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There was a shadowy figure in the room with her, amorphous yet human. It was reaching, reaching out to touch her with dark tendrils. Naomi fumbled with the rubbing alcohol, losing precious seconds. Dang it- she didn't have time to waste!
Managing to splash it all across the long, black strands, she didn't hesitate to strike a match, mind pausing for only a moment to question if she'd be set alight as well. When the strands erupted into flames and she didn't, Naomi got her answer. She was free! Finally! Opening the door to sweet freedom, she only just registered the brush of fingers against her hand.
The minute she closed the door behind her, goosebumps prickled on her skin and the anxious dread settled into her stomach as a growing ache. Naomi's body swayed, deprived of air as she gasped and sputtered just to keep herself standing. Propping herself up against a wall, she vomited on the floor beneath her.
The bitter, acidic taste settled on her tongue and tears started filling her eyes. It didn't matter that the hallway was as safe as the infirmary had been - she couldn't take it anymore. Her sobs echoed down the hallway and into the darkness of the school. Why was this happening? She just wanted to go home, flop on her bed and relax as she and Seiko exchanged messages. Why did they have to be in this awful place?
… Naomi?
Someone called out from behind her, making her jump. But turning around, she found only Seiko staring back at her. Like the bile earlier, a bitter resentment choked her as it rose up her throat.
Insults spewed out in a torrent, betrayal at having been left behind consuming her thoughts. If Seiko had only waited or taken her with, she wouldn’t have had to go through that…!
Seiko flinched away from her biting words, but Naomi didn’t stop. They fell deaf on her ears, but the hurt was clear to see on the face of her so-called best friend. Shouldn’t… she stop? Why wasn’t she stopping?
But it was already too late. Seiko, tears in her eyes, left. Naomi only stood there for a few seconds more, still dizzy on her feet, before she went the opposite direction. Righteous fury gave way to emptiness, a gaping wound that wouldn’t close.
Everything after that was hazy. She was… walking, going somewhere. The hallways blended into each other, a mind-bending maze that never seemed to end. But her mind cleared as she stood, motionless, in the middle of another dark corridor.
Seiko… She needed to find Seiko. The emptiness ached, yearning for the comfort of a familiar face. Naomi’s feet carried her, as if by their own will, to the second floor. There was a nagging in her head, questioning why she had gone there. Something was wrong; it was clear in the quietness of the school, the haziness of the air. But she kept walking.
Trepidation crept in, Naomi’s hands clenching at her sides. A palpable foreboding crept up her body, muscles stiffening in anticipation. Some hours ago, she’d been up here, standing outside the girl’s bathroom with Seiko. How long ago that felt, like another time entirely.
It was hard to describe what happened next. The darkness of the room beckoned her, and Naomi obediently followed. Her eyes didn’t catch the rope that hadn’t been there before, but she somehow knew about it at the same time. And when she opened the stall, the one that had always been locked for her…
Terror. Pure, abject horror. Guilt, shrapnel lodging in her skin. An oddly familiar rope and an unmistakable figure dangling from the end of it…! Naomi panicked. A desperate calling reached her ears and she ran, acting without thought.
The bucket outside would do the trick. Whatever mystery meat was inside could rot somewhere else. She raced back in, intent on relieving the pain of her closest friend - and the bucket fell from her hands with a loud clang.
The plea had been silenced, the body swayed lifelessly. Bile rose in Naomi’s throat again but she kept it down. Instead, she howled and screamed in pain, nothing more than a wounded animal. The hollow wound within her tore further open.
She had done this, driven Seiko to this. Naomi choked on helplessness and disgust, but didn’t bother to swallow it back down. Her life may as well be over. All that was left was a never-ending hell.
Really, wouldn't it be better… just to die?
Naomi!
Huh? That voice…
Naomi, wake up!
That couldn’t be right. She was right there, dead. The haunting expression her corpse wore etched itself into Naomi’s very being. She violently shivered.
It’s just a bad dream! Naomi, you need to wake up!
Naomi’s eyes flew open to yet more darkness, but this time a softer lack of light. Instead of the dreary wooden walls of that cursed school, she was met with the dream-like sight of her own room. She was… home?
“-Aomi? Naomi, please!”
A voice, one she knew, called to her. Naomi turned her head to see for herself where it came from. Lying next to her in bed was… Seiko. Here. Alive. Breathing. Naomi flung her arms around Seiko’s shoulders, holding on with a death-grip.
“Naomi… Shhh, it’ll be okay…” Seiko’s warm, comforting voice murmured. A harsh shudder went through her body as Naomi realized she was crying, almost choking on her own snot and the painful lump in her throat. Regardless of her own confusion or urge to calm down, her body shook and cried with a will of its own.
“S-sei… ko…” she hiccuped between trembling breaths. The arms around her started moving up and down alongside hands, the repetitive motion a welcome distraction. Behind Naomi’s eyes danced that cursed image, that nightmarish reality where Seiko had been…
“Naomi, you’re okay,” Seiko whispered against her forehead. “I’ve got you, you’re okay… It was just a bad dream.”
A bad dream? Naomi shook her head against Seiko. That was no dream; it was too-real and sharp in her mind. Dreams weren’t like that. Even having woken up, the dream lingered perfectly intact within Naomi’s mind.
“I lost you…” she whispered, unable to put her terror into any other words. “In the school. You were…”
“I’m here Naomi. I lived, and we made it out, and I’m here with you,” Seiko asserted calmly. Naomi buried her head further into Seiko’s chest. “Look if you don’t believe me.”
Moving sounded horrendous, but that morbidly curious part of her that couldn’t sit still with unknowns urged her to do just that. She separated herself from Seiko with some difficulty and looked up. Half-expecting the horrific frozen face of her dead dream-self, fresh tears ran down her cheeks in sheer relief to see Seiko- perfectly alive and unharmed - gazing back at her.
Hiccupping another sob, Naomi dove back into Seiko’s waiting arms, nestling into her as close and completely as she possibly could. Seiko’s arms wrapped around her, one rubbing her back in soothing motions.
“I thought I lost you…!” Naomi whimpered. “You were dying and I tried to help you, but I… wasn’t fast enough…”
“It’s okay Naomi. It wasn’t real. I’m here. You got to me just in time,” Seiko reassured her. She was beginning to repeat herself, but Naomi calmed a little with each affirmation that Seiko was, in fact, alive. The earth-shattering despair was only a product of her dream. Nothing more.
“I’m so… glad…” Naomi whispered softly. Her eyes were heavy, a weight encompassing her whole body that she recognized as sleep. Seiko held her a little closer and, tears half-dried on her face, Naomi drifted back under. She wouldn’t remember the dream come morning.