" Ah! Somebody…Help me! Somebody…uh…help me…Oh, God! I'm gonna drown! I can't hold my breath any longer! Dammit! I'm drowning! Somebody…help me…please—"
Kousuke fell out of bed. The fall brought strains to his buttocks. He glanced at the clock—6:05 A.M. Kousuke didn't know why but something didn't feel right about this bed. Then he remembered he choose to sleep on a futon because he was giving his bed to Hikari.
And then the events of the day before came flooding back to him—he'd been attacked and nearly killed by a kid who shots barbs, wires, fences, and laser beams. And a teenager who looked like he had pure evil in his life.
Well, with the mystery of the bed solved, it was time to get up.
Kousuke rose, almost reluctantly—it was almost strangely comfy, that futon—and got to his feet. Kousuke's back or rather his "hunch" hurt. All that running yesterday hurt even in the morning. Kousuke had to be careful. Right now it was only his back, but the neck time it could be his whole body.
Every morning came out a chore for Kousuke. Every morning the first thing he would do was have breakfast, which was only a bagel or pieces of fruit just lying in the kitchen. Going to school was always a rush. After that he brushed his teeth, had a bath and got dressed in his school uniform—black shirt, white tie and a pair of trousers, grey sweater with the school symbol on it.
Kousuke, however, had another choir for this morning. What with the arrival of Hikari, his little guest, he walked to her room, knocked twice, opened the door, and went to check on her. She wasn't there.
" Where did she go? Don't tell me she ran away? Fuck."
Kousuke tip-toed backwards away from the room. His feet bumped into something small and squishy, and curled up into a ball. Kousuke would mistake it for a dog or a cat; he had neither. It was Hikari. She was sleeping outside the door. Kousuke how he'd missed Hikari was beyond him.
" Wake the fuck up!"
" Huh?" Hikari murmured, she stood upright with her bleary eyes , rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. " Is it morning already?"
" Don't lie to me. Were you sleeping outside this door the entire night?" Kousuke asked.
" Yeah," Hikari said nonchalantly, something Kousuke hated.
" Why?"
" Well, I thought it would be nice to wake you up, but you sleep like a rock. All that trying made me hungry. But I didn't know where the food was. I was so tired, I came back and waited here, but you never woke up…" Hikari stretched her right arm up and yawned. The way she acted reminded Kousuke of a cat, and she was more nocturnal at night.
Kousuke smacked his right hand against his face and sighed. Before Kousuke could say a single word he, Hikari's, both their stomachs growled. Kousuke's face would have turned red with embarrassment if he wasn't still angry with Hikari. But Kouske extended his right hand and touched Hikari's left shoulder.
" Come on, let's get some breakfast."
XXX
Kousuke was going to be late to school for sure! Now he knew why teenage moms got such bad grabs in school. It was because they never had time to study. All Hikari needed was a bib and baby food and she'd pass off as a baby.
Luckily Kousuke found his old high chair in the basement when he was a baby. He also found pictures his babysitter took of him when he was a baby in the bath, which was fuckin' scary. Already Hikari's face was smeared with spaghetti sauce.
You're probably wondering why they're having spaghetti for breakfast? Well, like Kousuke said, he never has time to cook in the mornings of school, so he was serving her leftovers. Seven Day leftovers—nasty. While Kousuke feed his itty-bitty baby his spaghetti, he rambled on about how "he" was going to be late for school."
" What's school like?" Hikari said. As she talked she scooped up a small ball of spaghetti and stuffed it in her mouth.
" It's either the worst or best place that everyone has to go too," Kousuke said. " You start off in a place called pre-school, which is before school when you're four, and then you start real school in a class called kindergarten. For most of us, we start off at something we like to call Level 1, and we keep moving forward until we graduated from Level 13."
" Like a video game?"
" Kinda. Normal players, the one's I like to call Horny Rhodesian's, based off Rhodesian Ridgebacks, take a year or more to get to the next level. Well other players, I like to call Fountain of Knowledge, can bypass one level and move onto the other. It's big and it has lots of facilities and a huge playground. It would be the greatest place ever, if the kids in my school don't have the brains the size of goldfishes."
" You sure like to rap on other people, Kousuke."
" Yes I do. They hate me and I hate them. It's principal. If someone pushes you, than you push them back. But you push even harder, because you're trying to tell them you won't take their shit—just like me."
" Can I come with you too school, Kousuke?"
" Sure, I guess. Why not? It would be better than leaving her here where she'll probably destroy everything or wreck the TV."
Suddenly, the doorbell dragged Kousuke out of his conversation. He looked at his watch. It said five to six. The bell was still ringing. Whoever was at the front door buzzing was leaning on the button. Kousuke walked up to the door and opened it, he walked away to let his guest walk inside.
Correction, he didn't walk, he staggered inside. And when Kousuke looked at him…a familiar face flashed before his eyes like a white streak. A ghostly face.
A police officer stands in the hallway - 30s, handsome, a knight in shining armor as far as he's concerned. " Sergeant Gideon. I'm responding to a 911 call."
