Chapter 2
last To Know
Time started to pass, soon turning into an hour, as the girl kneeled on the ground, shivering with sobs. Her arms wrapped around herself as if she was trying to stop herself from shattering into pieces. The boy she was with was yet to return to this park on the sunny, gloomy day. But Rin knew all too well that he was not going to return. Not now, not later, not ever; he was gone forever, and there was nothing that could change that.
Her body continued to tremble. It shook from the waves of pain crashing into her small, naive heart. Her young body shook at the intakes of breath, which were having their own little tremors of their own. This pain, it was new to her. She knew nothing of this pain; she never knew it existed. But here it was in full power and with no mercy.
Why did no one warn her of this pain? Wasn't love supposed to be a blessing?
Maybe it was nothing more than a curse.
Crying the last of the tears that her eyes still held, she unwrapped her arms from around herself and grabbed the trunk of the tree behind her. The blonde slowly tried to push herself up through her sniffles and her hiccups; she climbed up from the ground slowly, using the tree for support. After all, she had no support of her own.
Not even her broken spirit could hold her high.
One leg moved in front of her as she tried to head home. The other leg moved, slowly and shakily, in front of the other. Rin's eyes gazed downward as she continued walking, not that it mattered. Her blue eyes were blurred and her vision corrupted by the falling tears, but she still continued to walk slowly back to the direction of home.
But that didn't matter either. All this was kept in secret.
She tried regaining her composure before reaching the place she called home. The sleeves of her arms rubbed the wetness from her face as she stared, unblinking, to dry the ones remaining in her own eyes. Quick intakes of breath were held for a period of time to try and calm her sobs and quakes.
Because if she faked it, her mother would never know.
After all, she was too young for love, according to her morals.
Soon enough she was able to control her tears and her face; she was even able to control the shakes that her body had created. But she could never control the poison that remained in her heart. She'll never be able to control how it tore and bleeds. Oh, how it bleeds and bleeds inside of her. And oh, how it rip and tears and shreds with each beat of her heart.
1.25 times a second.
The puffiness of her eyes still existed, but it was around April. Allergies could easily be blamed. Or maybe just stress of the city; after all, she was also tired and physically exhausted. Not that her heart cared.
75 waves of poison a minute rushing through her being.
The door to her house opened up as she stepped inside, hearing the sound of her mother calling her. "Home already? I thought you were at the mall with your friend,"
Without stopping and hesitation, the blonde named Rin walked up the stairs as best as she could in her weary condition. Her voice echoed through the house as she spoke, without any hint of sadness in her voice.
No, I was never at the mall. I was out cheating on everyone I loved. I tore out my heart and broke it in two. I'm choking on my own blood! I'm screaming in my own agony! I'm drowning in my own mistakes! No one can even hear me!
"Meiko finally ran out of money," she lied smoothly, like she always did. It was nothing new.
Quickly the blonde named Rin stepped inside her room once she had the chance, closing and locking the door behind her; the last thing she needed was her mother walking in on her in a time like this. She dragged herself to bed, where she curled up and continued to sob tearlessly.
She felt so weak. She felt like she couldn't move, and she felt that she probably deserved not to. This young girl felt that it was her fault that he had left. She had shattered his innocent heart. Her fists clenched together in a tight ball, nails almost breaking the skin and almost causing the bright red of liquid to flow out of her body. Not that she'd ever hurt herself.
I'm too afraid of the pain.
"Please, come back," the desperate girl whispered with a shaky breath, to no one but the empty walls around her. No one replied. Not a word was spoken in return. Weakly she lifted her head from the pillow that had grown wet with sadness, looking around her. But her strength didn't last forever as her head fell once more onto the damp pillow with a silent thud. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please, don't leave me alone,"
Once again, no one answered her. She was left in the silence of a broken heart, as she remained curled up on her bed and silently wasted away.
On the nightstand beside her head, a light started to blink and shine, along with the familiar tune of 'I like you, I love you', a song that her best friend had helped her write when she had first fallen in love with-
It hurts...
"Hello?" her voice came out soft and vulnerable, like the rest of her was.
"Rinny?" that voice was so familiar. The only person she knew she could trust with anything. Luka.
