The lurking nightmare

The clattering of dishes mixed with the chattering of other customers in the background calms Taro down as he is sat across a table, facing the enemy... Daisuke places his mug of coffee on the table. Kami decided it would be a good idea if they just talked out their differences and forgave each other, so she took them to the local cafe. Taro hated the idea of even being seen with Daisuke. What would Ren think if he saw them acting like friends? Taro didn't want him getting the wrong idea. Despite this, Daisuke had something to say and Taro would have to put all the hatred that he felt toward Daisuke aside until they were done.

"If you've got something to say, you better say it soon." Taro growled, This reaction was expected from Taro and Daisuke knew that clearly. Taro was angry and he wanted to make it up to him in any way possible, to show that he wasn't the bad guy or at least there are worse people than him. "If not, I'm getting up and heading straight out that door." He finishes with a stern expression, sipping his hot chocolate.

"M-My..." Daisuke stuttered, trying to find the words he wanted to say to Taro. The words were right on the tip of his tongue and he knew exactly what he wanted to say, but actually talking about it to the person who hated him the most wasn't exactly easy. Daisuke takes a deep breath, letting his defence down for Taro. "My parents beat me... Every night after school." Daisuke sighs, fighting back tears. This took Taro aback. He couldn't believe it, he didn't want to believe it... He had been making Daisuke out to be the villain the entire time that he didn't even consider that he might be having his own problems. But out of anyone, why would he take it out on Taro, and why would he even think about getting his friends involved.

The table stays silent. With each second that passes, the atmosphere gets thicker and thicker. Kami gives Taro a nudge, but he can't think of anything to say. His emotions start to confuse him, he still hated Daisuke with all his heart. But for some reason, he felt a little bit of empathy towards him... He twiddles his thumbs a little bit before looking up to the now seemingly vulnerable boy sitting in front of him.

"Why me?" Taro asked, his eyes now locked onto Daisuke's. "Did you just want me to feel the same suffering as you? What you've been doing isn't fair, not on me and definitely not on you." Daisuke looks away from Taro. Knowing what he has done isn't right, he wants to make it up to him in any way possible.

"I... Don't know, it was the only way I could feel any sense of control in my life. Once I started gaining popularity at school, I began to get addicted to that attention... It felt so good and I didn't want to let it go. I had to hide what was going on at home, I mean, what would people think of me-"

"DON'T YOU REALISE HOW HARD I TRY TO HIDE THE THINGS YOU DO TO ME!" Taro screams, letting out all of the anger and frustration he has built up inside. The rest of the customers turn to look at the table before going back to what they were doing. "I can't even tell my parents about the monstrous things you and your friends do to me. Not even the school is on my side, the only place I feel safe near you is in a classroom and even then I dread leaving that room." Taro shifts his eyes out the window, trying to avoid looking at Daisuke. Silence fills the room again, the continued chatter of other customers and the clattering of cups can be heard. Taro pushes his hot chocolate to the side. Their eyes lock again.

"I want to change, Taro. I want you to give me that opportunity. Please... I'm begging you."

"I'll never be able to forget what you've done," Taro confirms, debating whether or not he should accept Daisuke's apology. His mind flashes through every encounter, every hospital visit and every time he has had to lie to his parents. Taro pauses before coming to his conclusion. "I'm going to forgive you, but this won't instantly change how I feel about you. Changing my mind is up to you." Taro concludes. A soft smile is spread along Daisuke's face, this was the first step to him changing for the better and it excited him!

"Thank you, Taro. I'll make sure you don't regret it." Daisuke quickly puts the bottom of his mug up, tipping the rest of his coffee into his mouth, almost choking and spluttering a little bit of it. "I'll try my hardest to get everyone to stop bullying you. I'm sorry Taro..." He finishes as he rushes out of the cafe. Kami and Taro are left alone again, the silence between the two of them since Daisuke left started to become unsettling. Taro never wanted to confront Daisuke, but it was probably for the better, right? Kami only wanted the best for him... so why was he so scared the entire time? Daisuke wanted to change, he was desperate, Kami saw that. Now that it's over, the only thing that Taro is worried about is how Ren would react to the situation. Taro was lost in thought until Kami nudged him, bringing him back to complete awareness and making him jump.

"Jeez, sorry Taro. I've finished my drink, are you ready to go?"

"Oh... Yeah, I'm done too." Taro says, his cup of hot chocolate still half full, the marshmallows and whipped cream now infused with the liquid. Taro looks down at his drink one last time before getting up. "Come on, there's someone I want to talk to before we go home." Taro tells Kami as he begins walking to the door. Not wanting to be left behind, she gets up and rushes to Taro's side.

