Chapter 11 - Dreams of a Stormy Past

The rest of the night was a blur to me. The last thing I remember was walking into our room and the feel

of the soft, silky pillow hitting my face. After that it was just…… nothing.



After that day in the mountains, I never let that blade out of my sight. I took it with me wherever I went and on weekends I would go to the park where I first met Heather and practice until sunset. Sometimes my uncle would even have to come get me if I didn't come home before supper. I loved that blade so much. I felt like what ever I was feeling I could see in this blade. Whatever I felt from then on, that's how I bladed. No one could beat me. Until one day……



It was a dark, stormy summer's day and the weekly weather broadcast had predicted a violent rainstorm would be heading our way by noon today. It was already one, and there aside from the darkening sky, there was no sign of a storm. “Uncle, can I please go out today?” I pleaded. “No, Mason. You heard what the weather man said. There's going to be a storm.” Uncle was so stubborn sometimes! “There's no storm, uncle! It hasn't rained all day. Please?” but I was just as persistent. Uncle looked out the window at the sky and then sighed. “All right, you can go.” I jumped up and sprinted straight for the door. “But you better get back here if that storm comes, you here me?” he barked. “Yeah yeah. Bye uncle!” I happily slammed the door behind me and headed straight for the park under the nearly blackened sky.

There hadn't been any thunder or lightening the whole time I was practicing either, so I figured that whole storm warning was just a mistake. Still, nobody had been at the park that day at all. I was the only one there. Even so, I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched. It was really weird. Well, eventually I decided to call it quits and went into town to grab something to eat at my favorite place; Long's Pastry Shop.

To my surprise, it had actually started to rain as I walked through the town. By the time I walked into the pastry store I was soaking wet. “Hey, Mason!” Long called out from behind the counter. “Shouldn't you be at home? I hear there's a huge storm coming.” I smiled and shook my head. “No, I don't believe there's really going to be a storm.”

He shrugged at me and asked me what I wanted. I scanned the trays of mouth-watering treats under the glass. I decided on a chocolate éclair and slipped eighty yen onto the counter. Long put the doughnut into a little paper bag and handed it to me. “There you go.” I thanked him and started for the door before he said something else. “Hey, maybe you should stay here until the storm passes, you know; just in case.” I pushed the screen door open and stood there. “I told you, there isn't even going to be a storm. I'll be fine” I said assuredly. Long shrugged again. “Okay, bye then” he waved to me as I stepped out into the now partially flooded street.

They had been right after all. The storm was getting worse as I sloshed through the ankle-high water running through the streets. The rain continued to pour. I knew I wasn't going to make it home in time. I stopped and looked around frantically, trying to find some kind of dry spot where the ground was higher and shielded from the rain. Finally, I found a dark, abandoned ally that seemed to be untouched by the flooding rain water, so I trudged through the mud, and made my way into the ally. As I watched the rushing water flow through the muddy streets, I thought I heard voices. I turned around and looked to see what was behind me, and caught a glimpse of movement in the darkness. “Who's there?” I asked, trembling from the cold. No one answered, but a pair of bright yellow eyes stared back at me from the darkest corner of the ally. I called out again, and this time the mysterious shadow came forward. He appeared to be only a kid, same age as me, but he was unbelievably huge! His height and his rigid posture reminded me of Frankenstein, and I was suddenly very scared. The kid then stopped and reached into his leather-jacket. He pulled something small and round out of his pocket and attached it to what looked like a blade launcher. I didn't know what to do, and even if I did I was too cold and too scared to even move. I watched as he aimed his launcher at me and ripped the cord. Before I knew I was lying on the hard, wet ground looking up at the stormy sky. My head hurt something awful, and no matter what I tried I couldn't get up. I tried shouting for help but I was so dizzy I could barely manage to groan out in pain. The last thing I remember before passing out was that kid, bending over me and running off with an éclair in his hand, leaving me out in that violent summer storm; my body cold and wet and my head throbbing like crazy. I could hear the roar of thunder as I slowly slipped into unconsciousness, at last realizing that the storm had come after all……



Day 7: The moment I woke up I felt like I had run a marathon. I was so exhausted I could barely open my eyes. I

guess it must have been from all the excitement last night at the ABBA. Wow, what a bunch of freaks. I

slowly pulled myself out of bed and managed to stumble into the kitchen. Suddenly I realized something was

wrong. How come Tyson hadn't come in and woken him up with his usual routine of shouting at the top of his

lungs and jumping up and down? Why wasn't Kaori whining and fussing about her clothes and hair? Why was

everything so quiet? The minute I actually took a good look around the room, I realized that no one was

even there. I walked over to the table where someone had left a yellow sticky-note. It read “Out. Sorry

we didn't wake you. Be back around three- Tyson.” I looked at the cock over in the next room. It was

almost one. I had two hours all to myself and I knew just how I wanted to spend it. I reached for the

phone on the table, grabbed a phone book from the drawer, flipped through a few pages until I found what

I was looking for and punched in the magic numbers. On the third ring she answered. “Hello?” I smiled at

the sound of her voice. “Hey, it's me” I said, casually. “Oh! Hi” she said, excitedly. “How are you doing?”

“Good. Hey, are you busy today?” She paused for a moment before answering. “No why?” I walked over to

the window overlooking the ever bustling streets of New York City. “How would you like to go to a carnival?”

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment