I walked silently and quickly, hoping no one would notice me. I tried to pretend that Karma was still with us, but it wasn't easy. Every once in a while, I would look behind me to see if he was following us or not.
We all decided to stay at Jay's place-Nico was forced to- and waited for someone to say something. The silence weighed on all of us in Jay's room. Jay baby sister, Gina, was smiling at all of us in his arms. Finally, I broke the silence. "Who was that?" I asked Karma. Everyone stared at him, waiting for an answer as well.
He sighed. "He's a new student in school. He came here two days ago. His name's Vanitas." He told us. "He is friends with me."
"Then how is it he knew where you were?" I argued.
"He happened to be walking in the same street."
"Are you sure you didn't tell him where you lived?"
"Since when have you cared about my life?" His voice began to rise. I gritted my teeth, but said nothing. "All you ever do is try to help me, when in fact it's annoying me, alright?" He took a deep breath and looked at me. "All I want is peace and quiet, and to be far away from you. Very far."
"Well maybe you should have said that before I made you my brother." I murmured. Everyone stared at me and Karma wide-eyed, waiting for what would happen next.
Karma got up and left the room. I frowned, and followed him. "Where are you going?" I asked him.
"Anywhere but here!" He yelled from the entrance and slammed the door in my face. Gina started to cry, and Jay left the room with her in his arms. I covered my face. Nico sighed and checked the time.
"I have to go. My parents expect me to be back soon." He got up and looked at me. He opened his mouth, but closed it again, leaving the room with Mune at his heels. I uncovered my face, and stared outside the window. I sighed and left the house. I walked home alone that night, every once in awhile looking back to see if anyone was following me.
When I opened the door to my house, it was dark, as if it was the Solstace house all over again from my childhood. I looked in the room Karma and I shared. Karma was sleeping, Sholto, our pet snow tiger-actually it was my father's, but that wasn't important-sleeping at the end of his bed.
I sighed and sat on my bed. I opened up my phone and looked at my messages. There were multiple messages from my friends, and only one one from Karma. I looked at it.
Karma_Tomodachi (7:52 pm)
Hey Oni. Sorry I forgot to tell you but I'm staying at Vanitas's place. He's a friend of mine. I'll be back at around 10:30.
I turned off my phone and went to bed, thinking about what happened in the Solstace house.
~~~
That night, I felt like someone was watching me. At first, I ignored it as nothing. But it continued to bother me. At last, I got up and decided to have a late night snack at around 11:30 pm. I walked downstairs and headed into the kitchen. When I turned on the light, I froze, terrified.
There was a little girl sitting on the counter, drinking from a glass of water. She didn't seem to notice me here, as if I didn't exist. I walked past her and got a ten-pack rolo from a cabinet, taking out one while I stared at her. Even then, she still seemed to act as if it was normal.
I popped the rolo in my mouth, quickly placing it back and running upstairs after turning off the light. As I tried to fall asleep, I could hear someone crying from the kitchen. I didn't dare look, afraid to see what happened to the girl. I slept around Three in the morning, but I didn't care. Just before I fell asleep, I heard an ear-piercing scream. I was shocked to find no one but me awake.
When I woke up in the morning, I went downstairs to find an empty glass on the counter, with a few drops of dried blood beside it.