Small town secrets

Chapter 9 - Tai's perspective - Blackout

After last night's strange encounter I woke up to a bright sunny morning. I went downstairs for breakfast when I saw a peculiar note on the kitchen counter.
Went back to Odaiba to finalize the move
Be back in a couple of days
Take care of your sister
Love mom
Are you kidding me? She's in my life less than my dead dad. A couple of days? She could have told me instead of just leaving a note! She told me to take care of Kari as usual. If I'm being honest I didn't even want to speak to her. She had been rude to Mr. Nishajima and seemed very on edge. She wasn't herself, she needed to get it together. I then realized that she wasn't even up yet. I ran upstairs and banged on her door.
"Kari get up we have school!" I yelled at her
"I'm not going" She said softly
I opened her door, she wasn't even out of bed yet.
"What do you mean you're not going? Mom's gone and she left me in charge, get up and suck it up." I said slamming her door behind me
I heard her mumble something as I walked away but didn't care to hear it.
10 minutes later she came down the stairs. Her hair wasn't brushed and she looked rather erratic. Must be a new style with some added stress. On the walk to school, she didn't say much either. When we arrived at school we went our separate ways for class. Was she mad at me? No, she couldn't be, I should be the one that's mad at her. Maybe she just needed space. I didn't think much of it as I was staring out the window instead of doing my English work. Mr. Nishajima wouldn't fail me right? Soon enough the bell rang and I was heading to my next class
"Hey Tai, is meeting in the library still good?" Mr. Nishajima asked me
"For sure I'll let the others know" I said walking out of class
All the other classes were irrelevant until lunch came. I walked into the lunchroom and tons of girls were staring at me. I guess I was pretty attractive huh? I walked over to my lunch table and sat down beside Matt and Izzy.
"You've sure got a fan club" Sora laughed
"I suppose I do" I said
Over the last couple of days, our group had gotten very close despite some of the age gaps. Our table of four had grown to ten. I was sitting between Matt and Izzy. Sora was on the other side of Matt and Mimi was on the other Izzy. Kari and Yolei were sitting beside each other with Tk and Davis on either side of them.
"Where's Cody?" I asked
"After his mom died he had no reason to be in the building" Yolei clarified
"That's sad" Ken added
"I know" Yolei said
"Mr. Nishijima said if we all met him in the library after school he would tell us everything that's been happening" I explained
"Great so we'll finally know the truth!" Tk said
"We'll all be there" Matt said
Then the bell rang.
"Well smell ya later" Davis Shouted running down the hall followed by Kari and Tk
Now that I think about it she Kari didn't say a single word the entire time. Maybe there was something wrong with her. Maybe I'll bring it up when we get home.
After everyone went their separate ways I had to sit through three boring classes before we met up again in the library. I skidded down the hallway and flew into the library to see Mr. Nishijima and a small dark-haired girl who must have been Himekawa. Turns out I wasn't very fast considering the rest of the group was already in the library with all their heads turning towards me.
"Took you long enough Kamiya," Himekawa said "I understand many of you don't know me and many of you never know me, but you need to understand the seriousness of the situation we're in right now."
I saw next to Kari and Tk who were rather close. I looked over at Matt, he saw it too.
"Many years ago we had a small group of friends. It consisted of me, Nishijima, Susumu, Susan, Jonah and Seth. Not to brag but we made a pretty good team. Until one day Jonah went crazy on us. He was throwing things off of shelves, shattering vases. He was scaring everyone. It was almost as if a demon has possessed him. We were no ordinary book club and we sometimes did experiment with all that heebie-jeebie Ouija stuff. In a heroic Act of Bravery Susumu Charged at Jonah with a baseball bat knocking them out unconscious to never wake up. He saved us all from the terrible demon that was undoubtedly inside of him. Someone may be trying to get revenge on Jonah's behalf for what happened that night." Himekawa said
"Do you think it could have been his twin brother Seth?" I asked
"I looked into that possibility, It doesn't seem to be him. He's been in Connecticut for the Last 5 Years." Himekawa said
"So we have no leads?" Joe said
"Not at the moment" Himekawa said
"I think I need some air, I'll be back in a couple of minutes" Kari said storming out
"I'll come!" Tk shouted after her
"Let her go hun, she wants to be alone" Mimi said placing her hand on his shoulder
"Has she been acting weird recently?" Sora asked
"Maybe a little bit" I admitted
"And you didn't think to tell any of us?" Yolei snapped
"I must go now, I have important business to do" Himewaka said walking out
"I have noticed her sleeping in class" Davis said
"That's not like her at all" Ken added
"Tai? Are you not her brother? Don't you have an opinion?" Cody said
"I'm not sure" Tai said
"How are you not sure?" Matt said
Just then the lights turned off and we were left in complete darkness.
"Everyone stay calm," Mr. Nishijima said "It's probably just a blackout"
He was right, soon enough the lights came back on.
"Well that wasn't so bad" Joe said
"Kari!" Tk said racing out of the classroom
"TF that's my girl!" Davis said racing after him
"Oh my god she's probably completely lost, she doesn't know this side of the school at all and with the blackout, she's probably afraid." Sora said standing up
After that, we all went out to go look for her. Sadly we never found her. But what we did find was horrifying.
"Guys I think you might wanna see this" Ken said passing the note to me a look of fear in his eyes
She gone
If you ever want to see her again
Meet me at salt lake warehouse in 3 days time
Don't be late of she'll be dead
Love your worst nightmare
"Oh my god, Kari's been kidnapped" I screamed