Death's Touch

Remembrance

Now in class, the teacher walks in. "Morning students," she said as she starts writing on the chalkboard. She wrote "pop quiz!!!"

The whole time doing the quiz I was sweating bullets. I couldn't focus. I ended up just doing okay on the quiz. After class I felt an urge to see her. My legs start running. I could feel cool air rushing in my holes in my cocoon. I went up a stairway and ran down a hall. I could see her back. I ran as fast as I could, but then one of the higher class men stood in my way. He looked down on me. From what I know his name was Kenji Kaisu

"Where are you going?" He said in a dead tone.

"To Ilya" I said as I tried to walk to her. He moves in my way.

"Not so fast." He said with a grin and took me under his arm. We walked around a corner and up to the roof.

"Why are we up here?" I asked him.

He gets on his knees and says "Can you help me get close with Ilya???"

Oh boy, this man is in love with Ilya. "Sure whatever" I said to him.

He got up as fast as I said that. "Thank you thank you" he said bowing down each time.

I just walked back. I saw Ilya, she was talking with some friends. She smiles and waves at me as she walks past me. I just wave back. I had the temptation of turning back to talking to her, but I didn't want to bother her.

I walked out of school and to a park. I sat on the swings. I look around and see all the kids playing, running around and laughing. My heart warms up a little. Then I feel a push, I start to swing. I look back and see Ilya pushing me with some other kids. They pushed me for a bit.

After they stopped I asked Ilya a question "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"Yea, but how about you?" She said to me with a motherly voice. She had gotten on a swing next to me.

The kids are running around. "So... Do you know those kids?" I asked her.

"Nope," she said carelessly.

"Ooh okay," I said to her, swinging a little "there is a guy that likes you at school"

"Oh, sucks for him, I already like someone," she said.

"Oh? But why not him?" I asked her.

"He is too desperate, he changed to this school just because I moved here." She said to me in a bitter voice as if she didn't want to talk about it.

As she talks about him I notice that he has snuck out of school too. He was hiding in a bush behind her.

She gets up and walks towards the woods. She waves and yells back to me "hey, come on let's go into the woods."

The kids rush and follow her. I got up and walked on over. The kids were looking at bugs and plants and I told them things about them.

"That's poison ivy, please don't touch it." I said to some kids. "Oh that's a Hercules beetle" I said to some other kids. "That's just a bamboo tree," I said.

The kids seem to enjoy nature. We walked to a great old tree. It seemed to be almost as thick as it was tall. The kids climbed up the tree and ate the fruits of the tree. I look in awestruck. I never knew that there were other kids that liked nature as much as I did.

While I was shocked Ilya walked up to me and said "take off your covering and climb up the tree with me" then she extended her arm out to me.

Without thinking I took off my jacket and my mask. I took her hand and walked up to the tree. As I looked at the tree, flashes of images flash in my head. They climbed up ahead and I followed. One hand up at a time, but every time I touched the tree I felt a familiar sense and the flashes were starting to rapidly rush in my head. Ilya was sitting on a branch picking fruits and waiting for me.

She looks down at me and smiles. Ilya. My mind goes blank. Herb. Ilya. Tree. Flashes of images blocked my vision. My body felt like it was heavy and my hand let go of the grips. I fell and the next thing I saw was Ilya reaching her hand down for me. Ilya Tushina.

I woke up on the ground. The kids surround me as my head lays on Ilya's lap.

"You're awake!!!" Ilya cried out, tears started streaming down her cheeks.

"What? What happened?" I asked her as some kid gave me a bottle of water.

"You fainted and I was so scared" she couldn't hold her tears in.

I was not sure what happened back then but I think it was because I was dehydrated. It didn't matter though. In those moments I remembered someone. My best friend.

We played on and around that tree with some kids for a long time. As time went by even their parents came to see that tree. It became a tradition. In the middle of the forest there was a clearing and the tree was in the middle. I remember we had a picnic there. My mom took a day off work and Ilya's dad brought some home-made sandwiches. The times of good didn't last long.

After a while Ilya just disappeared and her family moved away without saying anything. I was left wondering, empty hearted and didn't know how to feel about what was going on.