Rin's POV
My eyes opened ever so slowly as I sat up from my bed. My body felt tense, and my head was pounding, making me feel awful. I tried to rub the sleepiness out of my eyes, until I noticed how wet it felt. Fingers of mine trailed down my cheeks, revealing that they, too, were wet with drying tears, only supporting my assumption. I was crying in my sleep again.
"Another nightmare," I whispered as I reluctantly climbed out of bed, my mind still heavy and foggy from sleep. Why were these nightmares coming back so suddenly? I was finally moving on after three years. Why did they decide to come back and haunt me now?
With my mind still focused on the past, my body worked on its own to lead me into the bathroom, stopping in front of the mirror, as custom for my normal morning. Seeing my own reflection, I nearly laughed at the sight in front of me. "I look like crap,"
And it was true. My blonde hair was in tangles, and decided to stick up in all sorts of ways because of all the static running through it. Almost-dried tear stains made a salty line down my face, leading up to puffy red eyes. My cheeks were flushed, and all in all, I just looked like crap. Red, plain crap.
Walking over to the white tub, I turned the handle closest to the wall, letting the water run and warm up as I pulled the matching pajama shirt and pants off of me, leaving me bare. Holding my hand out, I felt the crystal clear liquid that fell from the metal faucet above me, waiting for the temperature to be just perfect.
Then I stepped in, letting the refreshing water hit my skin at just the right tempurature, giving me goosebumps. I let the water hit my face, washing away the tear stains and hopefully rejuvenating my dried-out eyes. I let the miracle liquid flow through my messy hair, getting out all the salty tears from my pillow and the grease and dirt that had built up.
It felt nice, having the water rain down on me, making me feel clean and refreshed.
0o0o
With my uniform on and my hair washed and brushed, I headed down the steps by twos in a cheery mood, my dream all but forgotten. I skipped into the kitchen, feeling my ribbon bounce on my head, as I stretched out my hand and grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl on the island. Peeling it with once swift movement, I let my teeth sink into its fruity flesh, enjoying the sweet-and-tangy taste of the juicy fruit.
For a moment of curiosity, and with nothing else to do while I ate my food of choice, I started to look around the house. Everything was dead silent, which actually wasn't supposed to happen. Usually father and mother were around the house, trying to get everything together for work. I wonder where they could-
CRASH! BANG-CR-SHRACK!
Yeah, that is what we were missing.
Swallowing the last bit of my fruit, I looked up as mother skidded on the tiles, who was now looking straight at me with a perplexed manner. Her hands rested on her hips as her foot tapped on the floor; how I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the classic mother's expression. I looked up at her, waiting for it.
"Where have you BEEN?" There we go. Now the angry mother is complete.
"I was upstairs, in my room," I spoke nonchalantly and slightly questioningly, not getting what was wrong. She shook her head angrily as her nail-painted index finger pointed at the clock on the wall. She was ticked, no pun intended.
"Rin, dear, we're late!" she proclaimed, smacking her forehead with her palm. For a second my heart stopped as I looked at the clock, with the small hope that my mom was using one of her sick ways of getting me from playing sick again. That hope quickly went down the drain.
Well, fuck. This wasn't going as well as I had planned- not that it started out well to begin with. Without a second to spare I dashed around the house, pushing my own mother out of the way, grabbing my folders and stuffing them blindly into my backpack. I swung the strap over my shoulder and looked at my mother.
"Let's go!" I urged on as if she was the one who was late, and rushed outside to the car, ignoring the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. After all, I was late! My hand reached out and tried to pull open the car door, but that was another one of my larger mistakes as I realized the car was locked.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"RINNY!"
"Sorry, Mom!"
"Thanks mom!" I cheered, quickly flinging my orange backpack over my shoulder and running out at a fast pace towards the school gate. I just hoped I wasn't too late, for Mr. Hiyama would have my ass.
That actually sounded wrong. Heh.
But he really is the strictest teacher on the entire school campus, and one of the most horrid creatures to ever step foot on the face of the Earth. If you're not in your seat by the time them bell rings, it becomes ten laps around the unit building. Oh, now you're back-talking? Two hours of detention. This crazy teacher even uses a belt on his students in some cases. A belt! Are those even legal anymore?
