Behind The Mask

Chapter 11- Akari

When I woke up, I instantly knew that something was different from normal. First of all, I was sitting upright with my back against the wall next to my bed. Secondly, there was the pressure of someone leaning against my shoulder. And thirdly/lastly, I didn't have any nightmares. For the first night in more than 3 years, I didn't have a nightmare. It all came back to me as I started waking up more: Akai coming over for her instrumental lesson, her coming in and us talking about music, me starting to style her hair, her opening up and breaking down, and my promise to her. I meant every word of that promise as well: I would not leave her, and in my eyes: she was my sister. I would do anything to protect her and torture anyone who hurt her.

We ended up staying until the middle of the night talking before, she fell asleep, obviously tired from her earlier breakdown. She leant to her side and fell asleep as her head rested on my shoulder: finding comfort in my presence. I found that I felt something towards her. A kind of love, but not the same kind I felt towards Kian. This wasn't a romantic sort of love: it was the love of family. I'd found out that since her twin had passed away, her parents had turned on each other and her. They started arguing and would find ways to make Akai feel like it was her fault. She had nowhere to go in those moments and had started feeling abandoned. She only kept going back there because she had no backup place to stay.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed Auntie Eliza standing in the doorway with the phone's camera pointed at us and a smirk on her face. I noticed Akai stirring next to me. she turned and saw Auntie Eliza and froze, knowing what this must have looked like. "Elizabeth, this isn't what it seems. We were just talking and fell asleep."

"Oh, I know, doesn't mean I don't think it was a cute sight though. And call me Eliza, it seems you'll be around a fair bit anyway." And on that note, she walked out.

Akai started freaking out, thinking that Aunt Eliza thought they were in a relationship. She started mumbling and pulling at her hair. "Relax," I told her, "She knows that we're not in a relationship. She knows that we're not in love like that and never will be." She just gave me a confused look, obviously not understanding. "Akai, sit own for a minute, will you? Do you want to know why she knows that? Akai, I'm gay. I'm not interested in girls like that at all."

"Wait! Does that mean that when you were asking me about whether I've loved anyone, you weren't talking about some girl or Kio and I, were you? Were you... Are you in love with Kian? Is that why you've started acting a bit differently around him?

"... yes. Just please, I'm begging you: don't tell him."

After she promised to keep it a secret, we headed out and went down for breakfast, with Aunt Eliza having made sure that there was food for Akai. When breakfast was finished, I asked for a private word with my aunt. I let her know a little bit about Akai's home life and about her brother (making sure to only tell her the bare necessities about it) and asked if there was anything we could do. She told me that she would ponder on it and let me know if she thought of anything. Then Akai and I left for the bus.

That day and the rest of the school week passed as normal, with me sleeping on Kian's shoulder on the bus ride home seemingly becoming the norm. The only unusual thing of note was Aunt Eliza deciding to make one of the spare bedrooms in our house open for her to stay in for when she needs to get away from her parents. She took Akai out to the shops to buy things to decorate the room and clothes to put in the wardrobe. When they got back, they had a dozen bags filled to the brim with clothes, posters, wall stickers and decorative figurines and accessories.

On Friday, while we were skipping health, Kio and Kian extended an offer to us to go to their house for the day. Akai (who had already been there multiple times in the past) accepted instantly. I knew I had nothing going on over the weekend, so I decided to accept. When I asked them for their address, Akai said not to worry about that and that she could give me a lift there, since she'll be taking a taxi and because she said she might be closer to me than when she's normally at her house. I got the message and knew that she'd be taking a taxi and would be staying the night in the bedroom that she had at my place, but I kept that to myself and just nodded in agreement.

I wasn't very surprised when she walked through the gate with me after the bus trip home. We stayed up late that night talking to each other in her bedroom. Through the few nights she's stayed at her place, we learned a lot about each other. For example, she learned that my sperm donor was in jail (but didn't know what for or what he had done), and I learned that- like me- she was still facing mental issues.

The next morning, we called a cab, and she gave the address to the driver. I wasn't paying attention, so I didn't hear what the address was, but I wasn't worried. As we started driving, I started to recognise a few of the things around us, but I didn't know where from. Then I saw a playground and vaguely remembered playing there with my mother. I realised what area we were in and clenched my fists so hard that I almost cut my hand.

One of my worst nightmares came to life as we hopped out of the cab in front of this fairly decent sized home. I felt Akai shaking my shoulder and turned to realise that she had been asking if I was okay and pointing out that I looked pale. She didn't understand. With a shaky breath, I stepped forward. I felt Akai (who was realising that I was getting anxious) put her arm around my shoulders and guide me towards the door before knocking it. It was Kian who opened the door and invited us in, oblivious to how I was acting.

He pulled me towards the front living room, and I saw everything that had happened to me happening again, like a hallucination. I saw a door that led downstairs to the basement and remembered being locked down there every night. I saw the fireplace and remembered the pain of hot iron being placed on my bare back. Then we got to the living room, and I saw where my mother had given me my violin, right before she died in my arms. I felt sick. I ran to the nearest toilet, not needing directions as I remembered the layout very well and emptied my stomach into the porcelain bowl that sat exactly as I remembered it. Kian rushed in behind me and pulled my long hair out of my face. When I was done, I couldn't help but as him a question: "Did you move into this house within the last 3 years?"

"Yeah, it would've been about 3 years ago now. Why?"

"Because that's around the same time that I moved out of this house into my aunts and my father was sent to prison."

Wewalked back into the living room, where the girls were sitting there lookingworried about me. When I walked in, Akai ran up and hugged me with a force Ididn't know she had. I repeated to them what I had said to Kian and they bothlooked shocked but had a slight look of understanding on their faces. I walkedinto the middle of the room and knelt down on both of my knees. "Right here.This is where I was sitting when I was 4 years old, holding my mother as shefell into an eternal rest." I felt tears start welling up. "This is where mylife turned into a horror story."