after him."
Gene panicked and turned immediately. He started running. But he saw no light.
Instead, everything around him crumbled.
Noll. Where are you? Don't leave me alone. Noll!
The vision went black, but he was still screaming through the channel.
Please. Don't do this to me.
NOLL!
He heard the sound of footsteps in front of him. Someone grabbed his shoulder and shook him.
"Wake up! Wake up. Gene!"
Noll?
His leg kicked at something. He disentangled himself from the hands that shook him. Then he fell on the carpet of his bedroom. When Gene came to, he found Noll hunched over with a hand against his own stomach. His brother was groaning.
Then Gene noticed the cold sweat all over his body. It had also permeated the clothes he had not bothered to take off just earlier. He felt very uncomfortable and sticky.
Noll stood up with a deep sigh.
Gene stretched his arm out to Noll, but he couldn't reach him.
"Noll..."
Noll looked at Gene's half-stretched out arm and pulled him up. His legs felt weak. Noll forcefully pushed him back on the bed. Gene tried to sit up and pull himself together.
The light went on in the hallway. Martin's head popped into the room and blankly gazed at the spectacle in the room.
"…What happened?"
Noll explained without asking Gene.
"He had a nightmare."
"I'll bring a glass of water."
After Martin left to go downstairs, Gene looked at Noll and let out a sob.
"What did you see?" Noll asked quietly as he sat down next to him.
Gene could not bring himself to talk immediately and took this moment to lean against Noll's shoulder.
He's alive, he's alive. It wasn't real. Noll is alive.
"What happened?" His brother said in a gentler tone.
Gene tried to roll the words over his mouth.
"You... died," he whispered.
Noll's shoulder stiffened.
Gene continued.
"You were in the hospital, surrounded by people. I was there too. I... I... saw your ghost."
"Stop."
"You told me-"
"Stop it, Gene."
Gene looked up and met his brother's eyes. Strangely hollow, just like in the nightmare.
"But..."
His mouth fell open a little.
"Enough Gene, don't think about it anymore."
The words came out like a plea. Noll seemed very unsettled. It was just a nightmare, right?
"Then what was that...?"
Noll didn't reply. He simply pried Gene's hands off his shoulder and turned his head away. The expression on his profile was impenetrable, just like in the nightmare.
Noll got up from the bed once they heard Martin's footsteps on the staircase.
"Boys. Here's the water."
Noll silently retrieved the glass of water and gave it to Gene.
Martin blearily stared at the twins.
"Gene, I heard you had a bit of a rough day, so go to sleep soon. You too, Noll."
Both nodded and watched their father leave.
A bit of a rough day. Now that was the underestimation of the century.
Before he left the room, Noll cast him a long glance.
(We'll talk later.)
Gene looked down at his shirt.
"Ugh."
He wasn't going to sleep in these. Gene took a new set of underwear and pajamas, and headed to the shower.
Noll returned to his bedroom, closed the door behind him and stumbled towards his bed. He went under the sheets and looked up at the ceiling.
This should not have happened. He wasn't aware of channeling any visions to Gene. In fact, he controlled it to the point that he actively blocked him from seeing the visions. However, he had not seen what Eugene had seen, so what was it exactly? Just a dream? Or was it similar to the visions he had before? If so, how could it have slipped through his grasp?
A ghost.
He was a ghost. So Noll wouldn't have been able to see Gene's vision in the first place. So did it channel to Gene just because he wasn't aware of its existence?
He turned on his side and closed his eyes.
Noll had waited a very long time on that staircase after recovering from those visions. Although he was in two minds on speaking with him about what he had seen, it greatly troubled him that he couldn't meet with Gene right away. So he kept waiting for Gene to come back. Then a chilly thought hit him.
What if he didn't come back?
Noll pushed it far away from his mind.
The door had opened. His parents came through the door. Smiles crossed their lips when they saw him. Luella asked what he was doing on the staircase, but Noll merely shrugged and said that he needed a change of environment. Martin had laughed a little and patted him on the head. His hand was warm and big.
He waited again.
It slowly started to sink in that he could not possibly speak to his parents about those visions. They did not need to know about them. Although he was still skeptical of the visions, he knew better than relaying anything like that to his family. He didn't want to see their faces if he told them.
Then the door opened again, revealing Gene's tearstained face…
Noll gave up on speaking with him at that moment. It seemed like Gene was in no condition to handle something like that at this time. The situation was too precarious. He needed to talk to someone else about this, but who? Lin? Madoka? No, not them…
Noll closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep.
Hours later he woke at the sound of his alarm clock.
After getting himself ready for the day, he took a peek at Gene's bedroom. His brother was sleeping in, so Noll did not expect him to wake up until after noon. He went back to his own room and stared at the letter, still untouched after yesterday's vision. He took a pair of gloves from a drawer and put it on his hands. He carefully folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. Noll stared at it for a while.
He already knew who to contact.
Noll headed downstairs and found Martin in his dressing gown. He was reading a newspaper as usual. His father would drive to college after this.
"Morning, Noll."
"Good morning," Noll said. "I have a request."
Martin looked up from his newspaper, putting it down as a spark of curiosity filled his eyes.
"Oh?"
"I'd like to speak with Mr Grey."