Hey guys, it's Anya! I got some reviews and it got me totally pumped up so I wrote chapter four :3! But since school starts once more on Monday, I probably won't be able to update like I have been doing this weekend ^__^". So anyways, here's Chapter Four! I hope you all enjoy it! :D

Chapter Four

My life continued on as always. Nothing seemed to change. I never spoke to Ikuto or Akatsuki, although I had their phone numbers. I figured that it would be best if we didn't contact each other at all, yet… why did I keep their numbers on my cell phone?

The current date was April 25th, exactly eleven days since I last saw Ikuto and Akatsuki. It was a Saturday, and luckily this week we had no Saturday school. Ryuu-san was out for the weekend due to a convention for her workplace and wouldn't be back until late Sunday night, so I had the entire house to myself for the weekend. Now, others may find leaving a thirteen year old girl by herself for the weekend as reckless, but Ryuu-san was different. Ryuu-san told me just before I left, "You're what, thirteen? You should be old enough to stay by yourself. Don't forget to lock the door."

Ryuu-san was always like that. She always thought that I should be acting older than my age. I didn't mind it, but sometimes others would think that Ryuu-san expected too much of me. Ryuu-san thought that since I was already thirteen, I should be able to: cook, clean, sew, and look after myself. I'm not so sure why, but I agreed with her.

My day was spent doing what I did every Saturday. I made breakfast, cleaned up after myself, cleaned everything else, did my homework, took a bath, blew my hair dry, made a small late afternoon snack, and studied. Since I didn't have any friends, my weekends were spent doing the same exact things over and over again. Of course, being friendless meant that I had plenty of time to study, so I was at the top of my class and I always found school easy. However, sometimes I wondered if it was truly worth it.

I was walking to the bookcase Ryuu-san and I had to find something to read. It was only six o'clock, so I had tons of free time left for the day. While walking, I tripped over what was the only one of the two steps in our house.

Our house was one story high, so we had no need for stairs. The entire house only elevated upwards twice. The first step was about two meters in front of the front door. At the front door we would take our shoes off and then go up a step into the house, like most Japanese families did. The second step was right in front of the hallway that led to my room, Ryuu-san's room, and the bathroom. In the front room of the house the kitchen, dining room, and living room all shared one large room. The only thing that separated the kitchen and the living room was a counter. Anyways, once you got to the back of the combination room there was a hallway that led to the other rooms of the house. In order to go up this hallway you had to go up a step, which really was not too hard.

"Ow…" I mumbled. I fell down face flat on the floor. I put my hands beneath me and pushed myself up. As soon as I got up I heard a crunching noise, a very familiar crunching noise. "You're kidding…" I looked at the bottom of my hand, and surely enough, there was a crushed contact.

M eyes hated me almost as much as I did. A few years ago I had to start wearing contact lenses because of my near-sightedness. I had a pair of glasses, but I only wore my glasses when my contact lenses broke, which, until today, had never happened.

"Crap!" I cursed. One of my eyes could see perfectly fine, while the other one could only see in blurs.

I got up and went back to my room, hoping that another spare set of contact lenses would be there. Of course, the pair that I had been wearing was my last pair. I took my glasses out of the top drawer in my desk. The frames were thin and in the shape of half circles, leaving the top of the glasses frameless. They didn't look bad on me, in fact they looked good, but I still hated wearing them.

I took out the single remaining contact and put on my glasses. I opened up my contact case and put it in there; I could probably reuse it as a spare later on. Since I had the rest of the day, I decided that I would go pick up a new pair of contact lenses and maybe do some grocery shopping. Ryuu-san always told me that I should start doing things on my own, so she had a metal container filled with a lot of money. She said that if I needed something I should just take it and go buy it myself. Although, this was the first time I used it. There was a piece of paper inside the box when I opened it, it said to write down everything that I bought and how much it cost; typical Ryuu-san…

I left the house once I changed into clothes more appropriate for public. I put on a pair of jean shorts, white and red striped socks that went up to my thigh, and a sweatshirt that had a white torso with an off-center black X and black sleeves and a black hood. I slipped on a pair of my white sneakers and left, with both my wallet and cell phone on me.

Contact lenses weren't too hard to find. I used a very simple kind, so I got them easily. When I got to the grocery store I got everything I needed and a small box of chocolate pocky for a late night snack if I got hungry. I didn't get too much at the grocery store, just some vegetables and spices that we were low on. If I got too much I wouldn't be able to carry it home.

When I was nearing my house it was quite dark. About an hour and a half had passed since I left the house at about six twenty. I was a slow walker, and I took my time while shopping that day. Since there was no reason to rush I decided to take my time.

As I was turning the corner of the street my house was on, I heard a large banging noise. I sighed, figuring that the neighborhood kids were playing some sort of game. However, when I turned the corner, I found myself completely taken by surprise. What I saw was not at all what I expected. Instead of seeing some kids playing a fun game, I saw what the last thing I ever wanted to see.

