Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Afriad of the Light ❯ Temporary Insanity ( Chapter 18 )

Chapter Eighteen

"Ozuma?" A female voice spoke.

He could hear her so close to him, it was a nice voice. He hoped he hadn't just been imagining things when he had seen his father. He would hate to be tied up somewhere by the couple and had God knows what done to him.

"I think we should just let him sleep, Tsu'." A man said.

Tsu'? Like Tsurina? He wondered in the darkened void of his mind.

"Not if he bumped his head." She touched her sons forehead. "He's not hot. Honey, can you open your eyes?"

Scrunching them at first, Ozuma's eyes gently opened with a blink then another. A small smile appeared on his face. "Mom, you're home?"

"Yes I am. The hospital said I could come back."

Her son got up from his laying position and hugged her. "I'm glad you're ok."

"Me too."

"We wouldn't want anything to happen to our only daughter." Himani said.

"What?" Ozuma looked at his father like he were insane.

"We'll get rid of that family soon Dawn. Then we'll be a happy family all over again." Peter smiled at his daughter.

Tsurina looked to her husband and smiled as well. Ozuma was confused, just a minute ago he was with his parents. What's changed?

"Oh, you're eyes a little pussy again, you better go to the bathroom and clean that up." Tsurina said.

Ozuma's mind was buzzing, he didn't know what these people were up to but he didn't like it. Could they change their forms? Imitate his parents and make him think he were dreaming the whole time?

"Yeah, I better go clean myself up." He mumbled and walked out of the room. The house was lit dimly with candles lining his bedroom. A small one in the hall inside of a tiny porcelain container. It was the house, he was sure of that, but it seemed different somehow. Very different. Like his family had never lived in it at all. Like the Iwakawa's had never left. His feet were lighter than they should have been. His legs felt bare. Looking down he saw that he was wearing a long white nightgown. Certainly not pajamas.

What is going on here? He turned into the bathroom, reaching for the light switch he flipped it up but nothing happened. The bathroom was lit though, of course with candles. Ozuma looked up into the mirror and he was scared. Very scared. He was a girl. A pretty girl: long black hair, a tiny mouth, big brown eyes.... a plump little head. Dawn.

So... was it all a dream? Was there never an Ozuma? Just the dream from some crazed mind. He reached up and touched her face. It felt so real. Her pale skin was cold with no hint of sun light ever having touched it.

"Dawn are you all right in there? Do you need any help?" Tsurina called from his- her bedroom.

"No, I'm fine!" She closed the door so that he could be alone, locking it over.

Something caught her attention by the shower. She walked cautiously over to it, reached out to pull the curtain over, but before her hands could reach it the curtain was yanked aside and there to her shock was Ozuma!

"Die!" He turned on flash lights, two of them beaming directly in her eyes and playing down on her delicate skin.

"HHHAAAAAAA!!!!!" Dawn screamed in agonizing pain, backing over to the door, tugging at the knob it wouldn't open. She forgot that she had locked it to keep her parents out.

Ozuma aimed the light on her face with one flash light, while beating her senselessly with the other flash light. Her skin was being burned and bruised at the same time. She screamed from the pain, it hurt so much, and she knew that if she took anymore abuse she would die. Not only that, her skin began to blister badly from the bright light of the bulb in the flash light.

Fighting him by waving her hands in his direction, she seemed to miss every time, her eyes clouded before blistering over making her blind.

"Haaa!!! AAAHHH!!!"

Ozuma jumped up out of his sleep. The light in his bedroom was turned on, in fact from the looks of the hall, the lights were on all over the house! "No!" He tried to move but something was holding him down. No he felt skin, it was someone. "Nnooo! Let me gooo!!!"

"Ssshh! Ssshhh! Ozuma, it's me."

He looked up seeing his father sitting beside him on the bed, he was the one holding his arms down. "Let go of me!" The boy growled.

Himani furrowed his brows. He had never heard his son speak in that sort of tone- at least not to him. Doing as the boy said, Ozuma immediately reached for the lamp turning the light off. "You can't turn on the lights, they're going to get me!" He shouted when he didn't need to.

"Ozuma," his father sighed with impatient misunderstanding. "I'm worried about you son, you've been in the dark for too long." He turned the light back on. I left all the light on in the house. The darkness is making you paranoid."

"Nooo, noo they'll get you. They want us out." He began to tear up, reaching for the light switch again.

His father held onto his hand but was swatted at. "Ozuma!" He held the boys other hand. "Stop this at once, you're not making any sense."

"You can't turn the lights on, the Iwakawa's will get us! This is their house and they want it back."

"The Iwakawa's?"

"But, hahaha" he laughed on. He didn't finish his sentence.

Himani let the boy go when he hugged himself with laughter. "Ozuma, your mother is still at the hopsital.... I'm gonna go to pick her up later. You can come with me-..."

"No! No, no I have to stay here." He sat up with wild eyes scanning his fathers face. "Dawn... will get me in the dark...."

"Who?"

Ozuma was panting. He panted as though he had just run for a long time and he was now out of breath. Looking around frantically, he spotted a cup. "What's this?"

"I made you some tea?" His father explained. "I want you to calm down and drink it."

Ozuma shook his head. "I can't, I don't wanna drink it."

"Please son, just take a little bit. You need to relax and get changed and come with me to get your mother when I go."

"I hate you! I hate both of you!" He lunged forward at the couple. Peter and Tsurina stood at his bedroom door with mocking smiles. They were watching and waiting for Himani to leave so they could get him. "Turn off the lights!" He shouted over and over again.

