Kisa laid lazily on her desk, barely paying any attention to her teacher. It was the early morning of the first school day since winter break ended. Ken wasn’t in school today for some reason. She hadn’t seen him since that day when she pretended to be his girlfriend. Something must have happened to him and she began to worry a little bit. Her head bobbled every minute. For some reason, she could barely stay awake today. She felt drowsy no matter how many times she pinched her cheeks. Katie, seeing her injure herself, helped herself to some cheek too, just for the fun of it.
“Ow! Why’d you do that for?” Kisa growled at Katie. Katie only laughed in her face.
“Can’t stay awake?” she whispered. She sat in the desk right next to her. She bobbed her head.
“Yes….it’s irritating,” she yawned.
“You didn’t get much sleep yesterday?”
“Well…,” Kisa began to remember yesterday night. Ever since Ken mentioned dreaming of another life, her dreams of Princess Mitsuki began to moderately interrupt her nights; the prince, Toki, and the other one—she forgot his name—made her night sleepless and uncomfortable. Every time the Queen said, “The punishment is…Death,” Kisa shuddered in her sleep and woke her from her terrible dream. Plus, the cold flowing through the crevices of the factory walls and windows didn’t help her sleep in her futon any better. “I guess you can say that,” Katie left it at that and returned to watching their boring teacher. Before she knew it, she fell asleep again.
“…sa….Kisa….KISA!!!”
Kisa bolted upright, alert and awake. “Hm? Wha? Huh?” She turned her stiff neck both ways, looking for the source of the voice. For some reason, everything was a little foggier than normal. But it wasn’t distracting, just questionable on why it was there.
“Kisa. It’s lunch time, get up,” Ken shook her shoulders. Her stiff neck worsened as her head bobbed from Ken’s harsh shaking.
“S-stop…ow,” she rubbed her neck. “Lunch? Already?”
“You must be starved. C’mon, everyone already left,” Ken walked out of the classroom. Kisa lazily stood up from her desk and ran through the fog to catch him. She rubbed her eyes.
“So how are your…your…,” she drifted off as she looked at his eyes. For just a moment, they flickered red to blue.
“What’s wrong?” Ken asked.
Kisa shook her head. She must have rubbed too hard. When they got to the cafeteria, everything was silent. Only the clinking sounds of utensils and watches banging on the table lingered, making and eerie, uniform of a low yet noticeable beat.
“You can take a seat. I’ll get your lunch for you,” Ken smiled; he went to the lunch line. The chatter of the kids around them were oddly quiet though they looked like they were actually talking and laughing.
Weird… Kisa thought to herself. She got napkins, forks, knives, and spoons for herself. She used the extras as home utensils and stocked up as many times as she couldn. She looked around the room for Katie. They had the same lunch…or did they? Kisa began to forget things but disregarded it as Ken took her to a seat. Everything was too…white and traces of the fog still lingered in the school.
“Kisa, you haven’t found a seat yet?” Ken asked, smiling. For some reason, his smile wasn’t as dazzling as before. Maybe, her drowsiness was corrupting her judgment. “Want to sit with me?”
“Uh, sure,” She followed him. He sat down at an isolated table and began to eat. Kisa looked down at her tray to what looked like a mixture of the contents of a baby’s diaper and pig slop. Barf. Ken seemed to like this and gobbled down most of it already. She recalled previous lunches where his friends would pile all their food onto his tiny tray, it’s contents overflowing into each other, yet he still at it.
“This stuff looks disgusting. You want it?” Kisa offered.
“No thank you, I’m stuffed,” Ken smiled politely at Kisa. He only ate half of what was offered him at the lunch line. That didn’t seem filling at all. “Do you want me to take your tray to the trash bin for you?” Ken?! Being polite?!! Something was wrong—terribly wrong. Ken was never this polite, even when she was being her fake girlfriend.
“Sure,” She pushed the tray to him. “So, anything new these past couple days?” Kisa asked as she reached into her pocket fingering her extra utensils.
“There’s so much, I don’t know where to start,” Ken smiled again.
“Why don’t you start with your family?” Kisa suggested.
“Okay then,” Ken began to think. He blabbered about how his mom had tried to cook a meatloaf but failed horribly. Then he talked about how his dad had picked up some job for a radio station because he was the most talkative person who knew the radio manager.
