These Brittle Memories I Exhale

- CHAPTER FIVE -

...

Time's up.

Tairitsu awoke, barely conscious upon Lagrange's couch, with Lagrange sitting next to her.
The world seemed to be a blur.

It had been hours.

Hours since Hikari has been waiting. Waiting outside, in the cold, alone.

Knowing Hikari, she most certainly never left outside of Lagrange's house. Waiting and waiting, biting her nails and waiting some more.

"You're awake... !" Lagrange commented, with Charon cautiously observing the girl.

"How do you feel? Can you remember your name... ?" She asked.

These questions went straight through Tairitsu's head. Nothing made sense to her... everything was too loud... too bright.

"Hello...?"

Tairitsu finally snapped out of her trance.

"Ah-...! Where... am I?"
The disheveled girl asked, wide eyed, resting the palm of her hand on her forehead.

Her head and throat were killing her.

"Here,"
Lagrange passed the girl a small cold towel.
"Press this onto your forehead, i'm assuming your head hurts quite a bit. This should help."

Tairitsu applied the towel given to her onto her head gently and lied back, still very, very confused.

"Where... what..."
She desperately tried to remember anything that could've happened previously. Although she was wracking her brain as hard as she possibly could, she simply couldn't remember anythi....

Ah.
The bathroom.

The gaps in her memory were large.
...Almost too large to make sense.

"How did I get here... ?"
Tairitsu asked, afraid of what could've happened before she arrived at this... strange place.

"Do you recall anyone who loved roses? White roses."
The girl sat before her questioned.

This question seemed awfully specific.
Too specific.

It scared her.

She glanced at the table that was placed next to her. Upon that table, sat a large metal tray.
On that tray, there were...

Roses?

...White roses... ?

Well, what very obviously used to be white roses at least. They appeared to be nearly entirely soaked with blood.

She stood up in shock.

It couldn't be her blood,
Right... ?

Her heart started racing. So much so that she could begin to feel her heartbeat thumping strongly in her chest.

Tairitsu looked down at her hands.

...No.

She could see her intricate and carefully designed outfit was stained.

Stained with nothing other than blood.

Lagrange noticed that she had glanced upon the tray of roses.
"Oh, those aren't.. uh..."
The girl in purple desperately tried to come up with an excuse.

She didn't want Tairitsu to know. She knew what she did would be unforgivable.

Lagrange hurriedly rose herself up off of the couch and rushed over to the table where the tray stood, picking the tray up and putting it somewhere out of sight.

"...What did you DO to me... ?"
Tairitsu anxiously questioned, barely able hold herself on her feet because of how badly she was shaking.

Her ears began to ring.
This couldn't be real. This couldn't of happened to her.

"I'm so unimaginably sorry-"
"DON'T apologise,"
Tairitsu cut her off.

A tense atmosphere began to rise between the two girls.

Lagrange's eyes began to glaze over. She only wanted to help. She never would've expected this to happen. She never wanted this to happen.

"I think you have certainly done enough."
Tairitsu continued.
"And to clarify, no, I don't know or have known someone who loved white roses."

"Ah-"

"Stop talking,"
Tairitsu interrupted the poor girl yet again.
"I don't know WHAT you did to me... and i'm not sure if I even want to know."
Her confusion had turned into a weird mixture of anger and sadness by now.

Tears began to fall down Lagrange's cheeks. Trying not to show this to what once was her friend, she looked up at the ceiling and wiped her tears away with the palm of her hand.

"I'm sorry..."
Was all the now timid girl was able to mutter before Tairitsu quickly walked out of her house, shutting the door behind her.