Wow. This has to be the longest chapter. Eight pages. That's a record, I tell you. Hahaha..
By the way, the reference to 'John Wayne' is obviously from one of his movies, I forget what it's called.. But in the movie he has a black collie called, 'Dog'.
Yes. I do have a life.. Lol My dad watches Westerns all the time.. So sue me.. xD
Alrighty, the name Atavan won. Because… No one else bothered to vote except her. Congrats:D
The hippie reference is by no way supposed to be mean, I just.. Couldn't think of any other way for the name Atavan to come up.
'Cause I'm lame like that. Ha..
I tried to be a bit scary in this one, but I most likely failed. If at least feel a tiny.. tiny chill, it was worth it. If not, eh… Sorry for my lame writing skills.
More fluff in this.
Super long writer's note, eh? Sorry.
DISCLAIMER:
Don't own. Don't sue. D:
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Sora sighed at the sound of pattering rain outside for the third time this week.
"Riku, are you sure you don't remember anything? Anything at all?" Sora pleaded, biting his lip.
Riku shook his head, spooning a bowl of soggy cheerios. He flicked some with his spoon at the dog, who ate them hungrily. He put his fingers to his lips and sat still, aqua eyes focused more on the dog than Sora's conversation.
"Anything about a.. I don't know.. Warehouse?" Sora suggested, shrugging.
Riku shook his head once more, turning his aqua eyes to Sora. "When are you going to name this thing, anyway?" He asked coyly. "You can't just call it Dog.."
Sora rolled his eyes. "Why does it matter? Dog is just fine, unless you have a better idea.."
"That'd be too much like John Wayne.."
"What?" Sora questioned, puzzled.
Riku put the spoon in his mouth, eyes fixed on the dog once more. Sora cupped his face in his hands, and massaged his temples.
"Okay, okay.. We'll name him after something like uhh.. The Drugstore down the street. Atavan?"
Riku cocked a brow.
"What?" Sora said, frowning.
"Atavan? Who owns that drug store? Some stupid Hippies?"
"Yeah."
"Oh.." Riku said, raising his eyebrows.
"Okay, back to the subject. Riku, do you remember.. Any family? Like.. A little sister.." Sora trailed off.
Riku shook his head, annoyed.
"What's with all these questions? I don't remember anything from.. Being a ghost. Eh. I just remember waking up.. And looking around, talking to people and being ignored 'till I saw you, of course.."
Sora shook his head in disbelief. "This is insane! How can you not remember anyone?! Your aunt! Namine! C'mon, try!" He yelled, slamming his fists on the table.
Riku stopped for a moment, looking very awkward as he dropped the spoon on the table.
"I can't! I've told you for three days now, nothing. Nothing at all. If you would listen to me, you'd know." Riku spat, eyes narrowed.
The spiky haired boy turned from the table, getting up slowly. Riku stared, more of a frown on his face than before.
Sora moved out of the kitchen to the staircase, heading up towards the second floor.
"What are you going to do?" Riku called from the kitchen, now trying his best to write his name in the cereal left over.
"I'm going to get a shower.." He replied softly, heading upstairs.
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The hot water raced over him, and already the leftover dirt, dried mud, and who knows what else slowly came off him, dripping into the drain.
Having spent the past few days taking care of Riku, he didn't have much time for a shower.
Sora squirted shampoo out of the bottle, covering his head with a giant glob and massaging his scalp.
Nothing was going right, as usual. For a minute, he'd thought everything was golden. He had Riku alive.. So.. No more ghosts? Of course, his parents would most likely ask about a new kid living in the house, but..
They would figure it out, he nodded to himself. Everything would be normal. If Riku had forgotten all about the past, he could start a whole new life with Sora's family.
A normal life.
Sora smiled warmly at the idea.
The water and dirt stopped going down the drain, Sora not noticing. In fact, something was coming up the drain. Mud slowly oozed out, the drain gurgling. Pale fingers slipped up, sifting through the mud, and moving across Sora's feet.
Now he noticed.
He almost screamed, looking down and seeing…
Nothing? Just a lot of mud. He got on his knees and slowly cleared the path of the drain. Mud now ran along his fingers, they were now covered.
"What the hell.. Stupid house," He cursed, trying to clear his mind. Nothing could get him. Everything was normal now. Nothing could happen.. No one..
He blinked, tilting his head. Something was in the drain, rather then the mud blocking it. It was big enough for him to fit his hand in, he just had to take off the metal part.
Putting his fingers through the holes in the casing, he lifted it off. The mud was now circled around the drain, not entering.
Sora bit his lip, staring down into the darkness of the drain.
"I must be losing it," He said with a snigger. "I know there's nothing down here. That's kid stuff, Sora. Grow up." Slowly he moved his fingers for a moment, staring at them.
Shaking his head at his own childishness, he pushed his hand down the drain and moved his fingers around, searching for the thing blocking it.
"Probably a clump of hair," He mumbled, gritting his teeth in disgust.
