The Ghost

Chapter 1

Do you...Do you remember, now...Ryo?

He is running. Rain roars in his ears. His feet feel frozen. His lungs are burning. He does not care.

The first turn is ahead of him and he barely stops himself from skidding as he takes a hard right. He is almost there. He can-no-he must make it before they find him again.

Do you or do you not, Ryo? It is a simple question. I would expect my landlord to know the answer.

The Voice is not real. The spirit has been dead for almost a week, now. The Voice is truly just in his head. If the rain was not pelting into his face so hard, Ryo would have realized he was crying.

Big Brother, say you remember. Please, it would make me and Kitty so happy.

Ryo trips and crashes onto the pavement. The tan coat he wears is stained and torn by the concrete. He does not feel his skinned palms bleed. He does not feel what should be blinding pain in his left hand.

Oh god,

That was his sister's voice. Amane's voice. He is too late. It is coming, and he is too late. Soon he won't be able to move and it will come. Ryo looks up. His face is contorted in anguish until he spots it. He has made it. He is saved.

Ryo, honey, you should not deny this. It will only make it worse. Don't make this hard on yourself, please.

Ryo ignores his mother as he gets to his feet. The anguish and the misery are gone, replaced only by a numbness that seeps into his very core. His face betrays no emotion.

Landlord! Do you remember or do you not! Answer me, you little brat. I know you can hear me. I know...

Ryo takes the first step onto the bridge and then the second and then another and another until he has reached the midpoint. His green eyes are downcast, dead. The left hand that lies limply at his side is throbbing. His whole body is trembling. The trembling might be from the rain, but that is doubtful. He does not feel cold, after all.

I know that you can hear me. I know that you remember.

Ryo places his hands on the stone ledge and hauls himself up. The wound on his left hand tears and blood has soaked through the bandages, but he does not even glance down to acknowledge it. The rain is falling harder now, and he almost loses his balance and nearly falls back onto the road. That would not do. He is too tired to haul himself up onto the ledge again.

I remembered, too. I have always remembered. At least...

Ryo blinks once. The heart that was pounding so hard from exhaustion has slowed. Below him, the waters churn violently from the storm.

At least, until you killed me. The Voice sounds distant and cold. Before you betrayed me in Monster World for some strangers.

Ryo cannot fight the numbness inside enough to cry. He breathes in the frigid air one last time before he leans forward.

Now, you are the only one who remembers.

While gravity takes control from Ryo, he sees the event that he was trying to outrun. He sees the first of the images, which he won't be able to finish.

Who remembers that they are all dead.

Sightless, staring eyes. Twisted metal and bone and so much blood.

That Mother, Eric, (that annoyance)... That Amane are all dead.

The water is rushing up to meet him. While the wind whips his white hair into a shimmering trail behind him, there is a roaring in his ears.