Holding onto a Dream [Chapter 1]

CHAPTER 1: I'M NOT YOUR BROTHER!



A bright light, all consuming in its intensity. Shining rays of white extend outward giving off an array of rainbows that dance around in the otherwise pitch black. A lone figure's shadowy outline can be made out, but nothing else as the light behind it is too strong to look at directly. Curled up in the fetal position, it looks kind of small perhaps a young girl or boy? The figure always simply stays right there, looking as if it's floating. Slowly bobbing up and down on its side. A sort of sadness washes over, as I try to call out to it. I think, maybe it's lonely...

"- ------ ----" I know what I'm trying to say, but it won't come out. I can't even make a sound, as if my vocal chords have simply vanished. It's startling, but realizing voices won't do, perhaps touch will? I begin to take a step forward, only to find that I'm no closer. Quickly bursting into a jog, there's no ground at my feet and I'm simply running in place. Reaching out my arm as far as I can, of course I can't reach. Suddenly however, I come to a stop as I see some movement. The figure begins to slowly move its arms and as it begins to sit up...

"Wha!?"
Flying up out of sleep like a kid on Christmas, the young man looked around hastily trying to get a bearing on his surroundings. After a few moments, he blinked and comes to the realization he's in his bed. With a light yawn and moan of displeasure he moved his hand over his chest and kept it there for a minute. His heart was beating wildly, and as he glanced over to the alarm clock the big red numbers caused dissatisfaction to rise up within.
"Five in the morning...?"
His entire body was completely tense, and as he tried to regulate his breathing, all he could do was put a hand over his face and lean forward some. As warm and cozy as it felt in his room, his body felt horribly cold. It was as if he'd just stepped out of a freezer after being locked in for half an hour.

"Just... Another dream... The same dream again... Why do I keep having that same dream? Maybe I should go to some therapist or something, I don't think that's normal."
Finally stabilizing a bit, his hand dropped from his face and gently landed on the covers that were still on his lower half. Fingers slightly gripping the end of the blanket, he clenched his teeth a bit and sighed heavily.
"No... It wasn't the same dream that time, the ending was a little different. I've never seen it move before."
Looking over to the alarm clock once more, he finally loosened up and shook his head.
"What does it matter? Just a dream anyway, It's not healthy to be dwelling on things that aren't real."

Falling backwards into his pillow once more, a slight smirk appeared on his face now that he was relaxed again. There was only one thing on his mind today. He was going to try and confess his love to the girl he'd always been watching in high school. This was the day he was absolutely determined to do it. Reaching up into the air, he spread out his fingers and stared up at his hand for a moment.
"Nothing... Nothing is going to stop me this time!"
Clutching his hand into a fist tightly, he smiled as he let his hand drop back down to his chest. With that being said, he never actually got back to sleep. His mind raced as to how best to confess to this girl, and before he knew it the sun was already up and it was time for him to be heading off.

Marin Sebastian Strauss, a rather unique name for a rather unique upbringing. While his full name is Marin, he almost always wants people to shorten it to a simplified 'Rin'. It was a little unconventional, but it was better than Marin in his opinion. With no parents, he had to move in with his cousin who was his only living relative at the time. It had been twelve years since his mother died, and apparently thirteen years since his father abandoned them. Rin actually doesn't remember anything about his mother or where he was born. Even asking his cousin from time to time, she seemed to clam up and change the subject as soon as possible. Needless to say he didn't care to talk much about his past. There wasn't anything to say anyway, his life before living with Vivian was all just a blur. Not that it mattered either, despite not having a mother or father he was quite happy with his life. It was fairly ordinary and offered peace which was something most take for granted.

The sun was shining brightly, giving off a pleasant warmth that would lead anyone to believe it was going to be a great day. It was a great sign in his mind, the perfect day to actually tell her how he felt.
"Okay, calm down Rin... Calm down..."
His shoes clomped down rather harshly against the sidewalk cement as he made his way toward school. A soft wind blew the tree branches, causing some leaves to fall and sprinkle over him which brought a smile to his face. No matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't come up with the perfect line to tell her, so he wanted to do it on the spot. Figuring it would be better that way, rather than just having some thought up and rehearsed speech. In the distance, the school came into view and he could see the droves of students pushing and herding their way into the front gates.

