Hands In The Stars

2. Strange Visits

The hard rain poured down over the short girl's frame, causing her shirt to stick against her pale skin in the most uncomfortable fashion imaginable. All alone, she hurried down the streets the best she could without slipping over the wet puddles. She would have ran, but the frustration over how bad her day had already been, and the fear of accidentally falling, kept her at a firm, steady pace. She hadn't brought an umbrella that day. She was completely unprepared. The weather had been clear, and she hadn't heard about the warnings until after she arrived at school. Her class had been the second to last allowed out, and by the end of it all of her classmates were either panicked or angry. She had waited outside, having made plans for the day to hang out with her friend since the night before, but she had been waiting all alone.

Although they were in the same class, she had lost sight of him on the way. They had been sent out in smaller groups to stop conflict in the hallways. In the end, no one showed up, and eventually she was the only one left outside the school area. He didn't even tell her, simply left, as if she would have figured it out all on her own. Finally, she reached the big gray house and hurried over to the door, stepping inside and removing her muddy shoes before she closed the door behind her. That's when she realized the door had been unlocked.
"S-Shun, are you home?!" She yelled out, but when no response came she sighed heavily and pressed some water out of her long hair. It looked like she'd be alone yet again, even in her own home.

She looked down at her thin, red fingers and squeezed them tightly into the palms of her hand. She prayed they would warm up quickly and give back her sense of feeling and touch again. As she removed her backpack and tossed it onto the storage bench in the dark hallway she slowly began making her way towards the kitchen, slim arms stuffed against her chest. She walked over to a locker and stood on the tips of her toes, reaching up for one of the smaller glasses. Trying to grab it without risking dropping the fragile thing with her frozen fingers was a task, but she eventually got it. Ai reached her hand down, putting it onto the handle of the sink and froze right in her tracks as she heard a strange noise coming from upstairs. A thousand different scenarios flashed through her mind at the same time, none of them good.

The girl listened closely, and could soon make out a sound that made her regret her decision. She assumed it would be, which would be described, as soft moaning, from the room above the kitchen. She froze. Ai stood in shock for a while, then she realized that it most likely came from Shun's room. A small shiver ran down her spine. The sound of the sink running quickly drowned out most of it, and when she turned it off she awkwardly tried to focus her mind to other things; The rain that spattered against the glass of the window, the wind that shook the trees outside, and crept into the years old wooden buildings all around. The soft hum of traffic in the far distance as people were eager to get back into better shelters than their cars. The. static of the always-on radio, which only came to life for two subjects; The governments announcements, and the daily reading of the missing-people list. Glass in hand, she made her way over to the kitchen table and sat down on her creaky chair. Her head slowly laid onto the cold surface. The day had already been way too long. Even the water in front of her was dirty. Everything was just like it always was. Particles swirled around in gentle patterns of the grayish liquid, but that didn't matter. It's been a good while since her parents afforded to pick up their share of filtered water. This had to do.

Ai sat in silence for a moment, simply letting her mind wander, before she let out a soft, shaky sigh and pulled herself up. One look around the kitchen, she emptied her glass, then hesitantly decided to make her way up the staircase to the second floor. She walked softly, not wanting to risk creaking any board, not wanting to disturb anyone. She took a turn and walked into her bedroom, carefully closing the door behind her. The previous sounds seemed to have stopped. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't even sure if Shun knew she was home. Maybe he hadn't heard her come in, somehow? And she had told him she would be at her friends place until dinner time. Embarrassment washed up in her. She slapped her cold hands onto her heating face and sighed in shame.