Unseen

Restricted To A Promise

I woke up at home, swallowed by my futon. A despicable ray of sunlight struck my eye, driving me under my futon. Yesterday was a blur, I try to recall the significant events of yesterday but only a few of them resurface. 

Oh! I remember now, I was running around the forest with Yujiro and I finally saw her face. The ray yet again penetrates my window somehow and welcomes itself into my futon. 

"Mide-kun..." I hear a voice say playfully and creepily, I already know who it is.

"Yuki-san, could you not open my window just yet?" I groaned as I wrapped myself in my blanket, only allowing my head to stick out as I squint from the bright light. 

"おはようございます。(Good Morning.) Everyone's waiting for you, so get up you sleepyhead." Yuki-san said as he rolled me out of my futon then to the floor and walked out of the room. Damn, five more minutes wouldn't hurt would it?

I force myself up and dragged my futon to the closet. I fold it over and suddenly a piece of paper slips out. Who would've put a paper in my futon?

I stuff everything into the closet, holding the paper in my mouth like wolf. The closet refused to shut its mouth, so I force it shut and it miraculously worked! I fell flat on the floor letting out a big sigh of relief. The paper floats itself down to the floor and reach for it, but it's too far away. 

I make one last effort to get it, until the wind generously decided to help me out. Why thank you, wind. 

'I left you in your room yesterday night cuz you slept through the evening. Hope you aren't too hungry from skipping dinner. Don't come to the forest today, I have some business to deal with.

-ゆきちゃん (Yuki-chan.)

Huh, business she says. I wonder what she's hiding this time.

I slip a new shirt on and get ready for the day, as I thought about all the possible things you could do in a forest. I slide the door open and walk down the hallway passing by Kyouka's room, only to find her laying on the floor in her room with a bottle of sake and a cup next to her. 

Man, she's 18 and she's already on a sake diet... she really is a crazy woman. 

I walk past Kyouka as she groans perverted noises and talks to herself, I shudder at the noise. I already wish I hadn't passed by her room.  The rest of the hallway seemed quieter than usual, all the rooms were dead silent as I walked by. Did I wake up too early? Nah, Yuki's already up.

I make my way to the kitchen and opened the window, allowing the light to illuminate the room. I make my way outside,silently, but as soon as I put my foot out, creepy voice itched it's way through my ears.

"Mide... where do you think you're going?" I could've sworn this old woman is creepy, just sitting on her british-like chair with no presence at all!

"Um, to the garage?" Oh crap, why did I say garage? WE DON'T HAVE ONE!

"Okay, I'm presuming that you're going to the forest again?" grandma chuckled giving that look in her eye that she knows something secretly.

"Seriously though, how do you know?" I ask casually but for all I know, my heart is beating like lightning.

"Really?" grandma asked, now I really have no idea what she'd up to, "For how many years have you lived with me already? Do you really expect me not to see you in the corner of my eye and let you get away with it?"

I stutter for a moment trying to process this, "Yes..."

Grandma sighs and gets up from her chair, "Mide, we all know very well that that forest is filled with spirits and corpses."

"Grandma, how many times do I have to tell you? Spirits don't exist and I never found any corpses in like 12 years of playing in the forest! Just keep this a secret from mom, please."

I seriously don't believe in spirits at all. They all sound like a bunch of gasses floating around waiting to possess or haunt someone.

"No, Mide. I won't let you go to the forest again. Not when your mother is already worrying about the loans and taxes she needs to pay of after your father died."

Did she seriously bring that up? Who am I kidding? Of course she would, he is her son after all. He died last year of a lung disease, chronic bronchitis to be specific. Scary thing is, he died of food poisoning. The police found traces of poison in his food, but the murderer was never found.

Grandma walked up to me and put her hand on her shoulder as she a sigh escaped from her mouth, "Mide, I will only allow you to go if you come back safe. I don't want to lose my grandson too. After all, you're not even supposed to go in there. I'm just scared you'll get suicidal after you've seen so many corpses."

Oh, so she was worried about that. I guess mom would be worried about that too, even though I'm a teenager, they won't stop treating me like a child. Now I have no choice but to play along if I want to sneak back in there.

"Okay, I promise. Just stop treating me like a child, there're other things that need more attention, like Kyouka's drinking adiction."

 Grandma chuckles slightly, but she knows that her grandchildren are stupid people. She lets that slide too easily.

I barely notice her light eye bags under her eyes. I guess she will be sleeping better after this, now I can reassure her that she won't need to worry about me now.

I'm restricted to a promise now.