I was awoken by an irritating beeping, repetitive and steady as it sounded. The sweet peace that had been brought by the dreamless sleep was shattered and I opened my eyes, groaning as they were assaulted by the blaring light and pristine white walls of the room. It took a moment for my sight to adjust. My breath caught at what I saw. Penber stood, leaning against the wall, his gaze was piercing in its intensity.
I had never felt such profound relief and to my surprise joy for he was alive, I had saved him.
"Did you know about the bus jacking?" Penber asked.
To my embarrassment it actually took me a full minute to fully comprehend his words, caught in my emotions as I was.
"Yes" I finally replied.
"I won't ask how, that can wait bit I do won't to ask why? Why warn someone who you knew had been following you?" Penber questioned.
My mouth suddenly felt dry. At first I was going to let him die, as sick as it is but every time I saw his swath I felt more despair and disgusted with myself for doing nothing. I couldn't let him die, it wasn't like the other times where there was nothing I could do. I had the power to stop it and not doing anything about it would…well it would mean that I might as well be Kira. I saw all his murders and not stopping them or at least trying when I had the ability to do so made me a killer to.
I looked Penber dead in the eyes and said. "I couldn't let you die because if you had gotten on that bus you would have died" I told him.
Penber mulled my answer over before he nodded and left with a brief farewell. I could still detect suspicion from him and oddly a sense of gratitude for saving his life.
I sagged against the hospital bed I was lying on; it was disconcerting waking up somewhere that wasn't my home but I supposed it was necessary. How long I had been there though I didn't know.
It was another day before I was finally allowed to leave the Hospital, the Doctors were still none the wiser about the cause of my symptoms. The dreams continued though the pain I felt was a great deal less and rarely unbearable. Physical contact with others and seeing their pasts was really the only thing that caused me serious pain but thankfully if the touches were brief they only resulted in small aches. After another week without experiencing anymore fainting sessions or serious headaches I was allowed to return to school, I hadn't fallen behind despite my absence.
The weeks passed with little to make note of, the Kira murders continued and so did the dreams though I didn't see any deaths that I could prevent. I didn't see Penber, I wasn't sure if that was good and bad. My Father spent less time at home and eventually my Mother calmed down somewhat about the headaches, she still made me visit the Doctor's regularly but other than that and making sure I took medicine for my headaches she acted as she normally did. It didn't take long for Sayu to start asking for help with her math homework again, of course this help usually consisted of her doing very little work on her own despite how many times I explained and tried to get her to at least attempt a problem on her own. Having some normalcy again was nice.
I was thankful when the feeling of being watched finally stopped, I detected that strangers had again been inside the house but didn't seem to have taken anything so I didn't tell my Father but still had my senses opened whenever at home in case I felt their auras close by.
The day of the entrance exams for To-Oh came. I was ready and sure that I would ace the exams, I had studied and tested myself more than enough. I entered the hall and took my designated seat.
The exam began and silence followed, accompanied only by the sound writing and papers being turned over. This silence was disrupted by one of the examiners telling a student behind me to sit properly in his seat. I glanced back and froze. Two spaces behind me a student was sitting in a strange position at his desk, it looked as though he was crouching. He had porcelain white skin and a mane of unruly black hair. His grey eyes were wide, unblinking as he stared. They flashed green for curiosity than orange indicating suspicion. Our eyes met briefly and I looked away. The emotions were directed towards me.
A chill ran down my spine, a knot forming in my stomach. I realized that I recognized him from the dreams where my Father died. He was nearly always present, not the one to kill my Father but still there. An idea came to me, perhaps if I managed to prevent the student from meeting my Father than I could change what would happen. Changing one factor could hopefully change the outcome. I would have to find out who he was and keep him away from my Father, that is if they hadn't already met. It was a ridiculous idea but I couldn't let my Father die. I wouldn't.
