Chapter 2
Renale's POV
I sit in a chair in the waiting area of a hospital. I fidget nervously and tap my feet against the tiled floor. My dad sits next to me, just as nervous. I hug my knees close to my chest and shiver from fright. I don't know what's going on, and I don't why it happened. I can feel tears behind my eyelids as a woman in a white coat walks over to where my dad and I were sitting. I probably already know the terrible words that will come from her mouth.
"I'm sorry, but we couldn't save her,"
The woman looks at her clipboard as rolls her shoulder before she meets our eyes.
"Her condition is very serious, and she's weak. There's a big possibility that she'll even die," The woman explains.
With that, I rush into the elevator before my dad even got to his feet. The elevator ride feels like hours and it moves slowly to the third floor. I feel like I'm in a slow motion scene as the seconds feel like hours. I pray silently that she's still alive as the elevator dings, finally. As soon as the doors open, I rush out and run down the hall, into the room where my mother was.
No amount of words or feeling can describe how she looks. Her face is deathly white and her beautiful blonde hair has even lost its shine. Lots of tubes are hooked up to her arms and a breathing mask covers her nose and mouth. Her body is covered with three white blankets. I feel tears come to my eyes as her violet eyes meet mine, for possibly the last time.
"Renale…don't cry," She wiped away my tears with her hand. Her touch feels like a feather brushing against my cheek. "Don't worry I'm going to a better place,"
"I want you to stay here with daddy and I!" I yell as my dad and the doctor walk in. "Mom, are you going to be okay?" I yelled as more and more tears poured down my face.
"Ryuu…" My mom took my dad's hand. "Please, keep her safe," He whispered.
"Don't go!" I cried.
"I can see angels…they're coming," Her voice trailed off and her eyes sparkled one last time before they closed…forever.
"MOM!" I cried as huge, watery tears fell down my cheeks. My mom had just died.
I opened my eyes to sunlight pouring into my room, attempting to dry my wet face. I sat up and wipe my tears away with the crock of my arm. It was that dream again, only a dream. I climb out of bed and throw on a baseball tee with black sleeves under a grey jacket with music notes flowing across the chest, a pair of jeans, and black converse with a lighting blot on it.
I eat a quick breakfast and run into the world. It's already one o' clock and Radiant Garden is bustling with activity. The other citizens of Radiant Garden are up and about, talking and waving to each other. I run down Main Street, towards the town's wonderful gardens. I've never been a big fan of flowers, but I love the town's gardens. It's the most peaceful place in town, away from the bustling activity of the town, but near Ansem's castle. As I approached the gardens, I see a woman with short auburn hair tending to the flowers. Perfect, just the person I want to see.
"Hey! Morin' Arina!" I called to her.
The women, Arina, turned around and smiled at me. Arina had short auburn hair that was a good three inches shy of her shoulders, and pale green eyes. She tends to the town's gardens, so some of her clothes have small dirt smudges on them. Today she's dressed in a dark red sleeveless dress over a three-quarter length white shirt and black boots. I feel like I can be myself around her because she's so much like my mother. Well, she was good friends with my mom so that probably explains why I like to be around her. Enough with this boring crap, back to the story!
"Hello Renale, you look tired. Are you okay?" She greeted.
"I had that dream last night. And my dad's mad at me for failing my algebra test, he even slapped me upside my face," I rubbed the slightly red spot on my cheek.
"Your dad is still probably sad about Izumi's death, it's not easy to lose someone you care about," Arina pulled out a weed. "You're still sad about it to, right?"
"Yeah…but I feel angry because I couldn't do anything to save her," I admitted.
"That's why you act so a aggressively towards the other students. The heart can be a complicated thing, sometimes it feel angry at someone's death or it's deeply saddened," Arina stood up. Even though she was only twenty-three, she was only about two inches taller than me. I'm not the only one with short genes.
"Keep talking like that Ari, and you'll eventually sound like Even," A man with shoulder-length black hair and golden eyes strolled over to where Arina and I were talking.
Arina sighed, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Braig, how many times do I have to tell you to not call me Ari?" She sounded annoyed to no end, which was very rare with Arina.
"Come on, Arina's a dumb nickname for someone with a name like Arianna! Where'd it come from anyway?" The man, Braig I guess, replied.
"Nevermind, is my assistance needed?" Arina asked Braig, cutting straight to another topic.
Braig played with the tattered red scarf that hung around his neck. "Well…there's this experiment Even and Xehanort are doing and they need you help. I think Even's just making an excuse to be with you," Braig explained.
"But you, Dilan, and Aleues have to guard the castle and Ienzo's helping Ansem work on the underground lab. Leaving me the only person left here to help," Arina explained as she walked towards the castle. "I'll be right there…"
"I still think you and Even have something special between the two of you," Braig teased as he followed her.
Arina shook off his comment and waved a quick good-bye before she walked into Ansem's castle. Well, now what do I do when Arina's busy? Go home and do stuff. I walked back to my house, completely lost in my thoughts. I couldn't seem to get Arina's words about the heart out of my head. Why DID I feel angry all the time for no reason? All I can think of is how much my life sucks. My dad hates my guts, I'm the social reject of my school, and my mom is dead. I push the thoughts out of my head as I grab my book from my backpack, plop down onto my couch, and start reading. Yep, that's what rejects with no friends like me do on the weekends.
On Monday, it's the same as always. The cast for the spring musical was posted outside the cafeteria, where kids were crowed around it. Guess who got the leading female part? The queen bitch, Hikari. Hikari smiled and bowed to everyone that congratulated her, acting like sort of snobby queen. I glare at her back and walk away from the mass of teens, determined to see if they made it or not. I put a total of six feet between the crowd and me before Hikari's ear-piercing voice cuts through the air.
