An; thanks for all the reviews! Sorry this next chapter took a while to write, review for more!
Karma stormed through the thicket of trees by his house, kicking away any twigs or brambles unlucky enough to stand in his path, he let out a growl of frustration, lurching forward and punching a tree in front of him hard enough that a dent was left in the bark.
"Karma, what's wrong?" Nagisa asked, suddenly there. The red head jumped- when did she get here?
"Nagisa?" He croaked, his breath catching in his throat. He blinked back the tears threatening to fall- it would be uncool for his girlfriend to see him cry.
"Your hand is bleeding!" She gasped, hurrying over and quickly grabbing his hand, and staunching the bleeding with her white cardigan.
Karma hadn't even noticed. He'd been so upset he'd tuned out the pain. But Nagisa's presence caused a sense of calm and comfort to wash over him.
"You don't have to do that. Your mum will get mad if you get your clothes dirty." Karma said half-heartedly, not making any attempt to stop Nagisa from treating his wound.
"I don't care." The girl said defiantly, as the white material became more and more saturated with blood. "Tell me what's wrong- are your parents arguing again?"
Karma nodded. "I think they're going to break up for real this time." He said, willing himself to keep his eyes dry and his voice even. "Mum's pregnant and.. The baby isn't Dad's.."
Nagisa gasped. Karma closed his eyes as the cruel words his parents where hurling at each other filled his ears.
"I haven't touched you in months and you're pregnant? Who's baby is it, you filthy slut?"
"Well maybe if you weren't such a hopeless loser I wouldn't have to look for satisfaction elsewhere!"
"Save it! You're nothing but a dirt fucking whore who'll open her legs for anyone. Is Karma even mine?"
"What if I have to move?" Karma said, despairingly. "What if I have to move away from you?"
Nagisa hugged him. "Don't be silly. I'll always be here for you."
Karma held her close, but suddenly felt something warm and gooey on his hands- blood.
He recoiled in horror, only to be met with a ghastly sight;
Nagisa's face was swollen and mottled. A pink-brown goo dripped out her ears, and her blue eyes where liquidising, and dripping out of the socket. Her flesh was rancid and strips of bloody bone was exposed where it had worn away.
"Nagisa?" Karma cried. He tried to back away, but her grip was like a vice. She giggled.
"Don't mind me, Karma. I'm just rotting."
Karma awoke his heart pounding and his pulse racing fretfully fast as he bolted up out of bed. He tried to calm his breathing, as he took in sharp shallow breaths.
Just a dream. It's just a dream.
He tried to remind himself, but it had seemed all too real. Even now, he could see Nagisa's beautiful face rotting away before his eyes. No! He didn't want to think about it. Amber eyes glanced at the clock; 12pm.
With a groan, the red haired man got up out of bed and trawled over to the shower, thoughts of Nagisa still circling his mind. She was inescapable.
As he stood in the shower, once again recreating the events of yesterday. That boy he saw, was without a doubt the spitting image of Nagisa- and he even had the same name written on his school bag.
How could that be? It was impossible, right? Karma had never believed in reincarnation or anything like that, but what other explanation could there possibly be? Could it be just a hallucination? Was Karma having a psychotic break down? How could he tell- he needed to find out if there really was a Nagisa Shiota alive today.
But how? How could he discern if what he saw was psychosis or something else?
Karma replayed the memory again, and his eyes widened in realisation. Nagisa had been wearing a Kunugigaoka school uniform. Karma had a contact in there.
Gakushuu Asano- Karma's younger half brother whom he hadn't seen in almost a year.
He was a smarmy little bastard who reminded Karma far too much of his step-dad, Gakushuu's father, for him to bring himself to like the bastard.
Even when he was little, Gakushuu had always been a insufferable know-it-all who thrived of annoying Karma, following him around and trying to act superior.
After Karma's parents had divorced, his mother had married the father of her unborn baby, Gakuhou Asano. It was a marriage of necessity, devoid of love, done only to salvage both their reputations.
If it wasn't for Gakushuu, Karma was sure his mother would of left long ago, but instead, the brat's existence kept her tethered to the living nightmare that is her husband.
Karma fired up his laptop and clicked on facebook, ignoring the multitude of farmville notifications and friend requests, and instead looked up his brother's profile;
Gakushuu Asano. His profile picture was him surrounded by a group of 'friends' holding yet another trophy for.. Something. Arrogant little shit. People often said Karma and Gakushuu looked alike, but Karma disagreed. One look at Gakushuu's amethyst eyes and you can tell he's really just a clone of his father.
Enough wasting time getting pissy over a profile pic!
Suddenly feeling a wave of nerves, Karma searched through his brother's facebook until his found a group he was in 'Kunugigaoka high'
The red haired man clicked on it, and waited for the list of members to load, drumming his fingers on the desk impatiently.
This is it. A chance to see if there's proof that the Nagisa he saw was real, and not just some hallucination.
The page loaded, and there that fateful inescapable name was, right before Karma's eyes.
'Nagisa Shiota'
On auto-piolet, Karma searched his profile, and his breath was nearly taken away by what he saw- It was Nagisa. Really Nagisa, staring back at him. She was smiling on her profile picture, wearing a boy's PE uniform and stood next to a few other kids that didn't matter.
With shaky hands, Karma got his wallet out of his pocket, and pulled out an old picture.
Karma and Nagisa at twelve years old, back when she was alive, and he was happy. It was the last picture of her ever taken. The two of them where stood side by side against the garden wall, holding hands tentatively. Nagisa had a pale pink summer dress on, and a wide smile on her face. Her blue eyes were sparkling and her blue hair was flowing down her back.
Karma kept this picture on him always. A scene of joy frozen and kept forever as proof that Karma had been happy and in love once.
The red haired man held the old photograph up, and compared the Nagisa from his childhood to the Nagisa staring at him from the computer screen.
They where the same. They looked identical, from their delicate pale skin to their azure blue eyes. Their name was the same. Their hair was the same.
The only difference was, that this new Nagisa was apparently a boy, and he was 16 while the original Nagisa would be 12 forever.
Karma felt his breathing increase rapidly, he felt dizzy and the palms of his hands tingled. This was impossible? How could it be? Reanimation? Reincarnation?
Karma didn't know. But what he did know was that he had to see Nagisa again.
In this story, Karma had his life pretty well put-together, at least, on the surface. (He has a good job, nice car, lots of money) but the presence of this 'new Nagisa' has completely tipped his precarious normality into complete chaos.
I also revealed a bit of Karma's dysfunctional family life in this chapter. He has no support system, which is why he is still so hung up on Nagisa's death; She was the only person he'd truly ever trusted.
as for the 'new Nagisa'; Is it a reincarnation? A hallucination? Or did the original Nagisa never die in the first place, and this is her? Review and let me know what you think!
