Akira awoke with a smile, and her face was flushed. Drool was visible on the pillow she had been cuddling that night.

“What the hell!?”

“AKIRA!”

“Yeah?!”

“COME HERE!”

Akira rushed down the stairs at the cry from her mom. As she came into the living room, she stood beside her parents, who were staring at a news broadcast on the TV. The footage on the TV showed a violent crime scene of sorts, with blood covering the back walls. The woman who was reporting spoke of a murder, in which an estimated 20 people were killed. Then she said something that truly shook Akira to the bone. “Kami Academy.”. The murder was commited at the school that Akira had been at just the previous day, at the place where she studied and made friends. Akira eyes began to fill with tears at the thoughts of her friends and schoolmates being killed.

As her heart began to race, blood beginning to pump throughout her body faster, and faster. She began sweating, and dark thoughts began to fill her mind. What if Clyde was killed.

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“Akira.”

What if the girl she had just seen was killed.

“Akira!”

She looked up, and saw that her mom was hugging her tightly. Akira began crying vigorously, and she could see that her mom was also crying. Her dad stood solemly, looking down, with grimace in his eyes.

“Damn it, why did this have to happen.”

He continued mumbling under his breathe, his words only having meaning to him. Akira and her mom stood coddling eachother for moments, seconds, into minutes. And all was quiet in the house.

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The family sat together on their sofa, staring at the blank TV. They all leaned on eachother, each wanting to make the other feel better. Akira stood up and walked slowly to her room. As she sat on the edge of her bed, she began to think about why this might have happened. Why would anyone want to murder students, and who would murder students at a school. What weapon could possibly leave that much blood. It couldn’t have been a gun or a knife, it would have had to eviscerate the students. There was something very wrong with all of it, but thinking of it only made Akira want to cry and think dark thoughts. Akira grabbed her phone off of her desk and went through her contacts. She began dialing each number, and with each answer, she felt relief, and finally, she reached Clyde’s number. One ring. Two rings. Three rings. No answer. Akira’s heart sank, and her vision went dark. White noise rang in her ears and her breathing began to speed up, faster and faster. In the white noise, she could hear faint traces of Clyde’s voice, fading into the background, until eventually, her heart stopped.

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