Watcher [02]

It is raining.1

He stands on the step, watching the road. Someone is going to die… someone will die today. Eimin bows his head down sorrowfully.2

“Hey.”3

He does not move, because the voice cannot be calling –4

“It’s dangerous to be out on the streets like this alone.”5

–For him.6

Eimin looks up curiously and into brown eyes. Concerned green eyes Eimin feels a sense of awe for. One of the brilliant shades of green he loved a long time ago…7

“You aren’t one of them people who try to kill themselves, are you?”8

Eimin blinks, and shakes his head. “No, I am not going to kill myself today…” He looks across the road at a girl, who stares straight into his eyes. “But she is.”9

The boy looks up, across the road and at the girl. “Minni!” he yells, in spite of the curious looks he gets from passer-bys. “Get out of here! I’ll tell him what you did if you try to die now!”10

Minnie stares at the strange boy and the boy she knows, before she turns to run away. In her head, she is thinking of how a certain someone would react if he… if he found out.11

Eimin retreats from probing the girl’s mind and looks at the boy, who returns the stare. “Are you sure you are not going to kill yourself?” the boy questions.12

Eimin shakes his head. “No. I’m not able to.”13

“And why not?”14

“I’m dead.”15

The boy raises one eyebrow, before stepping forward to grab Eimin’s hands. “You look real enough.”16

Eimin flinched at the contact. This can’t be… I am not supposed to be able to touch anything of this world… “I… How can you touch me? I am not supposed to be corporeal.”17

“You are wet,” the boy whispers. “You can feel the rain, can’t you? Then you are real.”18

No. There has to be something really wrong. First, he stops the girl from dying – and he can touch me. Why? What has happened?19

At least she did not die…20

A happy family, a group of closed friends, but still Eimin knows how much the girl wanted to die. The girl wanted to step onto the busy streets… He knows why she stops as well, and that it shares the same reason for her pain.21

The pain that still hurts him from that probe he made into her mind.22

“Look up,” the boy murmurs. “Look up at me.”23

Eimin looks up again at the boy, and feels a gentle hand caressing his cheek. His wet cheek, but when the water reaches his lips – he knows that it isn’t just the rain.24

I did not realise…25

“Why do you cry?” the boy asks. “What do you cry for?”26

I did not realise I was crying.27

The boy smiles gently. “You’re going to die out here in the cold. Follow me.” He watches Eimin’s eyes. “Please?” he tugs the smaller boy gently.28

Eimin reels back from his probe. The strange boy has no sadness, only happiness that makes Eimin giddy with both pleasure and shock. Happiness is something he is not used to feeling… and there is so much of it. He falls to his kness, and senses the shock in the other boy.29

Who are you? He wants to ask. Why do you… why are you so happy? Why do you make me feel this way? He cannot ask though, because his brain is numb, and his limbs refuse to move. He hangs in the boy’s arms, limp, his eyes closed as he relishes in the warmth of the boy. The warmth that has been denied ever since he became a spirit…30

Ever since he died…31

Eimin does not how long he lies there, silent in the darkness. The darkness is comforting, but the warmth he likes… He cannot sense. /Am I back in that world? That cold, dark, and lonely world where everyone is sad? Maybe meeting that boy is a dreamas well.../ He opens his eyes and sees a blue ceiling.32

“You’re awake?” The strange boy is there, in a new set of clothes.33

And so am I.34

“I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty to change you out of your wet clothes and into some clothes I had lying around the house.”35

But my clothes… are the ones that that world gave me.36

“Besides the black is a very sad black, and they seemed too big for you, anyway.”37

That cold, dark and lonely world I never liked…38

“I threw them away, though. Are you fine with that?”39

Eimin looks up at the boy. “I… I guess.” The strange boy’s green eyes sparkle and Eimin stares at he shining green, his lips subconsciously curving into a small smile.40

“You’re very pretty when you smile,” the boy suddenly comments, before he laughs. “Sorry, sorry. I tend to speak whatever’s on my mind. Even my brother agrees it’s a bad habit.”41

“I… Thank you.”42

“You’re welcomed for saving your life,” the boy answers automatically. “I’m Jared. You are?”43

“They call me Eimin…”44

“Eimin?” Jared’s face holds a thoughtful look. “Wait, don’t tell me. I know this word. Japanese, I think… Doesn’t it mean something like ‘death’?”45

Death. Watching her die all over and over again… No wonder they named me such.46

“I studied many languages at school. Most of them were the many Asian languages, and though I don’t like to boast, I am pretty good at languages,” Jared explains. “Nihao. Wode minzi si Jared. Chinese, or in English: ‘Hello. My name is Jared.’” He pauses for a slight moment. “Now to think of a name for you…”47

“A name for me?” Eimin is confused.48

“I can’t call you Death, even if you wanted me too. It’s not right.”49

It’s not right? I’m not Death? But I watch them die… I keep watching them die.50

There is silence in which Eimin studies the boy carefully. Green eyes are focused in thought and wind from the fan in the corner ruffles his chestnut brown hair.51

“Eli!”52

Eimin snaps out of his daydream to gaze at Jared curiously, the latter who looks much happier than before.53

“I’ll call you Eli! Is that fine?” Jared looks at him. “You don’t like it?”54

“No, no!” Eimin smiles. “I-I love it.”55

I have a name… A proper name, and given to me by a boy I barely know…56

“Thank you…”57

Thank you for everything…58