"After my first period I'll find her in the hall and tell her. This is going to work... It has to work!"
His eyes filled with determination, he made a dash toward the school and within a few minutes found himself heading down the hall as the last bell rang. Rounding the corner into his classroom, he walked past a few people who were already seated and found his spot in the back by the window. Dropping down into his seat, he let his bag fall carelessly to the floor on the side and folded his arms on the desk, instantly placing his head on top. His mind hadn't let him sleep all too long and fatigue was already kicking in. The teacher began the morning in one of his unusually boring rants. One that almost begged to be slept through. Within a few minutes of trying to keep his eyes open, Rin found it was impossible to fight it any longer. Slowly his eyes closed completely and he drifted off quietly.

The familiar darkness crept in once more. The bright white light in the background seemed much more radiant this time, almost blinding to look at. It was that same dream, how many times would he have this dream? However this time, the figure was no longer in the center of the light. In fact, it was nowhere to be found. Marin's eyes tried to adjust to the varying degree of light but it was no use. Nothing could be seen and after a few moments the light began to slowly dwindle away. The fading brilliance seemed to melt into the darkness behind it. His heart began to beat faster, unsure of what was happening or what was going to happen.
"------!"
Once again he tried to speak, yet no words would come. Just as the light had nearly faded completely something touched his hand. A soft touch that wrapped around and held on tightly. Flipping around as fast as he could the dark figure's features were barely noticeable but definitely human.

"You're... My..."
"----- --------?"
Rin responded trying to ask a question, though of course nothing came out. He wasn't able to make out the last word that finished what she was saying. You're my what? You're my what!? Though the face was cloaked in shadow, a small smile broke the darkness and the voice was certainly that of a girl. It was then that he felt a falling sensation.
"Time to wake up... Brother..."

Opening his eyes, he jolted upwards only to find himself in an unfamiliar room. There were beige curtains all the way around the bed and his head was pounding.
"W-Where am I...?"
The last thing he could remember was that he was in his first period math class, now he was in bed? That certainly didn't make any sense at all. Soft footsteps seemed to approach the curtain and after a short pause they were pulled around and out of the way. There stood the school nurse who had a rather relieved look on her face.
"Thank goodness you're awake. You gave everyone quite a scare going unconscious like that. One of your classmates brought you here hours ago, we were afraid we'd have to call your cousin to come pick you up if you didn't wake up before school got out."
"W-What!? What time is it!?"
The woman glanced back at the large clock on the wall and walked over to sit down in the chair beside his bed.
"School will be out in about ten minutes actually."

Utter defeat seemed to wash over as he realized he'd missed his chance. This was the one day he felt like he had the courage to tell Maria how he felt. Now he'd missed his chance. It was the last day of the week, Christmas break was upon them too. Which meant he'd have to wait until after New Year's if he was going to try again.
"So how are you feeling? Any idea what might have caused you to go out like that? Nothing in your medical history that might give an idea?"
"N...No..."
Heartbroken now, it was hard to want to even stick around for questioning at this point. What was suppose to be the best day in a long time turned out to be horrible.
"This sort of thing hasn't happened before? We'll keep a record of it just in case it happens again in that case... Fatigue shouldn't have caused this unless you've been up for a number of days. Seems as though it might have just been a freak accident. You should let your mo-"
She stopped herself as Rin looked up at her with a rather awkward glance at the word she was about to use.
"Y-Your um... Your cousin know about this at least..."

Obviously that had been a quick cover for what she was about to say. Though he didn't dislike his mother being brought up in conversation. It's not like he remembered much about the woman anyway. Sitting up in bed with some effort, he looked extremely downtrodden. A frown was set on his face like stone as he swung his legs over the side and stood up with a bit of a wobble.
"Look... I'm fine, so I'm just going to go ahead and start walking home. The bell's about to ring anyway."
He didn't particularly dislike the nurse, it's just that he hated the questioning, not to mention this should have been a wonderful day for him yet it ended up turning out like this.

