Eventide
Chapter V
When I woke up, I was no longer on the balcony, or inside of the school. The blue walls are naked and so is the floor. The desk beside the bed has a stack of homework which seems to be untouched. Seems like the person owning this room doesn't spend much time inside of their room or working on their homework. The room is lit up with one single lamp in the ceiling and the room misses a window. This room misses that homey feeling. The nightstand only has an alarm clock and a photo. My eyes widen and my heart stops. In the photo, there stand Soul and another man. They both have white hair and red eyes, Soul is younger than the other man. Soul has a stronger jaw line along with the crazy pointy teeth while the other man has ordinary white teeth and a smaller face with strong cheekbones. The man is very handsome, but he is no Soul.
The doorknob twists and it creaks loudly as it swings open. "You are awake." Soul stands by the door before he closes it behind him. "You scared the wits out of me." Soul strolls to the bed and takes a seat on the edge. "How is your leg?"
I look down at my leg and I find myself in a pair of oversize sweat shorts which looks like they used to be sweatpants since the hem is damaged. My right leg is neatly bandages with white gauze and the intense throbbing of pain is completely gone. "It feels good. I'm not feeling any pain at all."
Soul smiles, not a smirk, but a real smile with his eyes sparkling. I like that smile much better than the grin of his. "Good."
This is my time to ask him questions, not the other way around. "Where am I? I'm supposed to be in school."
Soul chuckles, his white bangs gently caressing his eyelashes. "School is already out and you don't need to worry, you got excused from the rest of the classes so your attendance hasn't taken a toll." Soul finds my hand and sparks fly, my fingers tingle deliciously and I find my cheeks heating up. "And you are in my apartment. I took you here after you passed out."
His apartment. This is the first time I'm inside of his apartment. "How come you took me here? You could have just left me in the nurse's office instead of bringing me here."
Soul shakes his head gently. "I couldn't do that. Your wounds were out of their understanding." Soul squeezes his hand and moves closer to me, his eyes an intense scarlet. "I know where you got those wounds Maka. I need to know how you got them. I need to hear the words come from your own mouth."
My heart speeds up, not because of the closeness between Soul and I, but because of the sudden change of subject. Does he really know about the monster that lurks in the night? He has made a hint about it at the track field but how do I know he really is implying at that. I can't just tell him the monster outsmarted me and got me out of my house and attacked me. How crazy doesn't that sound?
"I don't know what you are talking about."
Soul sighs and runs his free hand through his hair, still having his other hand in mine. "Maka, that wound is made from claws and it isn't exactly from a bear or a wolf." Soul leans closer to me, his face about a ruler away from me. "And it isn't from any animal. Both you and I know what it came from. You can admit it."
This doesn't feel good at all. "Who is that person in the picture?" I change the subject in hope of getting away from talking about the monster.
"Don't change the subject. When you tell me what made those wounds, I will tell you who he is, deal?"
What, so this means Soul will really tell me something about his life? That guy in the picture must be someone important judging on Soul's large grin along with how they look at each other with that happy spark in their eyes. So look annoyed, but he still looks very happy.
Even though how much I would want to know about this mystery person, I don't know if I could tell him.
"What will you do with the information once I tell you? How can I know I can trust you to not throw me into a mental hospital?" I pull my hand away from his, his hand is way too distracting with how he brushed it with his thumb and the lovely sparks that flew on my skin.
"You can trust me because I take care of my own." Soul looks bothered. His eyes dart between my eyes and my hands on my stomach. I have a feeling he wants to touch my hands or just touch me in general, but why would he want to do that when cheated on me with Jaqueline, his ex?
Soul never talked anything about his and Jaqueline's relationship. He always shot me down and turned the tables around and asked me why I hadn't dated before him. It was Tsubaki who spread a little light over Soul and his relationships in general. She told me Soul had proven to go between girlfriends a lot. Before Jaqueline, he had already had three different girlfriends, they lasted about top two weeks to a month while Jaqueline lasted four months, that's double the time Soul and I lasted! Tsubaki said they got along very well, but then Soul just broke up with her from thin air. No one knows exactly the reason why Soul broke up with Jaqueline, but one thing is for sure, Jaqueline didn't like it at all.
When I heard about Soul and Jaqueline's past, Soul and I had already dated for one week. I was not pleased at all since Tsubaki told me only three weeks had gone by from Soul breaking up with Jaqueline and starting to date me. I always had that nagging feeling that I was just a rebound, but I didn't want to believe it. Soul was my first boyfriend and he wouldn't do something like that, oh boy I was so wrong. When I tried to confront Soul about it, he just swept it under the rug and never gave me any proper explanation. I should have known earlier I was just a mountain for him to climb and a rebound from his past girlfriend who he obviously was very fond of.
