Ring
"Ring a ring a Rosie,
A bottle full of posie,
All the girls in our town
Ring for little Josie."
Chapter 3
~Kaito~
I'm freaking disappearing. Becoming see-through. Fucking vanishing. And Len expected me to tell him? How was I supposed to do that? Len was supposed to be carefree without that many responsibilities—okay, maybe needed a few responsibilities—and live the rest of his eternal life without any worries. What if I just randomly come up to him, 'hey, I'm vanishing, help.' He'd probably just freak out and start crying. And that's the last thing I need.
It started about two days ago when Len dropped me off from my late night adventure. I had taken a detour to the bathroom to relieve myself. When I reached for the faucet, my hand went right through it, making me take in a silent gasp and draw my hand back to my chest. My breathing became labored, and I looked at my palm. It was fine, nothing was wrong with it. I reached out for the faucet once again and was able to rest my fingers on it, which surprised me even more. Was I really just seeing things since my sleep was ruined? I stalked back into my room, thoughts flying across my head. How was I going to sleep? What if I was actually starting to go through things? And what if I went through my bed and the floor and so many other things? When I stepped into my room, I grabbed a pillow and screamed a few curses into it. I was really freaking out now. Just when I thought it would be bad enough to see Len like that.
If I told Oliver or Auntie...no, they'd just think that I was cursed. It wouldn't be too much of a surprise here, considering there was folklore about witches and mages and all that jazz. And I didn't want them to think that their family member was just a weird non-human being. I've done my absolute best to gain their trust; I just couldn't afford to lose it now.
So when I went to dinner that next night, I barely contained my shock when my fingers just went transparent and through the fork and table. I did my best to not gasp aloud, but I'm sure that when I stiffened, Oliver noticed. I needed to talk to Len. But how? I was scared. My body was the one that was changing, not his. It would be different for him and for me. Our friendship—or apparently one-sided romance considering I sorta dry-humped him—would take a dramatic turn and I wasn't sure if it would be good or bad. It would be good if he knew what exactly was wrong with me and how I could prevent it all. But if it was bad...then I had a chance of him not wanting to talk to me since I was hiding something so important.
My head hurt. I needed an aspirin.
"So..." Len began, relaxing against a dead tree. "You think there's something wrong with you?"
"I'm not sure!" I said, leaning back to relax, but even though there was a tree there, I couldn't control myself and went right through the bark, letting out a cry. Len instantly floated up to try to catch me, but he couldn't go through wood like I could. He felt really bad and as I got back up, he put his hands on my shoulders, making sure that I was okay. I could feel the involuntary tears pop into the corners of my eyes and I wasn't able to stop them. I was terrified. "Tell me you know what's wrong with me."
He began chuckling, but I could hear the faint suspicion in his voice. He was about to lie to me, something we had vowed never to do. "I'm just messing with you." No you're not. "It's all a big joke." You're too weak. "I'm sorry." You're lying to me when you promised that you wouldn't!
So I decided to just fake a smile. If he was going to pretend, so was I. It took two to tango. "I see." I pushed my hand back against the tree but couldn't feel it. "I suggest you stop then."
"I did." I kept back a smirk. I couldn't believe that he had the sense to lie that badly to my face. I admit that it hurt me deep inside, but I had a computer at home. I would just look this stuff up. And hope to god that someone would have an answer to everything. "Anyway, wanna take a short walk around?"
"I guess. What could be the harm in it?" Besides you lying to my face. The tears had long dried on my face, but I could feel them pop right back into my eyes. I was pathetic, crying about something like this. But what else was I supposed to do? I started after the little blond as he weaved through the forest expertly. I had minimal problems going through, I guess being invisible at times and going through trees was good at times, even if it scared me. I glanced at my watch. It was only midnight. How much longer was I supposed to live with this? I didn't want to live with this for too long. I couldn't bear with the constant fear.
And I wasn't about to figure anything out anyway...
When I got home, I ignored my head which was begging for me to go to sleep and sat at my computer. For some reason, Len had left me to walk home alone; he didn't bother pulling me up into the air like he usually did. It surprised me a little, but that was what made me decide that he was hiding something from me after all. He wouldn't just not want to take me home. I immediately began searching for some answers to my problem. I knew that there was a possibility that I wouldn't find anything, but it was seriously worth a shot. The screen hurt my eyes, even with the brightness turned all the way down. I was too tired for this, but I needed to find out what was wrong with me. If I could at all.
The first few sites had nothing but folklore about Len, which somewhat pissed me off. I knew a lot about him already considering I hung out with him every single night. I was pretty sure that I knew more about him than the internet did. Which without me noticing at the moment, pleased me greatly. There were just times when I wished that I knew more. Before I noticed it, my eyes had closed and I fell into a deep dark sleep.
I was having weird dreams. If they didn't involve me turning more and more transparent, then they involved lots and lots of blood. And I wasn't even sure if it was mine or not, but I always saw Len standing a few feet away, a terrified look on his face. His blue eyes would be wide, his hands would cover his mouth, clothes would be stained with blood. But if I looked down, my clothes were pure white, as if I wasn't even in the picture. And then I would wake up in a cold sweat, gasping and almost crying, trying to remember exactly what Len was looking at before my dream ended. If it wasn't me...then what was it?
I walked to the bathroom, right past Oliver and turned on the water in the sink. Cupping my hands, I splashed my face, washing it from all the sweat. A few times, the water went right through my skin, making hot, frustrated tears fall down my cold face. My little cousin was standing there, watching me break down. "Kaito, are you okay?" he eventually asked.
"No," I mumbled. "I'm not...I'm..." I took in a deep breath and tried to swallow that lump of fear in my throat. "I'm vanishing..."
"What?"
I turned to him, staring right into that confused eye of his. "I'm vanishing, disappearing, whatever you wanna call it. And I'm not high, Oliver, it's really happening."
His demeanor took on more of a terrified look as he tried to back away from me. "What the hell are you babbling about?"
Even more frustrated than before, I slammed my fist into the mirror, expecting my hand to go through to prove everything, but instead breaking my reflection and causing my knuckles to start bleeding. Oliver let out a scream as my teeth ground against each other and I stormed out, slamming the door of my bedroom, sliding down to sit on the floor, cradling my cut up hand to my chest. The crimson liquid spilling from it stained my clothes, and as scared as I thought I would be because of it, my anger pushed all that away, and buried it somewhere deep inside. Auntie came knocking on my door, enraged, but I refused to move so that she could open it, and being as weak as she was, that was enough to keep her out. After a while, she gave up and left, Oliver following with his light footsteps. When Kaito looked up, he barely managed to see Len flying right to him before tackling the teen in a fierce hug. "Are you crazy?!"
Kaito shrugged, still holding his bleeding hand. Len looked at it carefully. "I would be able to heal this if I was more powerful..."
I didn't reply, instead I just pulled him in closer, trying not to hurt myself anymore. I didn't know if there would come a day where I wouldn't be able to touch him, but if there was...I didn't want it to ever come.
I wasn't planning this. Butttt I can't have Kaito reveal anything to Oliver about Len and Len about vanishing.
IF THAT EVEN MAKES SENSE.
Either way, next chapter is Len.
ArAndAr?