That night, Kaoru woke with a start, feeling a deep cold encircling the room. He shot up in his bed, and stared around into the heavy darkness, only seeing by the shallow moonlight shimmering against the drawn dark curtains. He squinted as the fear crept up his spine. "Dad?" Kaoru called softly, but was careful not to speak too loudly, trying not to wake Hikaru, whose room was immediately next door. There was no answer.
Reaching slowly, Kaoru leaned over his desk for his lamp. His hand brushed over the many objects on his bedside table until his fingers met the cool metal of the base of the lamp. He clambered for the pull switch.
As soon as the light was on, Kaoru gasped, scrambling away. Directly on the side of his bed was a girl, the same girl that had been loitering in the halls of the school that day.
"So you can see me," she whispered, standing still, flickering in and out of view.
"Jesus Christ," Kaoru gasped, holding a hand to his racing heart. He still did not have much experience dealing with many ghosts. His Dad usually kept them away. Kaoru could count on his fingers how many times he's been visiting by spirits at the mental hospital.
"Didn't mean to startle you," she murmured. Her voice seemed to echo off the walls.
Kaoru looked up at her, tightening his eyes. She was young, maybe around Kaoru's age, and she was dressed in fuzzy red pajamas and extremely baggy red t-shirt. There was a thick dark bruise ringing her neck. "You're a new one," Kaoru stated.
The girl looked started. "How did you know that?"
Kaoru gestured to the mark on her neck. "But you are also on the verge of the veil," he continued. "You keep on fading and reappearing. Why haven't you moved on?"
"I don't know where I'll end up," she whispered, almost inaudible. "I killed myself you know."
Kaoru nodded, not removing eye contact. Scared spirits could be violent if pushed, and this girl was extremely jumpy. "It won't be bad, where you are going," Kaoru said.
"How do you know?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. But then she shook her head. "Never mind, don't answer that. I won't believe you."
Trust issues. Typical. Kaoru tilted his head. "Did you kill yourself here?"
"In this very room," she replied, sounding smug.
"What about your family?"
She glared and the room dropped a few degrees in temperature. "Don't you dare say a word. They didn't care." The girl approached the side of the bed, seething.
"Come on, calm down," Kaoru warned, moving his feet, ready to bolt. He hated the emotional unstable ones.
"They just forgot about of me! I don't even know where they are!" She cried, her voice steadily rising. She reached for him, her eyes wild.
Kaoru shot from the bed and rounded to the door, keeping his hands up in front him. "I'm not a part of this. I'm not your family."
She didn't falter. Instead she reached onto the table and grabbed his lamp. At impact of the girl's touch, the light flickered out, casting them into complete darkness. "You are just like them. You don't care; you…"
Kaoru didn't wait any longer, he reached for the knob, flinging the door open to the darkened hallway, and closed it behind him. A crash hit the door, shaking the knob in his fingers. "Shit, my lamp," Kaoru growled and proceeded to curse under his breath. The door rattled a second time and that sent Kaoru moving. He bolted down hallway, looking back over his shoulder and trying to peer through the darkness. But when he turned back, the door directly to Kaoru's left burst open, and Kaoru ran right into it with a crash.
On the floor, Kaoru clutched at his head and rolled over on his side as he groaned. "Kaoru?" a surprised Hikaru called into the darkness. "What are you doing?" Hikaru was immediately at Kaoru's side, kneeling beside him. "Are you okay?"
Kaoru swung up into a sitting and looked over at his door. It had stilled. Kaoru glanced back at Hikaru; he could vaguely see his brother, frowning at him, wearing similar pajama bottoms. "I'm okay," Kaoru said quietly, trying to still his erratically-beating heart.
"It didn't sound like it," Hikaru said just as quietly.
Kaoru looked away.
"Kaoru, it was really loud in your room…"
"I knocked over my lamp, and it broke."
Hikaru tightened his eyes and then looked down the hall at Kaoru's door. And then suddenly Kaoru's brother was up and standing, marching down to the end of the hall to his door. Kaoru scrambled to his feet and followed closely after. "You don't want to go in there," he urged, trying to stop Hikaru.
But he was already at the door, flinging it open. Kaoru instantly breathed in relief; the girl wasn't there.
Hikaru gasped and jumped back into Kaoru. "Shit," he hissed, grasping his bare foot. He'd stepped on the remains of Kaoru's lamp.
"I warned you," Kaoru said weakly.
"How does your lamp break itself all the way across the room?" Hikaru demanded, turning on Kaoru. "Come on; tell me, because I'd really like to know."
Kaoru remained silent, just staring as Hikaru clutched his foot.
Hikaru huffed and limped the short distance to their shared bathroom. He flipped on the light, blinding them both momentarily, and he lifted his injured foot gingerly on the edge of the counter. Turning on the water, Hikaru pulled a chunk of glass from his foot, setting forth a rush of blood.
"Sorry Hikaru," Kaoru said, leaning against the doorway to watch him.
Hikaru was quiet as he continued to wash off his foot as the blood dripped across the rim of the sink. "Just tell me what's going on," he replied, not looking up.
Kaoru hesitated. "I wish I could…"
Hikaru glared at him before opening a drawer to grab a washcloth to press to his wound. "That's bullshit, Kaoru, and you know it."
Kaoru paled. "What do you mean?"
Giving him a look of complete disbelief, Hikaru turned off the water and slammed his foot back down onto the floor, only wincing slightly. "I mean you've been talking to no one, staring out of space… It is just like it was before you went away. Are you even taking your pills?"
"Please don't tell Mom," were the words that spilled from Kaoru's lips.
Hikaru stood, head tilted, with an expression of complete indignation. "You're serious?"
Kaoru took a step forward. "Please, Hikaru."
Hikaru dropped the red-stained wash cloth onto the counter and paused, bracing himself against the sink. He looked back up at Kaoru. "You are going to tell me about this sometime," Hikaru said, straightening up.
Once again, Kaoru said nothing.
So Hikaru brushed by him, leaving into the darkened hallway. Kaoru stayed where he was, sensing the impending guilt hanging above his head. He used to share everything with Hikaru but now, they had drifted apart.
He sighed and grabbed Hikaru's dirty wash cloth, wrung it out, and proceeded to clean up the bloody trail Hikaru had left behind on the tile.