"Ah, well let me write you up a pass... Even if the bell is about to ring, you'll need it."
Rin had already made it to the door when she said that, and it caused him to turn around with an even more soured expression.
"By the time you finish the bell will have already rung! I'll be fine without it."
"W-Wait! Marin, don't-"
Before she could finish however he was already out the door and heading down the hall hastily. Not even caring about his bag or anything else he just wanted to go home and sit in his room. Depression was quickly seeping in and the only thing he could blame this all on was that stupid dream.
"Dammit all! Am I going insane? I just want it to stop!"
Pushing his way through the front entrance door, he reached up and gripped the sides of his head closing his eyes tightly.
"JUST STOP!"

"Stop what?"
A small and strangely familiar voice called out to him.
"...Huh?"
Rin responded without much thought as he slowly opened his eyes. A few feet in front of him was a short girl with an innocent smile on her face.
"S-Sorry... I wasn't talking to you..."
He apologized in a melancholy tone as he stared down at the girl. Obviously she wasn't old enough to be in high school. Though maybe she was a first year who simply looked a bit younger than she should be. With a sigh, he moved around the girl who kept her eyes on him, turning to watch as he went. The smile she had on seemed to vanish when he decidedly moved past her.


"Hey wait!"
She called after him, skipping a little to catch up beside him as he walked. Stopping in his tracks at her voice he sighed again. Couldn't this girl understand he didn't want to be bothered right now?
"Yes...?"
Running up enthusiastically to cut him off, she turned to face him and smiled wider this time.
"Aren't you going to say hello?"
There was a long pause as Rin stared down the girl with a look of complete dissatisfaction that he'd been stopped again.
"Hey..."
With that, he got the minimal response out and began to walk past her again without a word. The girl's smile vanished once more and in place a frown grew to cover her face.
"W-WAIT!!"

Gritting his teeth at hearing her voice again, he stopped one more time. This girl was really beginning to get annoying.
"What is it!?"
The girl ran in front of him again and held her arms out wide with a worried look on her face this time.
"D-Don't you recognize me?"
There was an even longer pause this time as Rin examined the girl thoroughly. Well, as thoroughly as he could without feeling like a weirdo.
"..."
His silence caused her to make a nervous sound of impatience at how long he was taking to answer her question.
"Nope, never seen you before."
The girl whined loudly and dropped her arms to her sides as he walked past briskly one last time.
"WAIT WAIT WAIT!!!!"

Bringing his hand up to his face with anger, he gripped his forehead as he turned around and faced her this time.
"WHAT!? What could you possibly want now!?"
The girl flinched and stepped back with her eyes closed and after a few seconds his anger turned to guilt as the girl began to cry.
"No no! No! Wait I'm sorry! Ahahaha, it was a joke, I was joking I'll listen, so don't cry!"
The girl brought her hands up to her eyes to wipe away the tears and tried to stop the sobs.
"B-But... B-Big brother g-got mad at me..."
Rin had gotten closer and knelt down to be on eye level with her, though his face instantly changed to a look of confusion.

"I-I'm sure your big brother isn't mad at you okay? Just don't talk to me about it, you should go talk to him if you're really upset."
Just then, the final bell rang signaling the end of school causing Rin to begin sweating with nervousness.
"J-Just stop crying okay! What will people think!? It's okay, don't worry. The bell rang, your big brother goes to this school right? Just wait for him to come out and-"
The girl shook her head and choked back more tears as she opened her eyes and pointed at Rin.
"You! You got mad at me big brother!"
"......."
All of Rin's thought processing shut down at that moment as he stood back up with a blank stare.
"Ahah... You've got me confused, I'm an only child. I don't have a-"


The girl shook her head again quickly this time.
"Noooo! You're my big brother!"
Rin gave a sigh of frustration at the obvious mix-up. Though he realized all he had to do was prove to her that she was wrong.
"Okay, if we're siblings, what's my name?"
"...I don't know."
"Well then, what's our mom's name?"
"......I don't know."
"Fine, where were you born?"
"..........I don't know."
Rin couldn't help but smirk as her tears stopped and she stood there dumbfounded at his questions.
"Well see? You don't know my name. You don't know my mom's name. You don't even know where you were born, so you could have been born in some other state... We're not siblings okay? Just keep looking, you'll find your brother. I have to go now though..."

