“You knew all about this. You knew all this time!?” A deafening shout of rage was what she heard to wake her up. She felt like she’d been sleeping for years. She’d heard about dreams being vivid and almost real that Mikan Sakura was convinced she was indeed in a dream. She turned to her side and let her body linger on the soft bed. It was softer than her real bed at her grandpa’s home. It was a nice dream from a dream. She let her eyes flutter, waiting for sleep to kick in again, but there was the shout again.
Her attention drifted lightly from the bed to her surroundings, wondering where the shouts came from. Mikan realized that she was in a place she had never been before. Everything was old, she can tell, the tables, the chairs and even the bed. There were no windows but closed bricked wall. And the doors, Mikan had noticed were rounded, almost archaic and with huge bolts. She wanted to check the bolts so there was something she can tell Oji-san and Hotaru when she wakes up.
Her feet found the floor and enjoyed the carpeted floor’s flufiness. They seemed to be made out of real fur. She grimaced at the wasted fur, and how it saddened her that a real animal might have been killed. She felt a pang of grief and dislike towards the owner of the house. Soon, she found herself even more interested to the argument that was taking place at the other side of the room. Mikan determined the voice that woke her up as that of a woman’s, almost roaring like a thunder. She didn’t wonder why it reached her ears even with closed doors. Mikan stepped a few steps closer to the door and held up her hands to reach the knob.
“What will you tell them? That’s not a child Yuka! That’s a monster!”
The words were like splinters to Mikan’s feelings, not knowing why she ever felt that way. She sympathized with this child to be spoken of in that way. How could someone insult a child like that?
“It’s a baby Na-----“But the woman was cut off by a screeching howl. Mikan heard it from the movies, howls sending a viewer to shivers. However, this time, she was a listener and almost seemed like whatever was happening seemed scarier than any movie.
“Mikan! Mikan!” The howl went louder, coupled with thunderous growls but her attention drifted again to the voice calling her name.
“Mikan!” The growls came even more prominent, almost like some dogs were fighting outside the room. Her hair rose from the fright as she realized that even the nicest dreams have the tendency to be the darkest nightmare one could ever have.
“Mikan!”
Sweats flowed down her forehead, slower than her breathing just as she woke up. It was a nightmare. She was sure of it, and glad she already woke up. Her eyes fixed on the person staring down at her clammy state. Mikan rose to her feet and gave her grandfather the tightest hug she ever given him.
“Oji-san.... I’m thankful you woke me up.” Mikan uttered in between breaths before letting the old man go.
“Well, you were growling....” He retorted eliciting a smile upon his wrinkly face. His eyes twinkled, like a star that held so many secrets. They gzed down at Mikan’s face and travelled to the desk beside her bed. “You have a letter...” he uttered before he turned his back and left her confused.
.............................................
“Mikan,
The stone is what will set us free. I will be back before the moon turns whole again. Take care of my parents.
Hotaru
Mikan read the mesage over and over again but couldn’t in any way comprehend what Hotaru meant by the stone and what it has to do with the moon being whole again. Her best friend Hotaru can be a prankster sometimes but she’d been missing for a week now. “She was a person who wouldn’t waste people’s time worrying over her for nothing, not even for the expense of a joke.” As Mikan told her Oji-san last night.
“What stone, Hotaru?” She whimpered in her bed as she held close the torn page of a book where Hotaru had writen her message. Mikan flipped the page back and read the faded scripture again. “Sensou no Sujou: Ookami to kixkyuuketseki no aida desu...” She wished it was some kind of a spell that so if she’d say it, would send her to where Hotaru was. Mikan wished the scripture was something magical as she felt while reading it. But it was nothing but a plain title to a book about the History of the war between vampires and wolves.
She shook her head in disagreement at the thought of Hotaru’s involvement with these creatures. Wolves. Mikan scoffed. Hotaru would be the last person to ever believe in these fictional creatures, let alone be with them. She sighed as she realized that the probability of Hotaru writing on the torn page because there were no papers available to write on is as high as the fear enveloping her at the very moment.
It was getting frustrating for her but she stood up and threw the page away.
“The stone is what will set us free. I will be back before the moon turns whole again. Take care of my parents.” She could imagine Hotaru’s voice repeating the message in her head.
“Yeah right, Hotaru. Whatever stone it is, you better be back now. I bet the moon’s whole again you won’t be back still.” She uttered a complaint as she stepped away from her bed in an attempt to glance at the night sky from her window. At the sudden tick of realization, Mikan ran out her room and straight to the kitchen where the calendar hung up the wall.
“Before the moon turns whole again... It’s a week from now.” She uttered under her breath, afraid that her Oji-san might wake up from the noise. Oji-san had been with her, and stood up as her parent ever since her parents left her outside his door. And this time, she didn’t want to add to the tension that they’ve all been feeling since Hotaru left so giving the old man his rest was the least she could do for him. She could feel that this time was kind of different too. Mikan knew that she couldn’t drag Grandpa into this mess. Deep inside, she knew that Hotaru wanted her help, hers alone.
“Last week, the day that Hotaru-chan left...”
Mikan jumped at the sudden voice that interreupted her musings. It was Oji-san. He was dressed in his robe with a probing eye as if to check on her.
Mikan realized that she couldn’t move around without waking him up. She approached her grandfather and helped him sit on the floor in front of the table and walked her way around it to the other side. Her eyes gazed up to the old man’s eyes, wary that there were still a coming clause to follow.
“It was the day you were born Mikan.”
“Yeah... You’ve told me that a hundred times, Oji-san. the Do... you want a cup of coffee Oji-san?” she motioned to leave the table as if to make her stay and prolong the conversation she was aiming to change. She sighed and sat back, then darted her gaze away.
Oji-san stood up and left her agaped. She understood quite well how senility does that to old people. A tingly kind of fear enveloped her thinking about what will become of her grandfather in time and now, even Hotaru’s missing. But her fear somehow subsided when he came back with a book in his hands.
Her heart felt a squeeze from the loneliness that enveloped her at that very moment. Hotaru was lost and no where to be found, and now Oji-san’s lost it.
She silently waited for her grandfather’s next movement. But Mikan was caught in a hard blow at the head by the book he was holding.
“What the- “
“No, I didn’t lose it yet, you fool...” Oji-san roared with defiance as if he has been thrown with an accusation. “Now be quiet and listen. Because Mikan, it’s time....”
The last words came out as a whisper. The kind Mikan always hear from Oji-san to scare her as a child when she used to wander off to places far from home.
But for Mikan, now it seemed like he was urging her to wander off.
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Yeah, kinda short because I needed to do my thesis.... <3
Whether you liked it or not, I still thank you for reading this. (I am really sorry for your time, but thank you very much! )