Taro had to tell Ren about his encounter with Daisuke, it was important that he knew that Daisuke was trying to change for the better. If he didn't know then Ren might attack him without knowing that Taro and Daisuke were trying to work things out. Taro would be relieved if Ren even believed him for a second, but he knew subconsciously that Ren was reasonable enough to trust Taro's judgement.

"Taro? You've been really quiet since we left." Kami worries, grabbing onto Taro's hand. Taro mutters to himself as they walk together, ignoring Kami's concerns. "Taro!" She shouts, gaining Taro's attention and pulling him to the side as he just narrowly misses a streetlight that was headed straight for him.

"Huh? Oh, what's wrong?" Taro responds, not recognising that Kami had asked a question. Taro looks up slightly to meet Kami's eyes, the negative emotion that Taro seemed to be feeling moments before seemed to have faded into the back of his mind.

"Are you okay? You've been really quiet." Kami repeats herself, grasping Taro's hand a little tighter. The two lock eyes for a moment... Wanting to avoid the question entirely, Taro's eyes quickly dart away and he looks off to the distant city.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just got something on my mind, that's all." Taro says, walking faster and dragging Kami along. After what feels like an indefinite amount of time the two finally reach a large, run-down looking building. Kami looks at Taro with a very disgusted expression.

"You're kidding, right?" Kami groans, turning away from the building and crossing her arms. Taro grabs her by the arm and drags her up to the door of the building and knocking as loud as he possibly can. "T-Taro! You're not serious about this are you? Look at the state of the-" The door loudly creaks open and two green eyes poke out from behind it.

"Oh! Hey Taro!" Ren beamed. Seeing Taro so unexpectedly made him happy, it wasn't often that Taro visited. Ren knew exactly why, the place was a mess, so he didn't blame Taro. "Do you want to come in?" He continued hesitantly. Taro, walking into the building as soon as Ren finished talking, forced Kami into the building by the hand, accepting that she has no choice in this situation, she follows with her eyes pointed to the floor. "I'll take that as a yes..." Ren sighs, following the two into the house.

The interior, contrary to the outside, is very well kept and feels very homely. Taro hadn't been here in years, so Ren must have been working on it. Making themselves at home, Taro and Kami toss themselves on Ren's couch. It appears to only fit two people, so Ren drags himself through to the kitchen and brings an extra chair for himself to sit on.

"C'mon man talk to me, something's got you upset. You're not usually like this."

"It's Daisuke" Taro answers. Anger rushes over Ren's face as he quickly gets up and starts heading to the door, grumbling to himself. "Wait! It's not what you think!" Taro calls, rushing after him and guiding him back to his chair.

"Then what is it! Do I have to kick the guy's ass or not?"

"He... Apologised to me. I-I still don't know what to make of it, it feels so bizarre, you know? Having someone who basically tortured you for most of your life suddenly apologise to you is not something you'd expect to happen a-a-and not just that, he told me that his parents do the same to him a-and that he only did it to me to feel strong and that he wanted to have some sort of control in his life." Taro rattled off in one breath. "... and I forgave him... I forgave him for all of the horrible, horrible things he did to me... I feel like such an idiot." He ends, tears streaming down his face.

Ren gets up from his chair and slowly walks over to Taro, sitting back down on the armrest next to him and pulling Taro into his chest. "You think you're an idiot, but I think you're brave for forgiving him. You don't know if what he's saying is even remotely true, but even after all that he's put you through, you found it in your heart to trust that what he's saying is the truth... No matter what you think..." Ren pauses as he places his hand on Taro's chin, gently guiding him to meet his eyes. "You're brave in my eyes."

Taro buries his face in Ren's chest as he weeps, Ren running his fingers through Taro's white hair. "You're a good person, Taro. Don't forget that, alright." Ren finishes as Taro gives a nod, his head still stuck to Ren's torso. "Now are you going to introduce me to your friend?"

"Y-yeah, sorry." Taro sniffs as he wipes his tears away and takes a few deep breaths to recompose himself. "This is Kami, she just transferred to the school." Taro introduced as Ren and Kami shook hands.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Smiled Kami as she meets Ren's green eyes. Her first impressions of Ren quickly changed, they say not to judge a book by its cover, a rule that had been completely ignored before she had finally met Ren. Getting to know him more, Kami realised that she had completely misjudged him.