The girl had a look of abandonment on her face as she stood there and watched Rin walk away. It took her a minute before she realized she wasn't moving. Larger high school students came out and surrounded her as they stampeded by without a care causing her to becoming increasingly upset as she was bumped from one student to another.
"Big brother!!"
She cried out as she pushed through the students and took off running in the direction she'd seen him going.
"What the heck was up with that girl? Talk about weird, at least I'm free of hearing her say-"
"Wait!!"
The voice called out almost on queue, causing him to close his eyes and keep walking a bit faster.

"B-B-Big-"
Turning around before she could finish his face looked weary as he held a hand out high, signaling her to stop.
"What's your name?"
Was the first question out of his mouth as his face grew more serious. The girl stopped and put her hands together at her chest, trying to come up with something.
"I-I don't know..."
"Wait what!?"
"I said I don't know!"
She whined as her bottom lip quivered slightly showing that she was nearly bursting into tears once again.
"Okay, okay... I'm sorry... If you don't know your name or anything, maybe this is a matter the police should be inovled in."

"Po...leese?"
She tried to mimic the word, only slightly messing it up as she said it.
"You can't be serious, you MUST know what police are. Law enforcement, you know? When you do something bad?"
There was a long silence, though her face never changed. It appeared as though she genuinely didn't understand what that meant.
"Am I... Bad?"
She asked softly as her eyes began to tear up.
"N-NO! Just, that they might be able to help you find your REAL family! Yeah, that's all!"
The tears seemed to disappear as she stepped closer quietly and stopped in front of him. Everything inside him wanted to take a step away from this weird girl, but for some reason his body didn't want to move.
Reaching out to his hand, she gripped it softly yet firmly. It was a really familiar sensation, as though he'd felt it not too long ago.
"Y-You're... My family..."
Rin stood there with an odd look on his face, his eyes wide. This girl really believed he was her family. What was he supposed to do now?

"You don't have... Any other family...?"
The girl shook her head and pointed at Rin one last time. As much as it bothered him, as much as he wanted to turn and walk away, there was no way he could. For whatever reason, he'd have to figure out something to do with this girl. Whether that would be handing her over to police, or calling around town to see if anyone might know her. As his mind raced, her hand gripped his own tighter and the feeling of deja vu seemed to creep up yet again. Why did he remember this feeling? More importantly, what would Vivian say if he brought home a random girl? Things were definitely becoming more complicated than he liked, and with a sigh he turned around and motioned for her to come up beside him.
"Come on... I can't very well leave you out here alone. We'll figure something out I guess..."
The girl smiled widely and skipped up beside him while still holding onto his hand. Feeling that his peaceful life was beginning to slip away, a heaviness seemed to be cast over Rin. Closing his eyes, he continued on ahead. How could his day get any worse?

A growing headache seemed to be the least of his problems today, yet it bothered him most at this moment. Cars whizzing by only served to increase the intensity of his throbbing forehead and temples. His mind felt as though it were a speeding train going through all the possibilities of how he was going to explain this to his Cousin. Obviously he couldn't just tell things like they were, or could he? He wasn't exactly sure if calling the police was the best thing for the girl, yet he knew Vivian would do just that as soon as he got home. What else could he possibly do though? These questions were only getting more and more abundant and before he knew it, a voice was calling out behind him.

"S-Stop, you'll get hurt!"
The young girl pulled and tugged his hand back as he snapped out of his trance and realized he was about to walk directly out into the road just as a car was coming. The blaring horn flew by as Rin fell backwards and onto his butt with a thud. Dazed and confused, he looked up to the girl as she stood there worriedly staring down at him. Speechless and surprised, he sat there for quite some time as other cars drove by and neither said a thing. It took a moment for her to finally speak up again.
"You... You should be more careful!"
"Sorry, I'm sorry... I just,"
He responded mechanically as he slowly got to his feet, brushing himself off in the process.
"I guess I was lost in thought, this hasn't exactly been a normal day for me. Honestly, it's impossible for me to accept that you're in any way related to me, though even so... You can't just be left alone. So as weird as it sounds, we're going to have to sneak you into my house."