"Aww…don't be sad, Renale. Not everyone can be as talented as me," She tried to sound sorry for me, but it sounded more like the haha-I-got-the-part-and-you-didn't tone.
I brushed off her commented and continued to walk away. I got comments like that from her all the time, so this wasn't new. Hikari was angry that I didn't reply, so she cranked up the inner snob in her up a notch.
"My mom will be so proud of me, if only your mom was proud of you. Oh right, your mom is DEAD!" Hikari and her group of petty friends laughed.
I felt a veins swell on my forehead before I flew off the handle. I ran back towards the crowd and shoved Hikari into a bunch of nearby lockers. I pushed her against the lockers and she tried to pull my hand off her shirt collar, which probably cost 70$ alone. I slapped her across the face, making her cry out in pain as teen gathered around us. Hikari kicked her high-heeled boot into my leg, making me wince in pain. I kicked her in the shin in return.
The kids around us encouraged us to fight as more and more gathered around to see the catfight. No one cared about the audition results anymore, only the fight between Miss perfect and Miss Violent reject. Hikari pulled my hair and I elbowed her in the shoulder. We screamed, kicked, punched, and pulled each other's hair as everyone began to chant: "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Hikari grabbed my shirt and I kicked her in the shin as she-
"What's the meaning of this?" A stern voice stopped everyone's cheers.
Hikari and I froze as the principal, Mr. Hathore, came walking towards us. The teens that had gathered around us fled to their classrooms like the grim reaper was coming towards them (I suppose that Mr. Hathore is the grim reaper because the only color he wears is black). Hikari jumped away from me and held up her hands, pretending that she was sooo innocent.
"I didn't do anything, Mr. Hathore. I was just minding my own business when Renale came up to me and started beating me up," Her eyeliner was smudged and her hair was messy, making her look like a diva that had a little too much to drink last night. Mr. Hathore's eyes shifted to me, annoyance filled his coal-black eyes.
"I admit I did beat her up, but she was taunting me! She was making fun of how my mom wa-" Mr. Hathore held up his hand, stopping me.
"You started it, detention. Now apologize to Hikari," He pointed to Hikari, who still trying to innocent but was failing miserably.
"But-" I started.
"No buts, now apologize!" He ordered, sounding like a dictator.
"Sorry, Hikari," I reluctantly mumbled, as Mr. Hathore walked away.
Hikari stuck her tongue out at me and then skipped her prissy tra-lala dance to the nurse's office. I balled my hands into fists and headed into class again. Now guess what? I was ten minutes late so now I have an extra ten minutes of detention. Geez, why does the universe have a grudge against me?
I sulked through the rest of the day and headed to detention, where the jerks and the brainacs 'that said a little too much' were gathered. I took a seat near the front as the teacher stared at us, her eyes like lazars. I spent the next forty minutes lost in my thoughts about hearts. Why did we feel emotion in the first place? Why are some stronger than others? It was all too confusing to even put into words; I even confused myself a couple times.
During the last few minutes of detention, I heard someone singing "On the Inside" By Daughtry. I gotta say the guy wasn't half bad. His voice was the perfect pitch for this song, not even a note off from the real song. The teacher dismissed us and everyone, but me, took off running out of the room as if they were criminals freed from prison. They took off towards the door while I followed the beautiful voice to its source. I came to the music room a couple rooms down and peered in. No one was there, expect for one person.
He was pretty tall with…pink hair? It was long and curly, but most of it was tied back into a ponytail that brushed against his back. He had the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen, like sapphire gems. He was dressed in black t-shirt under a black jacket with a rose on the front, ripped jeans, and sneakers. He was pretty cute and had a good singing voice too. I found myself in a trance as I listened to him sing…
"Flip a coin and let it land in your hand
Heads, you're gonna stay but it's tails so you can…
Move, to another town
Hide where you're sure you won't be found
But it's still just you on the inside
You can pretend…it'll be all right
Said it to yourself buy you know it's just a lie
'Cause it's still just you on the inside
Nothin' faster than the speed of you leaving
Hundred miles an hour and there ain't no slowin' down
But you can't outrun yourself
Yeah, you can say you fit in like a joker in the deck but now,
You're skippin' like a broken record going down!
And you're the last to ask fro help
Flip a coin and let it land in your hand
Heads, you're gonna stay but it's tails so you can…
Move, to another town
Hide where you're sure you won't be found
But it's still just you on the inside
You can pretend…it'll be all right
Said it to yourself buy you know it's just a lie
'Cause it's still just you on the inside…"
I felt the urge to clap, but that would've embarrassed the heck out of me. I gulped and took a step away from the music room, but the teen's voice stopped me.
"Did you like it?"
I jumped and turned around, and my eyes met the teen's beautiful blue orbs. "Y-yeah, it was really good," I smiled at him.
The teen threw his backpack over one shoulder as I walked into the room. His presence was making my heart pound and my palms sweat.
"You're really good," I complemented.
The teen smiled at me as we walked out of the music room. "Thanks," His smiled made me dizzy, but I relaxed a little bit.
"Are you in the play?" I wondered, trying to start a conversation.
"I'm Prince Eric, are you in the play?" He asked.
"I'm not much of an actress, but I like to listen to music. That's one of my favorite songs," I replied as I pushed the school doors open.
"That's one of my favorites, too. What's your name?" He asked.
"Renale," I said, feeling a blush crawl across my cheeks.
"I'm Lumaria," He said as the wind blew a couple strands of pink hair into his face.
Kingdom Hearts (C) Square Enix
Arina, Hikari, Mr. Hathore, and the story (C) Me (lol, I made up the principal off the top of my head)
On the Inside (C) Daughtry