The Dream Shifter

Chapter 99

'It's my fault! I killed her!' Yuki was checked out when he stepped out from the corner. His shadow covered eyes cast a dark stare, despite the emptiness in his soul. The two nurses did not know how to react, surprised by his sudden appearance. All they could do was flee down the hallway away from him. He staggered forward towards his mother's room without a thought controlling him. Everything in his mind was echoing the same words over and over again completely crushing his body.

The door was ajar causing him to shut out the light that crept into the room as he stood before it. It felt as though there was a wall that stood before him. A wall that could not be shattered or climbed; it knew his weaknesses and was able to defy him at every attempt. There was only one way for it to be overcome.

"…Yuki…is that you?" said a shallow voice from the room. Their mother's health had continued to decline despite her assurances. It had gotten to a point where her voice had become empty and rough, distant from what it had been. However, Yuki would always know the sound of his mother.

As though upon command, the door creaked open slowly. Yuki pressed himself into the entry way feeling a sense of dread crawling up into his legs. The lights were dimmed, as she had been resting, leaving the air to feel tight. It gave his mother a deathly appearance draped in the dark veils cast from the streams of lights from the machines that lined the wall. Yuki felt his heart drop into his feet from the sight. "…mother…"

"…Yuki…you can come…in…" his mother said in a weakening voice. There was little strength left in any part of her as she simply lay in the bed. It took great effort for her to move even her hand.

Yuki rushed into the room having been beckoned and seeing how much she was struggling to greet him. She was trying to pull herself up out of the bed for him. "It's alright, mother… I'm here. You don't need to get up for me!" Seeing how she was pained and how desperately she was struggling made Yuki feel like he was covered in needles all piercing his skin leaving it all numb.

She eased back into her bed resting her hand on Yuki's hands at the side of the bed. She had managed a smile for him with her half closed eyes looking over at him. "How are you…doing, dear?"

"I-I'm fine! Get some rest so that you can get better!" Yuki was on the edge of pleading with his mother. It was too much for him to see her in such a condition. He was completely helpless to help her.

"How's…school?"

Those words had made him freeze stiff. The pounding of fear that had been starting to fade was renewed with even greater crushing strength. "School?" questioned Yuki weakly wishing that he could avoid the subject, but his mind was already painfully reminding him.

'Did you hear that she got another call from the school?'

'Don't they realize that she doesn't need the stress?'

'She's the only parent left and her son's such a bully!'

'She seems to only be getting worse too.'

'Especially after those calls.'

'I don't know if she'll be able to take another call in her state.'

The words were whispered through his ears continuously making him want to run away, but it had left his body too weak to move. All he could manage was to place his hand on his mother's hand for reassurance. "…it'll be alright...mother…you don't have to worry anymore…"

"…Yuki…" His mother's eyes closed slowly followed by a long exhaled breath. It pulled him up on his legs leaning in towards her fearing that she would never open her eyes again. The shallow, quick breathing came to a rest as she opened her eyes to look back at Yuki. "Please stay safe, Yuki…" It seemed to be getting more difficult for her to even speak bringing her short of breath with each word.

Yuki hand's were tightening up wrapped firmly around his mother's. His fears wound as tension in his fingers through his silent prayers. "I will! I will, mother!" He was dragged in towards her feeling her hand suddenly become loose. It felt as though the life was slowly being pulled away from her forced to keep her core barely alive. "Mother?! Please! I won't cause you trouble anymore, mother!"

She coughed a couple times and coming to a long quiet rest. Her half opened eyes looked on him softly. "Yuki…please…don't hurt anyone…you're a kind boy…show them…" The labored breathing from her became further drawn out as her eyes closed once more. However, this time it did not seem like they would open.

Tears were coming down his face as his fears were speaking to him, telling him what was happening. He pulled a little at her hand tightening his hands around her hand hoping for a sign that she was still with him. "Mother! Mother…I-I…" His head hung low looking away from her. The words that she had spoke to him spinning in his mind. Lowly spoken down away from her Yuki's voice tried to reach. "…I won't…I'll stop fighting! I'll stop if that's what you want!"

The fading warmth in her body was able to smile softly to him. "…th..ank…you…" A constant ringing filled the room. There was a moment of silence as Yuki froze.