"Sneak... Me? How come?"
Rin glanced around for a moment, trying to look anywhere but directly at the girl.
"Well you know, I mean it's not MY house, and I can't come up with a reasonable response as to why I'd be bringing some girl home with me. Also, you're kinda young it looks odd."
"Hey! I'm thirteen years old, I'm not young!"
Rin snickered slightly as his gaze drifted down to her and narrowed.
"That's what I said... You're y-o-u-n-g."
Making sure to annunciate each letter in the word to really drive it home. Though his attempt at teasing the girl began to have an effect, her face quickly went blank as a thought popped into her mind.
"W-Well... How old are you then big brother?"
Taking a step back as Rin began to walk again, she fell in line right behind him, allowing him to lead the way.
"I'm Seventeen, and don't call me your big brother... It's kinda weirding me out."
"What!? I'm thirteen and you're seventeen, that's not that big of an age difference! You can't call me young when you're young too!"


A grin stretched across his face as she protested, only cementing the fact that she was still a child by getting fired up over something like that.
"Yeah yeah... So you know how old you are, yet you don't know your own name? What do you have some kind of amnesia or something?"
The girl's steps hastened a bit to lessen the gap between them.
"Nuh uh, I didn't have a mom or a dad so I never got named."
Rin slowed down a little, nearly causing the girl to bump into him from behind. He'd never had a mother or father either, or rather he had them just that he never actually knew them.
"Well look, that won't do..."
Turning around rather quickly, he caused her to stumble back a little as she looked up at him curiously.
He crossed his arms in front of his chest and studied her face for a little bit.
"We have to give you some kind of name. I can't just call you 'girl', now can I?"
"You can call me sister!"
She cheered happily, throwing her hands into the air and smiling.
"N-No! That's not going to work..."

Her decidedly cheerful expression instantly soured and she sighed, closing her eyes. She was a pretty decent actress, but he could tell it was only a ploy. It might have upset her, but not that badly. Her long black, perfectly straight hair blew gently in the breeze causing some strands to end up in her face which she brushed aside. He hadn't taken notice before of just how unique her eyes were until that moment, beyond sky blue. They were extremely pale blue, almost white with what appeared to be a shine to them.
"Mmmm... Kat... Karin... Kim... No, maybe L? Lisa... Luna... Lynn... Those won't do either, what about M's? Marie... Misty... Maya..."
Standing there like a statue, she watched as he tried to come up with a name. It seemed as though it was a difficult process, so she didn't want to interrupt him. Her eyes were wide and her face was passive and patient.

"Kryssa!"
Before he could spout off any other spur of the moment names, she blurted a name out.
"Kry...ssa?"
Rin repeated slowly as he was pulled out of his naming frenzy. It wasn't a name he'd heard before, so it was definitely unique. Perhaps she'd actually remembered her real name after all?
"Why that? Was that your actual name?"
She shook her head rather quickly and closed her eyes, most likely trying to figure out how best to explain.
"It's just... It feels important to me, the name I mean... I don't think it's mine, but I can't be sure."
"So that's really what you want then?"
He asked hastily in response as he crouched down a little to get eye level with her. Opening her eyes again, she stared at Rin for a brief second before nodding firmly.
"Yes please!"

Turning back around he smiled a bit and gave a barely audible confirmation.
"Y-Yeah, okay... Let's hurry on back to my home so we can figure out what to do with you. Vivian's going to be wondering where I've been if I take too long getting home from school."
With that said, he began walking full pace toward home. It wasn't much further, so he didn't have much more time to plan out a way to get her in. He decided the best way was to get her to wait outside his window for a bit until he could get settled in his room. Then he'd just let her in through there, and everything would be okay. The only thing that really bugged him was how awkward that seemed. Having a girl in his room, especially one as young as her.


It took a little longer than expected, but they'd finally arrived. Kryssa seemed absolutely delighted by the look of the house. It was a bit small, but it was really comforting in appearance. Red brick, one story, small bushes around the outside and a chimney that was already puffing out smoke for the cold night ahead. Grinning as she ran ahead, Kryssa made a dash for the door.
"H-HEY! Stop!!"
Rin reached out and grabbed her by the wrist to prevent her from going any further.
"What are you doing!? You can't just go running in there!"
"Why not...?"
She tilted her head back to look up at him in a strikingly cute manner.
"B-B-Because! Just... Just come here for a second, and I can't stress this enough... Be... Quiet...!"
Putting a finger to his lips to show that he was being serious, he slowly released her wrist and crouched down. Scurrying over to the window sill, he began to get nervous slightly as he stretched up to see into the house. Popping back down instantly, he saw Vivian with her back turned in the kitchen.