"Ozuma calm down!" Himani struggled to hold a child who was beyond compare weaker than he was, but as the boy flailed wildly in his arms, he could no longer keep his grip on him. "Ozuma! Ozuma, if you drink the tea I'll turn off the lights. Do we have a deal!?"

Ozuma bent over and started crying. A choking sad sound. "Let me gooo, I'm sorry."

Himani had never seen his son like this before. So rash and.... well, truthfully out of his mind. "Here son, drink this."

Ozuma took the cup and chugged the drink in three gulps. "I'm sorry..." He reached up in agony to hug his father.

"It's okay son... you're safe no- Oooww!" His head was jerked back.

Ozuma pulled his fathers hair hard enough to make the scalp bleed and when he was free from the hug, he grabbed his flash light and broke the lamp in his room. "Change the bulb on me!" Ozuma growled angrily. Storming over to the door, he flicked the over head light off and smashed the flip in. There was a brief shortage then the light cut off. "You won't be satisfied 'till I'm dead!"

"Ozuma?" His father chased after him.

Ozuma jumped up at the light in the hall. He couldn't reach it! Himani grabbed his son by the waist picking him up. Ozuma's arms were free though and as luck would have it, he swung the flash light up bashing the light bulb turning it out. Shielding his eyes from the shards of glass, Himani dropped Ozuma to the floor but the boy recovered quickly.

Getting up to his feet, the glass crunching underneath breaking his skin, but he didn't care. He was on a mission. Heading into his parents room, he smashed the first lamp he saw, crawling over the bed to get the other one. His knees bounced and he stumbled a bit as the blanket shifted beneath him. Climbing from the bed, with a mission accomplished, Ozuma broke the light switch, just as with his bedroom. The head of the flash light fell off and rolled to the floor, broken as well.

He didn't care, he had his fist didn't he? Dropping the bottom of the flash light, Ozuma rushing into the bathroom, he heard his fathers foot steps following after him. Looking in his direction, the boy blinked seeing a haze through what little bit of light remained in the hall from the bathroom. His vision was dark red on one side, he must have pricked his eye on the glass. Making a frustrated sigh, he hurried back toward the bathroom.

"Ozuma stop this now!" Himani bellowed.

"No! We're not safe!" Climbing up on the sink he took the glass cover from the light and broke the bulbs with it, shattering more glass on his face. "Dumb-....!" He swaggered a second.... Shaking it off, he hopped down from the sink. Running into his father on the way out of the bathroom, the man managed to grab a hold of Ozuma's shirt. His son tugged away so quickly the sensitive material ripped away, causing the still trying to run boy to go staggering down the hall toward the stairs.

Ozuma fell to his knees, standing back up he ran down the stairs, slipping at the last three steps due to the blood on his feet. Can't stop now... Hobbling with a hurt knee, Ozuma tried the best he could to reach the light in the kitchen. While he was in a brief pause; Himani made it downstairs grabbing the boy holding both him and his arms down.

"Ozuma stop it!"

But he struggled on, though not as strongly as before. Ozuma didn't know it, but his father slipped some sleeping pills into the tea and as luck would have it they were finally beginning to work. "I can't sleep... I can't let them get us..." He shoved his father away then ran into the living room. Tugging away at the plug to the first lamp he saw, Ozuma gave up, choosing to just knock the lamp over to break the bulb.

Going back into the kitchen for another try at the light, the young boy shrank down to his knees to rest a bit. He was loosing blood from his hands and feet but the most draining thing was the sleeping pills.

"Ozuma, relax...." Himani tried a soothing tone, he placed his hands around his son to keep him in one place.

A giggle from upstairs filled the Balaji child’s ears and in the next instant, Ozuma was then out like a light. * * *  

Ozuma opened his eyes. Through a fog he looked around his bedroom. The broken lamp was gone. The house was dark. Wetting his dry lips, he turned his head and looked out of the bedroom door. He saw nothing in the doorway.

What happened? Was I dreaming that too? Looking back to where the broken lamp was he noticed a piece of white paper that wasn't there before. Ozuma, I've gone to get your mother, we'll be back as soon as we can. The storm has let up so the roads shouldn't be too bad. I cleaned up the glass and if it'll really make you happy, I left the lights off. I don't know if it's this house or if I just hadn't been spending enough time with you, but I'm sorry. Your mother and I try our best to take care of you. We love you son. Your father.

"So it wasn't a dream." He was glad for how sane he sounded. Even though his father spiked the tea, a dream free sleep was just what he needed to get his head clear. But he was very intrigued by the dream he had before. He saw himself as Dawn, he lived in her body if only for a moment. She was normal at some point, but somewhere along the line she snapped. But he didn't care about the insane child. What he really gained from the dream was a way to stop her. And he knew just the place to make it happen. The attic.

The attic was the perfect place to do it, because with Dawn's bedroom window missing, there was the chance that something could go wrong. He couldn't use any other room because she could hide in the darkness somehow. He needed a place with protection of the outside world. And the attic has that tiny window if anything happens to the flash lights. There would be nowhere for her to go, and she would burn to death from the sunlight. And the family can be reunited and leave. At least he hoped so.

But how can I lure her up there? Getting off his bed, he was startled to feel the legs of his pajamas tumbling down around his ankles. "Where?" He felt up and down his self. Dad must have changed my clothes.... He frowned. He remembered hearing the tearing sound in the hall. Rei would never forgive him.

"I can't think about that now." Walking to the door. "I need to get some light,"