"The pleasure's all mine." Ren responded happily, although he knew something was up. Taro was one of the least popular people in school, a girl suddenly shows up out of nowhere and everything seems to start improving... not that it was a bad thing, Ren was really glad things were getting better for Taro, but there was something about this girl that Taro, nor herself was telling him. Ren had an idea of what was going on, but he needed an opportunity to try and confirm his suspicions.

Ren gets up off of the armrest and makes his way to the doorway of the kitchen and turns back to the two, who are still sitting on the couch. "Do you guys want a drink?" he asks, "Sorry for not asking earlier."

"Can I have a hot chocolate please!"

"I'll have a coffee please, two sugars and milk. Thank you."

Ren goes into the kitchen and puts on the kettle, leaving the two to talk in the living room. The distant chatter in the background pleases Ren, it's nice to see that Taro's making friends. Though, the thoughts from earlier start to wander around his mind "Who is this girl?" Ren whispers to himself, "I get a strange feeling from her..."

Click

The kettle finished boiling and Ren makes the drinks, placing a few marshmallows into Taro's hot chocolate, just the way he likes it. He carries two cups through to the living room as to not risk spilling any on the carpets. He places both cups on the coffee table in front of them and heads back to the kitchen to grab his own drink.

"Thanks, Ren!"

"Thank you."

Ren walks back to the kitchen to grab his own drink and sits back down with the other two in the living room. Ren liked having Taro around, not so much because he was lonely but rather because Taro was his best friend and loved hanging around with him and making him feel better. Taro's relationship with Kami wasn't going to affect theirs, right?

"So, sir, what do you do? You look around our age, but you never seem to be at our school?" Kami asks before Taro nudges her, trying to stop her from asking that question. It was extremely personal and a question that he knew that Ren didn't like, but would answer regardless of how he felt about it.

"Hmm, well I do manual labour here and there, other than that not a whole lot. I actually spent a lot of my savings improving my home" Ren replies. "I bet you thought this place looked like a dump when you saw the place!" Ren howls with laughter as Kami's face goes red as if she thought he could read her mind.

"Anyway, as for why I'm not at your school..." Ren pauses for a moment, reflecting on his past and all of the terrible decisions he had made. "I was expelled. I did something atrocious. I don't regret it though. I'm just glad they got rid of me when they did or Daisuke wouldn't have had a chance to apologise..." Ren sighs, clearly lying to himself. He absolutely regretted it, that was as clear as day to Kami, she could see that Ren wanted to protect Taro and be by his side, no matter the cost.

"I-I'm sorry for asking."

"It's fine, you're not the first and you won't be the last." Ren smiles, understanding that she didn't know that he didn't like being asked about his past. Despite not liking speaking about what happened, he hated lying to people more, it made him feel really bad whenever he had to lie about something even as small as a little white lie.

A few minutes pass of nothing but rain tapping on the windows as the three sip their drinks. One after another, each cup is placed down onto the coffee table, completely empty. Ren gets up and puts them all into the sink, he can clean them up later after all, and heads back to the living room.

"You two are free to stay a little longer if you would like." Ren offers, sitting back down onto his chair.

"I should probably be going, my parents will probably end up being worried sick if I'm not home soon." Taro nervously laughs in response.

"Did you not tell them you were coming here?" Ren asks, shocked at Taro. "Did you even tell them you were meeting Daisuke?" Taro shakes his head, ashamed that he didn't do either of those. "Alright, I'll let them know you were here. If you need I'll walk you home." Ren offers again. Taro shakes his head again, getting up and going to hug Ren.

"Thanks for listening to me Ren, it means a lot." Taro beamed as he looks up to Ren. His bright blue eyes meeting Ren's. He finally lets go of Ren and heads to the front door with Kami. "Alright! See you later Ren!"

"A-Actually, mind if I keep Kami for a sec. I've got a question, one that I'd rather you didn't hear." Ren asks nervously, rubbing the back of his head. Taro and Kami look at each other for a second, and Kami agrees.

"You wait outside, I won't be two seconds." Kami tells Taro. Taro nods and heads to the front door, closing it behind him.

The silence is unbearable, but the redness of the sunsetting sky calms the nerves that he is feeling in the moment. Taro sits on the front step while he waits, twiddling his thumbs as he does so. He wasn't going to ask what they were talking about, besides, Ren usually only thought about what was best for him, he was probably looking out for him again, right?

The door opens up and Kami steps out next to Taro, shutting the door behind her. She looks to Taro with a solemn expression on her face, before reaching her hand out to lift him up. Taro could tell that she had a lot going through her mind but he still decided not to ask about it.

