Chapter 20:
High School Raindrops
Alice got out a small leather bag from her closet and put it on the bed. She didn’t come with much on her first day, so there wasn’t much to pack. Hairbrush, toothbrush, a few uniforms so she could change when they got messy. Were there washers and dryers in Shadow Town? She hoped so. Either that or she’d have to hand wash things; that would give her something to do, she supposed. Less time to worry like she was now.
She had to take the dress she wore to the party of course. Though she couldn’t imagine where she’d wear it, it was still nice to have. There was a corkboard on the wall. The pixies helped her put it up at the beginning of the year, and now she looked it over. Most of it was just her sketches, but some of it had more sentimental value. A candy wrapper shaped like a swan; something Sumi had been playing with that she gave to Alice instead of throwing away. Several notes her and the others had passed around class in spite of Daichi and Emily’s directives not to. She took those and the written notices for her to stop and put them in her bag. Alice was a sentimental person, and it sounded like she might not be back here for a long time. She wanted to keep the memories.
Another item on the board was one of Jim’s posters for the party. She’d taken it before it was thrown away. Crude but cute. Be there or be square! It was cringy but it was very Jim. She pulled it down and put it into her bag solemnly. He didn’t do everything right, and he might’ve lied to them, but he was still a good person, and she sincerely hoped that nothing bad happened to him.
She looked out the window. The silhouette of the forest had always been spooky to her, but it was especially daunting this night with the knowledge that she and the others were heading out.
Looking down, she could see Hao Hao. Still sitting where they’d all been, looking sad like… well, a sad clown. Alice couldn’t bear it honestly. She wanted to go down there and comfort her, but she wasn’t sure she could.
She went to Sumi’s room and knocked on the open door. No reason to lock it she supposed, since they were leaving anyway. Sumi said, “Hey.”
“Hey.”
Something as simple as hello had never before sounded so sorrowful before.
Alice asked her, “Almost done?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Good.” She repeated the words in hopes that that would make them true, but the attempt was unsuccessful. She said, “I’m worried about Hao Hao.”
“This might be harder on her than any of us.” Sumi agreed.
“What do we do?”
“We can’t do much. Just try to get her to come with us when it’s time to go I guess. Maybe we could pack for her?”
Alice thought that sounded like a good idea, but… the thought of entering her room without her permission took her right off of it. She sighed, “I’m just not sure.”
“Then don’t, I guess. I can’t imagine what harm it would cause though.”
Sumi threw things towards her bag flippantly. Books and uniforms and such all in a messy pile on her bed. Alice walked over and offered, “Can I help you pack?”
“Sure.”
Through the school and over the lake, the second group of students arrived in Shadow Town with purpose. Exiting the canoe and quickly making their way through. All of them had been here before for some reason or another, and though Daichi kept trying to walk ahead of him, it was Kirai that was leading today. The men stared at each other competitively, but ended up dropping it as the others spoke.
“What are we doing again?” Cleo asked.
“Could you focus for two seconds?” Mae asked sarcastically, “We’re going to get weapons and stuff, and then we’re going back to the school to help fight!”
“And, we should ask around town for help as well.” Daichi said.
“Ah. That sounds exhausting.”
“I thought cats were nocturnal?” Joy asked.
“Well, I missed my cat nap while we were looking for you.”
The others had their tensions raised even further. It was Kirai that said, “Stop arguing. We can’t do anything if we don’t work together.”
“I never thought I’d hear you of all people say that.” Mae said.
“Well, ugh.”
He sighed. He didn’t like being the one in charge, but he didn’t trust Daichi with this sort of leadership, and Hao Hao stayed back at the school. He realized then that it was her he was trying to mimic, and that embarrassed him further.
“Just, keep moving.”
And so, they proceeded to the weapons smith. Mrs. Travis took one look at the group and shook her head. “I told him having you all there would cause problems. What happened?”
“He received a letter from his mother and then sent us all here,” Mae said.
