I ran after my brother. I was so stupid, to think that Karma wouldn't follow me like always. He ran to a door. He opened it furiously and ran inside.
Mune turned back and ran faster. "Oh god! We're all gonna die!" He said. I turned to see flames trickling across the hallway in our direction. I ran into the same room Karma went in. As I did, I realized it wasn't a room but the door to the basement.
"Karma! Where are you?" I cried out and looked through every room for him. I heard a scream in the last room.
"Karma!" I yelled and ran to the last room and opened and screamed as well. Inside was what looked like a werewolf. And what it was eating terrified me even more. In its hands and mouth was Karma.
It dropped him and looked at me with hungry eyes. It ran to me but before it could even reach me, someone behind me shot it three times. I turned around to see Jay and Nico with Nico holding an old revolver.
His hands were shaking. Jay on the other hand fainted as the beast collapsed. I turned around and ran to Karma.
Mune soon arrived with a firefighter. When he saw Karma, he picked him up and told us to follow him.
I was surprised how we got out of there alive. There was smoke everywhere that I couldn't see my own hand in my face. When we got out, the building collapsed entirely.
The firefighter took us to an ambulance. "This one needs medical attention immediately!" He yelled to the people there. I stared at the house as my friends got in.
For a moment, I thought I saw a boy with a man standing in front of the house. The man was looking at the flames, while the boy stared at Karma go into the truck.
"Oni, come on! We don't have time." Nico said. My mind snapped, and I followed Nico. The firefighter closed the doors, and we drove to the hospital. There was an uncomfortable silence as the doctors in the van were trying to keep Karma alive. After a while, Jay spoke.
"What do you think is going to happen now?" he asked.
"Gee, I don't know. Let's see, our parents are going to ground us, Karma might die or fall into a coma, we might be accused of burning the Solstace to the ground, possibly go to jail because of that...What do you think?" Mune said angrily.
"Oni, you okay?" Nico asked me. I didn't say anything. I just stared at my brother.
How could I have been so foolish, to ignore what my father said about leaving tonight. The thought of that creature eating my brother kept replaying in my mind like a short movie again and again.
Then something else came to mind; what if my brother didn't make it before we got to the hospital? I covered my face and silently cried. No one said anything after that.
~~~
We waited outside the room for our parents to arrive. I wasn't surprised when my parents came before the others. My father passed me and went into the room. My mother came to me and hugged me tightly. She looked at me. "My god Oni, what were you thinking? Going outside despite what your father told you.��� She said.
I didn't look at her and looked at the wall opposite of us. "Oni look at me. What you did tonight was something I didn't expect from you." She sounded scared and angry. Tears welled up in my eyes. I hugged her. "Promise me Oni, promise me you won't go against what your father told you. Alright?"
I nodded and continued to hug her. We sat together and waited for my dad to come out. Mune and Jay's parents came and took them home. Nico's parents came and sat with us. It felt like a lifetime, but eventually my dad came out. "Karma wants to see you, Oni." He said, not looking at me. His voice sounded angry, his face full of wrath. I looked at my mother, and she nodded. I got up and walked inside.
There were so many things surrounding him, it took me about a minute to realize where he was. He was lying in a hospital bed, with a mask and a tube in his left arm. He looked at the ceiling. "Karma…?" I asked him.
"You know what Ienzo told me?" He didn't listen. I decided to just go with it,
"...no,...what did he say?" He glanced at me.
"He said that after I get better, he'll take me to Japan, where I'll stay with grandpa for a few years."
My eyes widened. "What?! Why would he do that?" I asked him. Karma sighed.
"He thinks if I stay with you any longer, this might happen again, and maybe, I might not be able to come back alive." He looked at me. There were tons of scars on his face. I could see a stitch across his right eye. I turned away, not bearing to see what had happened to my brother.
I looked back to see the demon that Nico had killed earlier standing in place of Karma. Before I could say anything, two people grabbed me and held me down as the demon raised a scythe and smiled at me. "No one leaves Solstace house. No one." The bell rang. I jolted up and looked around.
"Looks like someone decided to take a nap in Mr. Abe's class." a familiar voice said. I looked up. Mune looked down at me and frowned. ���Let me guess; you fell asleep and didn't take any notes for the upcoming history exam that's going to happen next week?" He asked me. I rolled my eyes.
"For a nerd, you really like to know what others are doing." I said. He shrugged. "What can I say? It's in my nature to know what other nerds are doing." He smiled.
I got up and headed to my locker. Jay and Nico were already waiting for me. I stopped abruptly. "What are you guys doing here?" I asked them. Nico stepped forward.
