Internal problems

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It was the strangest thing, Akari thought to herself as she climbed out of bed to get a snack. She had never felt this way before, as if everything around her suddenly went out of focus. She didn't even care about her high school friends wandering about her dorm room. She could barely even hear their nearby chatter, even when she wasn't focused on taking a step.

In what felt like the first second of June, Akari would recall her distant cousin, who was now sitting in the lavish room that she lived in, enjoying the sunset of the school's rooftop.

Returning moments later with a mango, Akari couldn't help but notice that her cousin's expression had shifted. She often wore the same stone-like face like a mask whenever she was deep in thought about something. But now, the mask had come off, revealing the true face of her. Her face now showed concern, even panic. Whatever was going on to her, it was important.

"What's wrong? You look sick," the young girl asked her cousin. She had become much less fearful of the girl after they started to live together.

"For a while now, I have felt.. strange. I can't explain it. But, I feel strange. I've felt this way before, but, I don't know," the girl thought out loud, sounding frazzled.

Akari bit into her mango but caught what her older cousin said. "You've felt like this before?"

"Yeah, when I was younger. I don't know how to describe it, but I just felt strange whenever something was wrong with the house." the tall girl paused for a moment, taking a breath to calm herself, then continued, " But that was a long time ago. The last time I felt this was when Mom died."

Akari's expression fell at the dark reminder. She remembered how close her older cousin had been to her mom. Looking at the woman's face, Akari could clearly make out the line of the drawn eyebrow across her forehead, giving away the small twitch that she had when she was deep in thought. The same line still served as a reminder of how far the two were apart. Akari leaned in close to the tall girl and placed her arms around her shoulders in a comforting embrace. It was the only way Akari would know she was truly here with her. The only way Akari could pretend that this was real.

"I'm so sorry to hear that. I know how you feel. We've all lost someone we're close to," Akari said, feeling as if she had understood the feeling of loss enough to relate. She knew right then that she had lost much of the feeling that she had before she came to the mansion. Yet, she wasn't sure if it was the result of living here or the grief that she had from losing her dead mother. Either way, it still wasn't a good feeling. She couldn't even imagine the loss of someone dear to her.

"Do you think you could stay with me for a week?"

"Sure," replied Akari, with a playful smile. She had grown to like this extreme form of her cousin.

The two then spent the next week having fun with each so that Akari could try to mentally prep herself for more of this feeling.

A week after meeting the request to live with the neighbor, Akari suddenly couldn't cope with the feeling that the world around her was getting old and out of date.

It was a Friday, and Akari had her first big exam in school scheduled for Tuesday. She wasn't supposed to be doing anything on such a day, but she couldn't understand why she was feeling so tired. It was like her energy was just draining out of her and leaving her a soulless ghoul, like her older cousin.

Exhausted from her daily duties and constantly feeling as if she hasn't slept all week, Akari sits in bed, listening to the wind whistle through the old sky-blue curtains. She's staring blankly,listening to the swishing sound of the curtains. She can only hear the sound of the wind, and that's all. There's nothing else to listen to if that wind does not stop. Old and out-of-date, Akari thinks.

"Nothing's wrong. Nothing's changed," The tall girl thinks, looking out of the tall windows, disappointed in the view of the spring's dying flowers, as if they have been forgotten by all. "If I close my eyes, I can still see Mom again. She would be surprised that I can hold back the tears whenever I think about her. She would be impressed that I'm so reasonable!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a postcard fall, and she immediately realizes it's the expression of one standing nearby, who must have dropped it. She watches the card fall to the ground and notices the younger cousin come and pick it up, feeling the wind gust through her hair, there are two things to think about. The first, is her over-dramatic cousin, who is once again faking a serious mood, when in fact, she's just playing another trick on somebody.

"I'm going to have to do something about her," the tall girl thinks to herself. She then turns her attention back to the second thing she notices, which is the obvious change in the environment. The same breeze that blows through her hair earlier is now twisting and swirling around the main hall, showing some sort of unknown change.