• Ch. 4 Death Has Come…
    I slowly crawled onto my bed and hid my face in the pillow. Was he telling the truth? Will he actually kill me? A few minutes later, the front door opened and a familiar voice called to me.
    “Amari, I’m home,” my mother shouted. I guess she didn’t read the note on the fridge yet. “Amari? Are you home?”
    I took deep breaths. “Yeah, I’m here!” I glanced out the window. The sun was going down. I had only a few hours left to live. I tried not to think about it, but it was hard. This image kept coming into my head when I thought about it:
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    I heard my mom coming up the stairs, so I quickly grabbed my backpack, took out my homework, and pretended to do it. A knock came upon my door.
    “Amari, are you in there?” she called. She came in before I could answer.
    “I told you I was here. Just doing my homework,” I replied.
    “Oh, the note on the fridge said that you were at Ken’s house,” she said. “Why are you here?”
    I couldn’t tell her what happened. She won’t believe me and Daisuke would kill her. I thought of something stupid. “I already went, but they went to the store and I came home.”
    “You could’ve gone with them. It would have been a lot better than being stuck in the same house as me.” She laughed. (It wasn’t funny at all)
    “I know,” I replied, “but I needed to come home and finish my homework.” (I always get homework over the weekend)
    “Ok. Dinner will be ready soon. Can you believe how late it gets now? It’s already eight o’clock,” she said as she left?! my room.
    Oh my gosh!! You have to be joking!! Eight already?! looked at my clock, and it read 8:03 p.m.
    I tossed my stuff on the floor and fell back on my pillow. I stared at the ceiling, wondering when he’ll show up. My heart raced as I thought about the creature he described. It didn’t look like Daisuke at all.
    I rolled over onto my side, my back facing the window. If he comes to kill me, I don’t want to see how he looks. The image of when I first saw him is good enough. Without my noticing, I drifted to sleep, afraid of what will become of me when I awake.
    I felt hands on my arm, shaking me. Daisuke... I opened my eyes a little bit and a bright light came into them. I quickly shut my eyes and rolled to the other side. As I rolled over, I fell and hit something hard. I opened my eyes all the way and noticed that I was on my floor.
    I looked around my room, but I was the only one in there. I turned my attention to the window. It was closed but not locked. Daisuke didn’t kill me after all. I got off the floor and went out of my room. “Mom, are you home?!”
    No answer came to me. It’s a pain walking up and down these stairs, but it was the only way to the kitchen.
    She wasn’t in the kitchen. It looked clean though. Since she cooked last night, having the kitchen clean the next day was a surprise.
    I rolled my eyes and thought of all the places she would be on a Saturday.
    I made myself a bowl of cereal, but we were out of milk, so I wasted that. I went back to my room and scanned it before walking inside. The coast was clear. I locked my door and went to the window.
    Before opening it, I checked every single thing where Daisuke could be hiding, waiting for me to give him a chance to kill me. It looked ok to me so I opened it.
    A warm breeze came in. It felt nice this morning. It made last night seem like a dream… what If it was a dream… I thought about that for a second and decided that I was dreaming. That’s what it was, a silly dream. There is no Daisuke. I was a fool to believe that someone had wings. I laughed at myself.
    I watched as the birds played when out of nowhere, an ambulance comes down my street. Its sirens were flaring. Some old person must have been doing drugs and finally died. Serves ‘em right too.
    I watched the ambulance drive away when it made a familiar turn. What a minute… that’s the way to Ken’s house!
    I quickly got dressed, and ignoring how badly I had bed head, took off out the door and ran all the way to his house.
    When I got there, the entire street was blocked off by cops. There were fire trucks, ambulances, cop cars, even people who lived nearby. I fought my way through when I was stopped by one of the police men.
    “I’m sorry, this is off limits,” he said.
    “Please, that’s my cousin’s house!” I begged. I saw my Aunt standing by the door, weeping. “Auntie!!”
    She came running. “Sir, let her through.”
    The police let me pass and I followed my Aunt back to the door. “Auntie, where’s Ken?” I asked, afraid to hear what she’ll say back.
    She was full of tears. I couldn’t understand one word she said. Inside the house, there were doctors coming out holding something long and white. I understood as soon as I saw this hand:
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    It fell out as they were carrying it away. One of the doctors took my Aunt with them and they got into the ambulance. The street was cleared away very quickly and the ambulance drove off.
    The cops went inside the house and started searching for whoever did this. People who were still there went back into their homes and watched from out their windows. The fire men stood there to assist the police.
    I stood on the sidewalk, eyes swelling up with tears. Last night… Daisuke didn’t come after me… he went for Ken… this “dream” had become a nightmare.
    My mother’s car drove down the street real slowly and stopped when she saw me. “Amari, over here!” she called out to me.
    I ran across the street and got in on the passenger side. “Hurry and drive,” I choked out.
    She turned the corner and headed for my other cousin’s house, Shoji Yoshizaki. “What happened?”
    I wiped my eyes, not answering right away. As we slowed down to stop at a stop sign, I saw him. I saw Ken’s killer.
    Daisuke was standing under a shady tree in someone’s yard. As we passed him, my eyes started to tear up again, but he just smiled. His sharp fangs were exposed.
    I didn’t look back. “Amari, what happened?” my mother asked again.
    I swallowed my tears and replied, “Ken is dead.”