“Wow, that’s great!” Kisa reached out with her free hand and grabbed onto his hand. He smiled, non-stop, the only emotion she’d seen on him since she woke up. Unexpectedly, the smile of Ken’s came closer and closer to her face. What was he doing? His eyes began to look at her lips and before she knew it, he was only an inch away from her face. He was going to kiss her! In a swift movement, Kisa gripped onto his hand, pulled out a fork from her pocket and angled it above the back of his palm. Not the weapon she was hoping for (a knife), but good enough. She meant to do this earlier but he, all of a sudden, tried kissing her! How her face burned and how her heart raced when he had done that. Fortunately, she dodged his move. She shuddered in disgust, reflecting on what happened.
“Get away from me!” Kisa began to back away from him and the table. Kisa wanted the fork to hurt him (for her revenge with the unexpected kiss) but he merely took the fork out. It didn’t seem like it even hurt him one bit. “W-who are you? What do you want?” Everyone in the room began to disappear and fade away; it seemed as if they weren’t there in the first place.
“I’m Ken. What do you mean? I’m your friend,” the fake Ken replied.
“Ha! There’s lots of reasons why I don’t believe you. 1: Ken is not nice. He’s not polite. 2: Ken has a monster appetite. 3: His mom is a wonderful cook. 4: Boy’s don’t be girl’s friends unless they want more. 5: You tried to kiss me! Ken would’ve never done that (disgusting thing!)….Shall I go on?” Kisa listed. “Now tell me who you really are and what you want, or I will seriously stab you even harder,”
“I am Ken and---AUGH!” Kisa plunged the fork into his skin. Black tarry blood oozed from the wound yet he showed no sign of emotion on his face. The fork burned her skin and she dropped it instantly.
“Why you STUPID INGRATE!!” His voice changed into a shriek and her muttered about something with the fork and Kisa. This was definitely not the Ken she knew. Suddenly, his skin melted off, slowly revealing a different person underneath—something evil, something dangerous.
Another figure formed beside the melted Ken. “Anna! What have you done this time? You were supposed to kill her in the classroom!” It was that man.
“She was waking up! I can’t kill her if she’s entirely not sleeping!” Anna barked. For a moment, Kisa couldn’t breathe. The memory of the fight consumed her. Fear flooded into her eyes as she realized something. She was alone. Ken wasn’t there to protect her; he wasn’t even in school today. With no Ken to protect her, she could only think of one thing that could save her.
Run.
She sprinted out of her sticky chair and aimed for the stairs. She could hear Anna and Henry arguing, blaming one another for letting Kisa get away. Why were they trying to kill her? Kisa remembered that she didn’t do anything to them yet they kept chasing her and frightening her.
Once, she almost turned to a corridor, but found that they were right on her tail and that they would have her in no time, so she stuck to the stairs. At least there, their old bodies would tire before hers…hopefully. These stairs lead to the roof. She climbed and climbed, her chest hot and aching. She glanced behind. Anna was leading, in front of Henry, and was a mere three feet away. She couldn’t stop now. She burst out of the door way and into the chilly roof air. She skidded to a halt, just saving herself from toppling over the ledge.
Soon thereafter, Anna and Henry came through too, and cornered her. They cornered her closer and closer to the ledge where a mere three feet wire fence stood, weak and rusty. Her foot touched that fence, feeding the fear more and more. Sweat poured down her nipped face. The day was cold and cloudy today.
“Give up, girl. You’re caged,” Anna cackled hysterically.
“Either come with us willingly, or we’ll make you come,” The man added.
Kisa looked for a way of escape but there was none. Hope was being stabbed inside her heart, shrinking at every panicked breath she took.
“I’ll give you five seconds to choose….Five…,” Henry began counting.
“I can’t kill her entirely if she’s not sleeping,”
Anna had said those words before. What did they mean?
“Four…,”
Sleep…Was this a dream?
“Three…,”
No. It was a nightmare. How do you end a nightmare?
“Two…,”
Kisa tried to figure a way out of this nightmare but she could only think of one way—for it to end in Death.
“One…Okay, Kisa. What do you choose?”
Kisa chose her words carefully.
“None,” she answered. “I chose none,”
“What?!” The man began to unsheathe his sword under his coat. It hungered for blood.
“I choose none,” Kisa repeated, turned, and jumped off the roof. Anna and the man leaped after her, trying to stop her fall so that she would not wake. Kisa felt a strange, blissful sensation of peace, right before she—
“KISA! WAKE UP!”
“Huh? What?” She jumped in her bed (which felt rather odd, since she had been lying on her back). She found herself in the nurse’s office, sleeping on one of the beds. “Where am I?” Her voice was scratchy, and her heart was still pounding after her “suicide”.
