InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Hauntings ❯ The Dreaming ( Chapter 2 )

A flash of lightning, the sound pouring rain, the ceiling lights in the locker hallway flickering on and off, and the sound of footsteps ricocheted off the walls as a young woman wandered through the empty school. She opened a classroom door and peered inside, no one. Slowly she made her way down to the heavy double doors that were the main entrance. It looked like she was lost, her eyes darting back and forth across the glittering locker lined hallway, expecting someone to be there, but the hallway was empty. With a deep breath she pushed open the doors, expecting to be hit with a cold wet wind throwing the rain at her with all the force of the storm, lightning flashing and the flood waters washing around her ankles.

Instead she was greeted with a clear, cloudlessly starry night. The silver beams of the full moon washing over her and draining the tension from her body. She glanced around the schoolyard and then started walking out onto the pavement and into the warm night. She was halfway to the front gate of the schoolyard when she heard someone whisper her name. She turned to were it came from, the large tree over to the side, just a few yards away.

Slowly she made her way over to it, she didn't want to go but she didn't have a choice, her legs were dragging her there she wasn't controlling her body anymore. She stopped about three feet away from the tire swing that absently twirled in front of her causing the branch to creak and groan. She reached out to stop it, the sound it was making was getting annoying.

"Don't." came a voice from the tree. She looked up and saw a shadowy figure sitting cross-legged leaning against the trunk. "It's the only entertainment I have."

"It's not very interesting." She stated gazing at the blackened shape, she new it was a boy from his voice, what was he doing out here this late?

"You'd be surprised what you could learn from a swinging object. Wasn't the swinging chandelier Galileo watched in church important to him? He watched it for hours." The voice's tone changed a little and she new he was smiling. She couldn't help but smile too. She wandered around the swing, careful not to interrupt its movements, and headed for the figure.

"Galileo was stuck in a boring old church with nothing to do." She stated.

"And I'm stuck in a boring old school yard with nothing ta do, what's your point?" a flash of white proved to her that he was smiling.

"What are you doing out here this late?" she asked.

"Same ta you."

"Well, I don't really know…I don't remember coming here."

"You're pretty stupid if you can't remember coming ta school." He snickered, standing up and walking over to her. "What is such a pretty little girl doing out here so late at night?"

She took a step back, now she was really frightened. Who was this guy? She took another step back and ran into the tire swing; she stumbled and fell back on it. Trembling, she watched the tall figure step out of the shadows and into the broken moonlight, filtering in through the leaves. He was a young boy, about 17 dressed in blue jeans with the knees torn out and a red sleeveless.

He loomed over her; he smiled no longer his eyes held a distant sadness. "Why are you here? Why? Why were you able to leave?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about! A don't know!" she had to scream now, the lightning was back and thunder drowned out everything else. The sound of rushing water filled her ears just before the wave hit her; she had to hold onto the tire swing to keep from being washed away. A large branch swept by and scraped her right side; she let out a small cry and released her hold on the swing. She looked for the boy, hoping he would help her but what she saw made her heart stop. The boy was hanging limply by the rope of the swing. The tire washed over to her and she grabbed it, the water swirled around and around, forming a whirlpool and she was caught in the pull. She lost her grip on the tire and succumbed to the force of the water. She screamed as she neared the center, swallowing mouthfuls of the filthy brown water and trying to swim away but she couldn't, she was being pulled under. She let out one final scream before she fell beneath the surface.

Kagome screamed, sitting up, her tears streaming down her flushed cheeks, her body coated in sweat. She took in deep heavy breaths as she looked hastily around her dark room. "It was all a dream, just another nightmare." She said aloud yet, like always after her nightmares she couldn't get back to sleep. She didn't want to; she could still taste the murky water of the dream. Her heart still beat fast she still felt like she were drowning. Finally she kicked off her covers and headed for the kitchen.

She pulled a jar out from behind some recipe books and slowly screwed off the lid. Inside were triple chocolate fudge cookies, she always had them after a nightmare. She took three and slowly put the lid back on the jar, then placed the jar back behind the recipe books. She grabbed a glass from the cupboard, poured herself some milk, and headed over to the table to think. It was her early morning ritual, she would wake up from a nightmare, try to get back to sleep though she new she couldn't, then come into the kitchen and get her three of her favorite cookies and a glass of milk.

Starting on one of the cookies she began to search for the source of her bad dreams. She never had nightmares when she was a kid, not even back when she claimed to see ghosts. They only started when she moved to this small town about three months ago. It was the end of summer vacation so she always woke up drenched in sweat; the thing about it was that it was the same dream every night, except the minor changes every now and then.

At first the dream would start with her sitting out on the swing, then the water would come and she would loose her balance and fall in. The next time she would fall in and drown, and then she would be talking to a boy while she was on the swing. Every time there was something different, something added, something changed; she felt like she was in a book that was constantly being rewritten. The new thing tonight was his hanging body, the boy died in her dream, which was what she needed to think about.

She sat at the table, nibbling away at her cookies until she heard her mom come down the stairs. Finishing the last of her milk she went back to her room to get dressed and head to the mall. Her mom new about her dreams and never bothered her about it. Her only rules were to never go outside until she came down and to always be ready by the time breakfast was done. Two very simple rules easily followed. And so now the early morning ritual had ended and the midmorning ritual had begun. The only thing left to think about was what she was going to ware today.

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A/N: Congratulations! You have now finished reading the second really short chapter of The Hauntings you get one of Kagome's wonderful yummy triple chocolate fudge cookies, but only if you review as well.

I have decided to make this a story full of short chapters to ensure that I update sooner than I usually would. I will occasionally type a long one but if it takes me more than a week to type it and it's at least two pages I'm just gonna stick in a suitable chapter ending and start on a new chapter. So there! The only time it'll take longer than a week to update is if I'm working on another fic or I have no inspiration. So just stay with me and we'll all do fine.

C YA

Rin