The Visitor

Chapter 4

Astral woke up, finding himself back in his bed with the worst headache he's ever had. The last time his head hurt that much was when he was a child, and back then, he seemed to be susceptible to every disease on the planet. He closed his eyes, waiting for the headache to at least die down, but the light was still penetrating through his eyelids. It stabbed through his eyes and into his brain, hitting directly in the center of his headache.

"Astral?" Yuma called. "Are you okay?"

"I need the lights out..." Astral mumbled, pressing his palms gently against his eyelids. He heard the light switch flick, and darkness settled over the room.

"Better?"

"Yes. Thank you, Yuma." He uncovered his eyes. The lack of light made his headache better, but it was still pounding behind his eyes.

"Here, take these." Yuma handed Astral two pills and a glass of water.

Astral popped the pills in his mouth and chased them down with water. "I don't remember having a headache that bad since I was a child."

"Yeah, I don't remember being this worried since then, either. What happened? You just fainted as soon as the card got absorbed into you."

Astral touched his chest, where the card had been absorbed, and closed his eyes. He remembered the small whisper telling him to pretend and give away nothing. What was he to keep a secret? Why did he have to pretend? Were these cards supposed to be his memories that he never knew he lost? If so, he didn't think he wanted to find out what the others were.

"Astral?"

Yuma's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He jumped, making his headache worse. "Y-yes?"

"Do you know what happened?"

"No... I don't know what happened after the card absorbed itself into me." He turned worried eyes to his human brother. "Did you and the girls find Tetsuo?"

Yuma shook his head. "No, but we think he was killed."

"Killed!?" Astral say bolt upright, which turned out to be a horrible idea. He groaned at the bolt of pain that struck through his head and gingerly laid back down, pressing his palms on his eyes. "What gives you the idea that he was killed?"

"We didn't see it at first, but there was blood all over. We also found his clothes somewhere along the way, but it looked like he was running. So either something made him disappear or something absorbed him. Cathy and Kotori called the police to see if they can make anything out of all that."

"It's a shame they can't see how the card got there," Astral muttered loud enough so Yuma could hear. "Do you think it would have made good evidence?"

"I don't know, but I guess we'll never find out anymore since there doesn't seem to be any way of getting it back." Yuma shrugged. "But personally, I don't think it's any evidence of anything. Just rest up, okay?"

Astral nodded, convinced that the card wouldn't be of much help to the police who would conduct the investigation. He closed his eyes and fell asleep until evening.

~.~.~

When he next woke up without that pounding headache and went downstairs, Astral saw that there were policemen speaking with Yuma and the family. Curious, he stepped down the stairs softly.

As if sensing his brother, Yuma turned around. "There he is."

"What are they doing here, Yuma?" Astral asked, sitting beside his brother.

"They figured we could know if he was acting strange the days before he went missing. I told them there was nothing I could see."

Astral turned to the policemen as one of them asked, "And you, young man? Have you noticed anything strange?"

"None. Last time I saw him, he was his usual competitive self with Yuma." He shrugged. "The only strange thing is how similar the states of his and my parents' rooms were when they disappeared."

The two men looked at each other, but they seemed to know. Still, just to confirm this information they already knew, the first policeman asked, "What do you mean?"

"When I found out they were missing, there was the same mess in the room as if there was a struggle that they lost. It was eerily identical."

The men nodded, satisfied with the confirmation. There was no doubt that it was identical, but it could easily be a coincidence. If there was another instance of this, though, there would be no question that there was probably a kidnapper on the loose.

"Were there any strange people he was associating with?"

Yuma shook his head. "Nope. Our usual circle of friends."

The other man, the one writing the key points of the conversation, snapped the notebook shut. "Well, that's all we need to know."

Astral was a bit shocked. "That's it?"

"Well, we've been conversing with your brother for a while now. He's answered much of our questions. Thank you for your time."

With that, the two men left. Astral and Yuma stared as they walked out of the men exited and exchanged worried and knowing glances.

"They're not going to find the kidnapper, are they?" Astral asked, biting his pointer finger knuckle. "Just like they couldn't find Mom and Dad."

Yuma nodded. "I don't think they will."

Both boys sighed, looking dismayed. It would surely be over in a week, maybe less. That's how things went before, it would most likely how it would go now.

"You slept through the day," Yuma finally spoke up, mostly to get rid of the silence that hung over them. 

"Did you manage to do your homework without me?" Astral giggled halfheartedly. 

"Yeah, I managed." Yuma chuckled, but it wasn't very cheerful. "Anyway, it's getting dark out. We should get to bed."

"Alright."

The two boys got up from the couch and went to Astral's room first. They sat on his bed, the silence enveloping them once again. Astral suddenly hugged Yuma.

"Stay with me tonight. I don't want whoever the kidnapper is to take you. I...I couldn't stand losing another family member..."

Yuma nodded and hugged his brother close. "Yeah, alright. I don't think I'd be able to sleep alone tonight, anyway." He chuckled a bit. "I bet it was just a coincidence, though."

Astral nodded. "I hope so."

Yuma went upstairs to change into his pajamas while Astral sat one his bed, biting his knuckle once more. Pretend? He had no reason to pretend. Give away nothing? He had nothing to hide! Why did the whisper tell him those two things? It was a mystery. He lived here ever since he was a child, just under Yuma's age, practically his whole life. What could he possibly have to hide? What reason did he have to pretend? The questions whirled around in his head, threatening to make him dizzy, but he made no effort to get rid of them until Yuma jumped onto the bed, tackling Astral in a hug.

"Stop worrying, will ya?" he suddenly exclaimed. Yuma's mood completely flipped in the time he went to get changed! "That expression doesn't suit you. Let's go to sleep and trust that the authorities have this under control."

While Astral highly doubted the authorities could do anything in this situation, he couldn't help but smile a bit and hug Yuma back. His brother's happiness was contagious, after all. "If you insist."

Brightly smiling, Yuma and Astral turned off the lights and cuddled under the blanket, clinging to each other for protection and comfort.