KS Halloween 2014: Blood runs red

	I wake up in a familiar room. Solid morning light shimmers against the light gray ceiling as I experience an odd feeling of Deja-vu. I look around at my room… my room.

	It strikes me how just a few months ago, that phrase was a foreign and strange term. I would look around at these walls, this ceiling, this medication, and I would feel something retch inside of me, as if it was trying to pull away, to say that this could not possibly be mine. Now, I go through the routine of taking my medication as if it was natural, and I guess that it is now. It’s funny how something like time can change your outlook. Or maybe it isn’t the time that’s changed me, rather the people I’ve surrounded myself with. I walk over to the windowsill and stare out at the grounds of Yamaku, my home, and look onto the grounds outside of the dorms. The leaves have already changed to the color of fall, and are beginning to slump off of their trees. It’s peaceful

	*WHAM WHAM WHAM*

	My thought process is interrupted as something bashes against my door with enough force to make me nearly trip backwards over my side table and sets my heart racing. My hand immediately goes to my chest, but there is no anomaly. I better see who it is… before they try again. I reach my hand up to the door to unlatch it, but something I hear on the other end of the door gives me pause… is that… crying?
“Hisao.”

	I hear a small voice on the other side of the door call my name. “Who is it?” I ask, my eye going to the eye hole in the doors center. I look out, but I can’t see anyone. I can see clear across the hall to Kenji’s room, nobody is there.

	*WACK*

	The door shakes as something strikes it from lower down

	“Hisao please.”

	I quickly unlatch the door to find… Oh my god

	I feel my breath catch in my throat and its like time has come to a standstill. I can’t breathe, I can’t hear, I can only see the small crumpled up girl in front of me… covered in blood.
I can’t move

	“Hisao...”

	Move

	“Hisao… help”

	DAMMIT MOVE

	All at once, my senses come back and they go into overdrive.

	I look down at Emi, legless, covered and blood, and tears in her eyes. I can see a blood trail from all the way around the corner, and drag marks from how she must have dragged herself all the way here.

	“Emi.”

	I need to get her inside.

	I bend down and scoop her up easily in my arms, and I realize I have nothing that can be used to cover wounds. All I have are those Damn pills!!! Then something strikes me, I know someone who is prepared for a war, he must have bandages.

	“KENJI!! KENJI GET OUT HERE!!"

	I hurry over to his door and kick it three times

	“KENJI I NEED YOU OPEN THE DOOR!!”

	I hear someone move around the room, and then a pause. A long pause. He’s not opening the door. Why isn’t he opening the door!?

	“Kenji my friend is hurt, we need your help, please!!”

	Nothing

	“Hisao…”

	God dammit, no!!!

	“Kenji, you’re my best friend, please just open the door and help us!”

	Nothing

	Nothing

	That bastard

	As I raise my foot backwards to kick his door in frustration, I hear the click of a lock. Then another. Then several more as Kenji’s door slowly opens. He stands behind it shirtless, probably having just woken up, and a look of worry on his face. “What-“ he starts, but I’m already barging past him with Emi in my hands. I look around the dimly lit room for somewhere to place her, and it occurs to me that this is the first time I’ve ever seen inside Kenji’s room. THERE. A small coffee table lies in the center of the room, and I move to go place Emi onto it. I clear the table with my foot as I hear Kenji locking the door behind us, and lay Emi down. It’s too dark to see how bad it is, but I get my first real look at her. Her face, usually so happy and bubbly, is contorted into a grimace. Her hair isn’t in her usual twintails; instead it is messy and dripping with blood. She’s wearing her running outfit, but it’s torn in multiple places, and it’s covered it the sick substance. I feel a rough hand placed on my shoulder, and I spin around quickly.

	“What the hell man! What happened??” Kenji asks. “WHAT HAPPENED??? YOU NEARLY DIDN’T ANSWER YOUR FUCKING DOOR, THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED!” He shrinks back from my shouting, and I feel the urge to place my fist into his face rapidly rising. No. Emi first.

	“I found Emi like this in the hall, I don’t have anything that could help, we need bandages, pain killers, anything you have!” I rush to open the drapes, and Kenji reaches underneath his bed and pulls out a box. He hands it to me. “I don’t know what happened, and I couldn’t see what I was doing well enough even if I could. You might need to give her stitches”

	I take the box from him with my hands slightly shaking. I’ve never done anything like this before. What If I mess up? What if I can’t help her? What if I… what if I kill her.

	The enormity of the responsibility crashes down on me.

	I feel like I’m going to puke

	“Alright” I let out a breath, trying to calm my nerves. “Let’s do this.”

	I kneel down beside her small body and place the First Aid kit next to it. “Kenji, I need you to keep watch in case she was attacked and whatever attacked her tries coming back.

	“Do you think it was the Feminists?” he replies

	I feel myself stop what I’m doing as the ridiculousness of that statement hits me like a freight train. I feel a smile crack. Then a laugh pace through my lips. Then I can’t stop laughing.

