Only Ari knows

Not the full chapter, will up soon though, working on it.

Kyran

 

“Think about it,” Ari said from across the table.

“Think about what Ari? Your dream doesn’t mean anything, Niko died three months ago, the autopsy report said it was secondary drowning, not death by resurrected ghost girl that also died a week or two before.” Kai spoke through tears. I coughed to get their attention, “look, Em came to you in a dream, that’s all we know, so why don’t you tell us the whole dream before we go jumping into random theories, okay?” Ari sighed and turned to Kai again, before explaining his dream.

“Okay, I was standing on top of Niko’s staircase in his house, Emika was at the top of his staircase, holding his hand. She said this, “Niko’s is here with me, he accepted his death, I hope you will too. Or, Death here, will help you get over your fear of cages. Love you!” it was the creepiest thing ever.” His worried expression was infectious, first speeding to me then Kai. “What does she mean by Death? She said it like it was someone’s name.” I asked, impatiently waiting for something scary to happen. To my fortune, nothing did. I waited for someone to say something. No one did. Instead, Ari got up and moved to where the Greek myths and books on Greek gods were. He picked out several, handed them to me and picked out several more to hand to Kai. “What do you what us to do with these?” Kai asked sceptically. “I want you to read them. Then I want you to come back and tell me what you think of my insane theories.” He got up, slammed his hands on the desk and said, “good thing Emiko didn’t kill me before I found this out.” With that he walked out of the library that had been listening to the entire conversation. “Uhh, drama assignment, sorry.” They looked away.

 

****

 

When I got home I dumped my bag on the desk and pulled out the Greek books that Ari had given to me at the break.  I went up to my room, avoiding my parents. I’ve never really had a normal life. When I was younger my parents tried to give me up, so I bounced around from placement to placement, crying every time I was sent home away from people I grew to love, so eventually I stopped loving. Or generally caring about anything really. I shut off emotionally, and when I had discovered my girlfriend at the time couldn’t handle it anymore, I tried walking onto a road in mid hour traffic. Someone pulled me back and got counselling for the next two years. I turned gay and started self-harming. I still do.

 

I pulled of my school jacket, revealing my cut up arms. I sat on my bed and pulled a sharp pocket knife from my bag. I slid the knife hard across my arms. Blood ran down my skin, dripping to the brown carpet, filling my nose with the coppery smell. I cover the new cuts with a cloth and started reading the books. The more I read the more I understood what Ari’s theories were about, there were constant stories about people coming back from the dead and taking revenge on the people who knew them the best. Seeing revenge on people who have forsaken them while they were alive. But who would have done that, knowing Emika’s already screwed up past?

 

I would be lying if I said I did not fall in love with Niko before he died. I was always jealous of Kai, and whenever I saw her with him I had the urge to walk right over and give him a kiss he would never forget. But I held back, and now I’m glad I did, otherwise I think Kai would have just ended it. Reading through the books, I came to realise that Ari’s theory wasn’t . . . completely insane. If I thought about it, Emiko dying and then Niko soon after, it did seem kind of . . . extra. I mean, personally I’m a Christian boy, and so are my parents though they aren’t really supportive of my, uh, gayness . . .? Pulling some random clothes out of my closet, I changed out of my uniform, careful to avoid spreading blood everywhere.

 

A knock on my door sounded. I shoved on a jumper and opened it. “Hey Kyran, you had time to read my books yet?” taking the jumper of I invited Ari in. He was the closest person to me, he was the first person I ever told about my cuts and he seems like the only person in the whole world to understand. In truth, he’s the one I’ve been crushing on since I was fourteen, not Niko. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Niko is . . . was, was hot as all hell, but I’m not really into the hot guys, I’m into the, I don’t know, creative, cute and funny guy’s and Niko was more like tall dark and handsome, totally Kai’s type of guy. Ari is always there when I need him, he’s easy to talk to and makes me feel instantly better when he’s around. Niko was hard to talk to, and never seemed to get my point of view on subatomic partial enhancement and theoretical physics. Oh yeah, I’m a nerd.

 

“Yeah, actually, you might be right…” I say quietly, not wanting him to realise my true thoughts on our current situation. being that we were totally fucked if Emika had control of death as well as Niko.

Author's Note

just looking for what people think of the plot and dialogue, things like that.