I Come From The Dark

Malignant

"We were so scared, sweety. How could you be so careless?"

Keiko shut her eyes in frustration.

"You should be glad nothing quite happened to you,"

Keiko put some cream on her cheeks. Her once beautiful face had now been swollen and wounded all over. She gulped, looking at the mirror. There were bandages almost all over her body--her head, elbows, knees, everywhere. She'd began hating herself more than ever now.

"But, sweety, seriously, you have no damn idea how much your surgery cost us! We had to beg money from your grandpa. You have any idea how shameful that was?"

She was fighting back tears as she slid some books in her bag. How could she be so insensitive?

"I told you so many times to cross the road carefully. But no, you never had to listen. Now we're almost broke because of you. Your dad and I are working overtime for money. We need to take care of you, pay your tuition, return loans. It's so exhausting, you know. But never mind, you just don't care, do you?"

Keiko sighed. She put on a loose, oversized shirt and left the house, almost about to break down, right there in the middle of the road. She just didn't want to go there. Not again.

"And your piano competition is going to be held next week, right? Mrs Takahashi was saying that the winner will get a hefty amount of scholarship. You have to ace it, Keiko. Because with conditions like this, I'm really sorry but you might have to drop out of school. We're financially quite weak. You have to understand, sweety."

She climbed a huge staircase on her way with a heavy throat. Her face painfully shrank. The evening sun smiled at her. Out of sympathy.

"Anyway, you don't have to worry much. Sasaki will coach you. He's the best piano tutor in town. You'll be perfectly fine under his mentorship. He will help you win the competition. You will have a scholarship then and we won't have to worry about your tuition. Such a relief. God bless Sasaki, he's such a life-saver."

Hot tears slithered out of her eyes as she reluctantly pressed the doorbell of Sasaki's house. She didn't want to go to that hell. Not again. Not after what she'd done to him. He won't spare her alive.

Her heartbeat escalated drastically just as she heard footsteps approach the door. And then she heard his voice--a dreaded, dark voice. "Oh, you're back."

"Finally."

------------------------------------

"Akane, this is your final chance. You have to prove that you can actually handle this investigation." Saito spoke, eyes on her cellphone.

"Get some critical info out of her. I don't care if you go rough on her--I just want info. And real quick. I want that bastard behind bars. Okay? Get going now."

Akane's eyes turned to Midori--she never really thought she was once actually a silly yet adorable person. The trauma had completely changed her. Her true self was trapped in a cage--imprisoned. That cage being her body.

"Midori, I know it's incredibly hard for you," Akane patted her. "But I need you to know that you're perfectly safe and comfortable here, okay? And you don't have to worry about anything."

Midori sniffed, not making eye contact with Akane.

Akane passed her a glass of water. "Also, you have to realise that you need to open up. You won't want anyone else to go through what you and Naoko did, right?"

Midori gave no response--she seemed to simply stare at nothing. She was done.

She refused the glass of water.