Silhouette of a Wilted Flower

Detestable Unpredictabilities

This chapter is a collaborative writing with Ayulshhii.

~

The doors slammed against the walls with a bang as Omori threw them open and strode inside the throne room to find the enclosure bustling with activity.

Servants were darting to and fro in a panic with papers falling from their arms. A few drifted close to Omori's feet, and he picked one up.

The word MISSING was sprawled in big, bold letters over a photo of his face.

Were they planning to set up missing flyers around Headspace? He stifled a sigh.

This had to be Mari's doing.

At the thought of Mari, Omori's eyes narrowed and scanned the chaos, searching for his sister and friends.

After the train fell, Omori had assumed that Kel, Aubrey, and Hero would be teleported back to the safety of the castle, so where were they?

At last, he located them all standing in a corner next to the throne, their voices high and distressed.

They hadn't noticed Omori. No one has. They were all too caught up in their panic to see the monochrome boy standing clearly and plainly directly in front of them.

Stifling another sigh, Omori stepped forward and loudly cleared his throat.

The room fell silent.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and gaped at him shortly before breaking out into celebratory cheers.

His friends rushed to his side and crushed him into a bone-breaking bear hug.

"Are you hurt? Did that shadow hurt you?!" Hero said.

"Little brother, you're okay!" Mari looked close to sobbing from relief.

"Where'd you go?!" Kel asked.

"I thought we'd never see you again!" Aubrey cried.

"We were so worried, Omori!" Basil exclaimed.

Omori appreciated their concern, but this hug was squeezing every last drop of air out of him, and he would prefer not to pass out from lack of oxygen.

To his relief, Basil seemed to have noticed that Omori was suffocating, and he released his grip on him. Everyone followed Basil's example and backed away, giving Omori enough space to finally breathe air again.

"Sorry, Omori," Basil said sheepishly. "We were just so worried. No one knew where you were or if you were okay..."

"What happened, Omori?" Hero asked. "One moment, everything was fine! But then we saw you yelling at that Shadow boy, then the train started falling, and then we're here back at the castle, but you were gone."

"Yeah!" Aubrey nodded her agreement. "What happened? Where were you?"

Everyone glued their eyes to him, waiting for a response.

What a waste of breath to explain that unpleasant ordeal with Stranger, but he would have to give them some sort of answer nevertheless.

He would tell the truth.

...Some of it.

He had no reason to lie after all.

Clearing his throat, Omori prepared himself to give a long, tiring explanation.

"So you got stuck in some library with a Stranger?" Kel asked, summing up everything Omori had said.