Stranger

I try to focus on Shouko, but my thoughts keep on drifting away to places I never want them to wander off to. Places that are too deep. Because when they do, there's no stopping them.

This is a time when exactly that happens.

The face I observed in the picture was definitely a phantom. When I plucked the frame, a total outsider watched me. What was even odder, they resembled *her* looks precisely.

The woman living inside the image possessed the same auburn hair as my mother, however, its striking color has gone to waste hence the pixie cut. Mom used to always wear her hair long and open, enabling every particle of air to flow into it. I still recall them in loose, wavy locks, trickling down towards the small of her back.

As I gawked at the stranger, crystal clear emerald eyes stared back at me, glistening, as if recently polished. What bothers me is that they matched with *hers*. I strongly doubt it is her, though.

Why you ask?

The odious woman had freckles all over her cheeks, widening themselves unto her petite nose. Albeit my mother had them, hers were arranged dissimilarly. Her forehead, her chin, her eyelids; they were all crowded with myriad flakes of freckles.

As discrete as the appearance of their freckles might be, both were born with identical thin, pink lips and dainty noses fixed on their elegant faces.

If you are wondering, yes, I do consider them two entirely opposed individuals, no matter how alike they admittedly look.

The photo was taken by an exceptional quality camera; a 'canon' or something close. Therefore, every little detail was almost palpable.

I was worried I might forget my own mother's facade. After all, I was only six when I last saw her. Nevertheless, after the incident in May's room, I started to regain *everything*.

All the positive and negative memories flooded in, followed by every little detail, good and bad. Few things remained caged deep inside, unattainable, but I must grant importance to the hitherto delivered.

Ones I have my head already wrapped around.

I glance sideways immediately after I feel the burn of being watched bore into me. Expecting to find May's eyes glued to the computer's screen, I am met with them alternatively.

How long had she been staring at me?

My lips part to ask her, but before I can, she returns her gaze to the screen. My lips return to the way they were; unparted. My insides feel uncanny somehow. I thought her eyes would not have the capability of leaving the display. There is unmistakably something wrong.

'Dakara sugu ni aeru ne. . .' Huh? My head jerks to the source of the sound, finding that the ending song of 'A Silent Voice' is being presented. Wow. I have been too busy sunken in my thoughts rather than watching the movie itself.

May shuts the computer and leaves it placed on the slight living room tabletop. Getting up, she starts for her room without a single word. What is this?

I have no choice but to go to my room as well. I am the hurt one here, not her.

I hate how people turn the tables when the tables are supposed to be facing them. Stop making assumptions, I tell myself. She didn't say anything offensive or accuse me of trespassing. She doesn't even know what happened. A lump forms in my throat as I close the bedroom door.

It is night anyways, so I'll just take a shower, then head to sleep. Hopefully, tomorrow wouldn't be as awkward as it was seconds earlier.

The bathroom being my current destination, I strip, tossing my filthy clothes in the laundry basket before stepping in the shower.

I usually take showers at night, as I feel more comfortable it doing at such a time. I am more of a night person, therefore I cannot understand how other people manage to have them in the early morning when it is a way better opportunity to sleep some more. I don't think I ever will.

Even my brain functions pleasanter at night. I would not hesitate to stay up every night working on projects for school or writing my book on 'Inkstone', I would rather enjoy it actually. Something called school prevents me from doing exactly that.

As I scrub my body with body wash using my loofah, all kinds of thoughts creep in. Pitter-patter. The sound of water raining artificial rain unto my frame. Splash noises are produced as I rinse myself.

Towel. I need a towel. My arm reaches out to grab my bath towel before a gasp flies out of my mouth. I can't find it. Where is it? Ugh.

I am forced to leave the bathroom naked, dressing up hastily into my underwear and nightwear, worried someone might walk in on me even though that isn't possible. May is surely sleeping by now; It's near midnight already.

She is the exact opposite of myself by being a morning person. She is always up first mornings and rarely awake in the late night. Wait. Why am I busying myself thinking of her when I have school at seven in the morning the next day?

Switching off the lights, I make my way to my bed. As I lie down, I count sheep to distract myself from other unwanted thoughts. I am in hopes that those sheep are willing to lull me into slumbering faster.

*Tomorrow is a new day,* I tell myself before I find myself entering the land of dreams in an oblivious manner.