Chapter 10
***
After visiting Ririn’s grave, I managed to make it back to Kakashi’s home. I gave myself about two hours to gather my thoughts before heading back out to get something to eat. Thankfully, the village gave me several opportunities to earn money so I wouldn’t have to rely on Kakashi too much.
As I stepped out of the ramen stand, after a very pleasing dinner, I was very surprised to see Sakura waiting for me. “Akio, just the guy I’m looking for. Follow me.”
Being the curious person that I happen to be, I follow her, asking where we were headed.
We came to a stop at a strange building I had never seen the likes of before. “This is the place where we do all the autopsies. Kakashi suggested we do an autopsy on Ririn because he thought it was strange the way she passed, and we apologize for not asking you first. We hadn’t found you then.”
I nodded along, trying to process what she’s telling me as we walk through complicated hallways. She stops in front of an unmarked door. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but… we found…abnormalities in her autopsy.”
Abnormalities? The hell does that mean?!
“…Like what, exactly?”
She sighs as I wait for an excruciating ten seconds. “We believe Ririn didn’t die naturally, we found a strange substance in her body, and we think you may know what it is.”
She turns to me and I search her face for a sign that this is some kind of joke. I don’t find anything. “Wait, so you’re saying…that she was murdered?!”
“No, we’re not sure yet, that’s what we want you to confirm!” She immediately retorts.
I pause, trying to process the entire situation. “You want me to confirm whether or not my little sister was murdered?!”
She pauses. I guess when I put it like, it sounds worse… too bad.
Turning, I stalk out of the building, making sure to remember how she led me in so I could make it out. I can’t believe this. There’s no way Ririn was murdered, I mean who’d want to kill her?!
Feeling beyond confused and wary, I walk back to Kakashi’s home. He isn’t there, but I don’t really care.
It’s late and for once, I just want some sleep. I never used to believe things would magically get better in the morning, I don’t know why I thought so today.
***
All is silent; a bit too silent, if you ask me. There seem to be no birds in the sky, and my little sister seems to be asleep.
I wander around the house looking for something to do. I walk past my father’s forbidden work room. Strange sounds come from within, and I am curious as to what it is.
It takes me a minute, but I enter. My father is startled from his work, but he doesn’t send me out. Instead he welcomes me into his fortress.
He’s working on some kind of concussion. It’s a clear liquid in a small glass bottle. The label reads ‘Eimin’.
“What’s that?” I ask motioning to the bottle.
He smiles, “I call it ‘Eternal Sleep’ or Eimin.” He picks up the bottle and examines it. “I started it years ago, but I haven’t been able to finish it. It’s still a prototype so don’t touch it, alright?”
I nod, “what does it do?”
He pauses before answering. “Whoever drinks it, or injects it, will fall into an eternal sleep.”
I am confused for a minute before it hits me suddenly. My eyes widen, “meaning they’ll die?!”
He nods solemnly just as I remember… my sister is sleeping.
***
I wake sweaty and out of breath with only one thought on my mind. Ririn.
Almost like a zombie I complete my morning routine with only my little sister in my thoughts. I barely notice that the sun hasn’t even risen yet.
I frown through breakfast by myself before heading back to the wretched place Sakura took me to the day before. I have to confirm this. I really don’t want it to be true. I definitely don’t want to hear that my sister died from the very same prototype my father created and warned me against.
I find Sakura in a lab with another woman who seemed to have a really large chest area. They both pause when I they see me.
Sakura smiles sadly. The other lady does nothing until Sakura mentions that I happen to be Ririn’s brother.
At that, she welcomes me into the room.
“I hear you may know what this substance is?” The lady asks, though it sounded more like a statement for me to confirm.
I simply sigh and walk over to the many bottles of weird nothingness. Instead of answering, I ask “So, what am I supposed to be looking at?”
Sakura immediately motions to one of the bottles. “That’s a sample of what was found in her blood…”
I sigh again, “I don’t know what I’m looking at, and I can’t decipher it, so just tell me the symptoms before her… death or something.”
She pauses and makes eye contact with the other lady before answering, “Well there isn’t much except chronic fatigue, loss of appetite, and uh, oh trouble breathing.”
I sigh, trying not to lose it. “I was hoping this wouldn’t happen.”
They seemed a bit confused, meanwhile I am seething with rage. Whoever did this to my sister will definitely pay for this, gravely.
“You were right, Ririn didn’t die naturally; she was murdered.”
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Silence (Book 2)
Fanfiction{'Speak' Sequel} Akio has spent his entire life, after leaving his home village, trying to get stronger in order to rescue his little sister Ririn from her worst nightmare. He's been searching for his sister ever since he learned of her escape and a...
