The library
The rain poured down as I leaned over the edge of the balcony, looking out over the city. I was soaked, but I did not mind. No one could see me from the street, and even if they could have I wouldn't care. I did not live for them. Not for any of them.
I stood straight again, and sighed. I was dripping, and my new silk shirt was sticking to my body like a second skin. I frowned to myself as I wrung some of the water out of my blue streaked blonde hair. I had not meant in the beginning to get so wet, but as I had been coming back from the grocery store, which was only a block away, a sudden downpour had hit, and I had been caught in it. When I got back to my apartment I was soaked already, so I thought I might as well stand out there on the balcony and watch the rain fall. Not as if there was anything else to do.
I peeled off the shirt and then flopped down on the couch. Nothing to do. Tonight was going to be very dull unless something happened sometime soon. I picked up the remote and flipped on the TV. Nothing on. I turned it back off and lied back in my chair. I could hear the wind blowing eerily outside, as the rain pattered down like it wanted to hurt the cement and metal of the balcony. The curtains rustled, and I drifted off to sleep. The last thing I heard before I lost consciousness was someone saying my name.
"No!" I screamed as I fell backward, my feet and hand searching for a non existent hold. Oblivion, I was falling into oblivion, as chaotic swirls of colour and not colour danced around my vision. Then suddenly I was in my bed.
I opened my eyes, and stood up, I could still hear the wind rattling the panes of glass that made the balcony door. I walked toward it, waiting and listening carefully for the sound of the voice I had heard earlier.
"Toshiko," there it was again, a sort of a quiet hissing voice, which rattled the panes of glass and touched them with frost. I narrowed my eyes as I brought a hand up to the pane.
"Toshiko," it said again, and this time I could almost see a face on the other side with yellow wolf-like eyes, breathing on the glass.
"Who are you?" I asked, squinting my eyes to see.
"I," it began, "am the shadow that walks behind you all."
Things were fading around me almost as if there were some darkness covering them completely. Then the dark enveloped me completely and there was nothing more that I could see.
I awoke with a start, sitting up on the couch, disoriented. That dream had felt so real, I could almost still hear the voice speaking to me in a soft rasp alongside the ringing. . . the ringing?
I jumped up and ran to the phone, nearly dropping the receiver as I lifted it. "Hello?" I asked the person on the other end. . . if it was a person. I shuddered at the thought.
"H- lo-" a voice on the other end rasped. It was the same as in my dream, only this time there was more to it, behind the underlying static I could hear more voices, certainly not speaking in Japanese. I strained my ears to hear what they were saying, but the more I tried the stranger it seemed, like a record played backward.
"Who is this?" I asked, annoyedly. The only reply was a click and the beeping sound of disconnection. I slammed the receiver down and muttered a few curses under my breath. That was when I realized that I had left the outside door open and the carpet was surely soaked by now.
I stalked over toward the door, and was about to slide it closed when I heard strange haunting music from outside. I removed my hand from the door and picked up the satin robe that lay near it, sliding it on over my arms and fastening it. Then I walked outside.
The rain had let up slightly, and most of the city lights had turned out for the night, save for those which were always on. The music was floating from somewhere far away, accompanied by the soft tinkling of wind chimes. I smiled at how sweet the music was, but still, I could feel that there was something wrong. turned my gaze down toward the street, and that was when I saw it.
There was a man, pushing a soba cart, he wore old fashioned clothing and looked to be very poor. That was not the strange part however. The strange part was that he was walking his cart down the centre of the road. I tried to call something to him, to warn him that there were cars coming, but he did not seem to hear me.
As three cars came speeding from opposite directions to the intersection, the man looked up. I gasped, something was wrong with his face. I could not tell what because of the shadows that shrouded him, but there was something seriously wrong. I screamed and screamed for him to get out of the way, but the cars all hit, with the sound of screeching tires, and I hit the floor of the balcony with a thud.
When I awoke I was in my bed, I do not remember traveling there, but I must have woken up at some point during the night.
I do not know what became of the man who had been pushing the soba cart. I do know that he was not mentioned in the news report which was broadcast later that night. Perhaps he had been a phantom, I do not yet know. What I do know is that something terrible is going to happen. My blood screams warnings to me that something is coming. My name is Sasaki Toshiko, I am half of the shadows and half of the light. But even in balance, there is Chaos.