Caring was a fatal flaw of Saki's.
It happened once she cared too much about her father's pink trumpet tree, she drowned it. The roots were submerged in a sea of its own for days; Saki's tears were raindrops and her guilty hiccups the storm's bolting cry of forgiveness. She sat by the tree until her knees were bruised and her father arrived from the long journey he'd gotten into with her mom. They found her broken in pieces with the smell of flowers infused on her hair and her muscles so stiffened her dad had to carry her back to her room.
It took her weeks to get her hands down the earth and between the plant's bed. The echo of her steps going down the staircase, one at a time, taunting the next, made her feel like that little Saki with dirt under her nails and the ghost of a sob on the back of her throat, but she knew she wasn't her anymore.
The beach shirt's shirttail hem danced below her butt, matching the long sleeves that went past the palm of her hands. Since swimsuits were a requirement at The Beach, she had searched the room she got thoroughly until she found that piece of clothing hidden behind the bathroom's door. She didn't dislike the fabric, and even if that was the case, there wasn't any other choice. However, that didn't mean she didn't feel conflicted about the moment her fingers traced the most ridiculous—and the only— pair of flip flops she could've ever worn in life.
"Are those goldfish on your feet?" Arisu's voice was tinted by a smile taking form on his lips.
"Shut up." She snapped back instantly, accepting the phone he passed her as a hello.
She wanted to say something else, but didn't know what, so she stayed quiet.
"Ann! Water is starting to spurt out and it's filling up the area!" Saki wiggled her toes as if she could bathe them in the cold. Even so, once they only met the dry concrete, she realized he was referring to the game's room. She wondered what calamity was waiting a step away from the safe zone she had already abandoned, with crossed fingers behind her back, wishing a return that could grant her the embrace of her bed's mattress sooner than the moon could take a bite of its own flesh. Her mom would always call her to the balcony to feel the waxing crescent's eyelashes caress her cheeks, promising to bring her a gift the next month, to kiss her forehead in every dream, and to fight against the monsters that hid behind closed doors. White lies for an insatiable mouth that chew, chew, chew, until her jaw hurt and her tongue got tired. She waited for the night, the goosebumping breeze, and her mother's arms to wrap around her torso and make her believe she could actually see the moon's shadow on a vast nothingness, 'cause it was the only moment her lungs filled and her face burned. The only moment she called a house without windows a home. "Hey, you're..." The man's voice got closer.
"You're the one from the tag game, you're alive." Arisu recognized.
"Yeah, I help with maintenance at The Beach, and—"
"Leave the formalities for after the game." Someone interrupted them.
Saki didn't wait any longer to follow the trail of living. The sound of water rushing and the sparking lighting up above her head made her drag her feet before fully entering the room. Water and electricity wasn't the best combination she wished to try out, and the fact the cold was already up her knees started to concern her.
"What's with this room?" Arisu mumbled.
REGISTRATION HAS CLOSED. . .
THERE ARE CURRENTLY EIGHT PARTICIPANTS. . .
THE GAME WILL NOW COMMENCE. . .
DIFFICULTY, FOUR OF DIAMONDS. . .
YOU ARE READING
BIG FISHES, rizuna ann
FanfictionBIG FISHES ATE LITTLE FISHES UP. . . ˗ˏˋ Ever since the day she was born, Ishikawa Saki thought the world was still asleep, as no light reached her every time she opened her eyes. There were no colors, no figures, and no scenery-just sounds, tastes...
