That Blonde Guy

Chapter 12

It's already been three days.

Three days since that fateful Friday afternoon in the river. Three days since little Tako died. And three days since the last time I saw Mikey.

What's bothering me was the fact that everything that had happened that day never left my head. It would play in my mind vividly, like a movie, not even stopping for a single second. Until now, I could still feel his warm breath burning my skin. It's like his face never left my neck. The strange electricity, the butterflies, the very sensation--everything. I could still feel all of them, and I have no idea why.

This mysterious thing that I was experiencing was making me restless. Disturbed. I was unable to understand what the hell was happening to me, and the frustration that it was giving me was immeasurable.

Ugh, this is such a pain in the neck.

"Nika!"

I came back to my senses when I heard my mother's voice echoing from the kitchen.

I blinked, gave my head a slight shake and shouted back, "y-yes, Mom?"

"I've been calling you for a hundred times, what's wrong?"

"I--I was watching TV," I said. "Sorry!"

"The TV's literally off," said Yuki, who just got out of his room.

I looked back at the TV which was, by the way, just right in front of me. It was indeed off.

Yuki sat on the other side of the sofa and laughed. He took the remote and turned the TV on. "There is definitely something wrong with you."

Yeah, I think so, too.

I heard my mom chuckled from the kitchen. "Anyway, sweetie, I  forgot to buy bread crumbs for the chicken," she said. "Can you grab some in the store?"

I slid into my over-sized pink hoddie before walking out of the house. The evening air wasn't particularly that cold but I just love being cozy when going outside, and this pink hoddie was just perfect. The convenience store was just a few meters from our house. It wasn't that near, but not really that far either, so it would probably just take me a few minutes of walk.

I walked along the silent street, taking slow and steady steps as both of my hands were inside the hoodie's pocket. I was sleepy. Preoccupied. I was walking absent-mindedly, and if it wasn't for the loud honk of the passing car that brought my senses back, I would've bumped into a streetlight pole in front of me.

I was sighing when I got to the convenience store, taking the hood off my head. I immediately went on and grabbed some bread crumbs, also getting Yuki a barbeque-flavored chips that he could munch on while watching TV. I walked around, trying to look for something to get for myself but when I passed by the dorayaki shelf, I stopped. Guess whose face just popped up in my freaky head.

'Enough with the dorayaki for now,' I thought. I closed my eyes and sighed. 'And for the love of god, can you just stop thinking about him?'

It was probably just around 7 pm so there's quite a few people in the store, and the line was surprisingly long. It literally took me about ten full minutes before I was able to get to the counter. I got out, carrying the brown paper bag containing the stuff that I bought, and immediately took my way back. It was such a calm and pleasant evening and I thought everything would be just fine, until I walked pass the park just a few blocks from the store.

This was actually the same park where Yuki got beaten by the fake Toman, and I would see it every day since it's in my route to school. It was often deserted at night, and when I passed by it earlier when I was going to the store, there was no one in there.