"We both know I'm not your own. We aren't dating and you aren't my friend." I say and as I suspected, Soul wanted to touch me.
His fingertips gently caress my bandage, following the edge of it before he caresses up my thigh, following the bandage tightly wrapped around my thigh. "I know, but we are more similar than you think. I know we are over, but I still want you to be my friend and I will do anything in order to be your friend." Soul doesn't bring up anything about our previous conversation, I must have successfully managed to dodge it, and it's the first time I managed to not get Soul to turn it back toward me.
"We aren't similar because I'm nothing like you. We were never friends, not even when we were together. We were never friendly toward each other before or during the relationship. So excuse me if I don't want to be your friend when you have hurt me. I don't want a person like you in my life. You only screw things up and I don't want that in my life. I wish I never met you because you have only proven to be a hassle and constantly stabbed me in the back." I say while I stare into his eyes. Gently I take his hand away from my thigh. "I need to go home before it is dark."
"Too late. It is already dark. It has been dark for about two hours." When I release his hand, Soul quickly snatches it back in his hand and gives it a squeeze. "And I want to show you something." Soul tugs at my hand, encouraging me to get up from his bed.
I don't know what is going on, but if it truly is dark outside, I won't be able to leave. The monster will kill me as soon as I step close to my house and I barely got away yesterday, how am I supposed to get away with an injured leg? If I'm going to be stuck inside of Soul's apartment, I could as well see what he wants to show me.
I try to get up from the bed as well as I can, Soul gently hoists me up on my good leg. Soul shows me out of his bedroom while I limp on my leg. Soul's hand stays in mine which annoys me. How many times do I need to deny him for him to stay away? If he is going to be like this, I will only end up a two-time loser.
As soon as we exit his bedroom, I'm met with the darkness that pours inside of the windows and the dimly lit lamps that holds the darkness away.
The rest of the apartment isn't much better. I see inside of the kitchen and that is very small. There is a very small wooden table with two very unstable chairs. The apartment only has the needed stuff, he doesn't have a Tv, but he does have a couch. Either Soul is poor and doesn't have the money for proper furniture and other assets for the apartment, or he considers himself that he doesn't need them. He does have a king-sized bed so I guess he spends his whole day in bed fucking some sluts or his exes, he won't ever get me in bed, that's for sure. Why do girls even want to be with him? He is an ass.
Because he has a hot ass and he is very sex.
Damn I hate how attracted I am toward him.
Soul gently tugs me toward the window, but I don't even need to look out of the window because I can hear growls, stomping and claws dragging on the grass. The monster is here. He found me again.
We reach the window and there the monster is. He growls loudly and looks up toward the window, his long tongue hangs out of his mouth and saliva drips onto the grass.
"Maka… want." The monster growls while his claws clatter in excitement.
"You can see it too, can't you?" Soul whispers while he squeezes my hand. "Don't worry. He can't hurt you in here. As long as you are inside, you are safe."
For the first time in a very long time, my heart speeds up when I look at the monster from the safety of a home. I'm not alone to see it. How can Soul see him? Why didn't he tell me earlier?
"The Kishin came here as soon as the sun disappeared. It has been standing by the window the whole time while he murmured your name. You need to explain your connection with it." Soul gently tugs me away from the window and forces me to take a seat on the couch, gently lifting up my legs on the couch not to hurt my wounds.
"Kishin? Is that what you call the monster?" I ask while Soul takes a seat beside me and gently pulls me down so my head rests on his lap.
"Yeah, now tell me about this Kishin. Tell me every detail including your mother's death."
That is all it needed, that one little part at the end of his sentence that shattered my happy smile I had always put up for all the years when my mother has been gone. Tears trickle down my cheeks and I burry my head in his stomach, successfully soaking his shirt. "It was one dark night, my mother needed to leave the house and I begged her not to, she promised she wouldn't leave and then when I fell asleep, I woke up to the sound of the car and I saw the monster run after it. I couldn't protect my mother. I'm a useless daughter. I couldn't protect my mother and now she is dead because of me. She is dead because the monster won't leave me."
Soul doesn't interrupt me, he gently caress my hair while he listens to me. It feels so good to have him touching me and comforting me now when I can't control my own emotions.
"You aren't useless. You can't blame yourself for your mother leaving the house. This took place nine years ago. You were just a little girl. You couldn't possibly protect your mother from a monster they couldn't even see. They wouldn't believe you and―"
I hear a loud thud and I shoot up from Soul's lap and I see the monster― Kishin, jumping toward the window just to be blown backwards, falling back on the ground. The Kishin growls loudly and its claws clatter loudly in annoyance.
