Who? *Complete*

Rumors

I lean my chair against the wall near me. Caleb and Anna come up and say Hi. Caleb sits on my desk, propping his one leg on the other one in front and Anna takes a seat near me. They are acting strangely today. I wonder if it is because of last night's drama.

"Are you guys ok?" I ask looking at them.
"Um... Nothing.... Just... Stay with us today, whole day...." Anna says holding my hand as if I'm a sick lady on a death bad.

Suddenly I hear WEG whispering and a couple of other girls looking at me strangely. I think it is about me talking to a ghost. Though Caleb and Anna addressed WEG's concerns pretty well, but of course it is high school. You have to be ready for any kind of shitty rumors.

Well if you see from their perspective, they are sort of right. How weird I look when I talk to Kage in my room or try to stitch his hand. But still, it is none of their business to poke their noses in me and my friend's relation.

"Guys, you can tell me what the rumors are. I can not hide behind you guys for the rest of my life or at least, till the rumors suppress." I tell them in my bravest voice.

"Yeah go ahead and tell them what everyone is talking about in the school." Eveny says as she walks towards my desk.

Now I am genuinely concerned what the rumors actaully are. I ask Anna and she hesitates a bit. So Eveny starts speaking, "Tori Akashi. Is it true that you have an imaginary friend who you like to call as your shadow?" Before any of us could speak, Gloria throws another question in our direction, "is it a boy or a girl? Is it one person or a bunch of ghosts laying around having an invisible party?" They aren't finished yet. Of course Windy has to speak so she goes all smart face and says, "Is he a genie or something? Like can he grant wishes?" I can not take this shit anymore, so I grab my stuff and run away to the door in an attempt to escape this hell when I suddenly bump into Ben.
My bag is unzipped as it falls on the floor so I kneel down and start picking my stuff up, that's when I notice that Ben is also picking my books I look up and he looks so concerned.
He asks if I'm ok and when I don't reply, he says, "look I know you are upset but can you please tell me if you need any help, like should I call a psychiatrist or something?" I suddenly stop picking the books and everyone bursts out laughing. I grab what ever I can and run to the playground.

The tears are flooding my cheeks as I desperately try to pack my bag. Anna comes and sits next to me. She hands me my pencil box and says, "you forgot to pick it up." I thank her as I go all silent. We both sit there silently watching the leaves on the trees dance to the rhythm of wind.

When I reach home I don't find Kage anywhere. Weird thoughts start to cloud my mind but soon I see that the terrace is open and I conclude that Kage might be there. I change uniform to casual clothes and climb the stairs leading to terrace. The walls of our terrace are very low thus I was never allowed to go up there. But lately, terrace has become Kage's escape. Kage is sitting on the floor facing the town view. I go and sit next to him as he stares the bright shinning sun of winters taking in its warmth. When he notices me sitting beside him, he reaches to his left and brings up my plain red coffee mug which is filled with cream coffee topped with whipping cream, just the way I like it. As he hands me the cup all I can think about is where he got the Cut this time.

"Stop thinking too much. The cut wasn't as big as it usually is when I touch this side's stuff. I stitched it look" he says pulling up his black hoodie sleeves. The cut might not be as big as it usually is, but it needed a fair amount of stitches.

As I sip my coffee, Kage says, "Alexi said, 'breath in and out, look up and down, ask yourself who stood by your side and who walked away'." He looks at me says, "Ask yourself 'WHO'?"

Kage may not be human. But I have learned a lot of important things from him, which an ordinary human may experience in a life time.

Today I learned to ask myself on every tipping point the question of 'WHO'. This word may not mean anything right now, but it will mean the world to you when you are stuck in the baddest of situations. And when you find the answer to it, just know that you have someone waiting for you on the other side.

Just like I know 'WHO'.

To be continued....