My heart almost stopped, and my eyes widened when I saw him. I stopped in my tracks immediately. My mind continuously raced, wondering why he was here. It had been so long, I had never expected him to actually show up. He had no idea where I lived, so how could he have found me? I wasn't even in contact with him!

"Amu-chan…" The words were in a slur. His voice was raised, but he was nowhere near yelling as he said, "Open up, Amu-chan!"

There he was, my father. My good-for-nothing, abusive, drunkard of a father was there. I had not seen him in seven years, since the day that he threw me down the stairs. In fact I hadn't even talked to him, so how he knew my location was completely unknown to me.

My father was banging on the tall gate in front of our house. The homes in my neighborhood had tall fences around their homes. Some had plain chain link fences, but ours was a tall stone fence with an iron gate that had to be opened up with a key.

He collapsed to his knees, not because he was tired, but probably because he realized that I wasn't coming out. He turned his head, unfortunately, over to where I was standing. Our house was the third one down from the corner, so he wasn't too far away from me. It took him a few moments to realize who I was, probably because I had grown in the past seven years, and his eyes lit up.

"Amu-chan, it's you!" He cried out. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, and I was standing completely still. He began staggering over to me, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. "Amu-chan, come over here! Why are you ignoring me?"

"S-stop it…" I mumbled.

I was afraid of him. I didn't want to repeat the incident seven years ago. But my legs were frozen in place, so I had no idea what to do. My father was only two meters away now. I was trying to tell my legs to run, but they were frozen in place.

My father managed to say, "Amu-chan, why are you acting so mean? I love you, Amu-chan!"

That's when I ran. Although I was afraid of him, what he said scared me even more. I told myself that love and affection were useless in this world. I said that no matter how strong a bond of love may seem; it can easily be broken. However, humans want this invisible, brittle bond in their lives so much that they crave for it. They desire it. I couldn't stay any longer, I was afraid that he might say something that would bring me back into that world of unforeseen pain.

"Amu-chan, don't run!" My father cried after me as he chased me.

I decided that running around the block would be best. That way he would be behind me and I could get to my house. Once I got inside I could find some way to make him leave. However, right now I had to focus on getting away from him.

For some reason I was slow at running that day. My legs were numb, and I couldn't even tell if I was running in a straight line. The two bags in my hands felt like they were weighing me down, but I had no choice but to run. Even when I felt like I was about to collapse, even when I felt like he was going to catch me even if I ran, I continued to run. I was not going to give up.

I had turned the corner and was heading back on my street again. I just had to run past seven more houses and I would be at my own. I refused to stop now. My pace only quickened, and my father was falling back behind me. I was almost home safe, I was about to be free! Then my plans were ruined. My foot got caught on a sprinkler that was on my next-door neighbor's lawn. As I fell, it felt as if everything was moving in slow motion. I could hear my father screaming my name, begging for me to stop, and I could see the grocery bags falling down with the paper bag that held my contact lenses. My glasses were slipping off of my face, and I knew that they would most likely shatter. I closed my eyes and braced myself; I knew that the fall was going to hurt.

I fell… no, pounded… no, I slammed onto the ground. My glasses were barely hanging off of my face and all of my bags fell onto the ground. I have no time for this… Amu, get up! I thought to myself. As I got up I could feel that my right knee was banged up pretty badly, and I tried to reach for the key that was in my pocket. I took out the key and unlocked the gate shakily, trying not to waste any time. I realized that the key was put in backwards so I had to take it out and redo it, and I could hear my father getting closer and closer. Once again the key was not working, so I twisted it the other way and it finally opened. I grabbed my stuff and threw it inside.

When I tried closing the gate my father grabbed it. He screamed, "Amu-chan, don't go! I finally found you, Amu-chan!"

"Go away!" I screamed and pushed him.

Due to his awkwardness from drinking he fell forward, so I figured that closing the gate would only trap him inside with me. I grabbed my bags and reached for the key underneath the doormat. I tried opening the door. It wasn't working; I continuously moved it around, trying to find out how I could open the door. Normally I would get it on the first try, but today it took me at least three or four tries.

My father was right there when I tried closing the door, and he stopped me from closing the door by putting his foot in the way. He screamed, "Don't leave me! I want my daughter back!"

I dropped my stuff on the floor and ran inside the house, he was too fast. I didn't even take off my shoes. With a quick apology to Ryuu-san inside my head, I ran straight for my room. He foresaw the step into the living room, but when it came to the step in the hallway, he was completely caught by surprise. He immediately fell forward, giving me my chance to run into my room. I slammed the door and locked it; I knew that I was safe in there… for now.

Muahaha! My attempt for a cliffhanger! :3
So, what will Amu do? Will she face her father, or will she cower in her room until she leaves? Maybe she'll get another idea? Until next time!
(My second attempt at try to build suspense... hehe...)