“We want to fight with him!” Joy shouted and jumped.
“Really? And what told you that was a good idea?” The older woman asked, very much implying that it was a bad idea.
“We can’t just sit around and do nothing.” Daichi said.
“Well, if you think I’m going to help you with that, you are sorely mistaken. I thought you were smarter than that, Daichi.” Mrs. Travis said definitively.
“We don’t have a choice.” Kirai said, “It’s this or watch as everything is taken away. Do you really want to go through to Shigo?”
“Well…”
“You clearly don’t. You wouldn’t have stayed here a few hundred years if you wanted to go.”
“Hey, it’s only been two hundred years boy, and didn’t anyone tell you to not guess a woman’s age?”
Joy stepped between them with her hands out in either direction, “This is a stupid argument. We want to help Jim. We’re on the same team, aren’t we?”
She looked at them all. As they waited patiently, her expression turned from disbelief to understanding. She sighed and said, “Fine, how about this.” She went to the back and then brought out a large war hammer. The front was bigger than their heads. She dropped it and said, “If any of you can lift this and carry it, you can use it.”
“Is that a joke?” Cleo asked.
“No.”
She hissed and walked to the corner of the room to sit down. Everyone else looked to Joy, who saw them and asked, “Me?”
“You’re the only one that does anything even halfway athletic.” Mae said.
“But I don’t lift heavy things. I run. In that case, wouldn’t Kirai or Daichi have a better chance?”
“I have no desire to hurt myself.” Daichi said.
And with that, gazes shifted to Kirai. He asked, “Are you serious?”
“Well, you did insist you were the leader earlier.”
“Ugh. Fine.”
He walked up to Mrs. Travis. She was really old, and she didn’t have any trouble bringing it in here. How heavy could it be? Kirai crouched down, grabbed the handle, and lifted. His eyes went wide as he used every inch of strength he had to get it up. He could only keep it there half a second before it fell back down with a thud.
Mrs. Travis sighed, “That’s a no.”
“You have lighter weapons here. I know it!” Mae shouted.
“You won’t get them from me.”
And she went into the back of the store and locked the door. Leaving them on their own to try to think of something else. Most of them leaned agains the desk and spoke about going out and trying to sharpen a tree branch, but Kirai didn’t join. After failing to lift that, it dawned on him that… maybe the adults were right after all. They couldn’t fight this problem away. What else could they do? Kirai looked to the sky beyond the glass windows. Towards the school it was full of dark clouds.
Sally had tried to warn her about this. She said Hao Hao didn’t belong here, and apparently, she was right. Hao Hao sat by the bench alone. Everyone was leaving; it was over. It was just like when her parents separated. Nothing that brought her even the tiniest amount of happiness and safety could last; that’s just how it was. Even in soul sight, there was only darkness.
She forced herself up. If she didn’t pack with the others, she’d be left behind. She can feel it in her soul (her spirit absent, leaving her feeling empty.) She had to get moving if she wanted to avoid the crossfire. Even so her steps were slow like a camel. The world was the rabbit and she was the turtle, except that she didn’t have any faith that her effort could actually carry her across any finish line.
Her eyes caught onto the courtyard garden. She stopped and walked towards it. It wasn’t on the way, she really didn’t have time to stop there, but in that moment, it didn’t matter. The flowers had all wilted brown. Dying from a lack of love and care. It shouldn’t be possible. It hadn’t even been a day, but… if love was their sunlight, then perhaps fighting and sadness were like insects eating up the leaves and stems.
With no rain to drown it out, she left with nothing but her own tears falling from her face. They dropped onto the ground and left marks all over. She buried her face in her hands to try to hide them. It wasn’t the garden that caused them, but in a way it was. This place was where her and the others spent so much of their time. It was what brought them all together. Hao Hao was mourning the garden as well as the friendships that had cultivated them. As if the garden dying meant far more than just the loss of some flowers. She knew it. Things would never be the same. They would never hang out like they did here, and without it most of them wouldn’t even be friends.
