The Visitor

Chapter 9

The parasite stood perched on the Heartland Tower late that night. From that view, he could see his home. Its residents were fast asleep. He was lucky to be able to come out tonight.

He slid down the windows of the tower and looked inside. He watched the sleeping boy, the one he saw while on his spree the night before. He watched the steady rise and fall of his chest, signs of life that would soon be erased. The being snapped, and the needle popped right out as usual. With the needle, he carved out a circle on the glass and popped it right out. 

Luckily, it didn't break.

He slipped into the hole and landed on silent feet, slinking over to the sleeping boy. He saw the blinking red of a machine, but he thought nothing of it. It was just a machine, after all. He'd jammed the signals of security cameras before. He ignored the machine as soon as he emitted the jamming signal and approached the boy. He didn't notice the robot's head lifting.

The boy's face was serene, as though he'd been induced into sleep and wouldn't wake up until morning. That was fine; he wasn't particularly fond of the screams of children. But as he leaned over the bed, a hand suddenly clamped down on his neck.

Holding back a yelp of surprise, the parasite whipped around, wrenching the hand off of him and getting a better look at his attacker. His assailant's eyes widened.

"You...!" he started, but he never finished. With one thrust, his essence was gone.

~.~.~

There was a knock on the door in the middle of the night. Akari, bleary eyed and yawning, shuffled to the door and opened it only to be met with a large man with fiery red hair and a similar styled outfit and a slender woman with purple hair and a suit.

"Are you Miss Akari?" the woman asked.

"Yes, I am," the young woman replied. "Can I help you?"

"Doctor Faker's son has died. His robot recorded the incident, and someone we can only identify as your brother was there. We only want to question him."

By now, Yuma and Astral, both wrapped in a shared blanket so they stayed together, came downstairs to see what the commotion was about. They were shocked to see strangers at their door, to say the least. They were even more shocked to see the woman walk over to Astral.

"Would you come with us?" she asked.

"Hold on, he's not going anywhere!" Akari exclaimed. 

The man put his hand on her shoulder. He was clearly holding himself back from taking control of this situation. "He should be back tomorrow. Don't worry."

Yuma wouldn't have any of it either. He threw his arms around his brother. "No. He's not going with you! What are you even planning on doing to him anyway!?"

"We have some questions for you. It won't take long," the woman answered. "He'll be back with you tomorrow morning."

"We can't let him go out. Not with some killer on the loose!"

It was clear that the man and the woman were getting irritated and losing their patience. "Look," the man huffed. "We have video footage of the event that happened last night if you want to see proof. He's a suspect in something that could evolve into something dangerous."

The brothers exchanged a look. Yuma was clearly worried that they were going to wrongly incarcerate his brother, and Astral was worried that he'd never see them again. "Let us see the footage."

And just like that, they were all seated around the television with a night vision video playing. There was nothing at first. The camera was on a sleeping boy no older than nine. A little after midnight, there was a sound of something sharp scratching at glass.

You were careless.

What are you talking about?

Yuma looked over to Astral, who was rubbing his temples. Was he having another headache?

The video then showed a being lighter than the surroundings. Since everything was some shade of green, the being's color wasn't discernible, but its figure was. Yuma's mouth dropped when he saw what looked like his brother with a needle coming out of his right hand approaching the bed. Both Akari and Yuma looked to their brother, but Astral was just as shocked as the rest of them. They saw someone approach quickly, as if to protect the boy, and then the being who looked like Astral stabbed the person. The video cut out after the being escaped.

The woman took the drive out of the TV and turned to what was left of the Tsukumo family. "I know you're all surprised," she said. "Nobody suspects a family member to be responsible for the lives that were taken."

"I didn't do that," Astral said, quaking with rage. Whoever that was, it definitely wasn't him. 

"How do you explain this being looking like you?"

"I don't know, but I do know that I wouldn't do something like that."

Almost immediately, his family members came to his defense. "He would never hurt a fly," Akari said calmly. "Yuma and I have lived with him since as long as we could remember; all he's ever done to people was make friends."

"Exactly!" Yuma argued. "Besides, he's been sleeping with me this whole time! I'd know if he were getting up in the middle of the night to do all of this."

The woman seemed to be keeping her cool. "All that we want is to ask him a few questions. He'll stay with us for a few days at most and one night at the very least, and if these events continue to happen, then we'll know for sure. Until then, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt."

Though they clearly didn't like this, they finally relented and handed Astral over to the pair. Yuma and Astral hugged goodbye.

"I'll see you in a few days," Astral said positively.

This time, it was Yuma's turn to catch his brother's positivity, and he smiled. "Yeah! I'll see you then!"

With one last smile, Astral was taken away to be proven innocent.

Though something inside him told him to run away...