Shotaro was sitting on his couch trapped. On one side of him was the craziest and goofiest girl on the planet sleeping up against his side. And on his lap was a giant orange cat, who was also dead asleep. On most nights Mia talks like a runaway train. And During their movies she’ll pause them to talk about the scene they just watched or just something completely random. She usually doesn’t fall asleep until four in the morning and some nights she just stays up all night and chugs coffee all the next day. It was only eleven and she was out cold. He thought this would have made him happy, but she was snoring worse than she ever had before. Knowing that if he moved, he would wake her and since the night was still young it would be like rekindling the flame. He had to come up with a plan to get out of that spot but in front of him on the floor was a huge number of snacks and food. This was also the first time that after Mia spent all day cleaning, she was the one who tore the living room apart this time. Spilt popcorn and potato chips littered the floor and were acting as land mines at this point. Mia may have been a loud and wild sleeper, but she would wake up instantly to any sudden noise no matter how small.269Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTuZVR92vV4
They were only on their second viewing of The Hitch Hikers Guide when she abruptly fell asleep. It was still pouring down rain outside since that morning and Sho felt a little more at ease because of it. He always liked the rain and thunderstorms. He never really knew why but he always found comfort in those types of days. He noticed that this was the first time Mia was leaning up again him sleeping. Was paying that much of her rent sending the wrong message, he thought to himself. She was being way more touchy feely than usual since him giving Ms Fukimari that money earlier that morning. It even surprised him that he paid that much. It was like a natural reaction to the situation. For a brief moment, he felt that he had to protect Mia from that vile woman in any way he could even if it meant only protecting her financially. The thought of it almost made him laugh out loud because usually he can’t get Mia to stop talking when her headphones aren’t on being the number one annoyance in his life. Also, money was never a concern to him after his parents died. He inherited everything being the oldest child. Also a few years later, he inherited both sets of his grandparent’s estates and wealth when they all died. He sold all the properties through a real estate agent and spilt all the money fifty-fifty with his younger sister. After calculations he would be set for the next 40-50 years not needing a job. To most people that would be a dream situation to inherit so much wealth but to Shotaro it meant absolutely nothing. He actually has hardly spent any of the money beside paying years of his rent off and paying the small amount of bills that weren’t already a part of rent utilities. To him the money will never replace the people who had to die for him to get it. Every time he tried to spend money on himself it made him sick to his stomach.
Mia jerked in her sleep, rolled over while hugging, and with a mouth full of drool she uttered out loud, “Taro, he’s an outside cat!”
“What the hell,” he thought to himself. The cat hasn’t even been here a full day and she’s dreaming about it? And if it’s an outside cat how come its sleeping on my lap and not outside? He stopped talking to himself out loud and realized Mia wasn’t even awake and he was still trying to argue with her. Mia was sleeping even though the television was still up pretty loud. Mia was asleep squeezing his arm so tight it felt like it was starting to go numb. Thunder shook the sky and the power went out for a second. When the power returned the movie had started over. “Wow,” Shotaro said out loud in a depressed sigh. “Looks like round three after all.” Rupert woke up and stretched on Sho’s lap and then leapt off and disappeared out of sight. Below Shotaro’s feet he heard an old familiar noise. His neighbors beneath him were starting to argue loudly. He had almost forgotten that this was a nightly event that used to occur all the time until Mia started staying later every night. Night’s where she would stay late or stay the night, Shotaro could never hear his neighbors below him fight because she was much louder than them when she was talking about the things she loves. They were starting to get loud enough to the point Sho knew she would wake up if he didn’t move her into another room. In an agile swoop he stood up and scooped her up and carried her into his room. He put her in his bed and then listened. The arguing was now hardly hearable and the SciFi loving princess was still sound asleep. Sho ventured back out into his living room and started to pick up the trash and food Mia left about. The storm sounded like it was starting to grow wilder outside as his neighbor’s argument started to grow more intense. The power started flickering again but this time it was at a steady rate of going off and coming back on. It was like something straight out of a horror movie and his neighbors arguing didn’t make it any more enjoyable. Then without warning Shotaro thought he heard what sounded like a gun shot. With the lights still flickering and the audio for the television restarting constantly he thought he was probably just hearing things. A pain started to become noticeable in the back of his head and it started to grow out of control. Grasping his head and trying to fight through the pain he heard someone below him scream out, “Please don’t! Bullets started to rip through his floor and one barely missed his foot. The lights were still flickering, and his head was swelling with pain. Loud sounds he didn’t recognize and scenes from what seemed like a movie were flashing before his eyes and screaming in his ears. It felt like every cell in his body was being pulled apart and he wouldn’t be able to stop them. Noises that sounded like far off train whistles blowing while spiraling into the oblivion of a black hole were piercing his ears. His hole body felt hot. Hotter than anything he’s ever felt. His body started to feel heavy as if it were incased in concrete and sinking to the bottom of the ocean. It took all his might to take one step from where he was standing and when he did another bullet tore through the floor where he had just pulled his foot from. He could hear someone below still screaming out, “Stop! Oh God No!” but he could also hear what sounded like hundreds of voices calling out the same thing. Then in the loudest rumble of thunder, all was quiet.
Shotaro was laying face down on the floor. He was able to move again so he sat up on his knees. He glanced around the room and nothing seemed to be abnormal anymore. There were no holes in the floor where he thought bullets wear piercing through. The lights weren’t flickering. No crazy sounds at all. In his hand was the keychain he bought for Mia that he had picked up off the floor a moment ago when he started cleaning. His hands were sweaty, and he was still breathing hard. Did I just have a heart attack and or stroke, he thought to himself. He dashed to his room and checked on Mia, who was still sound asleep and snoring loudly. He went over and gently placed his hand on her forehead just to see if she was real. She felt warm to his touch. His hands were still shaking and sweaty, but she definitely felt real. He knew he wasn’t sleeping but did any of that really just happen? It all felt so real. Was it all an illusion? After laying on the couch he took some deep breaths to calm himself. Whatever it was he’s glad that it ended. He grabbed one of the pillows off the floor that they were sitting on earlier and tucked it underneath his head while rolling over. Today was a long stressful day so it had to be a panic attack of some sort he thought. Somewhere in the mess of voices though, he thought he could just barely make out the voice of Hikaru calling out to him. Thinking about it just seemed crazier so he chose to close his eyes and drift away.
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