Chapter 06 : Funeral
Hikari
I lay on the couch, my head spinning. It had only been a day,
but it seems like he's been gone forever. 24 hours is damn long.
Taichi had gone to Yamato's concert, told me he wasn't taking it
well either. Takeru, you're gone, gone...forever. I sighed,
moping doesn't help. Wish it did. I lay there a few more minutes,
my back started to hurt. I wish Gatomon were here. All the
digimon...they make life so much more bareable.
The doorknob moved. I almost jumped, thinking about TK's murder
doesn't help much for anything. Taichi entered the house, he
looked somber. I didn't move, just lay there. "Hey
Kari." my brother said, his voice was expressionless. It
reminded me of Yamato the night before. Creepy.
"What happened Tai?" I asked, finally getting up from
the couch. Taichi didn't answer immediatetly, he walked across
the room and put his coat on the coat rack. "It's
Yamato..." he began, "He's changed." I blinked,
not completely understanding. "What do you mean?" I
asked. Tai slumped down on the couch where I had been.
"He's...all angry, worse than he'd ever been, even in the
Digital World....well, you weren't there, but Matt could get
pretty rough then...he..he's just changed."
I didn't know what to say, I didn't know Yamato that well. He was
Takeru's brother, I saw him ocasionally, but that was about it.
Thinking about Matt led to more thinking about TK. Yearning. My
yearning for Takeru to be brought back...an impossible wish. I
sighed, I felt helpless. I sat down. The two of us just sat there
for a while, each deep in our own thoughts. I glanced at the
clock, 8:49. Nothing to do, normally, I'd be talking to Takeru on
the phone now...but that was not possible now. I got up and went
to my room, hoping the nightmares wouldn't return.
~
I lay on my bed. It was past midnight now, it was dark outside,
no moon. I couldn't sleep. I hadn't been afraid of the dark since
I was 9, but now...the shadows in my room played tricks on me. A
pencil sticking up in a pencil holder....a knife shooting out of
the ground....the hand of a doll...Takeru's cut-up hand in the
hospital...I turned away.
Who had murdered Takeru? Who? Some insane, psychotic, homicidal
maniac? Maybe...why TK? Were they after the rest of us as well?
Maybe. Maybe not. Will this thought haunt me forever? Probably.
Gatomon, I wish you were here. No, you are all in the
Digiworld,...unaware of it all...you might have forgotten about
us already...it's been years now.
I stared at the wall. A minute passed. Two minutes. Three. I felt
my eyes get heavy. Sleep.
I was on my way to school, a bright, sunny, Friday morning.
Takeru's funeral was this afternoon. I neared my school, students
filling up the yard, talking. A shadow slinked in the bushes
beside the sidewalk. Rustling. I stopped and looked behind me.
Nothing. You're paranoid, Hikari...I started walking again. More
rustling. Definately someone following me. I kept walking.
A thin, black figure jumped in front of me. I leapt backwards.
The person wore a psychotic smile, his teeth were yellow, his
breath smelled. His black hair was messy and stuck out in all
directions. In both his hands were long daggers. Both of which
had dried blood on the blade. He laughed. I took a step
backwards, paralized with fear. The stranger held up on bloody
knife, "Say hello to Takeru for me." and brought the
blade down on me...
I sat up in bed, panting. My hair was soaked in sweat, so was
pillow. At least I hadn't screamed like I had the previous night.
I sighed, the dream was more realistic this time. That scared me.
Last night I had been in a dark alley, it was like in the movies.
This time, it was in my life, my school...and this time the
person had spoken to me. I swept my hand through my hair, wet and
nasty feeling. I lay back down and glanced at the clock. The neon
red letters glowed: 3:21. I closed my eyes. Tired. So tired. The
rest of the night was dreamless.
The following morning, I left the house with Taichi. I didn't
know why, maybe it was because of the dream I had. At least today
wasn't exactly like the dream. It was sunny or bright. The storm
clouds had darkened and the mood was gloomy. We stopped at the
High School, Tai waved goodbye to me. My school was about a block
away.
I waved back to my brother, I spotted Yamato in a corner of the
courtyard. He was alone, had his arms crossed and was staring at
the ground. I had never seen him like that. I shook it off and
kept walking. School. Didn't look forward to it. The clouds
rumbled. Rain was coming once again.
~
I stared at his face. His wounds had been cleaned better, his
face white. Totally white. His hair was still ruffled and messy,
but the dirt had been cleansed out of it. The tears I had held
back all day came now. Taichi stood beside me, he did not look at
Takeru, he was looking at Yamato.
I shifted my gaze to follow my brother's. Matt looked as he did
this morning. Cold, stone-faced, expressionless...he scared me. I
looked down again at Takeru's coffin. It looked pretty cheap,
just a wooden crate. Hell, it didn't even look polished. Guess
his family couldn't afford much,...I thought, what about
insurance?
I felt someone creep down behind me and jerked my head backwards.
No one. I shuddered, stop it Kari...you're not helping yourself
by being paranoid. Someone was talking about TK. I wasn't paying
attention. The guy probably didn't even know Takeru...bastards.
Why couldn't someone else be the speaker guy?
Takeru's casket was closed, I was never going to see him again. I
looked at everyone else. Sora was crying, Joe looked akward. So
did Izzy. Mimi was talking Yamato...or trying to. Matt looked
furious for some reason, he was glaring at the closed and
lowering casket. Mimi was trying to calm him down by the looks of
it, they were out of hearing range for me..the other side of the
casket.
Yamato suddenly exploded, he shoved Mimi out of his way and run
off. His parents were stunned and just stared after him. Taichi
jumped and started after him, as did Sora and Mimi. Izzy and Jyou
looked at each other, then followed. I decided looked at Takeru's
coffin, all the way lowered in the ground where he would lay
forever. I glanced back at my friends chasing Yamato. Matt was no
longer in sight. I sighed, said a silent goodbye to my Takeru and
lit after them.
© Kiriska