“Nurse’s. You sort of fainted, only nobody noticed because you were already half asleep. When we tried to wake you, well…you fell out of your desk and hit your head,” Katie explained. “Ken had to carry you here,”— Katie laughed.—“…He kept complaining about how heavy you were,”
“What?! I barely weigh anything!” she argued. Suddenly the rage in her eyes went away. “Wait, Ken was here?”
“Yeah, he came in after you bumped your head. He looked very troubled and shaken when he came into the classroom. When he saw you on the floor, he just took you to the nurse,” Katie answered. “Why?” A smile curled on Katie’s lips. Kisa turned a cherry color.
“W-what?”
“So…the rumors are true!” Katie exclaimed and covered her mouth in disbelief.
“What rumors?” Kisa asked, interested. Katie’s eyes grew bright.
“Oh, nothing,” she smiled, an even more tainted smile. “Just that you and Ken were…I don’t know…dating?” Kisa’s mouth dropped.
“WHAT?!! Never! No way in hell!!” Kisa yelled at her and Katie just laughed at her friend’s humiliated face. Kisa was about to say something more but was defeated with Katie’s teasing laugh. If she continued, it would get worse. She waited until Katie finished.
“So where is Ken?”
Katie spoke through her giggles, “He said he would wait at the front gate.” Kisa got off the stiffly uncomfortable bed. It was rather high; it reached up to her waist. “Where are you going? School’s not over yet,”
“I got to go,” Kisa said, gathering her things by the door. Her backpack looked dirtier than it was before. “See you tomorrow,”
“How do you know Ken’s already there?” Katie asked after Kisa got a hold of her things.
Her voice came from the open door that lead to the corridor, “I just know,”
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“Ken,” Kisa called as she got out of the school doors. A student stood in his jacket, staring out in the street that was behind the open gates. His stance showed confidence and a strange sense of manliness. He turned, and those purple eyes glowed even more magically than before. They always enchanted Kisa, no matter how many times she looked at them.
“You’re late,” he said and looked back onto the streets. Kisa ran up to him, fully clothed for the winter chill.
“Why weren’t you in school in the morning today?” she began. He seemed absentminded and far away in his own thoughts. Up close, Kisa could see a change in Ken. He looked more weary and mature. Did something happen after she left him at the park? Before he replied, Kisa had fully observed his face. It looked familiar, like she had seen it before somewhere. Her heart began to warm to him, for some reason, and she wanted to hug him. This new sensation felt familiar as well—as if she had done this before. She tried to find where she had seen that face before. In the back of her mind, she could feel the Princess Mitsuki dream play over again. Was the face in there somewhere?
“I was on a trip,” he explained quietly and ended it at that. There was an awkward silence afterwards as Ken stayed deep and distant in his own thoughts. Kisa didn’t like this changed Ken. She had already seen an upgraded Ken earlier today and didn’t feel like seeing another. Now that she thought about it, maybe the polite fake Ken was better than the silent, changed Ken she saw before her.
“Um…today I saw Anna and Henry again,” she stated, barely breaking the silence since her voice, too, was soft. Ken didn’t seem at all surprised.
“I know,” he said in a very low tone.
“Okay, what’s wrong with you? You’re so quiet….It gives me the chills,” Kisa frowned at him. He quickly returned to reality.
“I’m sorry, I was just thinking…,” he responded. Kisa was getting more and more suspicious of him.
“How do you know that Anna and Henry were here?”
Ken’s eyes were firm and began to watch Kisa. He definitely had changed since the last time they had met. He didn’t take his eyes off her as he explained, “They were here to take you away…somewhere very far and, luckily, they failed,”
“They wanted to kill me,” Kisa corrected. The fear that was in her heart painfully returned, though it was safe near Ken. His face suddenly showed a troubled expression.
“Kill you?” he asked. He became worried and his breath quickened with anxiety. “That’s not good. If they were trying to kill you, then something has gone very wrong…Kisa,” he turned away…finally. Kisa felt uncomfortable under his watchful stare. He was suddenly too observant now. “You need to find a safe place to stay,”
“Why? What’s going on? Do you know why they want to kill me or take me away?” Kisa asked, with panicked eyes. Ever since that one frightful day, questions kept growing inside her, with no sight of answers. Now, that Ken was here, he could answer them, though it didn’t seem like he was planning to do that at the moment.
“Not now, you’ll know later,” Ken replied.
“Tell me Ken! Please, I need to know. Why are they doing this?” Kisa argued and took hold of his arms. His expression worsened as he stared at the cement sidewalk in gloom.
