Darkest Days

17, A Past Of Blood

A few weeks later, I was on a mission, on my own that I had just finished. I seathed my katana behind me and then opened the door to my house. As soon as I did, Maki had looked at me for a moment. I could only read one expression on her, and that was anger.

"Where the hell were you?!" She shouted a few moments later.

"I was in a life and death situation, you really expect that sort of shit to be quick?" I replied, slightly annoyed by her quick judgement. I walked upstairs over to my room and took my helmet off, following with my armour. I then quickly put my normal clothes back on and I went back downstairs to find Maki still in an angry mood. After a long pause however, she finally sighed and said. "If you were in such a situation you could send me a message at least..."

"How the hell was I meant to do that?" I replied in a calm but half angered voice or in other words, passive aggressive.

"I-I don't know!! Find a place or something..." She yelled.

"Don't shout at me, I'm technically your higher up even if we're the same age..." I replied. I made my voice stern so that she could take me seriously or at least acknowledge me. It made it harder for me to change her mood because of her anger.

"Listen, what if you become a legend samurai and your student insulted you?" I asked her, I tried my best not to sound rude but when I realised how I sounded my heart sank for a moment.

I couldn't stand being so harsh to others because that just reminded me of my own element. People blame my impatient behavior on my element, but in reality... its all me.

"Hush that fricking mouth of yours, motherfucker" She replied back with the most annoyingly rude way. I was at the point where I could just punch this whole place down to a rubble using one move... until...

"I'm sorry Specter, I'm just taking my anger all out on you..."

"Why's that? You getting flashbacks?" I replied calmly whilst I put both my arms on the top edge of my couch and lean on it.

"N-not really... I just had a really bad dream last night about... some... fucking... torture I saw-- I don't wanna talk about it"

"You shouldn't, that's only gonna give you more pain in your heart" I replied with a more calmed voice, at the same time, trying to sound neutral and sympathise.

"It's not like I'm any different from you, I was also a slave... just like you at one point" I replied calmly. Then I sat myself down on the sofa beside her; when I saw her face after being sat down it was only sadness I could see.

"If you keep thinking about such things, you might make your trauma worse" I added again.
"So lets just watch something together for the time being, ok?"

I then turned my TV on and switched it to one of the channels I knew she liked. Luckily the time was 14.28, around sunset which is when her favourite show was on as well. Honestly, I wasn't into horror themed sort of stuff but it kind of interested me sometimes. On the screen I saw what seemed to be a destroyed city that looked to be abandoned from overgrowth.

'And now... the city is a mere carcass of the past' a voice would say as it switched scenes to clearly show more of the city.

'After the civil war, there was nothing left and all of it occurred over who could gain the most oil' it stated again.

"How did you know I like this show?" She asked calmly; her sight fixated on the screen.

"Oh...I just know you do because you always watch it when I'm making dinner" I laughed lightly.

"Speaking of which...I should probably cook something" I mumbled and got up; heading straight behind the living room to the kitchen. I lit the stove, grabbed a wok and began making food...
(He's making egg fried rice, f u y i o!)

A few moments later I had finally finished cooking and I put the egg fried rice in two plates. I then put both the plates on the table, looked up at Maki and said "Come here, I just made fried rice..." with a quiet tone because it was 2 am and I was sleepy.

She got up from the couch after turning the TV off. I could tell from her body language and face alone that she was sluggish as hell and needed sleep just as I did.

"I keep thinking about that one moment..." She muttered quietly after a while. I looked back at her, trying to soften my whole mood in an attempt to comfort her.

"Listen, the past is the past... if you keep thinking about that, you could get a nightmare about it, your situation with your mental health could also get worse-- but who knows; anyway- just don't bring that to your head, okay?"
I explained, trying to reassure her.

That night though... I also couldn't sleep