51. Sport

"But Reeeeeiiiikoooo, it hurrrrts..." I was whining, without a doubt. But was I lying, and did I feel any remorse for the whining? No on both counts.

"Oh shut up and come here you big baby." She rolled here eyes, laughing, as she patted the bed. I hobbled over eagerly and, at her prompting, swing my foot gingerly up onto the bed so that the foot with the worryingly swollen ankle rested in her lap. The whimpers and moans of both discomfort and relief may have been a little exaggerated... but her careful rubbing of the sore area was heaven-sent to say the least.

"See, this is what happens when you try out for track just to prove to me that you can make the team..."

52. Deep In Thought

No matter how many times I prodded and nudged her out of her thoughts, I could never quite get her to stay.

"Is something bothering you?" I finally asked point-blank just minutes before I would have to leave for the day.

"No, I'm just... thinking..." What killed me was when I realised later that, maybe if I had pushed a little harder, she might have told me what she was thinking about. As it happened, I was never able to find out what had distracted her that night, and so I'll never know if it could have changed anything.

53. Keeping A Secret

Not being able to talk about it was the worst part. I couldn't explain to my friends and family what I had gone through and seen. What had happened to Reiko. What caused her death, and... that I knew she wasn't suffering anymore. I simply had to write everything off as me... working through her death finally, or something like that. Sure, I could talk to Rin... but when all I want to do is just throw myself into my mother's arms and tell her everything, friends usually can't quite measure up. Unfortunately, the possibilty of being forced to see a psychiatrist was less than appealing.

54. Tower

"Oh come ON, friggin WHY THOUGH?!"

"Because it's a movie, and it doesn't have to make sense." Reiko shrugged, completely unmoved by my irritation.

"Honestly, how had she NEVER thought of cutting her own hair and climbing down herself, when she's been in that damn tower her WHOLE LIFE?" I ranted at the screen, which gave me no heed. .

55. Waiting

I held my breath as the screams rang out through the halls, accompanied by vicious, hollow cackling, and could only wait, curled around the glowing, familiar cat doll and praying to god that it could protect me, as I waited helplessly for the screams to stop.

BeenAWhile

Look at this, and update. We're all pretty shocked, right?