Chapter 23

Claire couldn't find her phone.

It wasn't the first time she had lost it, and it wouldn't be the last. She wasn't particularly attached to the device. She said she had only bought it for emergencies. It was large and clunky, more like a brick than a mobile phone.

But today was one of those days when she needed it. She was expecting a call from the doctor. She had been feeling a little ill lately. It was just a mild cold, but she had booked an appointment anyway, to make sure it was nothing serious. The only problem was her phone had completely vanished.

Kitty watched her tear the house apart in her search for it. He was helping her, but he didn't know where it could be either. She had looked everywhere, in her bedroom, in the living room, even under the stairs. But no such luck.

"It'll probably be in the last place you expect." Kitty said. "Like in the garden or the toilet or something."

"It's not going to be in the toilet, but you may be right about it being in an obscure place." Claire hummed. "But where haven't I checked that I wouldn't usually think of?"

This train of thought led them to Damien and Kitty's bedroom. They inspected the whole room, but they still couldn't find the phone. There was only one more place to check. Claire crouched to look under the bed.

"I don't like to go down here, not even for cleaning. There's most likely an immense amount of dirty magazines stashed here." Claire cringed. "That would make life awkward. But I guess I have no choice."

As she felt around under the bed, Kitty sat on top of it on the opposite side. She rummaged around a bit until her hand clunked against something. She paused with a frown.

"What the-" She tapped the object a few times. "It sounds like glass."

Claire lifted up the sheets while Kitty peered over the side of the bed to get a better look. Underneath the bed was a rectangular box with a black sheet over it.

"What's that?" Kitty asked.

"I have no idea." Claire looked up at him. "Did you know this was down here?"

"No. I've never seen it before."

If Kitty didn't even know, then it must have been Damien who put this there. It could have been full of dirty magazines. He and Claire didn't want to pry into his private business, but they were curious. Like Pandora, they had to know what was in the box. With a nod of confirmation to Kitty, Claire removed the sheet and gasped at what she saw.

Inside the glass box was a boy, around the same age as Damien, who appeared to be sleeping. His long blond hair covered most of his pale face, and he wore a plain red kimono. The most alarming thing was the blood smeared around the deep cuts to his wrists. Some had gotten onto his clothes and stood out despite being the same colour.

Kitty couldn't believe what he was seeing. The boy had to have been dead. He had been sleeping on top of a corpse for God knows how long. He felt sick. How long had he been dead for? There wasn't even a hint of decomposition. He looked alive, like he'd wake up any second. But with all that blood, there was no way he was alive.

The shock on Claire's face turned to anger.

"I thought he'd gotten rid of this." Claire whispered to herself.

"What do you mean? Who is he?"

Without answering his question, Claire rose to her feet and stormed out of the room. Kitty stayed on the bed. What else could he do? The shock froze him to the spot. What had happened to this boy? Did someone kill him? If he was under Damien's bed, could it have been him? He did say that he had killed before. This left Kitty with a sense of dread.

Had he been playing him all this time? Was the man he had come to adore even real?

A rageful shout made him jump. Claire was at the edge of the staircase, calling for Damien. Kitty had never seen her so livid. She was shaking. After a few seconds, Damien came up the stairs.

"Jesus fucking Christ, what are you shouting for-"

Damien looked annoyed until he saw how angry Claire was. His face became nervous.

"What's wrong?" He asked, eyes trained on Claire's face.

Claire didn't answer. She grabbed his arm and dragged him back into the bedroom. He barely had time to protest when she pulled him in and pointed out the box with a face like thunder. Damien stared at the box for a second before his expression turned to horror. He then turned to Claire with a glare.

"You went under my bed?" He yelled.

"Why is it still here?" Claire shouted back. "You should have gotten rid of it!"

"He's not an 'it'!" Damien knelt next to the box and inspected it. "You better not have damaged him!"

"What happened?" Kitty asked. "Did you kill him?"

"No!" Damien snapped, more hurt than angry. He stared down at the box with pain in his eyes. "I loved him." He muttered with a shaky voice.

Kitty inhaled. Sympathy replaced his fear. The way Damien looked at the box, an expression of longing and loneliness, made his heart ache.

"Who was he?" Kitty asked, sitting beside Damien. He placed a hand on his shoulder to show him he was there for him. Even though there was a corpse in the room, he was no longer scared.

