Behind The Mask

Chapter 26- Akari

I watched through the window as we drove off. I watched as Akai bowed her head down and started walking home. I watched as her broken heart healed and broke even more at the same time. Then she was gone and I couldn't watch at all.

Sitting in the car driving off made me feel like a terrible person. There was the girl who had become like a sister to me being in pain, and I wasn't with her comforting her. I knew that she needed time to herself, but it didn't make me feel any better. Back in her old house, I looked through some of the photos on the wall. The main thing I noticed was that there were individual pictures of everyone in her family except for her. Any time that she was in a photo was in the background or in mass family photos. They never even acknowledged her.

We got home in about 3 minutes, which we estimated to be a 30 minute walk for Akai, maybe a little bit longer because she was most likely getting trapped in her own head. When we got home, we took all of the boxes and sat them in Akai's room, ready for her to unpack when she was ready. There ended up being around 7-8 boxes, so we took 2 trips and grabbed a box each.

Jade decided to invite Amber over to hangout and we all sat in the living room just talking to each other while we waited for Akai. I liked Amber, she was really nice and didn't seem to mind my relationship with Kian. I didn't expect that originally when I first met her, because she looked almost mean and unkind. She was a more than welcome addition to the family.

It had been about an hour since we got home when Aunt Eliza started to get worried. She should have been home by then. We decided to give her another 45 minutes, in case she decided to take the scenic route or stopped to rest for a few minutes. Barely 20 minutes had passed when Aunt Eliza got a phone call. She picked it up and we sat and watched while her face lost all of it's colour, her eyes went wide, and her posture tensed up extremely.

I had a bad feeling in my gut and desperately hoped that it wasn't true. Soon enough, she hung up got up and told us to get ready to go as quickly as we could. We were ready in less than a minute. The entire trip, Aunt Eliza was completely silent. We tried asking her what was going on, where we were going, but she wouldn't tell us anything. Nothing at all.

We pulled up to the hospital and instantly the mood between us shifted. Jade started asking Aunt Eliza whether she'd just sprained her ankle or if she'd broken a bone. She didn't respond, and even though I wanted to believe that it was just that, I knew deep down somehow that it was so much worse than that.

We followed a rushing Aunt Eliza into the hospital, where she quickly demanded to see her. We then rushed through the hallways into what was surprisingly a viewing platform for a surgical room. We looked down into the room and saw someone laying on the table with her knee getting cut open. The body was hidden under a sheet, but we could see the head. I knew that blue hair. I knew that face. I knew my gut was right.

I lost all control in my legs and they just collapsed. I saw a bandage wrapped around part of her head and knew that this was more than just a fall. Something had happened, I just knew it. I couldn't take it anymore: I needed to get out of there. I did the first thing I could think of when I got outside the hospital and called Kian. Within the next 10 minutes, him and Kio were running up to us.

"What happened?" Kian enquired, sounding extremely worried.

"I don't know. What I saw was that she's currently having a surgery on her knee and she has bandages wrapped around her head. Kian... what if she isn't okay and doesn't make it?" I replied, scared of what the answer could be.

"Akari, she is strong. None of her injuries sound fatal, depending on what happened to her head. I don't think she'll ever be able to dance again. I don't know if you know, but she loves dancing a lot. That will be the downside."
"Yeah... I hope so. Do you both want to go see her surgery?"

"Yes... I'm sorry, Aki. This is all my fault. I was selfish and didn't even think of how she'd react... I didn't mean for any of this to happen!"

I just pulled her into a hug and held her as she began crying into my shoulder. I may not have been as close to her as I was with the others, but I still considered her to be a part of my family. We sat there in out embrace for a while before she calmed down enough for us to go in.

I led them all the way to the viewing platform I had been on before with the others and walked in to find that they were starting to do the stitching on her knee. When we walked in, Jade gave Kian a glare before turning away to look back at his new sister. It was probably at least partly because of Amber that he didn't keep glaring at him as well. Aunt Eliza saw Kio come in and said her first words to us since that morning.

"Kio, do you know happen to know of someone called Pete Winters?"

"Yeah, he's my ex. He was trying to control my life and was way too clingy so I broke up with him. I think he's still obsessed with me actually... why?"

"I got a call from the police earlier and apparently he'd left a note basically saying that he had gotten rid of the 'problem' for you and that there would be nothing to get in the way of you going back to him. He did this to her because she confessed to you and he saw her as a threat to your 'eventual relationship'. I don't want you to blame yourself for this, but I think you should be careful in the future."

Kio's face went blank and she walked out of the room. Kian had a look of understanding on his face and quickly went and followed her out. I got worried so I decided to go see what was happening. "Kio! Is this what you think Akai would want you to do?"

"At the moment, I don't care! You saw the same thing I did! Maybe it will send him a message back! He deserves it!"

"What are you planning on doing?" I queried.

"I'm going to go find him and do unto him what he did to Akai. But I'm going to make him suffer a lot more."

"Kio, as much as I want to as well, you will get in trouble! Aki, back me up!" He requested

"I think you should do it Kio. I would do it but I can't handle blood, so I want you to give him hell for the both of us. Go with her, Kian, Akai was your friend as well. Do it for me." Kio gave me a nod while Kian gave a deep sigh before nodding. They both walked out with a newfound sense of determination.