This is Just a Game...Right?

Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Help

"Keiji Aoki is dead." I drop my phone, letting it hit the bed with a soft thump. Rei picks it up, and he talks to the person on the other end, eyes widening in shock as he's told what happened. After he hangs up, he looks at me, eyes full of pain and sadness. I feel wetness on my cheeks, and when I raise a hand to my cheek, it comes off wet with tears. Oh. I'm crying.

"Lyrica..." Rei says my name slowly, voice breaking. I can't even hear him. My mind can't process the fact that my brother, my Kei, isn't with us anymore. A hand is placed on my shoulder gently, and I flinch.

"He...wasn't joking was he?" I whisper hoarsely, hoping for all of this to be a horrible damn prank. To my dismay, Rei shakes his head gravely. More tears slide down my cheeks.

"Kei...he's...gone." Rei chokes out, crying as well.

I let out a broken cry, my pain flooding out through the hoarse screams I let out. But the pain never seems to end. It's there...haunting me, killing me from inside. I keep crying, not even caring that the neighbors would hear. My brother...who's been with me since I was born. Helping me through my darkest days. Cheering me up when I was down. Even...just being with me and Rei. I hear Rei's muffled cries mixing in with mine as he mourns Keiji, the brother he never had.

"What the hell?! I...hate the world! Killing my only brother, killing my best friend's only family! DAMN YOU!" I scream at my ceiling, cursing at the world, but deep down, I knew it wouldn't help at all.

The world won't bring my brother back.

The world won't bring Remi back.

The world doesn't care about anyone, anything.

It doesn't give a damn at all the pain on the planet. Life just keeps cycling on and on mercilessly. Never pausing for just a moment. Even if everyone dies, the world would just keep moving on. On and on and on and on...

"Lyrica...are you alright?" Rei finally asks me, wiping his tears away. My voice isn't strong enough to keep crying, but broken hiccups escape my lips. I shake my head.

"Kei..." I cry out, voice hoarse and strained from all the screaming I did. Rei quickly pulls me into a hug, and I cry into his shoulder. He rubs my back consolingly, and I have to admit that it makes me feel a lot better, having a friend to help with pain.

"It'll be okay, Rica. It'll be just fine. I'm here." He whispers soothingly, and after a while, my sobs die down, and only a few hiccups are what's left of my breakdown.

My life changed after that.

I refused to eat, I couldn't sleep.

Nightmares haunted me everyday.

"Lyrica...I'm begging you. Just eat. I don't want you to die." Rei pleads, and I sigh in defeat, spooning some of the food he made into my mouth and swallowing. I only ate a few spoonfuls before the lump in my throat threatened to make me throw up. I place the spoon down.

"I'm sorry Rei. I can't do it." I mumble sadly. My physical appearance changed drastically after Keiji's death. Dark bags hung under my eyes, proof that I haven't slept. When I'm at home, I rarely bother to brush my honey-blonde hair. My once sparkling brown eyes have dulled to a dead-looking color. I still head to school, but Angie has been avoiding me. My life is falling apart, one piece at a time. I don't pay attention in class, or at least, less than usual. My grades are slipping. The teachers all have given up on me. The only person I can trust...is Rei.

"Why, life? Why do you have to be like this?" I sob to myself, sitting alone on the roof during my lunch break.

"Hey, Rica." I look up and see Rei. He's looking down at me in worry.