It's quiet and dark. I can't see or hear anything. Well except the sound of my breathing. I can't even feel the ground. Am I even standing? Or am I laying down? Where the hell am I? I think I'm moving my legs, but it's too dark to even see my own hand and I can't feel the ground. But even if I'm walking, I have no idea where I'm going. It feels endless. It keeps going and going.
You want to know the funny thing? It feels like I did this before. Have I though? It certainly feels like I've been through this several times before but I don't remember a damn thing. Hell, I can't remember a single thing before what ever this is. Or should I say where-ever. The only thing I can remember is my name, Akane Hayoto. Other than that, can't remember anything else. I feel like saying something like 'Hello? Anyone out there?' but I would know it would be a useless effort. So I just kept quiet and continued to move my legs.
As some time pass, I still couldn't see anything. If I had to guess, I've been walking for at least fifteen minutes. And the entire time I just had my head hanging down while keeping my arms tightly crossed. I've notice that it seemed to get cooler and now it's cold enough that I'm starting to shake slightly. I sighed to myself quietly as I just stared at the cracked asphalt. Wait. Asphalt? After practically being blind for the past twenty minutes, I could at least finally see the ground. Well, barely anyways. It's still dark but I could at least see a few details on the ground. Black asphalt with many cracks in it, with some weeds and grass growing inside of the large cracks, and it looks like there was a yellow rectangle-strip painted but was so faded you could barely see it. Or is it just the lack of lighting messing with me?
Either way, I concluded that I was probably on some type of abandoned road. I looked up to turn my head to observe anything else. It was still pretty dark like I said, but I was able to see some sidewalks along with a few buildings. All of them looking like it hasn't been touch for years. Vines were attached to nearly everything. Making it look like a hunted forest of sorts.
Now this is getting weird. Well it started out weird already but this is just...just a bit horrifying. I have little memory about anything about me and I have no idea where the hell I am!
JUST...Just...just keep walking. That's all I pretty much can do right now. I have no idea why but it felt like I should just keep moving.
It's getting cold. Cold enough that I could see my own breath right now while I hug my body tightly, trying my best to keep warm. On the bright side, I could finally see my surrounding fully without the interference of the darkness. But I still can't see the sky. Nothing but black. No stars, no Moon. No anything. On the ground however, there were buildings. A lot of them. What once appeared to be a few liquor stores, gas stations, apartments, all is nothing more than a home for the vines to grow on now. It's no surprise that I haven't seen anyone. But that didn't stopped me from hoping to run into someone. Hopefully one with answers.
At this point, my fingers and toes went numb. God damn it's cold. Any more of this and I'll die of hypothermia. Is this really how I'll die? Fantastic...
Walking and walking. How long has it been? What was the point of keeping track of time? What was th point of even walking. If I just keep going like this, it's only going to get colder. So, I stopped. And just like that, a sudden breeze came out of nowhere. A strong, cold breeze that made me tighten my body and bent my head down. Luckily, the freezing breeze didn't last no more than five seconds. But when I looked back up, someone was standing in front of me, about ten feet ahead up me.
I just stood there. Not even sure what to think. I can't even tell if this person is a man or a woman. Whoever this person was, they were wearing a pair of black shoes, black pants, a long crimson coat that was buttoned up and had a hood. The thing I noticed more about anything else, was the mask. From my guess, it looks like its made out of wood. But it was painted black, no holes for the eyes, mouth, or nose, crimson colored design of the number '13' written a bit sloppily where the eyes should be and a strange eye design on the forehead, also painted with the color crimson. And even with the mask and the hood they were wearing, I was able to see some of the hair that was sticking out. Long, thin and black. They were also about the same height as me.
We both just stood there, staring at each other despite that the mask had no eye-holes. Can the person actually see me? Even with the mask, the person seemed calm and collected, keeping his hands in his coat. Myself on the other hand, I couldn't keep myself from shaking. "W-who the hell are you and where am I?!" I finally said but received no answer. Just staring at me. I was about to say something again but I saw the person's right hand move out of their pocket and revealed a sealed envelope and also showed he was wearing white gloves. The creepy part was that it had my full name written in big fancy letters with red ink. The stranger then started to walk closer to me. I felt like I should start running, but my legs refused to do anything. Now, the person was right in front of me.
The strangers hand extended to me, still holding the envelope. Out of curiosity, I took it slowly. I stopped glaring at the person for a moment to look at the envelope then back up to see no one. The stranger was gone. "What the hell..." the only words that were able to slip out of my mouth before looking at the envelope again. 'Addressed to Akane Hayoto' The first two letters was written smally while the name was written big. I started to open the envelope with my numb fingers and slowly pulled out a neatly folded paper. Unfolding the paper, to read it, I was a bit confused and shocked to read the first sentence.
