Chapter Text
Four days have passed since the funeral.
Yurei still felt that uneasy feeling and yet, she hasn’t said anything to her Auntie Rumi. As much as she wanted to ask for some help, she didn’t want her to worry about something like this.
“She’s hiding something.” Mirko’s now outside the balcony with Krissy who began using her lighter to fire up her blunt.
“Have you talked to her?” She asked as she took a deep breath and released a good amount of smoke.
“I did, but she seems to be okay with it…like it didn’t even affect her at all.” Krissy did notice the sudden change in Mirko’s voice as well as her mannerisms. She was worried about the little ghost girl, much more than she realized.
“Are you worried about her?” Mirko looked at her annoyed. Clearly it was obvious that she was, but she did know that her teal-black color friend was only keeping her talking so she won’t think too much.
“A lot of people react differently,” Krissy continued. “So, you can’t really do anything but make sure that she’s okay. Maybe take her to see a therapist like Rita or even AJ.”
“Maybe if they’re not too busy,” Mirko sighed. “But I doubt that she will talk to anyone, heck she barely talked to you when she first came here.”
“True.” Krissy was about to take another hit when out of nowhere Mirko grabbed it and took a big puff.
“What…” Now she was stunned. She didn’t think that in a million years her friend would actually take part in what she’s doing.
“Whoa!!” Mirko started coughing aggressively, which made Krissy laugh. “That’s a lot stronger than I thought!” She hands the blunt back to her who just kept laughing.
“It’s not really for everyone,” Krissy tells her. “Plus, I was having a busy week and my legs are killing me.” Mirko did forget that her friend got into an accident a long time ago, the one that resulted in her losing both her legs. Although she was able to get some mechanical legs, she still needed some help from her chronic pain.
“So, what are you going to do?” She asked. Mirko still kept coughing, but it wasn’t as aggressive as it was.
“I don’t know,” she admits. “This whole situation is a mess right now. I want to help her, but I don’t even know what to do.”
“You sure you don’t want to be called Mama Rumi?”
“Auntie is fine, Kris!”
It was now close to the end of the day.
Mirko was going through some more paper work about Yurei’s history. As she was doing that, Yurei’s sitting on the floor coloring as always.
‘I don’t feel so good,’ Yurei felt that same uneasy feeling still lingering around as well as feeling nauseous. She has yet to tell her Aunt Rumi about what she was going through. She was aware that Mirko has been stressing out about funeral expenses, so she didn’t say anything.
“You have about fifteen minutes until bedtime,” Mirko reminded her. Yurei nodded as she was almost done coloring. Suddenly, she felt her eyes getting heavy and felt her little body moving side to side.
*THUNK*
Mirko’s ear turned at the sound as she looked. Turns out, Yurei’s laying on the floor sleeping soundly. She stood up, went toward her, and managed to gently pick her up.
‘Maybe I should have her see someone,’ Mirko thought as she made her way to Yurei’s room. ‘It will do her some good especially with her stuttering too…but she might stay quiet during that whole session…’
“Good night, Yurei.” She whispered as she covered her little body with the oversized blanket.
It was almost three in the morning. Usually by now everyone’s already in bed sleeping through the night, but for Yurei, her sleep was anything but peaceful…
‘…Run… Run Yurei…Run…’
Yurei kept tossing and turning in her sleep as she kept mumbling, almost like she was trying to say something.
‘…Hide…Hurry…GO!!!’
“AAHH!!” Her eyes open wide as she felt her body shaking, felt cold sweat coming down, and breathing heavily.
‘It was just a dream.’ She thought. ‘Just a dream…’ Slowly she scooted towards the edge of the bed and managed to get up.
‘It felt real though…’ she went out of her room and saw that it was dark. She knew that it was late at night, but she was too scared to go back to sleep. She began to walk down the hallway in a quiet manner. Although she doesn’t mind being in the dark since she was used her surroundings, however, she wasn’t comfortable being alone especially after that vivid nightmare.
Once she has made it to Mirko’s room, she walked up to the bed seeing her Auntie sleeping. Just as she was about to speak, she stops herself.
‘She’s sleeping right now,’ she thought. ‘I don’t want to wake her…’ Yurei began to fidget her hands while she felt her throat began to tighten.
‘…Yurei…’
She turned around, but there was nothing. She quickly climbed onto the bed and began tapping on Mirko’s shoulder.
“A-auntie?” Mirko slowly opened her eyes and saw Yurei sitting next to her.
“Huh,” Mirko yawned as she pushed herself up. “What are you doing up?” Mirko stretched her arms out and checked to see what time it was, but then she felt Yurei wrapping her tiny arms around her as she buried her face onto her shoulder.
“Yurei?” At first, she was confused, but she quickly realized that maybe this girl had a nightmare and needed her for comfort.
“Was it another nightmare?” She asked. Yurei didn’t say anything, but she nodded. Mirko held onto her, stood up and went out of the room. Once they have reached to the kitchen, Mirko went toward the chair to place Yurei down, but she held onto her as if her life depended on it.
‘Guess the nightmare scared her pretty bad,’ She thought. She went up to one of the cabinets and took out a small glass cup.
‘Wonder what type of nightmare she had?’
‘…Yurei…’
Yurei tighten her grip, which caught Mirko’s attention.
‘Whatever it is, it must’ve terrified her…’
“…a-auntie…”
“Yeah?” She waited does her answer, but the ghost girl remain silent. Mirko placed her onto the container so they could at least look at each other. When she did that though, Yurei immediately started wiping her face with her sleeves.
Now Mirko’s worried about her.
“Yurei, you have to tell me something. I can’t read your mind.” Yurei remain silent as she kept trying to wipe those tears away. Mirko looked around to find some tissues for her to use, but just as she was about to leave, she felt Yurei grabbing her shirt.
“…I hear them…” Yurei whimpered. Mirko was confused about what she meant by that.
“Hear who?” She asked.
“…y-y-Yui…” Yurei sobbed. “…m-mama…d-dad…I hear t-them…but I-I…can’t see them…” Mirko could see this sweet girl struggling to say anything due to the fact that she was sobbing at this point. Seeing her eyes filled with tears, her body shivering, and even trying to catch her breath, it was actually making her eyes water, however, she knew that Yurei needed someone to comfort her.
‘Don’t be crying stupid,’ she thought as she quickly wiped her eyes dry.
“…w-why did they leave…t-t-they didn’t…say goodbye…” Mirko suddenly wrapped her arms around her tiny body. Yurei wasted no time and held onto her.
“…I-I want them b-back…”
“Shh shh,” Mirko does what she can to calm her down. “It’s okay, you’re gonna be okay.”
Throughout the rest of the night, Mirko held Yurei close, trying her best to comfort her in any way possible, from stroking her hair to rubbing her back. As for Yurei, she kept on sobbing in her arms while still asking why her own family left her behind.
‘I wish I had an answer for you, kid,’ Mirko sighed as she kept rubbing her back. ‘Heck, I wish you didn’t have to go through that…I don’t blame you for questioning why it happened…I’m really sorry…sorry for not being there on time…’
“I’m sorry.”