orphan | komahina

12

hajime locked the door behind us and collapsed onto the bed, trying to catch his breath after that reckless experience. he came down to get me from the basement again but this time it didn't go as smoothly: a caretaker very nearly caught us.

"that was terrifying..." i muttered, also a little short of breath.

"thank you again." i turned to him. he gave me a small smile as he slowly sat up at the edge of the bed.

"you have your night clothes with you this time." he observed. i felt awful about subjecting him to sleep next to my half naked body the last time this happened, i didn't want to put him through that again.

"that's a shame..." i stopped instantly, feeling my face heat up like a lantern. i didn't know what to do or say. was i supposed to hear that?

"i was joking. sorry. bad joke." i finally let go of the breath i'd been holding and nodded in understanding. it still felt like i was blushing wildly though.

"you should get some sleep then." he advised me. there's a small problem with that...

"um...do you have any books in here or something? i'll just read that instead." the boy sat across from me seemed confused.

"but aren't you tired?" he queried. i sighed and shook my head.

"ohhh...in all honesty, neither am i." i grinned and sat down on the bed, laying underneath the blanket and trying to get comfortable.

"wanna just talk for a bit?" hajime inquired.

"sure. what do you wanna talk about?" there was a short silence before he answered my question.

"you." i thought he was kidding. but after more and more deafening silence i realised he was deadly serious. nobody ever really wanted to talk about me, and when they did it was purely out of being nosy.

"why?"

"i want to know as much as i can about you. so tell me anything that comes to mind." a lot came to mind as soon as he said that, but it was all stuff i never spoke about with anybody except maki. hajime is a nice guy though. he's kind and trustworthy...perhaps i could tell him a little bit.

"um...i'm not really sure where to start...or what to say..."

"you could tell me about why you're in here. if you're okay with that." my heart was racing a mile a second. opening up about this is terrifying.

"my parents died when i was eight. plane crash." there was a silence that made my entire body shiver. i started to regret opening my mouth in the first place. i could have lied or just avoided the question completely. but still, i felt obliged to tell him.

"i'm so sorry...that's horrible." was all hajime could muster. i understood. it's not something you're ever prepared to hear. it's not something people really know how to react to.

"that crash is how i lost my arm." he turned to his other side to face me, gazing right into my eyes.

"you were in the crash?" i nodded.

"i was the only one who survived." his eyes were filled to the brim with sorrow and empathy. though he didn't quite seem to know what to say. i guess he's never had anybody tell him they lost their arm in the same crash that killed their parents.

"i'm sorry...i don't know what else to say except i'm sorry." i gave him a small smile.

"it's fine. you don't have to apologise. you don't have to say anything if you don't know what to say." he let out a sigh and nodded slowly.