Heaven's Senses

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Darkness... That's what I remembered first.

The darkness of a room filled with the brim with sadness, fear, pain, and the faint smell of salty tears mixed in with the scent of rain.

I looked around the darkness, trying to find some sliver of light or life. I began wandering in this strange darkness, looking for anything. Anyone that could help me come back home. I didn't know how long I was in that darkness.

A hour?

A day? 

A week?

It was so hard to tell at that point. But I continued wandering, the drive to find someone to help bring me home fueling my every step.

"Hello?" I called out, finally bringing a sound from my frozen throat, "Can anybody hear me? Please! I'm trying to go home!"

But no one answered me. No one was there to help me.

I continued to wander, wondering what on earth was I going to do if I couldn't make it out of this darkness. Would I die here all alone? Would I never get to see my parents or my big brother ever again? Would I never cook another meal with my family?

The thoughts continued to rush through my head like a raging river of fear and sadness.

Suddenly, my nose caught the scent of food nearby. I quickly whipped my head towards the scent and started running. I smiled, thinking that this delicious scent was my father's cooking. I was too excited to see them all again. My mom, my dad, and my older twin brother.

I wanted them to hug me again, and then challenge me to a cooking battle before dinner.

The scent of food was getting stronger and stronger with every step I took. And as I got closer and closer, I could see something in the distance. My smile grew brighter as I ran even faster toward the scent. That's when I could see what was in the distance as clear as glass. And it made me stop in frozen fear.

It was a table. A small table made of black wood with two chairs sitting in front of it side by side. I turned around and saw that I was no longer in the darkness, instead, I was standing in a room with only a single window and a door now in front of me.

"Come on." A voice said behind me. I quickly turned back around and saw a child my age. A young  girl with long orange colored hair and wearing a soft pink dress made of fine fabric. However, her face was covered in a black shadow, so I couldn't see her face clearly.

She walked over to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me to one of the chairs and sitting me down. There, sitting on the table was a plate of delicious looking food. As soon as I set eyes on the food, many of my senses were being overloaded.

The sounds of the sizzling dish penetrated my sensitive ears.

The scent of the food invading my nose.

"Take a bite." The mysterious girl said gesturing to the food on the plate.

Her voice. It chilled me to the bone. There was no emotion. No warmth. It was like she was a dead doll speaking with a human voice. It pierced my ears like a frozen needle constantly poking at my eardrum.

"Father made it himself. You should be grateful for his kindness and eat all of it."

I don't know what came over me, but my hand moved to the fork on the side, and I took a bite.

At that moment, everything was wrong.

My taste buds were overwhelmed with the flavors and seasonings of the food. The texture was too much for me to handle. It was all too much for me to handle at once. I dropped the fork and fell to the floor, writhing in pain as all of my senses were overwhelmed.

As if I was being rattled from the inside-out. I felt hot. I felt cold. Everything hurt, from the tips of my toes to even the ends of my hair. It was all painful.

"Subete no kankaku no tenshi." Another voice said to me from above.

I opened my eyes only to see what I thought at that time......

It wasn't a man....

No, it wasn't even human....

No.... his smile.... His cold dead smile....

Those cold black eyes...

"Have you finished for today?" He asked in that terrifying voice that sent ice down my spine and froze me in my place.

He reached out his hand to touch me---

🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪

I shot up out of bed, my breath labored and my face caked in sweat. My vision was hazy and my body was shaking like crazy. All of my senses went haywire, going in and out with their strength.

"Sis!" Soma shouted as he rushed to my side of the room.

I felt him grab me by my shoulders, but I pushed him away and crowded myself into the corner.

"Hikari, it's me." He whispered to me, "Can you see me? Can you hear me?"

It took me a minute to respond, only nodding as my vision became clear and my body stood still.

"I'm.... I'm all right." I whispered, "Just.... a really bad nightmare."

He looked at me worriedly and held out his hand. It was a silent sign for the two of us. If I was okay, I would take one finger and write my name in Kanji on his palm. If I could make it through with spelling my name on his hand without messing out or shaking too much, I was fine and calm. If not, then I would have to go through a few relaxation exercises and a full body scan meditation until I feel better.

Thankfully, it wasn't a bad nightmare, so I could write my name perfectly on my brother's palm.

He sighed in relief and hugged me gently.

"You sure you're all right? Do you need a day?" He asked.

"No, I'm okay." I said and pulled away and looked out the window, only to see that it was still dark out. The scent of the open window was slightly dewy, not too strong, but also not very weak either, which meant that it was still early morning.

"I'll just do a couple breathing techniques and I'll go back to sleep." I assured him that I would be okay. He hesitantly nodded and went back to his bed while I sat straight and focused on my breathing.

Next thing I knew, I was waking up to the sunlight through my window.

Another day was beginning.