"Change of subject." Soul's eyes are still frozen where the Kishin had jumped toward the window. "Tell me everything about this Kishin. How long has it been doing this?"
Soul's hand is on my neck while his other hand is on my back, it reminds me how Soul always used to pull me into his embrace and hug me for minutes. I always felt so safe and sound in his arms, it always made me feel like I was wanted and needed.
Almost as if Soul read my mind, he slowly pulls me into his embrace and he supports my leg so my wound won't twist by turning my body toward him.
"I don't know when it came. It has always been there as long as I can remember. It was always there outside of my window looking at me, occasionally it would leave when it saw someone to kill before returning to my window again. I always knew it was dangerous and I have to stay away from it. Recently it has grown smarter. Yesterday it tricked me out of the house by pretending to go on a hunt for someone, it has started to say words and drive itself crazier. That is all I really do know about it." I whisper into his chest, feeling the comfort of his arms around me and the intoxicating smell of his stingy and spicy scent.
"Do you want me to tell you what I know about the Kishin?" Soul whispers into my ear.
A shiver runs down my spine and I find myself wrapping my arms around his waist. "Please." I sniffle and the tears seem to be gone after the sudden attack from the crazy Kishin.
"This Kishin must be very old and obsessed with you. He has grown some intelligence over the years and becoming the last stage of the Kishins that is when they gain the intelligence of a human and can control their own craziness. Ordinary Kishins can't control their maddening urges. They kill every human they see and take their soul. That is what the feed on. A Kishin is those who have lost their soul to the madness and now they want to get it back by devouring innocent souls, the problem is with that they can never go back to being human anymore. Even if they can control their urges, they won't ever be able to be human again since they will always be monsters." I can feel Soul's hand move from my back to my bandage before he gently caresses it with his thumb. "They make other Kishins by infecting humans with madness. When it cut you, you got infected with it, remember today, didn't you feel like you were just so mad at everyone and wanted to punch their teeth out?"
My eyes widen. That is exactly how I felt. I was so mad and I wanted to hurt everyone and get back at them somehow. So I felt like that because of the Kishin poison.
"Yeah, but why am I feeling fine now? What happened after I passed out? You never told me anything about that."
"You are fine right now because I gave you the antidote. I pure the madness that had gotten inside of your body, then I took you to your apartment and made some calls. Kid took care about your absence and Stein came over and took care about your wounds. They were very ugly and had managed to get infected. Stein got them cleaned out and stitched you up. Then I laid you to rest, first shot is always the most exhausted for those who have been purified."
I pull away from Soul's chest and look quizzically at him. "How did you save me from it? What do you mean first shot?"
Soul chuckles and removes his hand from my thigh. He lifts his hand and then, sparks flies from his hand. Yellow electricity course over his hand before it disappears. "With this. This is a meister's most trusted weapon. It's called Soul Force. This is what we use in order to get rid of the madness, from the Kishins and from other meisters. We shock you and the madness purges. The Kishin turns into a pile of ashes, but you stay whole and better than ever. The first time can cause unconsciousness but after a few times you will manage to stay conscious, although you will still feel pain from it." Soul's hand then gently cups my hipbone, gently caressing it with his thumb, sending shivers down my spine.
"What are you talking about? Meister? What is that and why are you talking like I will be hurt by one of them again?"
"A Meister is what you and I are along with the rest of my gang. We all can see Kishins and we fight them in order to protect everybody else. Kishins have a tendency to go after Meisters so more will come." Soul's eyes turn a deeper shade of red and his features turn serious. "That means you are in danger. You need to protect yourself against them or you will die."
I flinch away from him. "Soul―"
"I'm serious. You need to be able to defend yourself. You don't know their fighting style and you don't know how to shot your soul wavelength in order to kill them. Tomorrow after school, you are going to come with me to our training ground and I will teach you." Soul grabs my waist and holds it tightly in his hands, like if I was supposed to run away. "You are one of us and it's my duty to make sure you can protect yourself against them."
He was right by holding my waist, because I was going to walk away. So Soul only took care of me because I was this kind of Meister. I'm like him, so he only took care of me and was with me because I'm a Meister. I was never his rebound, I was an assignment, a burden. I was never wanted.
"I need time for myself. I need everything to sink in." I say and I try to contain my sadness of this newfound piece of unspoken information.
Soul nods. "Of course, you can take the bed, I will sleep on the couch."
He didn't notice the sorrow that I was feeling.