Damien gave a sad sigh. "He was the only person I ever loved. Daisuke Takahashi." He stroked the box. "He killed himself. Slashed his wrists and bled to death in my arms."

Kitty nodded and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. He had never imagined Damien had so much pain to deal with. He remembered when Damien told him he knew what it was like to lose someone you love. He knew exactly what he meant now.

Even Claire seemed to soften at this. "Why didn't you bury him?" She asked in a gentle voice.

Damien's eyes never left Daisuke's face. "I want to bring him back. I promised him I would. He doesn't like being in the box. He told me."

"He told you?" Claire looked concerned.

"His spirit told me. He's been visiting me since he died, but we can't be together until he has his body."

"R-Really?" Kitty was starting to feel creeped out. There was another ghost in this house, an actual ghost instead of a sort of one like Carrie.

"Are you sure he was real?" Claire asked.

"Of course he was!" Damien snapped. "I hear him singing to me. I feel him touch my hand. He's real, I know he is."

Claire shook her head with a face full of sorrow. "You're off your medication again."

"Why do you all keep mentioning that?" Damien shouted. "I'm fine! I'm not ill anymore!"

"You'll always be ill. There's no way you can cure this. It's a lifelong condition."

"Stop saying that." Damien scowled. "He's real, I'm real, you're real. Everything's real! I'm not crazy anymore."

An exhausted huff escaped Claire's lips.

"I know how to bring him back." Damien's attention returned to the box. "I've been practising my resurrection abilities. I could only make zombies, but I've been studying how to bring the dead back to life. Make a cold heart beat again."

He opened the lid, careful not to drop it. "I've been using chemicals and spells to keep him preserved." He lifted Daisuke's body out and placed him on the floor. "When he wakes up, he'll be able to have a normal life. He'll be able to age again." He smiled and stroked his face. "We can be together again. I was so scared it would never happen."

Cradling Daisuke in one arm, Damien pushed the box away a bit to make room. He placed his body on the floor, then touched his palm to his chest, where his heart was. A glowing red pentagram formed on the floor around Daisuke. It receded, appearing to be absorbed into him. His whole body glowed red.

The three of them waited with bated breath. Nothing happened at first. Then his pale eyelids began to twitch, and snapped open about a second later. Kitty gasped before he could stop himself. At least that wasn't as bad as passing out. He could pass out right now, seeing a corpse come back to life. He had never imagined anything like this was possible.

Damien grinned, tears gathering in his eyes. But it was Daisuke's own eyes that made a chill run down Kitty's spine. They were pure white and glassy, not even a hint of life in them. Kitty gulped. Something wasn't right. Claire must have shared his anxiety.

"Damien, I don't think it worked." She said with wide eyes.

"It worked." Damien frowned. He whispered, "It has to work."

Daisuke shot up into a sitting position, bones audibly cracking. His head wobbled, mouth half open. He stared into space with a vacant expression. It definitely hadn't worked.

"Move away." Claire urged. "Both of you, move away!"

Kitty immediately did as he was told, but Damien refused to leave Daisuke. He insisted there was nothing wrong.

"Damien, please." Claire begged him. "It didn't work. Look at his face! Look at his eyes! He's still dead!"

A frightened scowl was all she got in response. "No." He mumbled. He turned back to Daisuke and grabbed his shoulders. He stared deeply into his eyes. He must have been trying to convince himself he was alive, searching his eyes for any sign that he was alive.

But there were none. His eyes were as dead as he was. Daisuke's face contorted into a terrifying, ravenous snarl. The look of horror on Damien's face confirmed his realisation.

Before he could attack Damien, Claire created a dagger from sharpened water and stabbed him in the head. A pained shriek came from Damien as Daisuke became limp in his arms. No blood came out of the wound. Only clear liquid. Damien sat him up and held him as straight as he could, muttering that he was all right, everything was all right. But every time he sat him up, he would flop back down.

"I'm sorry, but I had no choice." Claire said. "If I hadn't killed him, he would have torn us all apart."

Damien didn't say anything. He was stunned silent, staring at Daisuke's body with tears in his eyes. Kitty squeezed his shoulder once more.

"Dimmy? Are you OK?"

He knew it was a stupid question. Of course he wasn't OK. The one he loved had died in his arms for a second time. But Kitty didn't know what else to say. The devastated look on Damien's face broke his heart.

