Chapter 3: Hallucinations

Naomi, 13 hours earlier

"I shouldn't be here after hours," Naomi said, as she walked onto the school's grounds. "I could get caught!" That's not my problem, Seiko's voice gurgled in her head. All I care about is you doing what I tell you! Naomi had a bag on her back, with a shovel in it. She looked around for a entryway, but couldn't find one. "How am I supposed to get in?" she asked. Figure it out, Seiko said. You're a sixteen-year-old young lady. I'm sure you can come up with something. She sighed, as she took the shovel out of her bag. "I really don't like this." she said, as she walked up to a window.

She swung the shovel at the window, shattering it. She cleared all the glass shards out of the way, and climbed into the school. She put the shovel back in her bag, and walked out of the classroom she had gotten into. Ok, Seiko continued talking to her. You need to go to the basement, the stones will be waiting for you there. "Why do I sense that you're not actually Seiko?" she asked. "And coming here was my mistake?" Is that a scientific analysis? Seiko asked in her head. "No," she said. "I just have a feeling." She walked down the hallway, to the door that led to the basement.

She opened the door, and walked down the dark staircase. She kept one hand on the railing and one hand out in front of her. Once she reached the bottom, she was expecting it to be dark. But what she saw surprised her. She was looking down a medium-sized corridor, which was lit with torches. This sent chills down her spine. "Am I-" she started, but she was interrupted. Yes! Seiko's distorted voice sounded excited. Continue down the corridor! You are so close! She walked down the corridor, trying not to think about if she was alone down here or not.

She got to the end of the corridor, and found herself in a big room. "What exactly am I looking for?" Naomi asked. Look around for any spot of land that looks out of place. She looked around for a while, but didn't find anything. She passed the same mound of dirt over and over, but didn't give it a second thought. On about the tenth time of passing it, she got a message. That's it! Seiko screamed in her head. Do it now! Start digging! Do it! Naomi was taken back a bit, but did what she was told. She took out her shovel, and stabbed the earth with it. She pulled dirt from the hole for a few minutes, until she finally uncovered a sack of stones.

That's it! Naomi pulled the sack of stones out of the pit, covering her hands and forearms in dirt in the process. "Whoa!" she said, once she had gotten it out. "How did you-" Know? It's none of your concern. "Can I go home now?" she asked. No, Seiko said. You must start building the gateway. After that, everything was like a blur to Naomi. The stuff that happened, felt like it hadn't.

Yoshiki, present day

Yoshiki opened his eyes the next morning, and yawned. He tried to remember where he was, as he wasn't sleeping on his couch at his apartment. Then he remembered he had slept over at Ayumi's with Satoshi the previous night. He looked at his wrist watch. "Ugh," he whispered. "Eight in the morning? I should go back to sleep..." That's when he noticed Ayumi sleeping soundly above him on the couch. Her arm was hanging lazily off the side, and her hand was almost touching the floor. He reached up, and gently flicked her finger. She let out a small groan, and he thought her saw her eyelids flutter.

That's when he heard something that sounded like a clicking sound. He looked over to his right, to see Satoshi sitting there, with his phone's camera pointed at them. Yoshiki freaked out, and let out a yell of surprise. This snapped Ayumi out of her sleep, and she fell off the couch, right on top of him. He heard Satoshi take another picture of them. "That one's going around the academy!" he exclaimed. "No!" they both said at the same time, causing them both to blush. "I'm just kidding!" Satoshi said. "I'll let the love birds get to know each other better first!" He walked out of the living room, laughing his ass off. Once he was gone, their eyes met. "You can get off now." he said.

Was it just him, or did Ayumi look disappointed from his command? "Oh," she said. "Right, sorry." He got off of the blankets and sat on the couch with her. "Um," he started. "Sorry." She looked at him. "Sorry?" she asked. "About what?" He blushed, recalling when he checked for her pulse last night. "Um," he said. "I was checking your neck for a pulse last night." She sat up straight. "That was you?" she asked in surprise. "I thought it was a fly!" Then she got a confused look on her face. "Hold on," she said. "Why were you checking my pulse?" He gulped, not wanting to share the contents of his nightmare with her.

"Yoshiki," she said. "What's wrong? Why did you have to check my pulse?" He sighed. "Look," he said. "I just had a bad feeling. That is all." She looked at him strangely. "Sure..." she said. Satoshi walked into the room. "Ayumi," he said. "Can I use your shower?" he asked. "Yeah," she said. "Go ahead. It's upstairs, first door on the left." He nodded in thanks, and went upstairs. Ayumi turned back to him. "Are you sure you are alright?" she asked. "Yes!" he said, his voice full of annoyance. "Ok, ok!" she said, raising her hands in defeat. "Sorry."