“I’ll meet you tomorrow at the factory. Stay there tomorrow and don’t go anywhere else,” he began. “Get your things packed because you need somewhere safe to stay, the factory will be easy prey for Anna and Henry. Do you understand?” he asked. Kisa nodded. “I have to go back to my parents’ house but I’ll get you tomorrow, okay? Try not to attract commotion or anything. If anyone enters the factory that’s not me, hide. Do you hear me? You have to hide,”
“Fine, but I want everything answered when you come,” she replied and returned Ken’s stern expression. He nodded and walked out into the roads.
“Also, they already might have been to places you’ve been before like the park or any old house. Don’t go there either, okay? Stay put and safe!” he yelled as headed home to his parents. He needed to have his questions answered too, after experiencing that trip yesterday. He needed to do this, for his sake and Kisa’s.
Kisa watched him leave. Everything in her life has changed ever since she met Ken, Henry, and Anna. For some reason, she was getting involved with something big, something that seemed too big for a normal girl like her. Nothing was the same and will never be the same ever again. Kisa saw the figure disappear into the distance and then left back into the school building. She might as well finish the school day, since it appeared to be the only “normal” thing she could do now. She slowly walked up the steps, turned her glance once more to where the different Ken left, and headed inside. The door closed softly behind her.
The Next Day…
Kisa stared at the horizon watching the sun glisten, creating a blanket that blinded her several times. She was walking back from school. She was going to get her things ready for when Ken comes for her today. She was walking, aimlessly around. Soon, she unexpectedly found herself standing in front of her parent’s old house. What was she doing here? How did she come here? But before Kisa could walk away, the front door opened.
“Kisa?” an old woman stood at the door, tired and shaken. Her hair stuck out in various directions from the bun she wore, and the collar shirt she had on with the old dark green pants were stained. She looked terrible but Kisa wasn’t focused on that. All she could look at was her mom and how surprised she was.
“Mom…,” Kisa replied trembling. It’s been two years. With her mom’s mouth hanging open, she ran up to Kisa and hugged her. She began to cry and Kisa didn’t know what to feel. After all, her mother was always cruel to her and never seemed to care for her. But with this sudden hug, she felt the urge to hug back—her childish dreams coming true.
The living room looked exactly the same as when she ran away. Nothing has changed and she began to wonder about her room. Had it changed or stayed the same? She was about to go explore but her mother came in from the kitchen with a tray of tea and cups. The only thing that seemed to have changed was her mother.
“Do you want sugar?” her mother asked, so casually that she felt like she had never left. Kisa declined, and took the cup she handed to her. The warmth of the drink warmed her fingers and throat—still plain and bland, as her mother liked it. It felt good to be inside a home with heating and hot foods. She sat down on the chair, opposite of the couch. “So…Kisa, how are you?”
Kisa felt uncomfortable and ill at ease since her mother had never really been this nice to her. She didn’t know whether she liked it or not. She took a sip, “I’m fine, how about you?”
“Same old, same old,” she replied. A shroud of steam covered her drained face. She looked worried and troubled. It must have been rough on her ever since she left.
“I’m sorry,” her mother began and she looked shamefully down at the warm tea in her lap. The tears still lingered in her beat up eyes. “I’m sorry I was a horrible mother,”
“Mom…,”
“A-after your father died, I couldn’t manage to be me anymore. I was at such a weak state that my mouth worked faster than my brain. I can still hear myself blaming you, over and over again, for something that you didn’t do…I’m sorry,” she said tearfully. “I’m surprised you still call me ‘mom’,” Kisa began to lose grip of her hardened feelings of hate for her mother. Realizing how much her mother had been pained after her father’s death softened her heart. She had thought that she had had it rough, but it seemed that her mother got it worse.
“Mom…,” was all she could say. The sudden apology was novel and too fresh that she couldn’t act normally. After all these years, Chihiro Kinamoto finally started caring for her only child.
“Where are you living?” she asked. For some reason, her muscles tensed when she asked that. It seemed like asking that question held a direct answer to hidden ears.
“At an old factory…a couple blocks near the school,” Kisa answered rather quickly. She felt the urge to utter everything she had been through to Chihiro, tell her of her fears, of Ken, of school, of her messed up life. Her dreams of a caring mother was coming true and she wanted that caring mother to support her, hold her gently, and tell her that everything was going to be alright. But something seemed to have been holding back Kisa from her hopes.
“Would…I mean, could you come back here? You know…just until school ends. I don’t want you to live in a dirty factory,” Chihiro said, fretting with her cup. Kisa thought about it. If she decided to live here, that Anna and Henry couple would come after her and her mother. She didn’t want that to happen. Her mom’s heart finally softened towards her, she didn’t want to endanger that by baiting the two evildoers to her mother’s house.
