hi hi^^
how have you all been doing? this is the third chapter of HSB. you will notice that it is a little shorter than the others, but that is because i want this story's chapter to be light reading to everybody, and i didnt want to have to edit 12+ pages, so the scene will be continued in chapter 4.
in this chapter is my first real description of a character. please tell me how i did.
hope you enjoy^^
-otaku
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Chapter 3: The First Sin Part 1
When I got up the next day, it took me until I brushed my teeth to notice that the tail and wings disappeared. I guess they must have gone away when I fell asleep. After I was done, I ate, and then headed out the door. I met Rena at the usual spot and walked to school together with her.
When we got into the classroom, the first thing we heard was what seemed to be an argument between Toji and Hikari, with Zack trying to stop them. “Toji, just calm down.”
“Tell that to Hikari. She started it.” Toji childishly pointed at Hikari.
“What do you mean I started it? You’re the one that brought it up!” Hikari furiously yelled.
Zack slowly shook his head, shrugged, and then started walking towards Rena and I, leaving Toji and Hikari to their fight.
“Yo guys,” Zack waved when he got close to us, then he leaned against the wall next to the door and sighed.
Rena and I spoke at relatively the same time, “ ‘morning.”
“Are they at it again?” I asked Zack.
Zack sighed again, “Yeah.”
I think I forgot to mention earlier that Hikari is the class president, and that Toji is the Vice. They often get into fights about stupid things, like field trip ideas, where class funds should go, or after school activities. It is a bit sad, really.
Then Hikari noticed us and stomped over to our spot beside the entrance to the classroom. “There you are, Rena. Please tell them that an art museum would make a great field trip.”
By the time she finished Toji was with us too. “Takato, wouldn’t a science museum be better than a boring art museum? At least there is a chance to that something well explode.”
Zack smiled, he way he usually does when he is about to put his two-sense into other people’s conversations. “I think we should all just go to the beach. Its educational with all its fish and starfish and shark-fish and… umm… other kinds of fish.” His spoken reasons didn’t even compare to his obvious unspoken ones, which I couldn’t bring myself to complain about.
Rena and I looked at each other. For some odd reason, the on-a-whim decision I had made forced a small smile creep across my lips. When I saw that Rena was also smiling, I was sure she came to the same conclusion I had; for different reasons, of course. We turned from each other to the three people waiting for our votes. “The beach,” we said, almost in unison.
A triumphant grin appeared on Zack’s face. At the same time, Hikari and Toji scowled at each other, then stomped away to their respective groups on opposite sides of the classroom.
Later that day we got an announcement that we would be going to the beach next week. Zack was luck that beaches don’t have entrance fees or Jeno Sensei would have surely vetoed the decision.
(MAY ADD SOMETHING HERE)
The next day, Saturday, I woke up to the sound of the doorbell. I drowsily rubbed my eyes, half-fell down stairs, and then opened the door to find Rena, her normal awake self.
“Good morning…Err…did I wake you up?” Rena asked apologetically.
“It’s no problem; I would of probably slept all day if you didn’t wake me,” I covered my mouth and yawned, “Anyway, come on in,” I gestured with my hand. She did come, and then I quietly, or as quietly as I possibly could, shut the large hard wood double doors to my house.
Since Rena was familiar with my home, I left her for a few moments so I could change from my night-cloths. When I got back down, I started cooking some breakfast for the two of us, just some steamed rice and a few sides. After a few minutes of watching me work, Rena offered to help. When we were done, we sat down at the table and ate.
Rena started eating, and I ate a few quick bites before I decided to finally create a conversation. “So, why did you come over so early?”
“Well,” Rena stopped eating, then leaned over and pulled something out of her purse. After that she passed whatever she got to me. “I found this.” The item I found in my hand was an article, probably cut out from a newspaper. The headline stated “Mass Faintings Have Public Worried”. I quickly scanned through the seven paragraphs, noting that there were no deaths and no damages.