My legs carried me down the outside hallways as fast as they would allow me to fly. I dashed past people, probably TAs running errands or just students ditching, of course. I raced past classrooms and unit buildings, leaping over trash cans and even the occasional bench. These legs of mine never lost speed even as I sharply and abruptly turned the corners.
Until I turned the corner into unit two. Something solid seemed to be in my way, and I realized it too late. The force of the impact made me fall backwards onto the tile- my backpack had been knocked off my arms and fell to the ground in a thud, spreading some papers around the floor.
Grumbling, I got up from my current position on the floor, rubbing my backside for a moment.
"Hey, watch it," I grumbled, looking in front of me to see who was the one that so rudely got in my way.
He shocked me at first, having the same colored hair that I had, with the exception of it being tied in a short ponytail. His blue eyes were a similar shade as my own, but it was brighter and more joyful- like his- and hidden behind square, black reading glasses. Ones that made him look good and made him look smart.
And as he stood up, dusting himself off, I noticed that he was a few inches taller than me. Damn me and my freaking shortness.
Sighing, I kneeled down to pick the scattered and slightly-crumpled papers from the floor. Essays, homework, even random pieces of notes that I really didn't care for. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a hand clump together some of the papers. Looking over, I saw the boy kneel down next to me.
"Sorry about that." His voice spoke as we gathered up the papers.
"It's fine," I answered as he handed to me what he had picked up. "Thanks."
"No problem," He shrugged as he stood up. The blonde boy turned around to leave, before looking over his shoulder. "By the way, the name's Len,"
I nodded, smiling, as everything got repacked messily into my vortex-like backpack. Slowly I stood up, hands resting against the straps of the bag. "Rin," I replied once more.
"Rin, huh?" I heard that voice with a faint smirk in his tone. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Rin,"
"Likewise,"
Silence then hung in the air around us, as if we were expecting the other to add something into the conversation. One second, two, three... I guess there was nothing else to say. Turning around, I let my legs carry me to class before I would become any later than I already was. Otherwise, Mr. Hiyama would fucking kill me.
"Where are you going?" I heard Len ask as my hand reached for the door's handle. It froze in place as I turned my head, looking hard at his expression. He was kidding, right? Wasn't it obvious? But he was completely serious.
"To class. Where else?"
"I wouldn't go in there now. There's only ten minutes of class left," he shrugged, and then added, "But you can still go in there if you want to,"
"Hell no," I muttered, my hand pulling away from the door as if it was burning. There was no way- no fucking way- I was going inside that classroom. Not if I was gone for almost the entire hour. That would be suicide. Murder. Hell. Death-by-stupid.
He chuckle resonated from behind me as I started walking towards him- away from the accursed door. My face turned into a scowl as I glared at him. "What's so funny?"
The blonde haired boy shook his head sadly, still softly chuckling at my expense. I listened closely, hearing him mutter the words 'silly' and 'freshman'. My hand lost control as it punched his shoulder at the remark, and I soon started walking away.
"That hurt," he complained pitifully, his hand rubbing his shoulder. I turned to face him, walking backwards, and sticking out my tongue playfully.
"Man up, Len," I then turned back around and continued on my way, satisfied with the slight look of shock on his face. My legs carried me aimlessly around my next class's unit building. Half to myself, I grumbled, "I am not a stupid freshman,"
"You're right. I apologize," Len's voice rang out from beside me.
"It's not polite to eavesdrop on people," I scolded.
"Oh, so you don't want me to apologize?" His eyebrow raised, mocking surprise.
"Now I want an apology,"
"Then I should get one. You eavesdropped on me as well,"
"Yes, I- OH! Forget this!" I screamed, throwing up my arms in distress. He was just as bad as Meiko, turning all my words around to mean something completely different. It was better to just stop it before it began, but once again, I was too damn stubborn. That, and these kinds of people are annoying.
But they do make your life interesting as well. I was starting to him.
I decided to continue our little conversation after a small moment of silence. "So, why aren't you in class?"
I turned around to face him, seeing his hand rub the back of his head. "I was finished with work, so the teacher let me out of class,"
"You ditched,"
"...Yes,"
"You baka,"
But I still started to like him anyways.
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