"Wake Up"
And just like that, a headache came out of nowhere and my vision went white.
I sat up from my bed quickly and was taking deep breaths. I hear my alarm clock going off right next to me and slowly turned it off. Whipping my forehead with my hand, I noticed I was sweating a lot and felt hot. I threw my blanket aside and just sat on the edge of my bed. I yawned and looked at the clock which was resting on my desk. 6:30. School doesn't start till eight so there's enough time. School. Oh yeah...first day of high school. "Yipee..." I said to myself sarcastically.
Just more homework is the first thing that popped into his head. Some kids would look forward to the beginning of school because they'll get to see their old friends again. But I have very few people I would call 'friends'. And I didn't even bothered to talk or hangout with any of them over the summer. I just mostly stayed inside doing what I want. Of coarse my step-dad didn't like it at all. Always going on about how his summers were when he was a kid that I would have to hear every week or two. So a lot of lecturing during the summer for me. But with school starting back up I'll start hearing lectures about his school life, that he was an A student and was good at surfing. But most of the stories he tells me are probably just lies in my opinion. But of coarse I would never say that in front or near him.
My mother on the other hand was more calm than him. She went through a divorce when I was young and raised me and my brother for most of our lives. Always caring about us and where we are. My step-dad often said that we were mostly babied by her until he came along. In a way, he's right. We were some-what spoiled when the divorce happened. As if she is trying to make us forget all about it. Of coarse being so young, I accepted the gifts with smiles and rarely gave her a 'Thank you'. Looking back, I regret it a little.
Then there's my older brother, Akio. Right now, he's a Senior and grown to love playing basketball. He's not the best at the school but he's a close second. His grades for the past three years was average. Just barely passing so he can just keep himself into basketball. But he is a responsible and loyal person. He's been working at a fast food restaurant for a while now and has been saving every last penny. I'm frankly surprised that he manages his time well with school work, basketball, and a job. He doesn't even seemed stressed out at all either.
I yawned again before standing up and walking to the bathroom.
After the shower and getting my uniform on, I found myself down stairs sitting at the table eating a peice of bacon. With my parents work, mom being in the police and my step-dad owning a new tile company, they often have to leave early before saying good by or anything. Luckily for me, Akio knows how to cook.
"Hey, Akane, you alright? You look a bit out of it." Akio said, sitting on the opposite side of me. He had brown short hair, dark brown eyes, and a slightly tan skin. He was also extremely taller than me. He is six-foot-six while I'm five-foot-seven.
"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a weird dream is all." I said as I scratched the top of my messy black hair.
"Really? What about?"
I shrugged my shoulders slightly. "Can't remember much about it really. Other than feeling really cold and something about vines I think."
"That is weird. Oh well, weird people, weird dreams." he said with a slight grin.
"I'm no weirder than you are."
"Well maybe if you do something with your hair you wouldn't look like a psycho. I mean you look like your tired every time, your skin is so pale you look like a ghost, and parts of your hair is defying the laws of gravity." He said as he pointed at my hair.
"I told you already, I don't like getting haircuts and I tried combing it before. Remember what happened?"
"Oh yeah. We had to wrestle with your hair for about an hour just to get the comb out of that jungle of yours."
"Whatever..." I said as I took another bite from my peice of bacon. My hair is pretty much like a jungle. It goes down almost to my shoulders and it's full of tangles or knots. I just fail to see what's the point of combing and cutting it. Waste of time in my opinion.
"Oh yeah," Akio started, "just to tell you, I'm going to be staying at school for some time after the bell rings because of basketball."
"But I thought it doesn't start until like the beginning of December."
"I know but me and the guys thought it would be best to get warmed up for the season. Just to see if we didn't lost it you know. Besides, I want to win one championship before I leave the school."
"Guess you guys aren't good as you say since you didn't one for the past three years."
"Because as soon as were going up the brackets that one team always wins against us. That one player seems to come out of nowhere every time either to make a pass or steal. That kid is like a ghost. And then every time when it's a close game, that one kid is always knocking down his shots. That guy scares me a bit when it's the last minutes of the game. And then there's this one guy who could jump..."
At this point, I started to block him out. He could go on and on when it comes to this topic. I couldn't stop thinking about what my dream was. I can't remember a lot of the details but I had been getting strange dreams for the past two weeks. I was scared and confused I think. Oh well, its not like I can't do anything about it anyways. My thoughts got interrupted by my brother's hand slightly hitting me behind the head. He was now right next to me. "What was that for?" I mumbled out.
"It's rude to stare off into space when someone is talking to you. But anyways we need to get going. Don't want to be late for your new day at th school." he said as he started to walk towards the door.
"I'm not really eager to go." I said as I stood up and walked towards the door.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
And now were off to school. Like I already said before, fantastic...
ns 15.158.61.20da2
