Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Scattered Heart ❯ Darkness ( Chapter 4 )

Scattered Heart Ch.4: Darkness

 

Rukiabi: At last another chapter out. Please enjoy.

 

Disclaimer: All characters of Beyblade are © of Aoki Takao.

 

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It was so dark that the length of the trees had become like prison bars, cold and unrelenting. There didn't seem to be an end to the wood. I was tired. But I could only continue trudging on, snapping small pieces of ripped bark and fallen branches in half under my dead weight steps and feel the space in front of me for something to hold onto, yet reaching for nothing. Sometimes I would slip on some dead leaves, moist from decomposition on the forest floor. And when I would grasp a hold of one of those thick rough pillars, it was like running my hand down a sheet of sandpaper, my skin feeling raw and exposed.

 

Sometimes, once every six to seven steps, I would imagine a silk scarf behind me trying to grasp a hold of my hand. Like as if I were being stalked by a ghost. I could almost hear it, the soft silent breathing of the spectre. And the hairs on the back of my neck would tingle from the steam of a far off express train. I truly wished that that train would be here right now to take me home, a bit like that story of a boy who opened his front door to find a Polar Express ready to take him to see the Clause. And in that train, the boy would be served hot chocolate with marshmallows as he looked out the window watching the snowy mountains and woods pass by. But this isn't a children's picture book and I don't truly want to go home. Would there be hot chocolate and marshmallows waiting for me on the kitchen counter at home? Would my parents embrace me with loving arms, surrounding me with the warmth of a blanket and fireplace during Christmas Eve and we'd all be a family again? It's all a lie; I'm a horrible liar.

 

Every now and then, I would pause in mid-step, wondering whether my next step would touch level ground or fall deeper into a ditch. I would fall, just like in that last step. The ground would come speeding up to me just like in that last dream but instead of feeling the darkness slam into my whole existence, I would pass through the tiled ground and be free falling like a droplet of spit towards splotches of snow white paint splattered across a sky blue canvas.

 

“It's not far.”

 

I couldn't see the figure of the wild tiger through the darkness of the woods but the pairs of golden feline irises staring down on me from above, like a hunter cornering his prey, told me the relative location of my escort. They stared down on me fiercely.

 

“I can smell the ocean. It's just up ahead.”

 

Just up ahead were long dark stripes before an even darker backdrop. Darkness just like what I've been seeing since the past five hours. Is darkness all that I can see?

 

“He's right.”

 

Takao flew down from behind the thick covering of black petals, the dead canopy of the woods.

 

The ocean doesn't fly but as if answering my thoughts, he said, “The ocean is reflected through the sky.”

 

I thought `yeah right' even as I unconsciously tilted my head up to stare through the lightning fault between the leaves of two large oak like trees. My eyes widened at the sight of aquamarine waves. Long fingers of sea grass tickled the cotton swab-like clouds through an ever-shifting mirror of slate grey.

 

And my jaw fell slightly as I forgot for a moment my disregard of the boy behind me.

 

“The sky and the sea aren't very different. Just like how deep in the sky there are stars, deep in the ocean there are sea stars. They are the same.”

 

When I turned my attention onto him, I saw the reflection of thousands of shimmering suns from galaxies far away. He has a whole universe within him with undiscovered corners and hidden planets.

 

“Who are you?”

 

“It's Takao remember?”

 

“That's not what I mean… never mind.”

 

Why did I bother in the first place? Wasn't I ignoring that that… the word `freak' came up to mind but I couldn't bring myself to think it for it wasn't what I truly wanted to say. With a floating boy haunting me and a half tiger beast as my tour guide, who was the real freak in the middle? Not to mention the whacked out world with solid clouds that one can stand on and forests that cut off all light from the outside world completely.

 

I'm Alice in Horrorland.

 

Rei leapt off the thick scaly tree branch and landed in front of me.

 

“The beach is just beyond those trees but we should camp out here tonight.”

 

I took a couple of steps back, making sure to distance myself from him.

 

“Why?”

 

“There are shadows…”

 

His pupils narrowed so that they resembled the cracks of light barely able to stream through the tall restricting trees.

 

“At night they come out and patrol the sands, looking to feed on any that find their way out of the woods. The light of the sun will dissipate their bodies but until then, we should stay clear of the shore.”

 

“Right, of course.”

 

He would know since it's his world after all. I might as well sit down in resignation and…

 

And all of a sudden the darkness began to shift so that the world before me was tilting like black and white marbles bouncing and rolling off a wooden board. My legs gave way underneath me and I felt myself falling slowly backwards… into his arms.

 

“I've got you,” the ghostly breath whispered into my ear, “are you okay?”

 

“Yeah, don't touch me…”

 

I shrugged out of his hold but my knees wouldn't hold in place and I found myself kneeling on wet leaves and earth. Why couldn't I stand? Could I possibly be… tired?

 

“We've been walking through these woods for quite some time. You might as well get some rest. I'll keep on a lookout.”

 

Rei disappeared through the canopy.

 

It was stupid and it was frustrating. I can't move. That's what I've been feeling since I came to this world: immobility. I'm not actually moving, I'm just dreaming. Somewhere outside this surreal world is my still body. Somewhere could be my dead body… oh god.

 

“I must be dead.”

 

The breath seemed to come out of my lips like misted ice.

 

Not even two cups of hot chocolate could warm the recesses of my heart, but I could just feel two hands against the glass cage outside of it.

 

“You're not dead. You're just tired.”

 

The two hands pressed my shoulders lightly.

 

“I'll help you! First let's sit by this tree.”

 

I let the blunette bring one of my arms around his neck and carry me to a tree. There wasn't much I could do nor say in the matter. My body was a lifeless doll. He sat us down in between two uplifted roots of a large tree with black moss crawling up its trunk.

 

“There. We should be okay here until morning.”

 

Silence. But he began.

 

“You know, I've only ever seen the sea from afar? From the clouds, the ocean is just another piece of land but coloured blue. I can't wait to see it up close. And I wonder what kinds of creatures we'll see by it.”

 

And more silence. But he continued.

 

“I certainly don't want to meet those shadow things that Rei mentioned before. Oh! But I do wonder what they look like. Maybe they have huge sharp teeth that can chomp down on your body and eat you alive!!”

 

He covered his face in mock fear.

 

“That would be so freaky!”

 

There seemed to be an ever growing weight on my eyelids as he continued to drone on. My body felt warmed being beside him and I didn't care anymore.

 

“Say, what's your name?”

 

“It's… Kai…”

 

“Kai… I like your name.”

 

And the darkness continued.

 

- - - - - - - - -

 

“Look Kai.”

 

The awakening star, from between thin cracks in the woods, reached for the couple leaning against the grizzled tree with long stretching fingers of warm light.

 

“It's morning,” Takao smiled, “Kai?”

 

But the dual-toned haired boy couldn't hear. His light breathing was blanketed by slumber as his head was pillowed against an angel's warm shoulder.