"Good... Looks like now's our chance... Come over here for a second."
Motioning for Kryssa, he quietly crawled under the window and over to the second one before turning toward her.
"I want you to wait RIGHT HERE."
"Got it!"
She said instantly, in a rather loud voice filled with excitement. Rin cringed and threw his hand out to cover her mouth.
"SHHHH!!"
"Mmph"
She tried to speak through his hand but to no avail.
"Seriously, just stay right here and don't move or speak!"
With a slight nod, he removed his hand and sighed a bit. This girl was proving to be really troublesome already. Was this really the best idea? He knew calling the local police would be the best idea, that was the only logical choice. Yet for some reason, he simply couldn't bring himself to do it. It reminded him of when he was a child and the police took him away after his mother died. Her face was all a blur now, but the trauma of being taken like that was still fresh in his mind. To him, it felt like he'd be condemning her to the same fate.

Before he could continue his thoughts however, his legs began to move on their own. He didn't have time to waste, so he had to act quickly. Standing up, he gave one last glance to her before heading to the front door and opening it up.
"I'm home..."
His voice rang out rather solemnly, causing Vivian to turn around with a rather worried look.
"Oh, Rin... Welcome back, how was school?"
"Mmm, I don't really want to talk about it... It's been tough today."
His voice only caused her concern to grow, but he had to put on this act of being more depressed than he actually was. In fact, he should be this depressed after missing his opportunity with the girl of his dreams. For some reason, he wasn't upset anymore though, did that girl really cheer him up this much?

"Rin, if you want to talk about anything, just let me-"
"I'm fine... I'm just going to go lay down for a little bit."
"O-Oh... Y-Yes, okay."
She gave a bit of a forced smile on his account as he walked past the kitchen and into the hallway. However the smile faded as he left her sight. The floorboards creaked as he stepped in front of his door and opened it up slowly. He felt bad about acting depressed when he really wasn't, though it was probably the best way to keep her away from his room for a little while, or so he hoped.
"Okay, now..."
He whispered to himself as he closed the door behind him. The second it closed shut, he rushed over to the window and opened it as quietly as he could. Leaning over it to call her out, she popped up almost instantly with a smile and jumped through, causing him to topple over back onto the bed.
"Don't just jump through!"
He protested as he sat back up on the bed and watched as she sprung into action. She hadn't even heard what he said, as it seemed she was too consumed in running around the room looking at everything with "ooh's" and "ahh's".

Sighing heavily, he ran a hand through his hair and got back up to close the window softly so that Vivian wouldn't hear.
"Just don't make a ruckus and we'll be fi-"
Before he could finish his sentence as he turned around, he saw her going through his things and opening up the dresser drawers.
"DON'T OPEN THAT!"
He yelled out much louder than he'd intended to as he rushed over and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her back away from the drawer. She looked up with curious eyes at him and a sound of confusion escaped her lips. Mentally, Rin realized he'd just screwed himself, there was no way in hell Vivian didn't hear him yell out like that.
"C-Crap, no time! Hide quick, HIDE!"
Her confusion seemed to grow as she just stood there with her head tilted back, looking up at him with big eyes.
"Huh, where should I hide?"

Rin began to sweat as his eyes darted back and forth to search the room, there really weren't any adequate hiding spots, so he did the one thing he could at this point. Pulling her with him, he heard a knock at his door.
"Rin, what are you yelling about? I'm coming in."
"W-W-Wait!!"
It was too late however, the doorknob turned and as the door began to open, he jumped onto the bed and threw the covers over Kryssa in a pile. Laying back on her, he gave a really awkward smile as Vivian entered the room and gave him a strange look.
"What... Were you doing Rin?"
"N-N-Nothing!"
Vivian's soft features sharpened as her eyes narrowed on him, but they suddenly changed to a more embarrassed look than anything.
"Why are you so nervous... Don't tell me you... Were..."
"Were what, ah hah... Haha..."
His nervous laughing seemed to give away that he was hiding something, but he didn't realize just what she was getting at.
"Well, you're at that age, so I guess it's norm-"
"WAIT WHAT!? Nooo! I wasn't! I was uh... I was um..."

