Faded

A New Chapter

                The journey to the new rehabilitation center was not a long one; the witch didn’t necessarily know why the person over the phone said they would buy everyone plane tickets if Miami was only an hour or two away if that. The property wasn’t in the best condition; the grass was all gray (is that possible?), the trees were dead and withering, and the shining newly done facility definitely stuck out from its surroundings. The building itself was beautiful and breath taking. It really did look like Atlantis… if only she knew what it looked like.

“Samekichi… the building looks so beautiful! The windows appear very spread apart, so maybe that means bigger bedrooms, but… it looks ominous on the outside; just look at all the plants!”

Wadanohara hugged Samekichi’s arm as she heard a noise coming from somewhere in the nearby trees. He pulled her in closer, and examined the surroundings to make sure there wasn’t anything… funky. Everything looked fine… everything but the grass and trees. There were also some bones in the grass that cracked and broke when stepped upon, as figured out when Memoca accidentally stepped on a rib cage. As to how she didn’t notice something like that, one can only guess.

“Wadanohara, everything looks fine to me. Nothing weird… maybe just a few things to tweak up, but nothing we can’t fix.”

He reassured her, before she unlatched her arms from his and pulled out the glass box containing Satanick’s horns. She brought them around everywhere. Shopping, anything outside of rehab boundaries. If she was just taking care of some patients, she would leave the horns in her room on a shelf or something, but the nurse wouldn’t dare leave him alone when she left the building. He stuck with her everywhere she went.

“Satanick… h-he needs to see. He’s the only one who hasn’t yet…”

Gently placing the glass on the ground, she opened the little door and took out the horns; facing them towards the new facility. The nurse smiled and held them close in an embrace.

“I hope you like it… this is home now.”

As if on cue, there was a bright light (not too painfully bright; enough to see it) that swept over the entire outside. The grass turned a healthy green, and the trees grew their leaves that turned for the autumn season. Everyone was aghast at this, and even Memoca was enjoying herself by dancing around the trees. Wadanohara’s eyes widened, and when she smiled, a tear was brought to her eye.

“S…Satanick… I’m so glad…”

Samekichi hugged her from behind, and pointed out to a few details that the nurse herself hadn’t even noticed. The blue sky, perfect clouds, and eye catching new rehabilitation center… it all felt like a dream. Was this all really happening? As the shark pointed out details to the witch, she gleefully complied with giggles and cheers. As they were doing this, however, a small, plump white bunny approached them.

“Aww! S-Samekichi, look! A bunny!”

She bent down to grab it, before remembering she was holding the horns of her protector. The nurse immediately put it back in the glass case and gave it to Samekichi to hold; scooping up the bunny in her arms. Bringing it close to her face, the bunny licked her nose; getting her to grin.

“Stop, that tickles!!”

Wadanohara squealed, as the shark skittishly brought a hand (with the box in the other) over to stroke the bunny’s soft fur. It was incredibly soft to the shark’s discovery; this was all too therapeutic for him. The witch still kept it in her arms, rocking back and forth with it before turning to her shark boyfriend.

“Samekichi, can we keep him?”

Samekichi was quiet for a minute. Sure, the bunny was cute and all, but Wadanohara had a single job for taking care of all the patients and maybe more if anyone ever had to go to rehab. This was now their home, though… could they really call this place rehabilitation? What if someone really needed rehab; would she know what to do? Too many questions, so little time, one simple request to keep a bunny; he was thinking a bit over the top. It was time to just focus on today…

“Well, he’s a wild rabbit, right? He’s gotta stay outside. It’s like with whales or… sharks. You can’t just find them and keep them in tanks at the house, right? That’d be… kinda weird.”

His cheeks flushed awkwardly and the witch grinned in comply.

“It’s alright. I understand!”

Bending down once more, she placed the rabbit upon the soft grass and watched it hop away. At this cue, everyone gathered around and waited for Wadanohara to give the next word, so to say. When she finally turned around did she notice that everyone was already gathered.

“Well… this is it. Make yourselves at home! You can pick your own rooms, and I’ll serve you all some fresh meals on the house!”

The witch chimed, getting a loud cheer from some of them. Emalf, Vendetto, and Memoca all ran for the huge double doors at the same time, dashing up the stairs like a race to the finish. Wadanohara grinned, and stood on her tiptoes to push Samekichi’s shoulder down for him to lean over so she could plant a kiss upon his cheek.

“I’m… really happy, Samekichi. I have a feeling that things are going to be wonderful here in our new home…”

She hummed, getting a nod of approval from him in return.

“I agree. Everything is turning out great so far. … Hey, we should start unpacking in our rooms, don’t you think?”

Wadanohara nudged him for ruining the moment, but smiled.

“You’re right. Only if you’re in the room next to mine!”

The two laughed and ran to the doors together, trotting through the leaves (with no bones to be seen!) and grinning all the while. They knew nothing… they were unaware; oblivious… to the future. None of them could ever imagine such an unfortunate outcome. Dare one to say…

Let them be happy for now.