The Rewrite *Slow Updates*

Chapter Two- Part Two

Before I know it my legs have carried me to the living room, my eyes locked to the screen.

" Shorty after the fire was put out in the last house, as was the same in the other four houses, a body was discovered under the rubble with a large splinter of lumber through their chest."

My breath caught in my throat, the memories of raining drywall being pulled back into my mind, pushing others up against my skull. The feeling of fire and blood against my skin sent shivers through my body, my legs shaking.

"Ayako?" Shig's voice was deep and gravely, wound up in sleep and curiosity. I wanted to say something but I couldn't speak.

"The last victim was 22 year old-" Her voice became a jumble of static and letters as my Freshman university picture was displayed on the screen, going in and out of focus unlike everything else.. "- An early graduate of the Stevens Institute of Technology."

"Ayako, are you okay?" Ritsuko was here now, standing next to me. I can feel his gaze on me and slowly turn to meet it.

The moment our eyes meet I'm hit with a wave of dizziness. The world around me spins, my feet leaving the ground before a pair of strong arms wrap around me and everything goes black,

"Holy shit! Ritsuko what did you do?!" Shig's words ring in my ears, the sound of clambering footsteps filling the room.

"I didn't do anything! I-I just touched his arm- shit, he's freezing!" The fingers gripping my arm shake, and moments later there's a soft cushion underneath me, a blanket wrapped around me, a hand on my cheek.

"Holy shit- Ritsuko we need to get him to a hospital." The hand on my cheek moves to run up through my hair.

"Right. Right, uh..." There's a shuffling before Ritsuko's voice is muffled through the walls as he rambles into what I assumed was his phone.

What's going on? Why can't I move? Why does this mean I have to go back to the hospital? I'm fine... right?

"Ayako," Shig's whisper catches me off guard, his breath gently fanning across my face. "Ayako, please please be okay." I feel a weight on my chest, the sound of sirens in the distance making my ears ring.

It's now that I feel the darkness; it's smooth fingers gripping tightly to my throat and pulling me down.

"No!" I attempt to force the words from my throat, to move my body and fight against it, but my body is still and my words simply echo off against the walls of my mind.. "Stop it! I can't do this again! Stop!"

From outside my mind my body is on a stretcher. I can see it, face pale, lips a light shade of blue. My eyes dart around the room, from my body being wheeled out the front door to Shig, whose restraining Ritsuko- holding him back by the waist. His lips are moving but I can't hear anything he says.

Before I can move any closer to them there's a tug at my back, and I'm forced to face the shadow of a man whose hand was on my shoulder. I can barely make out the expression on his face, his eyebrow raised as he looks me over before gesturing for me to go outside, walking out himself and waiting for me in the doorway.

I move, unable to feel my feet touching the floor. Even with that, though, I can't bring myself to look down. I simply keep my eyes forward, locked on the shadow man as I approached him.

"Curiouser and Curiouser..."

His words ring in my ears, hitting me like a bus.

"It seems that you still can't let go, my child." he sighs a moment later, outstretching his hand to me with a tilt of the head.

"Come, Ayako, we have much to speak about."

I can feel phantom bile rising in my throat, drenching my words and making them burn..

"But I-" I stop for a moment, my voice sounding foreign and drawing confusion from me, " But I have to get out of here! I have to-"

He does nothing more than shake his head, yet it's more than enough to silence me. I take another glance back at Ritsuko and Shig, curled against each other on the floor. Morishige was practically cradling Ritsuko, who seemed to have been crying but was now fast asleep.

"Ayako, come with me and we can all forget about this. But we must go now before we're too far away."

His hand is still outstretched, steady. I look him in the face, up and down, but I can differentiate no disdain or anger within him. My hand seems to move on it's own, coming into my field of view, fading in and out of translucence. It rests in the man's large palm before the sound of bustling nurses and doctors and darkness are the only things around me.