[Writing] Secret 03 [komahina]

Just so you know, I might modify it when the whole thing comes up.

If you like it, let me know. Just don't copy it and paste it elsewhere without permission!

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The Secret I Kept From You

[Part 3: Childhood friend]

Komaeda woke up in his greenish bed, his favourite bed sheet of leaf patterns curled up beside him, must be because he moved a lot in his sleep. Komaeda rubbed his eyes. Sunlight was beaming in and the brilliance had filled the room with majestic glory. It was his favourite sight in the morning every day. Before his day began, a lot is going to happen due to his luck system. It had been going on like that for as long as he could remember. Since his birth, the nurse in the hospital kindly told him. She usually wore light pink and had dark circles beneath her eyes from the lack of sleep. But she was the most amiable person Komaeda had met in his 9 year life on earth. He didn't know her, but she would always be in the same hospital room whenever he visited. Sometimes when he felt sad or lonely he would long for an accident so that he could be sent to her. But sometimes even when he was there he couldn't see her. 'Nurses were hard earned people,' the middle aged woman in the hospital counter once told him, when he made inquiries for the nurse he wanted to see. 'We got a lot of other business to attend to than answering quests of some sickening brat like you.' And Komaeda walked away in shame.

His mind was drifting away, and Komaeda pulled it back and got out of his room. The house was very quiet. His parents must be out again. He barely saw them at home. But that maybe because he dwelled for most of his life in the hospital than in here. Despite that Komaeda had liked this house since he first came here. The nice two storey house had a sensation of cleanliness in it. Something good always happened within. The sun always spread across the floor, and it was always quiet and empty, which was perfect for some nice solo games, such as painting, reading and video games. Bouncing balls were good also. When it bounced up and down Komaeda would count, and each time he broke his record (which he marked in a notebook) he would made some ice cream for himself as reward. It was delicious.

Komaeda walked into the fridge and took some milk. Then he grabbed some cereal and poured them into his bowl. Banana flavour. Which was superb. Banana was nice with its soft, yellowish skin.

Today he would go to the teacher's house and gave him all his due homework. Of two weeks’ worth. He had finished them when he felt bored in the hospital room. Some of the questions were hard and he didn't know how to solve them. That was the reason he tried to contact the good nurse, but to no avail. He could find all the answers in a book though. First he would go to the home library, and then he would visit his teacher's place. Komaeda emptied the bowl. Now he had to visit the library to get his day over with.

Sometimes he'd feel bored. For most of the time he didn't feel anything. Komaeda happened to find all the answers with his first flip in the reference books. Today was a smooth day, wasn't it? And for the questions he wasn't sure he'd leave them blank. There were several occasions that he wrote random answers to them and got all of them correct. He didn't find it beneficial though. He hadn't learned a thing by his luck. Hard work and knowledge were more important than marks you see, and Komaeda carefully left three questions blank. Algebra was a bit too hard for 'home schoolers' like him, as the teachers called him.

He now knew the address of his class teacher well, so he didn't have to check on it on his way to the suburb. A bus arrived when he just reached the bus stop, and he jumped on it, and sat on the only seat left unoccupied in the front. He tried to offer it to an old woman later, but she said he was too small for giving seats, and that he would be safer sitting down than standing while the bus was moving, and Komaeda dropped his head because of the decline. She gladly accepted the seat opposite him though, which was of a high school student. She dropped off the bus at the next stop and Komaeda sat quietly for the rest of the journey, staring at the moving scenery and the busy adults chattering away.

It was the next stop he had to get off. Komaeda picked up his wallet and his bag of homework off his seat, then he slowly moved to the back door. The bus was very crowded by the time he got off, and just when he was about to stepped out someone's elbow hit him hard on the head to knock him off the floor. Some women screamed, but he got up quickly by himself. He seized his homework bag and ran off the vehicle. He could feel his face pink from the incident, his head dizzied from the sudden elbow bash.

He walked a bit from the stop, then he realised he couldn't find his wallet. It must have been left on the bus when he fell! For a moment Komaeda didn't know what to do. He would have no money to go home. Maybe he could chase the bus to its next stop. Maybe he could make it just in time.

Komaeda started running with his homework back on his back. He couldn't see the bus within sight, it must have turned a corner. Komaeda turned, his chest suddenly start hurting. He tried to overlook the pain and continued, but soon gave in to the violent piercing in his heart. He was panting, out of breath, out of the sharp pain, tears rolling in his eyes as he was coughing. But he need to retrieve his wallet. He could still do it. Pulling himself together Komaeda proceed slowly on the stone pavement. His head shooting high to search for the red bus. It was still out of sight, but he had hope somehow. He believed he could get his wallet back. He just believed he could.

