Sakura Eyes

Chapter 5

I opened my eyes and gasped. I wasn't on Earth anymore. I knew once I stared at the pitch-black setting surrounding me.

It was cold and dark. There was a strange ominous feeling that coursed through me; it felt as though light had never once reached this place before. I shivered and looked desperately around, trying to find an exit. The dark field suddenly changed into another background.

Suddenly, I found myself standing in a festival. Quickly, I recognized the colorful lights and chatter of Cardea's once a year festival. Before I could even start to wonder why I was here, I spotted a familiar woman walking up to me with her head down.

"Mom!" I cried in relief, smiling. "Thank god you're okay. I—"

"It was because of you," she started. Turning her face up, I screamed in horror at her appearance. Her clothes were white, but splattered with a red color that looked like blood. Her eyes were dark, endless holes.

I felt myself take a step back from her.

"Because of you," she repeated. "It was because of you that I was captured by those evil people. You did not even try to reach out or call my name when I was held by those filthy hands. But May did."

I froze, and my insides turn to ice.

No, no you're wrong. I did try to call you out. I did. I really tried to. But my voice...it didn't work...I...

The scene suddenly changed before I could say anything. Looking around, I realized I was back at the campsite with May and the others. I saw myself again, but this time I was lying on the ground, helplessly watching May fall to the ground.

Suddenly, the scene disappears from underneath me, and it was just me and May on the ground, staring at each other.

"Because of you," May whispered into my ear. I raised my head from my face, whitening in horror as I saw May's body hover over me like a ghost.

"Because of you," she whispered. "I am hurt. How selfish of you. So weak. So useless."

My body suddenly forgot how to function. My breath disappeared as my body numbed. The background switched back to the cold and dark atmosphere I was in first.

But I couldn't feel anything anymore. I wasn't scared nor tired anymore.

I was...empty.

A roaring sound suddenly rumbled towards me, yet I didn't acknowledge it. Something slammed into me, and all of a sudden, I feel myself being submerged in water.

I tried to struggle against the waves, but my arms and legs refused to work. Instead of trying to fight anymore, I let the numbness spread farther and farther, until I slipped into the deepest, darkest place in the bottom of my heart.

...

A sound.

Someone was calling me.

Who?

"Miss!"

A familiar voice.

"Can you hear me?"

I remembered this golden hair.

"Hey!"

Yuri?

"Grasp my hand if you can hear me."

A different voice this time. Warmth suddenly enveloped my hand. I had no strength in me, but I moved my hand slightly in his palm, indicating that I could hear him.