Trust Me | Tsukimi Shin

(Part Eight)

A knock on his door jolts Shin awake and he stares up at his ceiling with wide eyes. The room is pitch-black like he's trapped in a box full of ink, and he waits for his eyes to adjust to the darkness while he tries to decide if he imagined the rap on his door or not. There's pattering of rain drumming against his window, wind whistling and making the glass rattle, and he wondered who the hell could have been out in the middle of the night, knocking on his door in this kind of weather. Maybe he really did imagine it?

BANG BANG BANG

"Fuck!" Shin curses, startled from the noise and already beginning to panic. He lurches into an upright position and his bedsheets get tangled with his legs. "Who the hell...?" Kicking off his blankets, he hesitantly rises to his feet and exits his bedroom, wincing when there's another series of bangs at his door. The floor is cold against his bare feet as he takes quiet, light steps towards the door, hand grazing the wall to keep himself balanced after just waking up. Reaching the door, he swallows hard before peering into the peephole.

It's Chizue, and he couldn't be more relieved to know it wasn't his landlord coming to complain about seemingly anything, or some serial killer who was determined to make Shin a victim. She didn't look good at all, though, and his relief quickly contorts into worry.

Her gray windbreaker is crooked and slipping off of one of her shoulders, her baggy t-shirt is wrinkled, and the bottom of her sweatpants were wet from likely running in the rain. Her socks looked soaked and her feet were likely freezing since she wore only slip-on sandals despite the weather, so she had to have just threw them on and left without a second thought... what was up with her?

He opens the door and her head whips up. Droplets that fell from her bangs slide down her cheeks and her forehead, and water crawls down her nose and chin. Her jaw flexes and she swallows before speaking. "I thought you'd be working... God, I'm happy you're not. Can you... can you keep me company for a while tonight?"

"Wh- doing what? What's wrong? What happened?"

"T-To answer your questions... I don't know yet, a lot is wrong, but I don't want to talk about what happened right now," She shuffles in her spot and her socks squish against her shoes. She mutters, head turning away, "Just- I have to- I have to occupy myself and I rented a car and everything just so I could drive around and maybe visit places to make me- to help- I don't know. But I-I realized that it would be safer if I had company tonight. I don't think I should be by myself right now- I-I'm not trying to guilt-trip you into coming with me, and if you say no it's completely fine and I'll just return the car and head home, but-"

"Chizue, slow down a bit for me."

Her lips slam shut and she hesitantly nods. A sigh leaves Shin as he processes what she said, and his brows furrow as he fully takes it all in. She was saying some scary things right now. Her eyes were wide and shaky, but they weren't swollen from tears, and her lips formed a thin, straight line. It was an odd expression, like muted, lingering shock. Chizue usually only rambled and stuttered when she was emotional and feeling a lot of things at once, so Shin was quick to catch up on that since she was otherwise rather well-spoken and calm.

"Yeah, I'll come with you, I just... I need to, uh, get dressed."

"What you're wearing now is fine, just throw on some shoes and a jacket." Her eyes are focused on the carpeted floor of the hallway, which was damp from her shoes. "I'm going to go make sure the car is warm..." Almost eager to remove herself, she keeps her head down, fingers toying with her soaked hair as she made her way down the hall and stairs. Shin watched, perplexed, but soon turned and ripped a jacket off a hanger and slipped on some slides that were by the door.