Crestfallen

21: What the heart wanted to say.

*****

She was running...she was running again. Someone was following her. She cannot see who it is, but she can feel its presence.

'Sherry...' that cold voice again.

She tried her hardest not to look back. She was afraid. She was panting...heavily breathing for oxygen that seems scarce as of the moment.

She continued running. Her head was starting to spin because of her speed. She cannot afford to stop now.

She took a sharp intake of breath, but then she tripped. She stumbled on the ground as she felt pain on her legs. She was bruised, she can just tell. A lone tear escaped her eyes as she felt the ominous presence behind her.

'Sherry...' it called. 'Look behind you Sherry.'

As if hypnotized, she followed the voice. She gasped at what she saw.

It was her sister, lying motionless on the ground. Just like she remembered during the robbery case.

She cried weakly, as she crawled to her. Her sister was not moving, or even breathing perhaps. There was a pool of blood on her.

Again, she felt hopeless. A world of darkness just engulfed her as she felt the cold barrel of a gun on her temple. She closed her eyes.

'Goodbye, Sherry.' The voice said as he pulled the trigger.

Haibara gasped as she gets up from slumber. She was covered in cold sweat. She scanned her surroundings. She felt a surge of panic when she did not recognize the place at first. But as seconds passed, she realized where she was. She exhaled deeply.

'Right...I'm at Kudo-kun's place.'

There it was again, she was having bad dreams again. And this time, it was about her sister. Is it because of her fever? She remembered how her sister took care of her whenever she's sick. She fought the urge to cry as she felt her chest tighten as she remembered that she cannot see her sister. Ever again. She was gone. Nonexistent. Dead.

She closed her eyes. She felt vulnerable every time she was alone like this. It seems like all the terrible things that happened to her comes crashing back to break her existence. She sniffed as she felt a tear escaped her eyes. She was near in having an emotional breakdown.

'Gods. Stop it. Stop crying. Or else Kudo-kun will hear you.' She said mentally as she forced herself to stop.

After a minute, she successfully stopped, but her eyes were watery red. She puffed a deep breath.

She felt her forehead. She was still hot, like there was no changes on her body temperature. If possible, it seems as if it even rose higher. She sighed again. She was getting delirious, her head was beating like hell. The effect of the medicine she took earlier doesn't seem to have an effect.

'How long has it been since I was asleep?'

She searched for the detective but he was nowhere in sight. She searched for a clock instead.

It read 21:11.

If memory serves, she went to the detective's bed by about 19:45.

So she was asleep for more than an hour now? She weakly gets up as she felt her stomach rumbled. She was hungry. She still hadn't taken in food.

She stood up weakly as she walks to the wall for support. She can feel her knees buckled. She wanted to drink, even just for a little.

'I wonder where Kudo-kun is. I bet he's already asleep.' She thought as she silently and weakly made her way to the kitchen.