Kousuke visibly relaxes. He opens the door and steps aside, allowing Gideon to enter. " What seems to be the problem, officer?"
Gideon smiles, takes a quick glance around the room, then studies Kousuke's face. Then he looks at his arms. There are bandages wrapped around them. " Are you all right? We've been anxious to get a hold of you. You disappeared on us for a while."
" I know. Listen - do you have any idea what happened to the other officer that was suppose to watch my house?"
" Of. He's in a coma. Yeah, we found this morning parked in your driveway. He was bleeding pretty bad. But listen, if you have a problem be sure to call me specifically. My numbers 817-342-1441. Got it?"
" 817-342-1441. Got it."
" Alright. Well, I know you have school right now so I'm not going to ask you to stay, but may I please speak to your father. I think he can help us further the investigation."
" Sure. My father's at work. His numbers on the counter."
" This early?"
" Yeah. Someone has to bring home the bread."
XXX
Jamira Yumama wasn't a bad kid. He just had a lot of free spirit for his age. This spirit usually got him into trouble and other times it got him into major trouble. One time he put a whole pig into the girls' bathroom. Since he moved he hasn't been the same.
Jamira wasn't a delinquent. He wasn't unpopular with peers, never disruptive behavior in school, and parents didn't find him to be a difficult child. When people looked at him they saw a young vampire slayer. He couldn't behave himself like normal kids. Jamira was very knowledgeable and charismatic.
Jamira's father was a loving man and husband but he had a xenophobia. People believed his father was a racist but he had a very troubled history. His sister was into drugs and got mixed with the wrong crowd. The last time he saw his sister she was taking by guerrilla's. Jamira's mother was normal except for the fact she was a scatterbrain.
Jamira wasn't like most delinquents. Most kids liked to read manga and pretend what it would be like to be strong like them. Jamira was a lover of manga and a very strong boy. His body wasn't built like the characters in the manga because he was short, but he still had the strength to break fingers and bash people's faces in.
By mistake Jamira walked into the wrong side of the alleyway. A gang of delinquent men trapped Jamira. Four in the front and four in the back. The leader of the gang, Grover, walked through the crowd of boys to Jamira. The crowd almost beat the crap out of Jamira, but Grover stopped them.
" Halt." He raised his cane in front of his boys. The boys in the front stopped as well. " It doesn't have to be this way, Jamira. All you just have to do is come back to us. We can use someone with your strength on our side."
" Is this suppose to make me come crawling back to you?" Jamira asked. " You have a better chance of convincing my ass then you'll ever have with me."
" What do you hope to accomplish, Jamira. You've already been in high school two years longer than anyone else. At this rate you'll never graduate. You don't have any brains."
The boys took out four shiv's from their pockets. One boy tried to stab his knife into Jamira's back. Jamira grabbed the boys arm and squeezed. Jamira grabbed his mouth. No one could hear his cries from the muffled screams, but everyone knew he was in pain. Jamira hurled the boy into the wall.
The second boy also tried stabbing Jamira in the back. Jamira roundhouse kick the boy in his face. Blood spurted from the boy's nose. Another boy stabbed his knife towards Jamira. Jamira disappeared before the boy could stab him. He reached out behind him and judo flipped him into the ground. The last boy slashed his knife at Jamira in a flurry of cuts. Jamira tilted his body left, right, and left again blocking every slash. Jamira snatched the knife. Jamira cut the boy's right hand, left hand, and knee. The boy screamed, trickle's smeared down Jamira's knife like jelly.
" I tried to be reasonable with you, Jamira," Grover said. He took out a 50,000 volt taser from his pocket, " but you leave me with no choice."
A boy fell from the roof. The boy was almost impossible to see under the alleyway light. He touched the tazer with his little fingers. The power of the tazer completely depleted. All that electricity was taken from the battery.
" What the fuck?" Grover looked at the boy who took his electricity away. He was a weird dressed boy. He wore a brown cloak over his body with a white ribbon on the neck. His hair was spiky blond and his eyes were emerald green. Even though his body was petite he was still strong. With one long pinch the tazer in Grover's hands shattered.
" Run."
Grover and his men ran away from the scary looking boy. Who could blame them? Jamira would almost run too if he wasn't indebted to the boy. It was just like the scenario with his manga. He would pledge his life to the little boy and even though he might treat him as a slave, he would protect him.
" Kid, who are you?" The boy didn't talk. He gaze into Jamira's eyes with a look of anger. He took out a yellow book and gave it too Jamira.
" Read this."
" What?"
" Can you read?"
" Of course I can read!"
" Really? Those guys made you out to be a fool in reading."
" I can read!"
Jamra took the book from the snob little boy. Jamira flipped through every page. It looked like he was holding a braille book. There were big letters Jamira could rub his fingers against but there were no words he could understand. He couldn't read any of it.
" Well."
" I understand this book."
" Perfect. Give the book back to me." Jamira handed the book back to the golden haired boy. Jamira didn't like to lie, but his ego made him not want to look the fool. " I'll be holding onto this book until the game is over."
" Game? What game?"
" You'll see."