Chapter 5 - Yukanie <Re-edit>

"YUKANIE!"

She heard her brother shouting from downstairs, she grumbled and sat up. She somehow had dozed off on her desk, she rubbed her eyes and glanced towards the window behind her bed. It was pitch dark outside, she stood up pushing her chair back, and head downstairs while yawning.

"What is it? Stop shouting..." She muttered at her two brothers.

They were both younger than her, she was the oldest, Mike was the 2nd oldest going to middle school, and there was the youngest, Jeff, who goes to elementary school. They both sat in the living room, with the tv on and other devices on.

"We're hungry, are you not going to cook?" Mike asked, staring up from his iPad.

She couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed, he was already 12 and he still couldn't take care of himself. She had to cook and bring the food to him or else he wouldn't eat, but there was nothing she could do about it. She was the oldest and according to her parents, the oldest should always care for the younger ones and tend to them. She walked into the kitchen feeling a bit sour as she took the pots and pans out and placed them on the stove. When she was growing up she was pretty sure she learned how to take care of herself at the age of 11, dude to her parents always working she had no choice but to learn to take care of herself. Her family wasn't rich, they were average even if they had a house it was hard to feed all 5 mouths as well as her grandma who lived a bit far away. It was the reason why her parents are constantly working late into the night leaving her to take care of the house.

She washed the rice and placed it in the pot for it to cook. She felt like a house nanny rather than a sister or a daughter or even a family member, she knew none of this was her parent's fault she didn't blame them but her brothers. They never helped, they only watch shows and do whatever they want. Leaving the cleaning to her and other chores. She chopped the onions, carrots, and ham up rather harshly, directing all her anger towards the food in front of her. She dumped them into the frying pan, adding some water and some seasoning to it before placing the lid on and let it sit there to cook.

She heard her brothers laughing at whatever was playing on the tv loudly outside in the living room, it didn't help her mood as she sat down on the dark wood dining table. She swiped her phone open when she saw an unread message from the group, clicking it open she saw some joyful message from Scarlet. Her friend had sent a few GIFS wishing the group a happy holiday ahead of time. She smiled a little and replied with another GIF which she found pretty adorable. She jumped when she heard a clap of thunder outside from the kitchen window. She glanced up from her phone, she saw the drizzle of rain that poured down from the sky, making it hard to see outside the window.

A bit worried about what the storm might bring on the road for her parents she quickly gave them a call. It took a while before her mother finally picked up.

"Hello? Is something wrong Yuka?" Her mother said from the other end of the call. She was pretty sure she could hear the splashing of the puddles from the rain as well as the constant tapping of the rain.

"No, I'm just wondering will you guys get home safely in this rain?" She asked. Standing up and heading over to the pot that was bubbling a little. She picked up the lid and used a wooden spoon to move the ingredients around before pouring some water and adding the cooked rice to the pan.

"You're dad picked me up a few minutes ago but there's a lot of cars on the road so we might be home very late." Her mother said. "Make sure you make Mike and Jeff dinner so they don't go hungry, also help them with their homework if they need help."

When her mother added the last part she had no idea how to reply, if it wasn't telling her to take care of her brothers then it was to list the chores that still need to be done in the house as the floor, laundry, taking out the trash and other stuff.

"Mmmm...." was all she managed to say.

"Alright, we'll be back soon ok? Take care of your brothers." Her mother ended the call before she could. She sighed and placed her phone down on top of the marble white counter beside the burning stove. Besides the time when she went to her grandma on the weekend, the other times she truly only felt like a nanny. It wasn't that her parents didn't care about her, of course, they still ask her from time to time how she was doing in school, but she just felt tired every time she came back from school. As if the house had sucked up all her energy. She rubbed her eyes and hand, before washing up 2 plates and placing the fried rice onto them. She didn't feel like making it look nice today so she simply just placed it on and rained some sauce over the top. She didn't feel like eating due to the headache she was feeling, so she placed the two plates on the dining table and called out to her brothers. It didn't take them long for them to come running into the kitchen on the slippery floor with their socks.

Usually, she would scold them and made them wear their shoes but today she just felt super tired. She left her brothers to eat on their own as she headed upstairs to her room. She would have to come back down later again when they're done eating to clean the table and dishes. She lightly closed the door behind her, sitting back down on her chair placed before her desk. The desk itself was pretty messy, from the pile of papers she used for her school project along with scattered pens and pencils. She glanced at herself on the small table mirror in the corner. Her soft blue hair was messy, even though she had tied it up in a braid so it didn't bother her when she was working on stuff, it must have messed up from the nap she had earlier. She could see how tired her violet eyes were, with small dark circles, she lightly clapped her hands to her face telling herself to wake up. She sighed and turned towards the bright screen of her laptop. She clicked through all the tabs, placing her earbud in wanting to listen to some music as she finished the last bits of the project. But she paused when she saw a red notification in her email.

Frowning, she slowly moved her mouse over and clicked it open. Her eyes searched for the name of the sender but she could find any. Afraid that it was some advertisement of some virus she moved her mouse quickly over to the close button, but another message popped up:

12/23 the gates open.

Although it was a simple message, it gave her chills and goosebumps all over her arms. It was only a few words but she had a feeling that it meant a lot more than it showed. She narrowed her eyes on the numbers. It looked like a date, she turned her phone on for a second to check what date it was.

"20th...." She muttered, looking back to the screen of her laptop when she heard another message pop up:

What's dead stays dead, but the tale itself must continue.

With shaky hands she grasped her phone, she hated any horror stuff. She wasn't good with this stuff, but Maven and Scarlet were fond of these. With shaky fingers, she called Scarlet, but the call went straight to voicemail right away. The word dead was the word that kept repeating itself in her head. After a few more tires with no success, she placed her phone back down on her table and told herself to calm down.

"It's just some spam email..." She muttered to herself. She hit the replied button and asked for the sender to stop with the spam or jokes, but when she hit send a red message appeared: The user you're trying to reply to does not exist.

"What the hell..." She whispered to herself as she tried clicking the send button a few more times. Another message pop up that drew her attention:

The dice have been thrown, the tables have turned, fate itself is deciding the future.

~-------------------------------------------~

"Yukanie is like a mysterious character."

"Mysterious? Oh good, heaven's no, she's probably one of the most warm-hearted souls you'll ever meet." His Granny replied. "She's more caring about others than herself, perhaps that's her downfall." His Granny added in a low voice much to herself.

"These 3 friends, why do I feel like they're all going through something similar Granny?"

"Perhaps, it's the fate that brought them together my boy." His Granny replied with a sigh.

"Fate?" Raven repeated.

"Yes, fate." His Granny replied firmly. "Fate always has its own plans, plans that we can not challenge...but she did...." His Granny muttered the last part almost like something dawned on her.

"Granny?" He questioned.

"Ah yes..." His Granny snapped back into reality. "Where were we..."