Dares' eyes fluttered open to a pair of hazel ones staring down at him. He startled a little.

"H-hey, Jun."

"Have we met?" the girl cocked her head .

"I... no... no, I guess not..." Dares shook his head. He had had that dream again.

She has the same eyes. thought Dares.

The same eyes as who? The memory was already beginning to fade.

"You're eyes..." said Dares.

"What about them?" said Jun, furrowing her brow.

"Never mind. I'm just glad you're ok." he sighed. His head was pounding.

"Do you greet everyone like this?" asked Jun. "I just thought you should know that-"

"Class is in session, yeah, I got it." said Dares.

Then he wandered off.

"Wait!" called Jun. "The school is this way!"

...

Weird. I don't have any cousins. Maybe I passed her in the hall once and subconsciously remembered her face. I don't remember hearing her name, though.

It strained his head to think about it, so Dares stopped.

They would want to know why Dares had suddenly disappeared from school, but he would worry about that later. He didn't feel well, and needed rest.

As he fell onto his bed, the smell of coffee welled up around him. His vision went that shade of vivid purple again, and there was a tickling feeling in his stomach.

He's close! a foreign voice entered his head.

Dares' heart beat faster. "What? Who's close?"

That blissful feeling ran dry, and the smell of coffee was overpowered by the dank smell of mildew and decaying vegetables. The thermometer dropped slowly and steadily, until Dares felt his body hitch and could see his own misted breath.

The hint of light coming from between the blinds was blocked out by the shadow of something standing on the back porch.

Dares felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristle as he shivered. Primal fear and cold wracked his body with shaking, and he felt very, very small.

There's someone on the other side of my door! thought Dares, panic collecting in his gut like a ball of lead.

Frantically, he threw himself onto the floor, grasping beneath the bed for his stick. A low groan escaped his dry throat.

His stick wasn't there.

He freezed as a rap on the glass cut through his thoughts.

Dares' hands clutched with mixed fear and anger. He suddenly had an overwhelming urge to confront what was on the other side of that door.

You. You took everything. You'll pay. I swear you'll pay!

The shadow moved, and Dares followed. He threw back the blinds and caught the tail of black fabric turning the corner in his sight.

He ripped the door open on its track and lunged after it, rounding the bend of the Raintree complex where the water pipes ran along the side of the building.

His mind was consumed with rage. In this rage, he was blinded, and ran headlong into a passerby, knocking them both to the ground.

"Watch it, buddy!" said the boy, rubbing his tailbone.

"Shit, he got away! Dammit, Shunpei!" growled Dares.

His heart was beating wildly nearly to the point of palpitations, and he could taste iron strongly.

"Oh shit, he got away? That's a shame. On that note - I'm sorry, do I know you?" said Shunpei, getting to his feet.

"Yeah. We share P.E. I'm Dares."

"Well then, the pleasure's all mine!" said Shunpei, cheerily. He extended a hand for Dares to take.

Dares started to reach for it, but something told him prolonged contact, in that moment, was a bad idea. Something was "moving" inside Dares at that time.

He rejected the extended hand and stood on his own, dusting himself off, already forgetting the fleeing figure as an overwhelming sense of familiarity washed over him.

"Nice to meet you too." Shunpei rolled his eyes. He started scratching his chin.

Dares caught the light glinting off of three earrings, like staples, running down Shunpei's ear.

"Come to think of it, you do seem familiar." said Shunpei.

"There you are!" came an annoying female voice.

"Ah shit, she found me." Shunpei groaned.

Jun trotted into view. Clutched to her chest were three papers. She panted as she screeched to a halt in front of them.

"I can't believe they made me hunt you down! Honestly, isn't that what the prefects are for?" Jun lamented.

Dares and Shunpei shared a confused glance.

"I take it you live here?" Jun asked Dares.

"Uh. No." said Dares.

Jun thrust out their detention papers, and kept the third for herself.

"Convenient that you led me to him." said Jun.

Dares was gazing out into the parking lot, shadowed under bare metal shutters that glinted brightly in the sun.

He had let himself get distracted. How far could the figure have possibly gone?

Don't go after him. a voice he wasn't sure was his whispered into his mind.

Dares sighed. Fine.

There was the sound of something knocking against the pipes. The three of them turned abruptly.

Dares' stick had clattered there.