	“Hey man, what’s-“ But I shut him out. I shut the whole world out as I laugh and laugh and laugh. This morning I was admiring trees, now I’m about to sew a person back together. No, a close friend. She’s hurt and bleeding right in front of me. Snap out of it

	“Thanks Kenji, I needed the laugh”

	“No uhh… No problem?” He says questioningly. Then his face becomes more alert and he presses his ear against the door.

	“Someone’s coming.” He whispers at me. I place my hands on Emi’s small frame, and it occurs to me I don’t even know where she’s bleeding from. “They’re at your door” Kenji whispers panickidly. I stand up and go over to him, “Move!” I say to him, pushing him back.

	“Go, stop the bleeding. I’ll take care of it.” He walks over to her and after looking at her for a moment, places his hand on her side.

	I look out the eye hole of the door, and I see a messy red mop of hair. “Rin?” I whisper, almost to myself.

	“Ughhhh. UGHHHHH” I turn to see Emi squirming and moaning on the table

	“Keep quiet” Kenji hisses, “They’ll hear us!!!”

	I look back through the key hole and see Rin slowly start to turn towards the door, and immediately look away and rush to Emi’s side

	“Emi, Emi look at me” She goes quiet for a moment, as her eyes open to find mine and Kenji looking down on her. “Emi you need to be quiet, ok? Just for a moment. Please.” She nods her head as there is a knock on the lower part of the door. She looks back at me with… guilt in her eyes?

	“Helooooo” I hear Rin’s dull voice on the other end of the door.

	I walk back over to the eye hole, and I look out of it to see… Rin covered in some type of White paint that looks like a skull is on her face.

	Wait.

	Paint.

	The smell hits me. Hard. The room reeks like it’s covered in paint. But it isn’t the room that’s covered. I look down at myself, and the sweet sickly smell emanates off of my school uniform. I whip around and I see Emi sitting up, rubbing the back of her head. “Heh, happy

	Halloween?”

	Halloween.

	The holiday that people in America celebrate by dressing up and trying to scare the hell out of each other.

	I look over at Kenji, and he has the most dumbfounded look on his face

	I turn around, and start unlocking the door

	“Wait! Hisao I’m sorry it was supposed to be a joke”

	The locks are complex, and I struggle with opening the third one

	“I can hear you in there you know. Well I guess I hear you out here too” Rin says on the other side of the door. I sigh in frustration

	“Kenji, can you get this.”

	“Sure dude” he says, walking over. I look over at Emi, ready to explode on her

	“Emi I can’t BELIEVE-“ Her expression gives me pause. She looks at me as if she were a puppy that tore up my shorts. I sigh, walking over to her, casting my eyes down towards the floor.

	“Hisao?” She whimpers, like I am going to yell at her. Like I SHOULD be yelling at her. I look back at her and I see those damned puppy-dog eyes…

	I place my hand on her waist; I can’t keep up being angry with her. “I can’t believe that you got me so good.”
Her eyes light up like the firework show on my first week here, and I can feel her launch her small frame on top of me. “Yay!!” She shouts at the top of her lungs as I lose balance and we topple backwards, landing on Kenji’s bed

	“Owww!” Kenji yells, holding his ears. “The door is open, you know! Now if you could GET THE HELL OUT OF MY BED! AND GET OUT OF MY ROOM!” He shouts

	I lift Emi, who has wrapped herself around me and is holding on tightly enough that I can feel her wet hair slapping against my neck, and start towards the door. “Sorry about all of this Kenji” I say to him, embarrassingly chuckling. “Hey, maybe you should have candy next year!” Emi says from over my shoulder.

	I sprint the rest of the way out of the room in order to escape the blast radius, and nearly collide with Rin in the hall.

	“Oh, now I can see you out here too.” She says, looking at us as if we just stepped out of another dimension. Which I guess we kind of did, considering I doubt I will ever see the inside of Kenji’s room again.

	“Ha-ha, yea. Hi Rin.”

	“Hey Rin!!” Emi says. “Ummm Hisao? Do you mind?” I realize that she is still facing over my shoulder, and I attempt to shift her around so I’m carrying her in front of me. As soon as she can actually see Rin, she gasps “OH WOW! How did you do your face like that!!?”
Rin shrugs her little half shrug “With White paint.” She states it so flatly that I really don’t want to ask anything further, but Emi seems undeterred “No, I mean, how did you get that detailed of design?” “With my paintbrush” This gets a giggle from Emi, where I roll my eyes.

	“Alright, well did you bring your stuff?” Emi asks.

	“Of course.” She says, motioning to a bag that is by my door. How she got it here without arms is beyond me, and my pondering of that makes me nearly miss Emi’s next question. “What?” I ask her.

“I said, are you ready for us to do you?” She asks, smiling coyly