In summary, the article was about six cases of the police finding large groups of people unconscious all around Japan. The list included two local places, a crosswalk and the local park, and a beach, an airport, an island off the west coast, and in a mountain to the north. Of course, the article did not include our school since everyone was awake before the police came. It also warned against to the places, but the police could not find any reason to legally block off the areas.
Rena took a few more bites of her food, “I wonder what is at the closer ones?” she thought out loud.
“I don’t know…”I replies, then one of those adventurous feelings suddenly came over me, taking me over, “want to go see?” There couldn’t be any damage in just looking, I mean, it’s not like I was going to try anything. I only wanted to know what caused them. Maybe the same thing happened there that happened at our school…but they are bother over now, so it wouldn’t be dangerous, right?
Rena shrugged, “why not?” So we finished eating, cleaned up, the headed out.
It was a ten-or-so minute walk to the crosswalk. During that time we didn’t really talk about anything… y’ know, just a series of small comments put together.
The crosswalk was in the more urban part of town, on the northeast side. If you need to go shopping or want some entertainment, this would be where you would go. I don’t mean it’s a huge city, but it’s more of like our mini-city inside our town, and since our “mini-city” is in the middle of a territory point of three smaller cities, there is always a small crowd of people there.
The crosswalk itself was located in the northwest part of the city. The four-way intersection linked the streets with the most popular businesses around. Needless to say, this was the busiest crosswalk around, always with at least a few people walking across it and people window-shopping on the streets in the area around it.
Everything was normal when we go there, so we decided to look around for about an hour, only to find that there was a sale with an outfit that Rena “totally had to have” and that window-shopping with Rena was not the best idea I ever had. There was, though, a manhole on one of the corners, but neither I nor Rena thought it would be worth going down there just for a little, childish adventure.
The park that the article referred to was in the center of our nice and cozy town. A wire fence surrounded the park with entrances at many places. The southwest portion was a clearing with a few sad sets of swings and some benches for the younger kids around, with a dozen or so trees to give shade to the light green grass on the ground. Most of it, though, was a series of cracked and weathered cement paths that weaved through trough the area, creating the effect that there were many large spots of grass and trees in a place that they didn’t seem to belong, but also oddly seemed to be at home. There were benches scattered around here too, making this the “site for lovers” in the area, which, of course, was not even close to the reason we were here.
When we arrived, we found the park to be empty. A light wind blew the swings, making them shiver and yelp. The trees too blew with the wind, making a nice, calm, and peaceful mood around us. Again, we looked, for about the same amount of time as the last hunt. The hour past, and we came to be tired from doing close to nothing. I leaned onto a tree, for a tiny bit of rest, and the next thing I knew a loud crack was ringing in my ears and I was thrown to the ground, landing on the elbow of the arm that was previously holding me up against the tree. It stung, and I was sure that it would be a bruise in twenty-four hours, but it could always be worse.
I looked up to find Rena standing over me. “Are you okay?”
I tried to get up, but accidentally used my right arm, and, of course, that was the one I fell on. I was successful in standing, but I hissed from the pain. “I think.”
When Rena was sure that I was okay, her line of site suddenly went beyond me. I turned around to find the huge old tree that had fell from my weight. Branches were scattered every which way. The end of the tree that was ripped from its bottom was jagged like a saw blade, only hollow in the middle and only about an inch of rotting wood around the outside ring. I turned my head to see the part that it was previously connected to, the stump, which now looked like a giant, brown ball of spikes emerging from the ground. It was also hallow in the middle, and it looked to too be rotted.
Curiosity overtook me. I walked over and, looked inside the stump to find a huge, flat piece of metal lying across the dirt that was in the bottom of the stump. Again, with the odd curiosity, I decided to pick it up, for it did not look rusty, and had a rounded piece of it sticking up, so I wouldn’t get cut when I tried. I put my good arm in and my hand on the outcropping.