It was there. The bus had stopped in the middle of the road, and Komaeda had spotted smoke coming out of the engines. It had broken down! Komaeda quickly onto the opened bus as people were groaning and complaining about the inconvenience, shouting that they'd be later for an appointment, and he found his wallet at the bottom of a seat. When he departed, he couldn't help feeling sorry for the bus accident. It was because he had wished to get his wallet back that it happened. If it wasn't because of him, none of it would have occurred. Komaeda had experienced enough to firmly believed this. He remembered his parents saying that if it wasn't because of him they would have moved to a country far far away, and father would get a nicer job than then and mother would had the chance to live with her best friend. And he wasn't even healthy, as a result 'not easy to be taken cared of'. Bearing him was her 'ultimate bad luck', his mother's sweet, feminine voice echoed in his ears. And 'this child had better be worth it because he had been born 'out of a mere accident' and had been 'in all the wrong places and all the wrong times'. She was a well-respected academic scholar. What she said must have been true. Father said so.

Komaeda tugged his wallet in his trousers' pocket and, fifteen minutes later, had arrived his teacher's street. His destination was just a corner away. Komaeda hurried, (because it looked like it would rain, and he disliked getting soaked. He would've been sick) and bumped into a red haired girl when he turned. The redhead cursed, and the boy with her stood still, watching. They looked like siblings by their appearances. The boy offered his hand to Komaeda though, to his surprise, and even smiled at him. 'You okay?' He asked casually. Komaeda nodded. The girl intentionally bumped her body into his while she passed. Was she angry he'd knocked him over? The boy shouted behind her back for acting rude to the albino child. Komaeda felt a warmth in his heart. He had never had any one about his age around him in his life.

'Where're you off to?' The boy asked. Letting the girl walked off her own. Komaeda remembered his trip. 'Ms. Harukawa's home.' He said softly. 'It's just around this corner.' 'The woman who teaches?' The boy asked, he seemed to be a resident of the neighbourhood. 'In a brick house? She moved away a week ago. Now some old perv lives there.' 'Excuse me?' Komaeda asked. He found the way the boy talked different somehow. 'He has a HUGE dooooooog. Black. Like a mooooooonster.' The boy dragged his voice. Komaeda laughed. The boy seemed to be bewildered by the sound of his laughter. It was very hoarse. And his mother hated it.

'You have a funny voice.' He told Komaeda, to which he replied, 'And you talk funny.' 'We could be friends,' the boy said, beaming at him. 'I'm Hajime. You?' 'Nagito. Nagito Komaeda.' 'All right here, Nagito,' the boy said, staring down at his body and fixed his eyes at his homework bag. 'You in a hurry?' 'It can wait,' Komaeda said, though holding his bag tight. His mother would be furious if he lost important things like this. But it sure can wait. 'All right then.' The boy said solemnly. 'Now, Nagito,' he added, peeking towards the corner in a watchful way. 'I say we take a look at the old perv's dog. What'd you reckon?' 'Can do.' Komaeda said carefully. He had seldom seen a dog, let alone a huge one. They looked cute in their soft fluffy fur though. He wanted to see a monstrous like dog. 'Only we shouldn't alarm it, nor the old perv would come out and we'd be screwed. My sister always managed to make him mad. Reckon it's because of her attitude. Hope she'd be fine today though.' He looked, and Komaeda nodded. 'I hope so.' He said wholeheartedly. 'So, you ready to risk your life for the fight?' Hajime managed these words with the lowest tone he could do. 'I'm ready.' Komaeda said, and they turned the corner and moved towards the house.

Komaeda had no idea where Ms. Harukawa lived now, but he got more important business to attend to. A black dog like the night. Hajime kept mumbled how it's amber eyes glowed darkly at night every time he passed, and the howls it made scared all the girls away. Komaeda walked as close to Hajime as he could. He wouldn't want a dog like that to attack him and ended up in the hospital when he'd just got out.

They sneaked from the backyard and hurried to the front, hiding in the bush beside the house, which Hajime said was his. It was a lovely wooden house with a swing in the garden. Komaeda knelt down, feeling his homework bag tugged on his knees. Through the bush he could see his teacher's house. Only there were people around it. Were they... policemen? Komaeda looked with concentration. He could hear people's talking, something about 'it's about time' and 'May God rest his soul'. What. Was he dead?

He looked over his shoulder. Hajime looked shocked too. 'Wha- he died!?' He started. ''But he was fine yesterday! I saw him scaring Lilo away. Shouting she's stole his property, y'know. His wooden toys, his snacks... things o'that sort, y'know? How'd he died?' Komaeda turned his head back to observe the house. Someone was coming out. He could see a black stretcher. Something on it was covered by a thick white cloth. It looked the shape of a human. Komaeda gasped. He couldn't look away. He'd seen something like this on TV, or in a book, but when it was happening before his eyes, he found himself panicking.