Worse than that was her own inadequacy. She couldn’t stand it, her own powerlessness. She couldn’t try to fight with Jim and the others, she failed at helping the spirits, and even now, she couldn’t stand herself. Looking into a mirror, she felt that she didn’t see her own reflection, but someone else entirely. Someone that didn’t deserve the happiness she wanted.
With a short loss of balance from the emotions, she stepped forward. She caught herself with her hands on one of the fences, leaning over one of the wilted plants. A tear fell from her cheek onto the plant. It entered the soil and as it natured the plant, suddenly, it grew. Hao Hao stepped away and watched it expand up taller than it ever should have gotten for a daisy bush.
Soon as high as the second floor, it seemed to reach for the sky. The dark clouds that had gathered suddenly rumbled. In moments, she felt water hitting her cheek. It was raining. It never rained here at the border of Shigo. How strange. She forgot about everything that troubled here and watched as it came over the school almost like a large wave. One second it wasn’t raining, and then next she was drenched as if standing in a shower.
“Ah!” She screamed with relief as she saw her own spirit once again. His fuzzy appearance and gentle smile felt like a rainbow at the end of a storm. She asked, “Shui! What happened to you?”
“Hard to explain, but I wasn’t scared because I knew you would be able to pull me back.”
“I pulled you back?”
It nodded. “You have so much love in your heart that it makes it hard to bear! But it’s also what gives you so much power. Don’t forget that.”
She laughed and cried then. The rain that poured from the sky watered the wilted plants and they all sprung back to life. Evergreen and bright. Seeing them gave Hao Hao hope in the midst of her panic. She asked Shui, “What about the other spirits? Are they okay?”
“They’re fine! You probably just couldn’t see them because you were too scared, but they should be with or nearby their people.”
“Can I call them from here? I need them to help me gather the others.”
“Yes. Ever since you gained everyone’s trust, I have gained the ability to send them long distance messages. Isn’t that fun? I only realized it back in the forest, when I was trying to find my way back to you.”
She nodded, “Please, tell them. Can they bring the others?”
“With you, I think they might. Remember when Taeyang could see his spirit? I think you just need to think really hard about your friends and want to help them. That and we need to want to be seen. They agree with your request to bring them.”
Hao Hao closed her eyes and did just that.
In the dorms, Alice froze as her spirit appeared while they packed. She introduced herself as Color. Sumi called over the others and they all listened to Color’s explanation of Hao Hao’s plan.
Kirai caught sight of his through the store window. Calling the others to look up, they all saw it. He told them, point blank, that Hao Hao can talk to spirits and he’s one of the spirits she’s talked to, and that she needs their help. The plan was explained to them while they all travelled to Hao Hao location. The plan was relayed while they took the same boat they used to get there to get back.
Everyone helped her work out the specific details of it via spirit communication, and before long, students and spirits alike were gathered in the halls of the school. Now was the time to prepare. They rushed to the cafeteria where they found pixies angrily packing up their bags.
“Jim must have told them to leave as well.” Emily said.
Hao Hao approached them. They didn’t notice her; they were too angry, it seemed. She said, “Um, excuse me. Please.” She had to reach out to several in this manner until finally one stopped. She asked, “Do you know where Jim went?”
His voice was light like sparkles. She couldn’t actually make out anything, but Shui could. It told her, “He said: That hooded tattletale went that way.” The pixie pointed towards the forest gate.
“Thank you.”
It was then that they divided up tasks. Most of them would stay and prepare the school (and convince the pixies to stay a moment longer, hopefully.) Emily and Daichi were rowing back to Shadow Town, and Hao Hao and Alice were leaving to find Jim.
As they left the cafeteria, Alice asked, “Are you sure this will work?”
“Yes,” Hao Hao said.
She held herself with more confidence than she ever had in the other world. Believed in herself more than in her entire life. The others weren’t quite so certain, but they’d trusted during their time at school. With everything on the line, it seemed silly to stop now.
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