Deja Vu

Chapter 5

I start to gain control over my body, and immediately am overcome with a feeling of pain. The throbbing in my head reminds me of being deep underwater, and how the pressure squeezes your body. I try to take a deep breath in, but the burning in my lungs causes me to choke on air.

"Oh good, he's awake." says a distant voice. I try to open my eyes to locate the person who spoke, but there is a bright light that forces me to squint. I try to move my hands to cradle my head, but something stops them from moving.

"Oikawa?" I groan. I can't remember who he is, or what he looks like, but I remember the name. Oikawa. I hear overlapping voices, but my head hurts too much to decipher any of what they're saying.

I open my eyes just enough that I can see the silhouettes of people moving around me. There seems to be about half a dozen people in the room, but there could be more. I hear a click, followed by white noise. Did they turn on a radio?

"Wasn't Oikawa the step-brother of that kid?" someone asks. Their question is followed by affirmative mutters, but no more clear dialogue. I ignore the sharp pain in my shoulder while I adjust my posture so that my field of vision is perpendicular to the ground.

There is more muttering, and I feel something tickle my hands. I pull them away, and this time, nothing prevents them from moving. I lean my head into my hands, but pull back when I realize there is something on them.

I force myself to open my eyes, and examine my hands. To my horror, they are covered in a thick, warm, crimson fluid. Blood. It is caked underneath my fingernails, and has gotten smeared up my arms. I attempt to steady my breathing to keep the pain in my ribs from returning.

"Blood! There's blood, someone's hurt!" I sputter. The people around me look at each other and smirk. I hear someone laugh from across the room, then others begin to join in until the entire room is full of laughter. "Are you crazy? I said that there's blood. That means someone is hurt. Stop laughing and help them!" I shout.

"Silly Hajime, that blood is yours." remarks a large man standing in front of me. What is he saying? It doesn't make sense. Who is Hajime? And why did he say that the blood is mine? I can't be bleeding that much, I don't have a cut that big.

Someone brings my hands together, and wraps them in coarse twine, restraining my motion. Not being able to move freely bothers me, but not nearly as much as my lack of understanding in this situation.

My mind is overwhelmed by these questions. I have so much to ask about, but I can only manage to get one word off my tongue. "What?" I ask the man in front of me. He looks angry, but I don't remember anything happening that would have upset him.

"You smartass!" The man yells, grabbing me by my hair. His thick fingers tear through my short hair which is crusty from the blood. He roughly kicks me in the diaphragm, and I double over, clutching my stomach. My lungs spasm, and I gasp for breath.

"What the hell was that for?" I gasp angrily. I can't remember anything from before I woke up, but I know how to read a room, and clearly this room is full of people who don't like me too well.

"That was for killing my girlfriend, you bitch!" The angry man shouts. What? I wouldn't kill anybody. He must have the wrong guy, I would never hurt someone, especially not a girl. I close my eyes to try to remember who this man is, and anything about his girlfriend, but nothing comes to mind.

"I didn't kill you girlfriend, you must have the wrong guy." I say defensively. I thought that maybe he would realize his mistake and let me go, but he looks even angrier than before.

"You bitch, you admitted to it just this morning. You killed Alisa, so now I'm going to kill you." He spits. He takes a step closer, and pulls out a small knife from his pocket. "Nice and slow." He says with a grin, moving the knife to the side of my face.