The Strange Case of Kairi Uchida
1:
Autumn
Kairi Uchida was certain she was not supposed to be here.
It was a mistake. An error. A blunder.
Hot, blaring sun attacked her skin while the desert plains clung to her like a small, pestering child. Somehow, a long time ago, she had been to a place like this. Graveyard, her mind whispered, but the rest of the memory dissipated before she could grab hold of its neck and demand answers. This desert was not the same as the one she knew; it was modernized. Asphalt roads stretched on for miles. There were satellite poles. The sky was light blue while whatever desert she'd been to had been dusty brown.
It was an abrupt changeāa change she couldn't quite explain. The best Kairi could say was she 'flickered'. One minute she was on desert plains and the next she was on a train, then the plains again, then back on the train.
Could you flicker in and out of existence?
"Kairi, you okay?" Selphie Tilmitt's curious green eyes examined her friend's face. Her lilting voice was a welcomed familiarity.
Kairi nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I, uh, must've spaced out for a minute there."
Selphie smiled softly and went back to singing another song about the train. Kairi peered out the window, the low rumble of the engine calming her nerves as she swiveled around on her seat. Twilight Town blurred past. There wasn't much to see aside from the trees and houses. Then again, there wasn't much to see elsewhere either.
How strange, Kairi thought. I must've been dreaming.
.:x:.
Destiny Islands sweltered despite the rain.
Kairi stifled a yawn, sitting languidly on an old swing bench right under her front porch. Selphie stood just within the rain's reach.
"Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day," her friend sang, twirling around as she leapt off the porch steps and into the rain.
Gloom hardly fit with Destiny Islands' vibrance, and in spite of that, dark rain clouds had invaded their shores for three days straight. The porch lights blinked on and off, causing Kairi's eyes to flit upward in worry. On another day, when it wasn't raining, and evening hadn't set in, she wouldn't care, but it was raining and evening had set in thirty minutes ago.
Soft, fluorescent light illuminated Selphie's dancing figure. Kairi's hands reached for her camera, the bench stopping mid-swing as her footfalls padded quietly toward the small porch fence.
click
Captured high in the air, arms stretched out, and her yellow dress flowing, was Selphie. A smile found its way to Kairi's lips. The picture screamed Selphie Tilmitt and Kairi was sure if she were to look up her best friend in the dictionary, this exact photograph would be listed under examples.
"Dance with me, Kairi," she yelled.
"There's no music," Kairi said, placing her camera far away from the rain.
"Then we'll make some." Selphie went on to make horrible rendition after horrible rendition of cheesy pop songs she and Kairi danced shamelessly to in private.
Kairi joined her soon after, adding some much-needed harmony.
"What are you two doing?"
Riku Miyano's aquamarine eyes examined the two girls, confusion evident, and bike handles resting securely in his hands.
"Having fun." Selphie stuck out her tongue. "Not that you would know anything about that."
He shook his head. "You're going to catch a cold."
"That's funny," Kairi started, "I don't see an umbrella on you."
Riku arched an eyebrow and stared at Kairi for longer than necessary before replying. "I'm too cool to get sick."
She snorted.
Selphie began an onslaught of truly awful dance moves while keeping her eyes trained on Riku.
"That's your comeback? Okay, Mr. Cool Guy." Kairi went back to dancing and singing terrible renditions of her favorite songs with Selphie.
Riku left shortly after.
.:x:.
Yellow, beady eyes were the first thing Kairi noticed when she woke, half-scream present on her lips, and a hand reaching for someone. Hints of moonlight filtered in through the tiny sliver of curtain left open. Her hands gripped her smooth sheets as beads of sweat fell from her forehead. She didn't dare move.
The creature's yellow eyes blinked, curious and slow. It advanced toward her soundlessly while her electric fan whirred on like a faithful steed trodding down a familiar path. As the creature got closer, Kairi moved backwards, attempting to fold into herself.
"Go away." Her voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.
It didn't move for several moments.
The creature's gradual advancement toward her halted, but that was not the strange part. Instead of disappearing into the shadowy depths of the unknown, the creature flickered the same way an old TV did; the same way she had that day on the train.
.:x:.
It was an impromptu trip that had Kairi scrambling.
"Bring me a souvenir when you get back." Sora Irino sat lazily on the purple bean bag in Kairi's room, flipping through an old magazine.
Kairi huffed, hands on hips, as she went through a mental checklist. She turned to Sora. "I can't believe they would do this to me. And you," she said accusingly, "you're worse than them! Asking for a souvenir."
"Wha? Kairi!" Sora sat up, throwing the old magazine to the side. She eyed it with dismay. "I do care, but I heard Radiant Garden has some awesome, er, what's the word? Knicknacks? No, only grannies have those. Mementos? Yeah, that'll have to do. Mementos."
She heaved a sigh. "What if I don't come back? Hm?"
"Then I'll open an investigation." Sora said it so earnestly Kairi couldn't help but laugh. "Riku and Selphie would help find you too, y'know. If you ever did get lost."
"I won't go missing. I'm probably just being dramatic." Kairi's eyes fell on her bright pink suitcase decorated with flowers, its contents full to the brim with clothes, hygiene products, a few books; the whole shebang. "We just got back too." A pause. "I guess I could bring a few souvenirs home for you guys, but don't expect anything fancy."
Sora's incessant cheering made her scowl even more.
.:x:.
It's a family reunion, they said. No, they couldn't reschedule and won't it be nice to see your family? they said.
Kairi stood in a corner sipping her root beer as her parents greeted a barrage of unfamiliar faces. Maybe it wouldn't be so terrible if she had cousins her own age, but she didn't have any cousins her own age and she and her relatives were virtually strangers.
The shoes her mother loaned her made her appear cloddish whenever she walked and the dress she wore was itchy. Why they had to dress up for a stupid family reunion was beyond Kairi's comprehension.
She didn't do it because she was an idiot; she did it because she was curious.
A silver glint poked out from behind a wall and before Kairi knew it she had slipped out of her borrowed heels, near-empty root beer left sitting on a table just as the tacky Christmas lights hanging from every corner of the room turned on.
It was nearly 10 o'clock when Kairi made her escape.
The silver glint came from a full-fledged mirror propped up on its side. Kairi crouched down, head tilted to the side as she examined herself. There was a girl in the mirror, but it wasn't herself. Instead of red hair coming down to her shoulders, the girl had cropped black hair and instead of violet eyes, she had blue eyes not unlike Sora's.
Kairi scrambled backwards.
When she dared to glance in the mirror again, the strange girl occupying it vanished.
Later, when she was in the guest bedroom, she placed her palm on the mirror.
Nothing happened.
.:x:.
Early morning fog pervaded Radiant Garden and its borders the day Kairi and her parents were set to leave.
If Kairi was in the guest bedroom like she was supposed to be, she would've checked thrice to make sure the souvenirs were in her suitcase, but Kairi was not in the guest bedroom. She stood at the rusted gates leading to Radiant Garden's mysterious sibling; Hollow Bastion.
It was 5:02 a.m. when Kairi Uchida went missing.