Desperately searching his mind for some kind of reasonable explanation for why he was acting nervous, none came to mind. Then things turned even worse as she spoke up again.
"So, what exactly are you hiding under those covers?"
Gulping harshly, Rin leaned back against Kryssa further causing her to gasp slightly from his pressure. Rin barely heard it, and it made his eyes widen a bit.
"There's n-nothing here, what are you t-talking about hahaha! Just t-that I haven't made my bed yet! That's why they're like this, yeah!"
"Oh? Is that so...? Then you won't mind me checking them will you?"
A smirk crossed her face as she approached Rin who sat there speechless with a worried look on his face. There was no fooling Vivian, she was only a little older than Rin, but she was definitely smarter than most twice her age.
"Up you go..."
She reached out and took his hand, pulling him to his feet.
"W-WAIT!"
He yelled out, though before he could turn around, she'd already pulled the covers away. Too afraid to turn around, icy fear gripped him at the realization. What would she think, him hiding a young girl in his room? Would he be labeled some kind of weirdo all his life from now on? His mind was going a mile a minute as the unbearable silence was gnawing at his very soul. Then, everything stopped at her next sentence.

"Huh? Why were you acting so weird, there's nothing even here..."
It was impossible, he was almost afraid it was a cruel joke she was playing to get him to face what he'd done. There was simply no way Kryssa could have avoided being caught by moving somewhere else. Taking a deep breath, he turned around in an instant and much to his surprise there really was nothing there on the bed. Where could she have gone? This was impossible, simply impossible, people didn't just disappear like that.
"T...That's what... I said... Right...?"
With a sigh of relief Vivian turned around and faced him with a stern look.
"Come on Rin, don't act so weird. Making me think you're doing something you shouldn't be... I just don't want you getting involved with anything bad."
Reaching out, she suddenly hugged him tightly causing his face to flush with surprise.
"We're family right? So if anything is ever bothering you, please don't hold it in, okay?"
She said softly, causing the surprise to fade and his eyes to half close at the feeling of remorse for not being completely honest with her.
"Yeah... I'm sorry... I will..."
Giving her a hug back, a wave of some relief seemed to wash over him. Somehow, even if it didn't seem possible, Kryssa avoided detection.

A few moments later, Vivian was leaving the room and closed the door softly behind her. With a huge sigh of relief he smiled widely. Giving a few more seconds before he spoke, just to make sure Vivian was out of earshot.
"Nice going Kryssa! How'd you do that!?"
More than a few seconds passed, yet he got no response. The room seemed empty, not a single sound.
"H-Hey... Kryssa...?"
Yet again, only silence remained.
"This isn't funny, come out now okay? Please come out?"
Walking around the room faster and faster, he began to frantically search around the small area, but nothing was to be found.
An odd sensation of extreme confusion hit him. What was happening? How could this happen? It's like she vanished, or like she was never there in the first place. Looking to the window, it was still closed and locked. It wasn't possible for her to have left this room. Fear struck him as he placed a hand on his forehead. This was completely unreal, what just happened? Was he hallucinating this girl from the beginning?

What was wrong with him? There had to be something seriously wrong with him. It was the only explanation for seeing someone that might not have ever really been there. Dropping to his knees, he sat there in silence for half an hour. Simply trying to get a grip on reality. What part of this day had been real, and what part made up? Was this all some really elaborate dream? He simply wished he could just wake up, but deep down he knew this wasn't a dream. Slowly but surely he got back to his feet in silence. A heaviness was burdening him now, one that wouldn't go away. Walking over to the covers he'd thrown over her, he sat down on the bed and stared at them for a moment. Reaching down with his hand, he hesitantly placed it on the inside of the blanket and his eyes widened a bit.
"It's still... Kind of warm..."
Pulling his hand back, his eyes drifted down to the sensation that his fingers felt. Staring down for a long time at his hand, he finally closed his eyes feeling more conflicted than ever now. As the sun set outside the window, the red-ish rays shined in and illuminated the room in a fiery warmth. The only image in his mind was her smiling face. The one from the 'imaginary' girl.
"No! She was real... She was... Real....."