Behind The Mask

Chapter 25- Akai

I woke up with tear stains on my cheeks and pillows. My hear ached, my eyes were sore, and my throat felt like sandpaper. I just couldn't understand- what had I done wrong? Did she love somebody else instead? Or was I just not good enough? I didn't know what to do anymore, and that was one of the parts that hurt me the most.

I realised that was a weight on the end of my bed and knew that that was what had woken me up. I knew that Akari cared, but he couldn't understand what I was going through. Kian had never rejected him, and even at school he was starting to have both boys and girls throw themselves at him... I was always in the background: ignored, forgotten... I should have known I'd be rejected. "Please go away Akari, I'm not in the mood for breakfast."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not Akari."

I recognised that voice, but I couldn't place it. It was so soft and comforting. It was not too dissimilar to Eliza's, but a bit higher pitched... Sophie? I raised my head and looked towards the source of the voice. I'd forgotten she was going to be here: I needed her in that moment. I sat up and pulled her into a hug, fresh tears already filling my eyes. Having Akari there for me meant a lot, but Sophie was another girl who was yet to get a partner... she could understand better than anyone else.

"She doesn't love me Sophie. I confessed to her, I told her how I felt, and she ran away. What am I supposed to do now?"

"You're supposed to live on. Give her time to figure things out. From what I saw last time she was here, she loves you a lot, you just caught her by surprise. There's nothing more you can do. Even if she hypothetically rejects you completely, which I really doubt will happen, you'll just have to move on. Trust me, I know it's hard, but that's life. Either way, I'll be here for you: I promise. You're my new sister I never had, and I will be there no matter what."

"Thank you... sis."

She hugged me tighter before letting me go. "Come on, let's get you some breakfast, then we can go pick up your stuff from your old parent's house." I'd forgotten about that. It made me a bit more anxious. I didn't want to see them again: my lip was still healing a bit from his punch. But I had a few things I wanted to keep. A few possessions that Axel had given me made up a part of the list, same with some posters and pictures, my video games, and some books.

Sophie grabbed my hand and dragged me downstairs into the dining room where the others had already started. Jade walked up to me, and I almost expected him to warn me about messing with the family. Instead, he pulled me into a hug and whispered into my ear "Welcome to the family. Just means I have another sister to deal with." And I felt more welcomed than I had ever expected to be.

I sat down with them and ate a full-on breakfast of eggs, sausages, bacon, and toast. I ate what I could before I got up and headed upstairs to pace my room. Akari came up to my room to let me know that it was time to go. We hopped into Eliza's car with a trailer on the back in case there were too many items to grab. We drove for about 2 minutes before we stopped in front of my old house.

We all walked up to the door together, with me mentally preparing for what was to come. I went to knock on the door, but something was holding me back and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Jade walked up next to me and put his hand on my shoulder before lowering my arm and knocking on the door for me. When the door opened, it was my mother who opened the door. She gave me a blank stare and in that moment I knew I was dead to her. I don't know why, but that stung just as much as losing my brother.

She invited us in and lead us up to my bedroom where I was happy to find that they'd followed the rules set by the court and hadn't touched any of my belongings. I grabbed one of the boxes that Akari had been carrying in and unfolded it. I looked around and took a deep breath, not knowing what I wanted to grab first... then something caught my eye. It was a photo sitting on my bedside table of me and my brother from when we were about 10. I knew that was the first thing I wanted to keep, along with his old necklace and a few other belongings that he had given me before he died.

I then turned to all of my books and went through, picking out all of the one's I'd enjoyed and putting them in a separate box. I also put all of my games in another box, along with my gaming consoles that I used. I grabbed a few of my plushies and teddies, placing all of the one's that had a special, personal meaning with all of the other stuff. I did the same thing with all of my clothes and posters. By the end of it, more than half of my belongings were sitting in boxes, ready to be placed in the car.

I sat down on my old bed and watched as the others started moving things out and placing them in the boot and the trailer... I just felt so hollow sitting in that room. I decided to take one last look around the house, combing through all the memories I had made and all the experiences I had gone through in that house. Looking at the stairs where Axel and I had had competitions on who could skip the most steps, the little gap next to the lounge room where I would hide when playing hide and seek... there was so much.

As I came back to the front door to leave with all the other's to go back home, I ran into my mother. "I hope we never see you again. you're not supposed to turn your back on your family." She stated in her disappointed voice.

"I didn't," I retaliated, "I turned my back on people who already hated me. It's hard to turn your back on family if you were never treated as a part of the family in the first place."

And with that I walked out, feeling the sting of tears in my eyes. I told Eliza that I wanted to walk home so that I could have time to myself to think and get a hold of my feelings. She seemed to understand my reasoning, so she hopped in the car with the others before driving off. I started walking, following the same route the car was.

I decided to take a short cut and walked through the park, still trapped in my own head. I thought I heard something, so I turned around expecting to see a bird or something- but there was nothing there. I turned back and kept walking, thinking it must have just been the wind. Out of nowhere- with no warning- I felt something slam into my back and I fell to the ground. "I heard about what you did... she's mine. I'm just waiting for her to come running back to me. you will stay out of her life."

"W-who the hell are you?"

"Did my sweet Kio never mention me? I'm her old boyfriend and soon to be her boyfriend again. when she hears about how I dealt with the person who tried to get in the way of our future relationship... she will be ever so happy! Now, from what I know, you like dancing a lot. Apparently you're really good at it too. Let's change that, shall we?"

He swung the bat he was holding into my knee cap, shattering it instantly. I did the only thing my brain would allow in that moment and screamed, which was the only thing I could hear outside of his insane laugh. He swung his bat again, this time hitting my ribs. I stopped screaming, unable to utter a single sound. I was struggling to breath, it hurt too much.

"I hope she finds you like this; she would be ever so happy. Maybe I could wrap you up in a little bow and leave you here as a present. But even now you're moving too much... let's fix that too!"

He swung his bat again, and I saw my life flashing before my eyes: Axel and I having a pillow fight, learning to ride a bike, losing him, meeting the purple-haired dorks, falling for Kio, being introduced to Akari, moving in with Eliza's family, the court date, the confession, then it all went black...