Hikiko

血液 ~Blood~

The alarm clock screamed madly and vibrated on my night stand. I mumbled something, incomprehensible even to myself and reached with my hand to hit the damn thing. Finally, my hand found its way to the stand and hit the clock, once then twice but it still yelled.

‘Shut up.’ I mumbled again and slammed my hand against it once more. This time, it obeyed.

I dragged myself out of the comfort of my bed and hopped downstairs to see what mom had prepared for breakfast. However, there was no one home this morning. I furrowed my eyebrows, confused, wondering where she had left.

Mom did not have a full-time job and it was Saturday anyways. She would have told me she was going somewhere in the morning last night.

I sighed and opened the fridge, chewing on my lower lip as I wondered whether I should eat the pizza leftovers or just eat the tuna. As I was struggling with his life-saving dilemma, my cell phone rang.

I blinked and listened. Where did I leave my phone? I closed the fridge and ran across the living room. I could have sworn to have heard it somewhere in that room. As I was looking for it, the ringing slowly died out yet I still decided to find it. I needed to see who called me anyways.

‘Aha, here you are.’ I said and grabbed the phone, checking my missed calls. ‘Eh?’ I raised an eyebrow. It was one of my classmates, Manami. She was not my friend. I did not have any friends but we used to sit together and we attended the same after-school club activities.

This reminded me…I slapped my forehead and hit ‘dial’. The phone rang and rang, countless times but no one picked up. I glanced at the clock. The classes were canceled for the day but we still had a club meeting, to which I was already five minutes late.

‘Crap.’ I muttered when Manami picked up the phone.

‘Crap? Yes, you’re late. Where are you? You have no idea who is here.’

I froze. ‘A-Aoi?’

‘No. Just come, will you? Everyone is impatient.’ She hanged the phone, leaving me confused.

I got dressed and hurried to the school building. Today, we had the meeting in the room 205. I stormed into it, short of breath and the first person I saw was him: Satoru.

I gulped and looked away, quickly finding a place to sit.

He wanted to greet me, his lips had already curved into a smile but I ignored it. It was his fault. He must have told Aoi we slept together so ditch her more easily. He lied and he ruined my life, I thought. He sure as hell will not get even a glance from me, let alone a hello.

Manami shifted closer to me ‘Why don’t you say hello? He’s staring at you.’

‘None of your business.’ I replied.

‘It’s not his fault; I know you’re blaming him. Tell him! Maybe he can help.’

‘I don’t want his help.’ I murmured, keeping my head down much to his disappointment.

After the meeting, everyone scattered their own ways. I missed out the opportunity to say ‘bye’ to Manami who seemed to have gone before I even picked up my things. I shrugged and left the building, hurrying to the bus station.

The bus station was just below one of the overpasses. Every time I walked that way I wondered what would happen if the night had fallen? What if Teke Teke got to me? But, she did not exist, right?

Hikiko does, I thought and shook my head.

The phone call was some kind of a prank, I reasoned with myself. There are no such things as ghosts, especially some vengeful spirits walking around us and-