The Ghost

Chapter 2

The windows in this house are large. So large that, during the day, the whole world seems to be lit in dazzling sunlight. Sure, the whole place might be old and damp, but at least it is not cramped and dark like that awful apartment.

"Ryo."

The child turns around at the call of his mother. His eyes are narrowed in annoyance, but he will forgive her for her mistake. As the boy turns around, canines flash in the golden light, and his eyes widen in some mockery of innocence.

"Yes, Mother?" The mocking tone causes her to look up from the moving boxes that have been occupying her attention for the past half hour. As she glances at her child's expression, her pale green eyes widen.

"Oh sorry, Bakura." She says. The blush of embarrassment on her face is refreshing. She has been so sad and her face so colorless for so long.

"Could you get your brother? I need his help deciding how to set up his room." She looks at him as he fidgets a little before deciding to cut his sightseeing of the windows short.

"All right." Bakura huffs before blinking once and-

-Ryo blinks a few times. The disorientation he feels is nonsensical. He is in the kitchen. How could one become disoriented from taking a step towards the fridge... Why is he in the outer hall?

"Ryo, come. We were just about to design your room." His mother says to him as she picks up one of the lighter boxes. It is almost like she does not expect him to know what is going on.

"Oh...Okay, Mother." The boy is still confused; however, he must have just got caught in a daydream again. Ryo walks quickly towards her. Some part of him pushes him to run towards her, and, once again, he is left disoriented as he finds himself suddenly in his room. There is something strange with it, though. The pale blue and lavender pattern wall seems to be fading into whiteness right before his eyes. The outlines of some of the objects that are scattered about blur when Ryo looks directly at them, and the rest of what he assumes are his belongings are covered in sheets. The air of the room seems to be pressing down on him with gradually increasing strength, and Ryo feels like the heaviness is seeping into his mind. The boy glances at his mother. Confusion is evident in every part of his face. His mother merely smiles at him and then places a hand on his shoulder.

*********

The world is warm and the place Ryo lays is so soft and comfortable. It is too bad that once again, a new memory has caused coldness to creep along Ryo's heart. The boy stiffens for a moment. However, the warmth that surrounds him and the softness around him causes the need to get up and pace to fade away and causes his body to relax. As he snuggles deeper into the warmth, Ryo's eyes are still closed. Now that he thought about it, the dream itself was not so bad. At least, he had not woken up screaming. In a way, it was nice to see his mother content and calm like that. Although, the room that he saw was discomforting. Beneath closed eyelids, he swears he can still see the colored walls morphing into pure white and can still feel the heaviness pressing down on him.

Ryo sighs at his thoughts before opening blurry eyes. The first object he sees is a pillow covering his left arm. His glazed gaze travels from that pillow to the mounds of pillows around him. The boy wonders to himself why exactly he bothered setting this up last night, but he is too tired to think too much about that. Maybe he had less chores and homework than he thought last night, or maybe he felt the need to treat himself. The more he thinks about it, the less the reasons seem to matter.

Ryo yawns and draws his left arm from underneath the pillow to cover his mouth. The fresh bandages across his palm catch his eyes. Odd. He usually puts off changing them until after his morning shower. The boy just shrugs before shifting to an even more comfortable position. Even though the lighting of the room implies that it is at least mid-morning, Ryo's mind is still so fuzzy. It is almost like he stayed up all night. Which would not make sense since yesterday was Sunday- a day that Ryo never stays up late on. And it is mid-morning.