Breathe

Eiji and Rin were making their way through the town. The sun was just setting and it started to snow. It was light and when it fell it looked like it was dancing towards the ground. Swaying back and forth around and down. Sometimes looking as if it were jumping as a slight breeze would come in and out. When they were on top of the hill and looked back they could see orange, purple and slight red in the sky with light clouds in the distance. Eiji held Rin closer, this was the second time that he had really held her. Her heart was pounding. Why is this happening now? She thought to herself. I never envisioned Eiji and i together like this. If only....they heard a door open. Rin couldn't finish her thought. It was Saki's parents. They ushered them inside.

They motioned for them to go upstairs to Saki's room. Both parents looked terrible like they hadn't slept in a week. Rin gently tapped on Saki's door, after a moment it opened slowly and Saki came into view. The room was pitch black. Then Saki touched a button on the pad next to her door and the lights came on but immediately dimmed. Saki looked horrible. She must've been crying for days Rin and Eiji thought at the same time. "We missed you at the funeral" they both said. Saki faked a smile and tried to apologize. Eiji and Rin would not have it though.

"You need rest" Rin demanded

Saki agreed, but something was always keeping her up. Rin had never seen Saki like this, she was scared for her friend.

"I try, but it only happens in nap form. I usually get about a hour nap in" Saki was about to cry again. Eiji felt weird and didn't know what to do but that didn't stop Rin. She came right in and gave her a huge hug. It seemed to lighten the mood, which is exactly what everyone needed. They didn't talk much. Rin jumped on Saki's bed and put Sami's head in her lap while she gently stroked her hair. Eiji hopped on the bean bag and tried to relax. As the teens joked and tried to get back to normal, they finally all fell asleep. About an hour later Saki's parents peeked in and sighed in relief for they too could finally get some sleep. They called their friends parents and let them know where they were. It seemed as if all the parents could finally breathe.

Rin was the first to wake up the next morning. Saki's head still on her lap. She managed to lightly place Saki's head on the bed. Rin checked her phone and noticed her mom texted her saying that when she wakes up to take her time and come home when she can. This made Rin smile. She looked at Eiji who had slight drool on his chin. She giggled to herself. Rin got out of the bed and made her way to the bathroom. She splashed water on her face and when she was done she went back into the room. The other two had finally woken up. They all had smiles on their face. It seemed like everything was starting to be "normal" again. They went downstairs and out the door.

Arriving at their favorite coffee spot and got their usual coffees although some people don't consider what Saki drinks as coffee. After Saki was done dumping sugar into her coffee they all laughed again. Rin sighed and smiled. This is what it is about she thought to herself.

The trio hung out like that all morning and into the early afternoon. It was like old times Rin thought. The weekend was quickly approaching and the teens decided they would go back to school on Monday. Eiji waved goodbye with his patented two finger salute and left for home. The girls smiled and did the same two finger salute giggling the whole time.

Rin was walking with Saki towards her house when she decided that they should go see a movie. Saki agreed and welcomed the distraction. They held hands and walked to the movie theater just like when they were younger. The 2 decided to watch a comedy.....not only did they want to laugh, they needed it.

Rin got popcorn with butter and dumped some chocolate into it. She was staring at the bag in awe. Saki also got popcorn but no chocolate on it. As they sat down in the theater they sat in the top row in the last 2 seats. There was only a handful of people at the movie since it was a Thursday afternoon. They settled in and the movie started. There were a couple of funny scenes but Rin was getting bored with the movie.

Rin realized when fell asleep so she opened her eyes in hope of Saki not noticing but Saki wasn't in her seat.

"Where did she go?" Rin said. I guess I dozed off, she's probably in the bathroom Rin sighed.

The movie was still pretty boring, when a black figure with long wavy blue hair and a blue dress emerged from the screen.

Was no one else seeing this? What is happening? All of these thoughts were pumping through Rin's mind at the same time. The figure slowly started to walk up the stairs towards Rin. Rin instinctively stood up but couldn't move. She felt frozen. Smokey black tendrils came out of the body and were crawling toward Rin.

She still couldn't move. The fear was taking over. What does this demon want? It just kept running through her mind. The black figure stated

"I am not a demon, child" in a sultry voice.

How did she know what I was thinking? Rin was finally able to move and made a quickly sprinted down the row of chairs. The black tendrils grabbed her ankle and as they lifted her she slammed her head into the cold floor. The air felt heavy, she couldn't breathe. As she was being brought closer to the dark figure. The figure said

"Hush. For I am no demon, I am a fairy"

"You don't look like a fairy to me" squeaked Rin.

"Have you ever seen a fairy?"

"Well....no"squeaked Rin again as she was squirming in the air upside down.

"Exactly, there is no real basis for that assumption" the fairy replied. Rin felt like she was really starting to lose it. Could this really be happening? Where is Saki? Where are the other people in the theater? What is happening? Just as all of these thoughts were coursing through her mind, her eyes opened and Saki was next to her staring in fear.

She took a deep breathe, "what happened?" Asked Rin.