Blood Flower

Chapter 1

What are you even supposed to do when you find your best friend passed out on the doorstep?

Natsuki almost dropped the tray of cupcakes she’d been carrying. “MONIKA! KAI! HELP!”
Monika came running to the door, with Kai close by. “What happened?” she asked.
“What do you think happened, Monika?” Natsuki was on the verge of tears. She placed the tray on the decorative table next to the coat rack. “Yuri fainted, you idiot!”
“What? Why?” Kai rushed to Yuri’s side and placed his hand on her abdomen. It was gently rising and falling.
“I don't know!” Natsuki cried, tears streaming out of her eyes. "Just...help her!”
Kai gingerly scooped Yuri into his arms. Her long purple hair gently swayed as he did so.
“Bring her to my room,” Monika ordered. “I think she has a few bruises. Sayori, you get some ice packs from the freezer. I’ll get some food from the pantry. Nat, you call a doctor and wait for Yuri to wake up.”

***
Kai carefully placed the unconscious Yuri onto Monika’s bed. Her breathing was soft and steady. That was a good sign.
He pulled the pastel green comforter over her body. “Please wake up soon, Yuri,” he whispered quietly. As if that would even help.
There came a knock on the door. “Kai, you in there?” He immediately recognized the voice of his childhood friend, Sayori. He got up and let her in.
“Thanks for letting me in. I have something to tell you.” Something about Sayori’s voice told him that she was serious. “By the way, here are the ice packs. Can you put these over her bruises?”
“Sure,” he said, walking over to Yuri. “Now, what was it that you were telling me?”
“Well...remember Monika sent me to fetch Yuri?”
Kai rolled down Yuri’s black thigh-length socks, to find a large bruise on her knee that was almost as violet as her hair.
“Yeah, I remember. What about it?”
“She was acting really strange. Talking to herself. I didn’t really catch a lot, but I heard her mention a sister, the book, and...turd...dye…?”
He had to keep himself from laughing. “Turd dye? Why would Yuri color her poop?”
Sayori laughed along. “I know, right?! She may be different, but I doubt she’d want to do such a thing!”
“I believe she meant Third Eye.”
The two stopped laughing. Yuri had suddenly sat up and was talking.
“Insolent fools. I knew she had terrible friends.” The voice was harsh and metallic. Not very Yuri at all. “Tch. Oh, well, I've been raised to believe that anything or anyone unnecessary must be eliminated. In this case, that would be...you."
Yuri—or whatever the hell was possessing her body—rose from the bed. In her hand was a sharp and shiny butterfly knife, which she flipped open.
"AAAAAH! HELP!" Sayori screamed. Instinctively, Kai pulled her into a corner, shielding her with his arms as Yuri walked toward them.
"Don't come any closer, you...you monster!" She only walked faster.
"You prove to be useless! You are not doing anything productive or beneficial!" Yuri swung her knife at Kai. He recoiled in pain, clutching his arm as Sayori whimpered.
Yuri stopped. Something clouded over her eyes, and she shook her head.
"Kai! What happened to you?!"
"You're asking me! This was your fault, Yuri!" Kai yelled. Blood was steadily seeping out of the wound and forming a small puddle on the floor.
The door opened. "Guys, the doctor isn't availa—KAI! ARE YOU OKAY?!"  

***
Yuri holding a butterfly knife. Blood streaming out of a long cut on Kai's arm. Sayori bawling, blowing her nose on her hoodie.
Put two and two together and you could tell Yuri attacked Kai with the butterfly knife.

Monika ran to the shocked, purple-haired girl. "How could you?!" She pulled Yuri towards her by the sweater. "What has he ever done to you?!"
"I-I don't know! Something came over me and...it just happened!"
"I don't believe you, Yuri. It doesn't work that way. Now tell me, why did you do it?"
"I am telling you that I DON'T KNOW!"
"OH, YES YOU DO! YOU'D BETTER OPEN YOUR MOUTH UNLESS YOU WANT ME TO RIP IT OPEN WITH THAT KNIFE!"
One look at Yuri's face was all it took for Monika to realize she'd crossed a line. The entire Literature Club stood gaping at her. She turned red and breathed deeply to regain her composure. 
"I'm sorry, Yuri. I should have listened the first time you told me you didn't know."
"Actually, Monika, I do. Are you sure you're going to believe absolutely everything I say?"
"Sure."
"It was because my sister in soul form asked me if I could lend her my body because she found out a way to escape her hell of a habitation without being killed and she couldn't find a suitable host other than me so I allowed her to kill me because the method she used doesn't work on people who are alive but don't worry I only died for five seconds before she took over my body anyway she tried to kill Kai and I'm so sorry for that I really am and—"
"Okay, okay, okay, Yuri, we get it, now will you please calm down?"
Yuri breathed deeply. "Okay."
"Is that why you fainted?"
"I didn't just faint, I literally died!"
Suddenly, Sayori stood up. "Uh, guys? Can we forget all this drama stuff? It's her eighteenth birthday today! We need to celebrate! We can get back to whatever is happening right now tomorrow!"
"You're right, Sayori. I still have those cupcakes! I'll go get them, we can all celebrate up here!" Natsuki rushed out Monika's room and down the stairs.
"Uh, did you guys forget about me?"
The girls turned to Kai. He was still clutching his arm.
"I'm probably gonna need a bandage and some gauze."
"Oh, crap, yeah! I'm so sorry, Kai," Monika said with genuine sympathy. She smiled before leaving the room in search of a first aid kit.
Yuri smiled. "Thanks for caring, you guys. It really means a lot to me. I feel a lot better now."
As she took the first bite of her chocolate cupcake with purple icing on top, she felt anything but.