Midnight Air

20

Bright colors flashed behind my eyelids. A beach lay before me. The ocean dazzling against the white sandy beach. It almost feels like home. Not the home I grew up in, but something was calling me here. Something feels off in this serene.

The coolness of the night breeze is refreshing, but it carries with it the sickenly sweet scent of decay.

Nothing looks amiss, but I dart my eyes around and I see it. In the distance lay a figure and next it, another. I lift my skirt and run towards them. Maybe they're people and they need my help. But as I get closer I can see that I'm too late.

Laying there in the sand is a boy, no older than I than by a few years. He's reaching towards another boy who couldn't be more than fourteen. Dressed in an armour that I've never seen before. Both of them are foreign. I've never seen anyone look like them.

The young boys throat seems to have been cut and looks as though he's been nibbled at by wild animals.

I look back at the older boy. His clothes appear to bloody on his abdimen, but the cut seemed to have gone leaving only a faint scar. I looked back at his face and gently pushed back his raven black hair. I had to stiffle a gasp. His face was beautiful. Death looked like it was receding from him.

The boy clenched his eyes tightly shut and drew in a sharp gasp as if he was being released from suffocation. His eyes flew open and he started to search with his hands in panick. "Daichi? Daichi?! Okiro, Daichi!" He shook the boy next to him and started to sob. "Daichi... ikanaide."

His voice started to trail off as he quietly sobbed. After a few seconds, he looked up and noticed me for the first time. "Ah! I-Izanami megami! Go-gomenasai! Sumimasen, kokoroyo! Kodoo o kanjimasen. Watashi wa shinde imasu ka? Watashi o tsurete iki ni kita nodesu ka?"

I looked at him, puzzled for a moment. "I don't know what you're saying, but if we ever meet in real life, I'm sure that it will be heaven."

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I felt hot tears start to roll down my cheeks. That man in my dreams looked like Soja. I couldn't explain it.

I heard whispers by my door. "She should be waking up any moment, Tyler. I need you to gather every bit of evidence that you have and bring it to the kitchen. We can't spring work onto her as soon as she wakes up, but we need to get back on the case as soon as possible. John, I need you to wait for us downstairs. She doesn't know the whole story yet, so she'll need some time to get her barrings with you around. I will warn you, however, do not try anything. Remember our conversation from the other night. She's mine."

Soja was giving orders. I threw my blanket to the side and quietly shuffled to the door. I slowly opened the door, and as soon as I saw Soja, I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly. As if the second I let him go he would disappear like my dream.