“No…,” That word sliced her insides harshly. “I’m doing good with my…place. Don’t worry about me, mom,”
“Oh,” was all she said afterwards. Kisa heard something move in her mother’s kitchen. Guests? Suddenly, her cell phone rang. It was Ken. He said he was going to her place and wanted her ready before he got there. “Is that your friend?”
“Yes,”
Her mother took a sip, quiet. Her eyes focused on Kisa. There was hint of fear in her eyes.
“It’s getting late. I need to go to work and you need to get…home before its dark,” Chihiro lead her daughter to the front door and gate. Her mother seemed to relax a little more outside. “I’m glad to have seen you again,”
Kisa felt her heart race. She felt the urge to hug her mother again and she did.
“You too, mom. Bye,” she said and with that, she left in a hurry. She didn’t want her mother to see the tears fall down from her face. She didn’t know why she was crying. Her mother was finally caring for her and was finally showing Kisa some sort of concern and love. She wiped her tears, wailing down the street. She didn’t care if the people on the street saw her or called her crybaby. She simply cried her way back home.
************************************************************************************************
“Ken, it’s not the right time!” His cousin, Ryo, stood at the door, yelling at Ken from behind. They were at the front of Ken’s house with Ryo being inside the opened doorway that Ken had abruptly rushed through. Ken had just sent Kisa a text and was going to get her.
“When will it be the right time then, Ryo?” Ken yelled back, his veins pulsing. Ken hadn’t been feeling like himself, lately. He’s been overly confused and angry that he seemed like a completely different person. After what his father showed him, the world he knew from his birth was gone. Everything he thought he once knew wasn’t the truth or only a sliver of it. He had been lied to, deceived, and then forced to take part of their plan. They wanted him to trust them, but he couldn’t. Not when they lied to him all these years.
“She’s not ready to know,” he said, walking closer to Ken. His eyes were jade and sparkled as he stepped out from under the shade, making it seem as if his eyes were actually the wondrous gems themselves. His thin silver hair slid down to the middle of his neck and the dark uniform he wore began to make him sweat underneath.
“You shouldn’t be in that uniform,” Ken muttered, looking to the grass on his lawn. The lawn had a beautiful front garden, full of colorful flowers and some decorations. His mother was a genius at gardening. She seemed to know every secret and every technique of helping these lovely, little creatures grow. Ryo frowned, seeing how childish Ken had become.
“Your mom made me wear this. She wanted to see how I looked in it, you saw,” Ryo replied crossing his arms. Then he uncrossed them to fan himself, he was suffocating under the hot sun. Ken didn’t let his gaze off of the plentiful lawn and gardens.
“Why is it you?” Ken muttered even softer. His hands crumpled into fists but Ryo didn’t see or hear him. Ken then began walking off. He got on the bike, leaning next to the garage.
“Where are you going?”
“Kisa’s waiting for me,” Ken pedaled off leaving Ryo flustered. Even though irritated by the blazing sun and Ken’s rash behavior, Ryo stood where he was and watched Ken ride away.
After a while, he whispered softly a melodic voice, “Her name’s Kisa…,”
************************************************************************************************
The factory was empty. She could hear water drip from hidden leaking pipes and smell the cold, bitter air from the stale walls. It was her home, but a lonely one. She wanted to go back to her mother, but she had to get ready for Ken. She would finally learn what secrets he held from her.
There wasn’t much to gather for Kisa. It was mainly the futon, her clothes that lied in her suitcase, and some school supplies. As soon as she finished, she heard a knock on the back door.
“Ken?”
She went to the door and opened it. No one. She just saw the weeds, swaying softly to the wind’s power on the other side of the dirt path, and the rustling of litter, rolling around freely.
“That’s odd,” Kisa said, shrugging. Maybe it was just kid throwing rocks. Behind the factory, some yards away, past the row of trees, was a playground. Lots of kids would try and sneak in the factory, surprising Kisa. She would scream, and then they would. For a couple of weeks, she was known as the murdered mistress of the former owner’s and that she was haunting the place. It was ridiculous but kept people away from her home. Gently, after being convinced it was just an ignorant kid, she closed the door. She turned back to go to her heap gathered items.
Her heart skipped a beat and her blood ran cold. A man, one foot taller than her stood in front of her. His breath filled of tobacco and liquor, his skin dirtied with dried sweat and dirt, and a large heavy coat and suit. He wore a hat, but anyone could see his wicked grin and wild eyes.
Her breath faltered, “Henry,”