Before either of them could stop him, Damien grabbed the water dagger and plunged it into his own heart. Kitty shouted his name in shock. Claire jumped forward to take the dagger away, but Damien jerked away from her. He landed on his back on the floor, then stabbed himself in the head several times. The blood was gushing out in gallons, but he didn't care. He didn't stop. He was in a frenzy, the blade sinking into his head and his chest.

Claire finally wrestled the dagger away from him, but it was too late. The wounds were severe. Kitty had never seen anything like it. Damien lay on his side, sobbing hysterically into his arm.

"Kill me." He whimpered. "Just fucking kill me! I've got nothing left to live for."

Kitty didn't realise he was crying himself until he felt the wetness on his cheeks. He played with his hands. He didn't know what to do to help ease Damien's pain.

"Damien, please." Claire touched Damien's arm. "Calm down."

Damien sat up and shoved her away. He leapt to his feet and raced to the other side of the room, near the window. He dug his hand into the paper of the window. He tore the material along with the thin wooden grilles. Once it was all out of his way, he climbed onto the window sill and stared out onto the street below.

"I need to die." He said to himself. "I have to find a way to die."

As he threw himself out of the window, Kitty rushed over to him as fast as he could. He grabbed his arm before he fell too far. Damien looked up at him in shock. But he didn't struggle. He hung there, staring in disbelief. Kitty held out his other hand for Damien to grab.

"Please!"

Kitty's pleas reached Damien's heart and he gripped his hand tight. Kitty pulled Damien back in, arm wrapping around his waist to secure him as soon as he could. He moved him over to the bed. By this point, Damien had given up. He was worn out and badly bleeding. Kitty inspected his injuries. They were so deep he could see inside his body. He couldn't hide his panic even if he tried.

"It's fine." Damien said, voice weak. His eyes glazed over. "I won't die. I never die."

☽☾

After putting the gauze on the last wound, Kitty eased Damien back onto the bed. The bleeding had finally stopped, but the cuts were still severe. He would definitely need stitches. Damien didn't seem to care about the pain or the seriousness of the situation. He responded to Kitty's concerns by reminding him he wouldn't die. He was still out of it. The blood loss had made him even more unwell. Kitty reached over and gently took Damien's hand.

"It's OK." Kitty smiled. "I'm here for you."

But Damien didn't even look at him. He just continued to stare at the bed-sheets. He looked defeated and broken. Kitty's heart ached seeing him like this. He desperately wanted to help, but he didn't know how.

A knock on the front door interrupted his thoughts. He could hear people talking, then footsteps coming up the stairs. The door to the bedroom opened and Claire popped her head inside.

"How is he?" She asked

Kitty put his head down. "Not good."

Claire nodded. She could see that Damien was still despondent. She stepped aside and allowed two men in white coats into the room. One of the men gave them a kind smile.

"Are you Aoi Nakamura?" The man asked Damien. When Damien nodded, he smiled again, but more sorrowful. "I understand you've hurt yourself. May I look?"

Damien frowned, but allowed the man to look at his wounds. He took off the gauze and hissed as though he was the one injured.

"These are serious. I'm shocked that he hasn't bled out already." He said to his partner. "We'll have to take him to the hospital first."

"What do you mean 'first'?" Damien asked in a suspicious tone. "You planning to take me somewhere afterwards?"

"Don't worry. We're taking you to two hospitals. We'll go to the medical hospital first, then we'll be going to the mind hospital after that."

"Two hospitals?" Damien frowned. His eyes went wide. "You're taking me to a crazy house?"

"It's a secure hospital, not a crazy house. You're not crazy. You're just ill." The man said. "After a small stay there, you'll feel right as rain."

"I'm not going to a fucking asylum!"

He shot up and shoved the doctor over before trying to run out of the door. The other doctor grabbed him. The one on the floor took out a wrapped up syringe and some clear liquid in a plastic vial. He sucked up the liquid into the syringe.

"Please don't panic. You'll feel better soon." The man explained before injecting the liquid into Damien's neck.

After a few seconds of thrashing around, Damien's body collapsed into the doctor's arms. He secured him in his grip, and he and his partner left, taking Damien – who was now unconscious – with them.

"Where are they taking him?" Kitty asked in a shaky voice. He had no idea what was happening.

"To a special hospital." Claire bit her fingernail. She was as worried as Kitty. "He's not well. He hasn't been for a long time. They'll make him better."

Despite Claire's words, Kitty felt frightened. He feared that nothing would be able to make Damien better now.