Premonition
Two years ago
The sparkling stars gazed down from the blackened expanse of the skies. Ethereal pyres burning eternally in the lonely wastes of the void, they illuminated the shadowed, forested marsh with their transcendent glow. Kaito watched them enviously, standing knee deep in the clinging mud of the bog. He laid his invisible palm on the mossy bark of a broken tree. A beetle scuttled across, running away in surprise as it collided with the invisible barrier of Kaito's index finger. He listened to the symphony of crickets and frogs emanating from the maze of reeds surrounding him. Something was wrong. Frowning, Kaito scanned the trees, watching the wind skim through their spindly branches.
"Talk to me…" he whispered gently.
The wind stopped abruptly and the marsh seemed to faze Kaito out with silence. Kaito sniffed the moist air. Suddenly he stuffed his hand inside his coat and rummaged around frantically. He pulled out an orange, old and shrivelled beginning to turn an orangey grey colour.
"What did you say?" Kaito asked it.
The orange sat silently in Kaito's hands, the breeze scraping over its coarse skin.
Kaito sighed irritably. "Yes, I know that," he said, "But what is it?"
He pressed his ear up against the fruit. His eyes widened in shock.
"Are you sure?" he asked the orange, which sat blatantly still.
Kaito cursed, carelessly tossing the surprised fruit into the reeds as he turned and ran back the way he had come. He dashed through the mud, practically skimming over the dark brown sludge, leaping over ditches, logs and patches of leech ridden reeds.
"I guess we'll meet again sooner than we thought," Kaito thought as he sprinted through the puzzled crowds of trees.