Chapter 08
SUE'S VISION
"The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight,
but has no vision."
- Helen Keller
I had a vision last night.
I was standing on the rooftop of a 300-meter skyscraper, my feet just an inch or two from falling off the edge. The wind pressed violently against my entire frame, as if pushing me forward until there was nothing between my shoes and the ground but gravity.
And that's when it happened – my fall. My heart skipped a beat…and another…and another… until the thudding sound arrested to silence.
I grew numb to all senses except my sight. I saw my surroundings reel in slow-motion. I saw lights. Then, I saw darkness. As I reached the ground, I saw Death approaching.
And then, I saw him –
Sen.
Only to find out that it was not a mere vision. Though the scene replayed in my mind through a dream, those events were real. The fall was real. The HEART was real. And last night, Sen took mine away.
My Friday morning was not friendly. I woke up from merely a thirty-minute sleep, still feeling lightheaded and befuddled. It did not help that the first thing I saw upon opening my eyes was Mr. John Doe – the human skeleton which hung on the pole beside my bed. I slammed my hand on my alarm clock that beeped so loudly it could wake the entire household, cursing the poor thing as if I hated it more than Sen. With my eyes half-closed and my hair disheveled, I rolled over my bed, feeling my comfy sheets glide against my skin.
"Just a few minutes more…ugh…" I mumbled as I reached for the nearest pillow I could grab, burying my face on it and ignoring my clock that read '7:30 A.M'. This time, I did not give a damn about maintaining my perfect school attendance. I wanted more sleep, or at least I could try falling asleep again and pray that my peculiar 'visions' would not awaken me again.
But then, my eyes opened widely –
How did I get home?
"Was that your boyfriend last night?" an annoyed, monotonous boy's voice sounded beside me. "Hmph."
"Yoshio-kun!" I pushed myself up to sit upon realizing that my younger brother was standing by my bed, carrying Gregory the Chihuahua on his arms. He had the usual grumpy frown on his face and was wearing his favorite black 4 Vesta Asteroid t-shirt.
"I don't like him, hmph. He looks dumb," Yoshio said impassively, his facial expression unchanging.
"…" Gregory the Chihuahua looked at me as if I were some cheap dogfood from a Daiei supermarket sale.
"If he looks dumb, then he must be Sen!" I exclaimed. "Was he the one who brought me home? But… how did I… ugh, my head hurts so much I couldn't remember a thing except…"
Except for those eyes…
The last thing I saw before I passed out was Sen's eyes.
"That guy has a lot of explaining to do. I have to talk to him right away," I stood up from my bed and opened my closet.
"Where are you going?" Yoshio asked.
I tossed my uniform to my bed, "School."
Yoshio frowned. "Only dumb people go to school on a holiday, hmph."
