Letters of Red

Chapter 7: En passant

I woke up from the nightmare feeling disturbed and quite shocked. That was it. I seriously needed answers. Focusing on my room, I tried to seek out what or who had awoken me. My eyes finally settled on Kiku’s quivering figure in the kitchen, and I got out of my bed and made my way towards her.

“Kiku? What time is it?”

She sharply twisted around, banging over some cup and plates. She didn’t look good. She had black circles under her eyes, and was as pale as a ghost.

“Oh, it’s you, Rosy,” she said, breathing in relief. “I was just heating up some food, that’s all.”

I looked at her, and patted her arm. “You get jumpy when you’re tired, right? Why don’t you get some rest?”

“I-I can’t,” she whispered, clutching to my arm. “You don’t understand, Rosy. Elias needs me- there’s no one else there to watch him. I can’t just leave him.”

It was quite a bit of an exaggeration since the patients in the medical wing were always monitored. Still, I could understand her worry.

I tried to smile reassuringly, and started stroking her hair. “It’ll be okay. Has his mother visited him?”

“N-no. She hasn’t even come close to his room. They haven’t exactly been on good terms lately,” she admitted. I frowned. They must’ve been on pretty bad terms if she refused to visit her son while he was so badly injured. Her grip on my arm tightened. “He’s all alone, except for me.  He’s not getting better, Rosy. Sometimes, I wonder if he’s not going to…”

She doesn’t think he’ll make it, I thought. It was a half-ridiculous notion, partly because of the large number medical professionals operating within the school that wouldn’t allow him to die. However, the fact that it was an unknown auter that attacked him meant that they didn’t know how to treat him and that was quite frankly, worrying.

“At least he’s got you. If I was lying comatose in the hospital, I’d like the one I love to be by my side.”

She tried to give me a thankful smile. She packed her food up and then looked back at me.

“I suppose I should go now.”

“If he wakes up can you tell him I’m sorry?”

Her expression softened. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry for, Rosy. You saved his life.”

She moved away before I could argue, took her things and made her way to the door, lingering long enough for me to sense her hesitation.

“You know, it’s okay to be afraid.”

She turned to look at me, and I could finally see the distress in her eyes. “I-I’m not, it’s just that-”

“You think that Auter might come after you too, don’t you?”

Currently, only people who had received Red letters were attacked by the Auter. However, it was an Auter- a monster. There was no telling how long its master had control over it. At any moment, it could break loose and attack absolutely anybody.

“Would you like me to come with you? It’s safer when you’re not by yourself. At the very least, if anything happens, one of us can run for help”

Kiku looked like she was on the verge of accepting, but worry filled her eyes. “But how would you make it back? You’ll be all by yourself and I can’t expect you to stay there with me until dawn.”

I tried to grin assuringly at her. “Don’t you worry about me. I’ve survived one encounter already, right? I’ll be okay. Besides, I can just become invisible and run away if I need to. And there’s something I need to check outside.”