"Come on, let's go home. Ren's calling your parents now." Kami says quickly walking away from the building. Despite this, he couldn't tell what was wrong with her just by looking, but he knew something was wrong. Taro quickly runs to catch up with her. Once he gets just behind her, he grabs onto her hand so he doesn't lose her. Only then did she slow down to Taro's pace, almost as if she forgot he was there in the first place.

The sun has finally set and the darkness of the night has finally taken over, moths gracefully dance around the streetlights illuminating the ground beneath them. Together they walk hand in hand to their home. Kami had cheered up a lot from when they left Ren's house. Eventually, they make it to the house. Taro slowly opens the door to find all the lights out. Flicking them on he walks in and finds a note on the table in the living room.

Good evening, Taro!

Ren called us to say you would be home late tonight. It's okay that you didn't call us, we want you to have fun rather than worry about us, although, we would prefer it if you told us you would be home late.

Anyway, we're heading away for a little while, it's an emergency and we don't know how long it will take. I've put enough money in your bank to feed yourself and Kami. Call us if you need anything!

Lots of Love

Mom and Dad.

"M...Mom? Dad? Jeez, and they didn't even call me about them leaving." Taro mumbled as he read it to himself before turning to Kami. "Well, looks like we've got the house to ourselves for a while until they get back. But... I'm probably going to go to bed now." Taro yawns as he drags his feet to the stairs. He turns back one more time "You can stay up if you want, just don't eat everything in the fridge, we need it." Taro chuckles before beginning his ascent up the stairs.

Taro does his usual nighttime routine. Brushing his teeth and getting into his pyjamas before climbing into bed. The sound of the TV downstairs can be heard but it soothes Taro to sleep. It sounds like Kami is watching a documentary of some sort downstairs. It's loud enough for Taro to hear, but not enough to disturb him. Taro falls into a deep sleep while the sounds of rain falling on his window and wind blowing carry him to dreamland.

Tap, tap, tap

Not for long though as the sound of tapping is back again, Taro turns over to face away from the window. It's too early in the morning to deal with it. Taro snuggles back into his covers and tries to drift back to sleep.

Tap, tap, tap

The sound is louder yet again and downstairs nothing but the static of the television can be heard. Taro gets up to check his phone.

"One in the morning, huh?" Taro groans as he gets up out of his bed, to get rid of the tapping and turn off the TV. "I've really got to get her to do that herself." He continues, opening the curtains to see a shadowy figure with bright white eyes staring back at him. Taro screams as he jolts back across his bed and sprinting as fast as he possibly can downstairs.

Taro hides behind the couch, waiting for whatever creature was outside to leave. He was in a cold sweat, shaking and crying. Taro just wanted the night to be over, this wasn't real, right? This was all just a bad dream and he would wake up soon, or so he hoped.

"I-I can't do this... Please... Somebody help me..." he whispers to himself as the knocking on the window can finally be heard from downstairs. It keeps getting louder and louder, until inevitably...

CRASH

The sound of glass breaking upstairs shook Taro to his core. Taro missed the opportunity to lock himself in the bathroom until sunrise, but if this thing could break through his window, nothing is stopping it from breaking down the doors.

Taro looks up from behind the couch to look for the shadow lurking around his house. He peeks to see the thing coming down the stairs. Taro is thrown back into a panic as he tries to find a way to get rid of the monster that is now prowling around his living room.

Taro pats his pockets, realising that he left his phone upstairs. Calling for help is not an option unless he can get past undetected, which wasn't likely. Taro took a deep breath before dashing past the tall, blob-like creature.

The creature made a gurgling noise before chasing him up the stairs, there was no time to grab his phone so he decided to just lock himself in the bathroom and hope that the door doesn't break.

BANG BANG BANG

The monster on the other side of the door slammed its fist heavily on the door, petrified, Taro is unable to move. This is all just a nightmare... it had to be, Taro was snuggled up in his bed and he would wake up, Taro continued to hold on to this misconception.

"Please, just let me just wake up. None of this is real."

BANG BANG BANG

There was nowhere for Taro to go from here, the bathroom had no windows and it didn't lead into his parents' bedroom where he could escape. He was stuck here for the rest of the night. Taro lay his head down on the cold, hard floor and waited for the night to pass.

BANG, BANG, BANG

The strikes to the door became less and less frequent, but Taro didn't react. He refused to leave the room until morning. But how would he know? His phone is in his bedroom.

"Kami... I need to wait for Kami..." Taro whimpered to himself, still shaking from fright. Maybe there was an off chance that he would hear his alarm, but it wasn't likely. Taro shut his eyes and tries his hardest to go to sleep on the floor.

"I... Can't do this... someone, wake me... Please..."

"Please... Save me."