"We need your help." He said. I frowned.
"What happened now?" I asked him. Nico looked at Jay. He sighed.
"Karma got himself into a fight. Again." He said.
"It's still happening." Nico said, looking at the field. There was a crowd of people at the center of it.
I sighed, and walked to the field. I wasn't even halfway before I saw someone fly across the field. I stopped walking and stared at the boy on the ground. The crowd parted, revealing Karma standing there. Blood trickled down from his nose, but he didn't seem to mind. He smiled at the boy. "I'm impressed. You're the first person who actually was able to hit me." He said, walking up to him.
My hands started to form into fists. Nico noticed, but said nothing. I walked up to Karma and grabbed him by the arm. Somehow, he seemed to know I was coming because once I grabbed his arm, he grabbed mine and judo flipped me to the ground. Nico put his hand on his shoulder before he could do the same thing he did to the other kid to me. "Karma, that's enough." He said.
Karma glared at me before leaving the field. Jay and Mune caught up with us just as he left. "That didn't go as well I suppose." Mune said. I got up and brushed myself off after gaining wind.
"Gee, I didn't realize." I mumbled. Everyone left almost immediately after the fight.
"So, you guys wanna come over to my house?" Jay asked us. Nico laughed shortly.
"Yeah right. Like we're in the mood to see you build something with your dad." He said. Jay rolled his eyes, annoyed.
"Anyways, I said I would be hanging out with Karma today so, no thanks." Nico said, and walked off the field.
As Jay and Mune talked to each other, I thought about the dream I had earlier. In fact, it wasn't a dream but a memory. A memory that happened four years ago that I remembered now. Four years, not once did I think of that time of what happened to Karma and us.
"What do you think, Oni? You wanna come with us?" Jay asked us. I blinked.
"Hmm? Did you say something?" I looked at them.
"I asked you if you wanted to come with us to Mune's house to study for the upcoming history exam next week, as well as the other exams." Jay said, confused.
"Why, is something wrong?" Mune asked me. I took a deep breath.
"Remember the time when we went to the Solstace house?" I asked them. They both turned pale at the word "Solstace." Mune gulped.
"We promised never to talk about it ever again, let alone go there." He whispered. I nodded slowly.
"I know, but...do you ever think about that time again?" I asked them.
They looked at each other. "We've been having dreams lately of that place. Most of what happened in the basement." Jay said. I nodded.
"Me too. I feel like something's going to happen. I don't know what exactly though." I thought aloud. My phone rang. I picked it up."Hello?" I asked.
"Hey, Oni. Listen, your dad's been asking where you are like crazy. Mind telling him for me?" Nico called from the other side.
"Sure, I'll be there in a sec." I replied, and hung up.
"Who was it?" Mune asked me. I looked at him.
"Nico." I told him. He looked confused. "Hey, why don't we go to my place and study there?" I asked them. They both shrugged.
"Sure. Why not?" Jay said, smiling. As we headed to the parking lot, I had that strange feeling of someone following me.
~~~
"Remind me what we need to practice for the exam again." I asked again as we all sat on the dining table, papers and laptops covering it all. Karma and Jay yawned. Nico mentally gave up and fell asleep. Mune sighed.
"Everything we've learned this semester. How many times do I have to tell you?" He said.
"As many times as you need to tell me." He sighed again. Karma got up.
"I'm leaving." He said. I raised my eyebrow, the bored expression still stuck on my face.
"Where are you going?" I asked him. He put on his jacket and opened the door.
"I'm just going for a walk. I'll be back in about fifteen minutes." He walked out, slamming the door behind him. Nico woke up, startled.
"What happened?" He yawned. Jay checked his watch. He yawned again.
"'Welp, I should be going. See ya." He put on his jacket and opened the door. Before he could even leave, something outside exploded, throwing Jay back in the house. We all stared at both Jay and the door. Mune got up and checked to see if Jay was alright. While he did that, Nico and I ran outside to see what caused the explosion.
We stared as others came outside to see two cars crashed and gasoline pouring out of both of them. Nico looked around frantically. "What's wrong?" I asked him.
"Something doesn't feel right. Where's Karma?" He looked at me. My eyes widened when he said that. I ran through the streets and called out his name.
"Karma! Karma, where are you?" I yelled. Someone grabbed me from behind me and pulled me back. And just in time too. Fire grabbed the gasoline that was leaking from the tank and exploded whatever was left of the vehicles. I broke free of the grip and turned around to come face-to-face with my father. He looked at me with his warm and quiet eyes.
There was silence between us. Then he uttered three words: "Where is Karma?"