He snapped his head up towards her breaking away the tears that sprayed through the air trying to see that his mother was still alive. "Mother! I promise! I won't hurt anyone ever again! So please! Please…open your eyes just once more for me…" There was no response from her apart from the lasting smile that was left on her face with the ringing in his ears. "Mother! Please just once more…open your eyes! I promise! Mother!" Yuki head fell into the sheets weeping and screaming until his throat ran dry. Yet he continued even when his voice gave out. None of the doctors or nurses dared to enter the room. After his voice had been lost and his tears dry Yuki stood up and left the room in silence. It would be a silence that he kept for a month with no one able to understand what he was thinking.

The void began to pull Yuki away from the past that he was forced to relive. It forcibly dragged him away leaving it all behind. Remnants of thoughts remained as a distant echo through his mind. Emotions, questions, fears and thoughts merged together in the myriad chaos that boiled inside him. 'I killed mother! It was all my fault! I promised her! She wouldn't wake up! I didn't mean to! It wasn't my fault! They never said goodbye! I stole her away from them! It was me!' Yuki fell back into his body nearly jumping out of his bed. He was panting heavily and covered in sweat.

His hand pressed up against his face trying to calm himself back down. The nightmare that he had to endure left him completely exhausted. Yuki was not sure if he wanted to go back to sleep for the fear of having to relive any more of his past. The night he had spent brought up many things that he had wished to keep forgotten, but it was the path he had chosen. "I need to clean up at least…"

The house felt empty at the late hour Yuki was walking around the hall. He ran water over his face washing away the sweat. His clothes still felt weird, but it helped his breathing. All of the pressure that he had been feeling was disappearing. The mirror over the sink stared back at him as though to question what he was doing. His eyes narrowed in his certainty. "This is the way it must be."

The rest of the night went with smoothly for Yuki. Sleep was difficult, but he was able to get a little more. Morning brought a tired Yuki that was separate from the one last night and his usual self. He just moved through the house until it was his time to leave. However, as his mind woke up the echoes from before began to resurface for him. He was able to hear Ayumi's voice pounding in his head from his right and his own screams through the left.

'They aren't your real family!'

'I killed mother! It was all my fault!'

It was leaving his concentration difficult, causing him to trip or bump into things throughout the house. 'Ugh…feels like I've got a headache…'

Yuki left the house walking down the street hoping that the air would clear his mind. It turned out not be the case as the pressure was only increasing on his mind. He rubbed his hand against his temples doing anything he could, while ignoring his surroundings.

"Yuki?!" shouted Saki from behind him, having already tried several times to reach him. It finally seemed to reach him though as he turned his head back towards her.

He had stopped where he stood, unable to do more than one thing at once. "…Hey, Saki…"

"You going to move?"

"Something wrong?" said Yuki confused by the strange sense of urgency that was in her voice. She pointed down away from him to bring him to his situation. He was standing inside a parked car with half of it removed due to his Kasou-ryoku's kino being active. "Wha-When?!" Yuki quickly jumped about feeling closed in with the cross section that he was seeing. Once he was outside the car and safe Saki hit him in the back of the head jerking his subconscious enough. "That was close!"

Saki came up beside him looking over at him trying to examine him to know what was wrong. "You don't normally space out that much, Yuki. What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" Yuki turned away from Saki realizing how transparent he was being in front of her. Trying to keep himself out of her view did not help him as it was clear he was hiding something from her. However, he did not know if he should even tell her. 'No, I know what she'll tell me anyway…' He looked over his shoulder back at Saki working up his usual smile. "It's nothing! Ayumi's just working me really hard."

"Doing training still?" She knew about their after school sessions, but beyond knowing about it she had been told very little. It made her feel a little left out, considering that she already knew about them and their powers. The need for secrecy between them seemed strange to Saki. Yet Ayumi was not one to answer many questions and much about her remained a mystery. All she knew was what little Yuki had told her and she suspected that Ayumi had left out things from Yuki.

Yuki gave her a nod. They could start walking to school now that they had resolved the matter. "She's pretty insistent on me learning how to control my powers." He laughed lightly about the problem as though it was nothing.

"Well you do still let go out of control during school. I'm always covering for you." Her words turned to arrows that pierced Yuki feeling the sting of his weaknesses being bluntly called out by his friend. "And you can't turn it off on your own either." A second arrow sank into his back making it even more painful. "For someone like that dreams and pretends all the time, this is worst possible power you could have asked for."

The third and final strike dug into him making him pause for a moment. "You don't have to be so blunt, Saki!"

"Get stronger then, Yuki!"

"You make it sound so simple…" Yuki straightened himself back up relieving himself of the arrows to return to his pace. "I just have to stay focused!" He clinched his fists together trying to psych himself up to give confidence.