Satoshi, 10 minutes later

Satoshi emerged from the shower, and wrapped one of the towels he had taken from the closet around him. He was still a little bit tired, and he was still laughing about the embarrassing mishap between Ayumi and Yoshiki. As he tried to dry off, he thought he saw something in the mirror. He whiped the fog off of the mirror, and in it, he saw a little girl in a red dress, standing behind him. He freaked out, as chills went down his spine. He turned around, but nobody was there. He felt relieved and turned back around to face the mirror. What he saw terrified him. The girl in the red dress, was halfway out of the mirror as it grabbed his shoulder.

He struggled against her surprisingly strong grip. As he tried to free himself, she dragged him closer to the mirror. He freaked out, and more stress was added to getting free. She pushed him backwards a little, and then brought him forward, with full force, against the mirror. As his forehead collided with the mirror, the mirror shattered against his forehead. He got up, as fresh blood ran from the wound in his forehead. He held his head as blood flowed freely from the wound. He looked into what was left of the mirror, and saw that it was almost completely shattered. "Shit," he said. "How am I going to explain this to Ayumi?"

He held his head. "Holy shit," he said. "It really hurts." He quickly got dressed, while holding his head wound to keep anymore blood from spilling. He finally was dressed, and walked out of the bathroom, putting the towel in a dirty clothes basket that Ayumi obviously left out. He walked down the stairs, to hear a T.V. going and Ayumi and Yoshiki talking. He walked into the kitchen, where he found a thing of tissues. He grabbed a handful of them, and pressed them against his head wound. He felt the pain easing up, but it was still there. He emerged into the living room, and Ayumi noticed him holding his head.

"Satoshi!" she said, getting up. "What happened?" He continued holding his head, hoping he could slip a lie past her. "I uh, slipped and fell in the shower." She felt his head, easing his hand away. She pulled the blood stained tissue out of the way, and her eyes filled in worry. "Oh my god," she said. "It's bleeding badly!" She looked over at Yoshiki. "Yosh," she said. "There's a first-aid kit up in my parent's room. Go and get it!" He nodded without hesitating and ran off. "What did you do to yourself in there?" she asked. "I just told you!" he exclaimed. "I slipped and fell in the shower! I hit my forehead on the edge of it!"

"Ok, ok, whatever!" she said, cringing at the amount of blood freely running from his head wound. "Oh my gosh, it's bleeding really bad! Where in hell is Yoshiki?" She looked around, her eyes full of worry. "Satoshi," she said. "I need you to lay down on this pallet of blankets." He nodded, knowing that she probably knew what she was doing. He laid down, as she continued to press the bloody tissues on his forehead. "Damn it, Yoshiki!" she said. "Where are you?"

Ayumi, 10 minutes later

After Yoshiki came back with the first-aid kit, Ayumi managed to stop Satoshi's bleeding. And after that, she had sewn the skin together, so it wouldn't continue bleeding. "How is he?" Yoshiki asked. Ayumi looked over at her friend. "He's fine," she replied. "Once I cleaned the wound and stopped the bleeding, I was able to stitch up his wound pretty well." He nodded. "Well," he said. "I gotta go. Work today, you know!" Ayumi nodded, turning around to clean up the first-aid kit. Then it dawned on her. Yoshiki didn't work Saturdays. Did he?

She was about to ask him, when she saw him running out the door in a hurry. "Hmm," she said. "How very odd. Yoshiki doesn't usually just run off like that." She looked over at Satoshi, who was still asleep after she had sewn up his head wound. She decided that she was going to out for a while, and she just wrote a note for Satoshi explaining that she had left for a while, and he could go home whenever. She walked upstairs past the bathroom, where something wasn't right. She walked in, and saw the mirror was shattered almost entirely.

It wasn't just that. Where the shatter originated, it looked like there was dried blood all over the remaining glass. "Damn it Satoshi!" she said. "How am I going to explain this to my mom and dad?" She decided not to wake him up, and she just got dressed and left the house.

A/N: I apologize for the chapter being a little short. Then again, the last chapter was a bit long, so I think this might have been worth doing. So, I'd like to hear your opinions on what Seiko has planned to do with Naomi. Also, I'm sorry I haven't updated in three weeks. I've had some very bad problems in my life, which I am still getting over. So, look for more updates on this, and until the next chapter!