“What are you doing?” Rena asked with a tint of disgust in her voice. Her sudden speaking made me jump for a second, but I kept my hand on the piece and started to pull on it before I answered.
“Well…” I pulled once, getting no movement out of it, “oh, just come here.”
Rena came over and peered into the stump. I tried yet again to pull it, getting a bit of movement out of it this time, but only about a millimeter. “And you think pulling that has absolutely anything to do with why we are here?”
I pulled for all I was worth this time, fueled by Rena’s sarcastic remark. This time it suddenly came up from the ground, but something must have been still stuck in the ground, since I ended up on my butt with a burse on my other elbow and scratching my head.
Rena slowly shook her head at me, and then peered again into the stump. She came out with a whole other look on her face than last time; this time of a sort of defeated one. “Okay, maybe you are right.”
I was puzzled by her sudden change of mood, expecting her to point and laugh and tell me how she was right all along. I yet again got up from the ground, hoping to find out what triggered the mood change. Since neither of my arms were good I just had to deal with the pain. I leaned over the stump, trying to not get my shirt caught on the prickled wood. The metal piece I was pulling turned out to be connected to a square, flat piece, which stood up on its side. The ground that it was covering was a big hole, about one foot in diameter. It took me a minute to figure out what I was looking at, but it hit me all the same; it was a trap door somehow inside of the stump.
“That’s intriguing.” I thought to myself. It was, too; anyone who could put a trap door inside of an old dead tree was a genius. Or they needed a new hobby if they did it via the hole in the ground. In the hole itself was as dark as dread. You could feel the moisture from inside that had been locked in from who knows when. It made the afternoon feel eerie.
I laughed nervously. “I guess I am, I mean, it is not like I see any other secret passages leading underground.”
A crunch from behind us broke the nervous moment. Rena and I both spun around to find a girl in her school uniform. It was a sailor fuku; a pure black uniform, almost as black as the hole in the ground. The stripe on the fuku was blood red, as well as her sailor neckerchief. She was taller than me by a few inches, stood straight, and her blackish-brown hair was down to below her shoulders, somehow making her give off an I-am-popular-and-you-know-it vibe.
She smiled and waved in greeting. “Hi. I know this is going to sound kind of weird, but could you two please leave?”
“Leave where?” I asked stupidly.
“The park of course.” Smiled the tall girl, somehow not annoyed.
Rena spoke this time, a bit perturbed, “We’re kinda busy right now.”
The mystery girl’s voice dropped into a monotone, “So, are you going to leave or not?”
I shrugged, “When we are done we will.”
“That’s not fast enough. Chances are you know that.” Her face was emotionless, threatening even. Then a smile appeared out of nowhere on her face. Her body turned into a blur, my eyes watered from the sudden wind that rushed from the it. Then she was gone, blur and all. A cold, hard feeling came from my temple. I turned my head to see what was there, only to get a shooting plain in my temple and my head knocked back into looking straight forward.
The split second glance to my side I got gave me all I needed; it was of a sliver of the girl in black’s face to my left and Rena, her eyes wide open in fear. Next to her face was a gun, a MAC-10 machine pistol to be exact, painted jet-black; the muzzle pointed to her temple. Even though I was staring at a deserted park, totally normal in the daylight, the image was carved into my eyes. The sound from the squeaky swings continued still, but this time it made the situation not only scary, but a bit eerie too.
Assuming in the back of my mind that I was in the same position as Rena, I mentally panicked; not only for myself, but also for Rena, who I had brought here with me. Both of us only wanted a little adventure, a childish want, yes, but still…
It was no reason to come here; in the end, this was Toji’s battle, and I had nothing to do with it. I endangered our lives without even a second thought. I lied to myself about this place. I ignored its dangers. I am not invincible; I can’t even defend myself, let alone another. I am going to get not only myself, but also Rena killed. I am so going to-
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I'm guessing (hoping) that the next chapter will have plenty of action, and the same description. Alright cu around, plz pm bk!