Broken Pieces

CHAPTER {23}

AKARI

Solitude.

An essential part of my life. I love being alone. Most of my life was spent alone so I grew to love it. Sometimes it can be a crushing weight that suffocates you until you can't breathe anymore. Solitude will leave you with your thoughts. Solitude will make you realize that no one wants to talk to you, it may be obvious to the naked eye that you're going through something but no one is really willing to know why or listen to you.

To some that may be sad but I liked it that way. I hated talking about my feelings, it's one of my biggest fears. It's obvious that there are other people who have it worse and all I do is whine about how much I'm in pain, how much I just want to end it all. There are other people who don't even have the luxury of a home or a family, some are constantly being tortured, so who am I to complain?

There is no one on this planet that actually cares about how I feel. The solitude did create a void in my heart, in my soul. There was a point where I truly gave up. All I would do was wait for the pain to come. There was no escaping that, it was a never ending cycle that I'm still in today, I wait.

It was weird having people around, people who cared. Though they never asked for the full story, I know they are waiting for me to come to them and that scares me. Talking about my past. If I do get comfortable, maybe I might tell them but for now, I just have to go through with this movie night.

I played with the hem of my hoodie and jumped at the sudden ding of the elevator as I was lost in thought. I walked out into the hallway and I opened the second door to my left. The first person I saw was Neiva, she was by the snack booth, she wore a black dress that reached her knees and it had a white kitten sleeping on it. I noticed her bump had gotten bigger.

As I searched the room I noticed that it was only Alexandros and Neiva here. Alexandros wore a white t-shirt with a black kitten sleeping on it, he was matching with Neiva, he paired it up with a pair of black sweatpants. "Akari, you came." Alexandros exclaimed, I just nodded in response and sat by the corner and stared at the movies displayed on the screen.

My head turned towards the door as it opened. First Zachary came in, he was wearing black pants with tiny penguins on it and he paired it with a black shirt. Then followed Zachariah, he wore the same thing as Zachary but his pants had some kind of yellow square with holes on it, it had a face and it wore brown shorts. I wonder what that is.

They both sat down with Zachary next to me, "Hi Akari." He greeted, without wanting to be rude I responded, "Hi Zachary." He cringed and I got a bit worried, did I say something wrong? "It's been long since someone has called me by my full name." He said still with his face scrunched up.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know. What would you like me to call you then?" I asked hoping that I don't upset him any further, who knows what that will lead to? "It doesn't really matter, if you're most comfortable with my full name, go for it." He reassured and before I could respond, the door opened again.

Domenico walks in and I was a bit surprised to see him in pajamas. He wore a black long sleeved shirt with black plaid pants. He sighed heavily and sat next to Alexandros. "Now we can begin." Alexandros said as he place a bowl full of popcorn on his lap.

"Why did you say that like we're about to start a ritual or something?" Zachariah says but no one seemed to hear him as they were now focused on the movie that played in front of us.

As the movie progressed Zachary offered me some of his popcorn but I refused, the movie was boring so I slowly drifted off to sleep. Suddenly a pillow was pressed onto my face, at first I could breathe but the pillow was pressed even harder on my face, closing my nostrils. Then I lost my breath I began thrashing around trying to get the person on me to let go. It was getting really hard to breathe.

I stopped fighting.

I allowed the person to press harder and harder into my face until I was sure I was going but I jumped as I woke up in my seat. I was breathing heavily, I looked around and saw my brothers looking at me with concern in their eyes. It could be one of them, or maybe it was a dream. But it felt so real.

I looked around and studied each of them but they all seemed normal. Moderate breathing, brows knit in concern. I took a deep breath and excused myself. The elevator ride felt like hours and soon enough, I was in my room staring at myself in the mirror.

What's wrong with me?

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A/N

Little short, I know but I was thinking of making this a horror. Let me know what you think. Thank you for reading and being patient with me, I love you guys 🫶🏽