Slowly he shoved his hand deeper, still not finding anything until one of his fingers moved along something…
Soft.
"What?" He gasped aloud, now moving all his fingers to the spot and running them along what seemed to be the block. Slowly he placed them all along the object, clamping them all down and he start to pull.
Only, it pulled back.
Sora fell forward, his hand being pulled into the drain. He yelped, the thing was pretty damn strong, to say the least!
"STOP!" He shrieked, pulling upwards, but not before he heard a clicking sound.
He winced in pain, something broke his skin. After a couple minutes of trying to pull up, he was slung backwards and hit the back of the shower, gasping for breath.
He examined all his fingers and to his horror, he found each one of them torn, white bone gleaming in the pale light of the bathroom.
Sora shuddered, eyes locked to his fingers, while the drain gurgled, more mud and water arising from it.
"This can't.. Can't.." His teeth chattered, eyes sharply turning from his fingers.
He waited.
Waited for the horrible monster in the drain to arise, grabbing him and taking him down below to the sewers, where it would feast on his flesh for days.. He'd die a horrible death..
Tears formed in his blue eyes, but after a couple of minutes the gurgling sound stopped, as did the water and mud arising from the drain.
The hot water of the shower still pelted him, and he swallowed hard.
Alright…
His mind whispered to him.
But, you'll need to check the drain, just in case…
Sora's eyes widened, but he did nothing for moments, just sat in the fetal position, tears dripping down his face.
He finally moved forward toward the drain, looking down it. In reality, he'd only wanted to look down the drain for a few seconds, then turn and run from his house, from this town, and never be seen again.
Alas, his eyes were glued to the dark hole, fear racing through him like a wildfire.
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Blood poured from his fingers, and the shower water and mud mixed in, burning them.
He still did not move.
He had to make sure this was real.
A low hissing sound came from the drain, and Sora felt more hot tears run from his eyes, but he wouldn't turn away.
The hissing grew louder, and the pale fingers shot through the drain, and the fingers were connected to a hand that looked half eaten. The flesh smelled rank and disgusting, as if left in the sun for hours, bugs crawling in and out for a meal.
His eyes were so transfixed on the hand, that he didn't notice the figure that had just entered the bathroom.
Through his tears, Sora could make out the numbers, 1997 tattooed on one of the pale fingers that had more remaining flesh than the others.
The shower curtain was suddenly moved aside, and Riku stared over Sora, face paling at the sight of his fingers.
"What the hell did you do?!" He screamed, pulling Sora up from the shower bottom, Sora bewildered by the sudden contact, slammed Riku into the side of the bathroom cabinet.
Riku's eyes were wide, and his mouth was agape.
Sora shuddered, looking back over the drain. He looked at Riku in a few minutes, realizing what he'd down.
"I'm… I'm sorry.." He said, his voice coming out shaky and small.
Riku blinked a few times, now deciding not beat Sora to death, and he just nodded.
Sora crumpled to the floor of the shower, eyes weakly at the shower drain once more. He moved the casing over to it with two of his wounded fingers, wincing for just a second at the familiar clink of it closing sounded.
He shivered now, the water turning cold and the shower water still pelted down on him. Riku turned for a minute, grabbing a towel. He turned off the water and covered Sora with it, then picked him up from the shower. Sora still wouldn't face him, eyes locked on the drain.
Riku laid Sora underneath the covers, moving his fingers through the brown headed boy's hair.
He let out a small sigh, aqua eyes looking over Sora's fingers. "I'll be back in a minute," He said softly, leaving Sora's room.
Sora breathed in and out, slowly. He had thought, maybe.. Maybe if Riku was a human, all of this would just.. Go away.. Go away and leave him alone.
Tears welled up in his eyes again, the silver-headed boy returning with lots of bandages, a needle and thread, and a cup of hot water.
"If you'll hold still, it won't hurt. Try and think of something else," Riku said softly still, as if speaking to a child. He dipped the needle and thread in the boiling water, and began the tedious task of mending Sora's fingers back together.
But Sora's mind was far off from the slow, horrible pain of the needle.. It was the searing pain now that there was no hope. He closed his eyes, the tears darting down his face.
Riku caught them with his fingers, then continued on sewing the flesh back together, covering the tiny bones.
He had to do it.. Sora's mind was in a clump now, fear had overtaken him for right now, and he had to keep thinking..
Thinking of a way to stop this.
There was a way.
The warehouse.. It was etched in his head. The monsters. Riku's death. Namine.. Everything. Everything had to be stopped.. And then.. He could sleep. Sleep for a long, long time.. Without fear.
Once Riku had finished, he had start to get up before he felt the tug of Sora's hand on his shirt. With a tiny smile, he rolled over next to Sora, petting his soft hair.
So what if he couldn't remember anything..
Nothing mattered right now, anyway. Just one thing.. One.. 'person', and he.. Was going to fix him. Get rid of all his guilty and depressed feelings and try to make him happy.
He felt it was his duty, for some reason.. To stick close to his side forever and make things better.
He had to.
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