'Where'd he go when he died?' Hajime asked. Komaeda shook his head. 'Somewhere we don't know.' He said firmly. Being in the hospital for this long Komaeda had the matter over. He just had never witness a death before his very eyes. 'Somewhere nobody knows, for they had never come back.' 'Yeah.' Hajime said in awe. 'Darn it. I was totally havin' a great day, y'know. And, this happened...' 'Yes.' Komaeda said quietly. He didn't know what to say. The looked. The policemen were moving away from the house to the ambulance on the road. The white figure was carried away onto the truck, and it drove away. The policemen lingered for a bit before they disappeared out of sight also. The neighbourhood fell silent again, as if nothing'd happened.

'Where'd the dog go?' Hajime expressed his concern. Komaeda looked at the dog house in the garden. There was nothing in it though. 'Can be in the house.' Said Komaeda thoughtfully. 'Darn. No one’s gonna feed it now that the old man's dead. Maybe it's starving.' He paused, an idea hit his head. 'Hey, wanna explore the house and find the dog?' Hajime suggested enthusiastically. Komaeda wasn't sure though. 'What for?' He asked curiously. 'And you said it might be starving, didn't you?' Hajime looked at his pale face. Komaeda's grey eyes appeared large among his bony features. The greyness resembled the dark cloud in the sky. A rainstorm was going to emerge soon. 'For fun.' He said with a smirk. 'Com'n! You cowering out?' He waved, and Komaeda blushed. He just felt that it was a bad idea. He didn't say it though. He didn't want his new friend to call him pussy.

'All right, I guess.' He said at last, and Hajime cheered. 'But if they locked the door, we would just go.' 'I know of a secret entrance into the house from the kitchen door!' Hajime beamed. 'It's never locked. Com'n!' And Komaeda followed.

Thunder was pounding out loud in the sky when they sneaked in. The house smelled bad. It was a queer smell, like something rotten. Hajime covered his nose. Komaeda led the way into the sitting room. He'd been in here for some time, and knew of the setting of the house. The duo moved their way through the dining area to the sitting room. It had been refurbished, and was now packed with antique furniture, and old red carpet with holes on it. The dog wasn't here though.  Hajime seemed really excited. He'd never been inside of the house before. The old man was extremely grumpy and would let no children in. Now that he'd never coming back. Hajime signalled for Komaeda to follow him to the staircase, and they climbed onto the second floor. Komaeda noticed some black fur on the dusty floor. Hajime just walked on it to open a bedroom door. 'Wow, look at this!' Hajime said, rushing to the dresser to examine a car model on it. It was flesh painted. The red on it beamed as the redhead turned it around to admire it. A thunder stroke. Komaeda jumped, and Hajime dropped the model onto the floor. With a loud crashing sound the car had been smashed into pieces. Hajime looked. Komaeda grabbed his arm. 'Let's get out of here,' he suggested, and Hajime nodded. They walked  out of the room in silence. Hajime had soon been attracted to an amour at the far end of the corridor though.  Komaeda hurried him a bit. He now had a really bad feeling he couldn't explained. It never happened before. 'It maybe because you've seen someone died today. It's alright, I tell ya.' Hajime said, patting him on the shoulder. He was a very kind boy, and had finally agreed to leave after hearing him out. As they were walking towards the front entrance, they heard a sharp scream of a girl.

'This way!' Hajime dashed to the front door, throwing it opened. It was raining cats and dogs outside, and... 'There's the dog!' Pointed Hajime, and Komaeda felt faint. The dog was indeed HUGE. About five feet tall on four legs. It was grabbing something tight with its mouth. Hajime gasped, his brown eye widen in shock.

'Lilo!' It was the red haired girl that Komaeda had bumped in this morning. She had been thrown over by the monstrous dog, screaming for help. The furious howling of the rain had buried her shout. It looked as if the dog was devouring her. Komaeda was terrified. Only one thought recurred in his head. Let the girl be fine. Let the girl be fine. Don't let the girl die. Let the girl be fine-

It happened all in a blink. Without a sign Hajime threw himself to the dog, trying to get it off his little sister. It had obviously offended the bloodhound. 'Hajime! Watch it!' Komaeda dashed out to pull the dirt covered girl up the floor. She was badly injured. Komaeda braced the unconscious girl into the house, and he heard Hajime screaming. And then he saw blood.

'No!' He shouted, watching Hajime struggling. He tried to make a run to help him, but the grass root tripped him over. 'Ugh!' He fell, but remained gazing up, and his eyes met with Hajime's. The redhead was horror struck. He stared at Komaeda, his voice trembling, 'Nagito, Am I-' And the bloodhound bit him on the neck.

Thunder struck. Blood spilled straight into the sky, splashing all over the ground. The bloodhound was howling like mad. Komaeda heard someone screamed far away. He started to his feet and ran into the night, as fast as he could, mumbling that it was his wish that had got his friend killed...

[End of Part 3]