Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Latched Chain ❯ Chapter 1

What am I doing?

 

"Hello, Eiri." You haven't opened the door, all the way. It's just cracked open. Just a little. The chain is still latched. I can't see your eyes.

 

"Let me in, Tohma."

 

"Are you alright?" You still haven't unlatched the chain.

 

"Fine." Why won't you let me in? "What's the problem?" I don't understand why you won't open the door. It's supposed to be open, for me. Come by, whenever you need me. That's what you told me.

 

"I'm busy."

 

Busy? "What are you playing at, Tohma?" I'm tired. I'm scared. The voices in my head won't stop. "Shuichi's driving me insane." That is a lie. "And I need a place to sleep."

 

"Kick him out." The chain is still latched.

 

"Easier said than done. Listen-" I hit the door. You don't even move. "I need a place to stay." I need you. "You said I could come by if I needed to."

 

"Not tonight."

 

Not when the voices won't stop? Not when I need someone to comfort me? After all the bullshit and whining I put up with from that little idiot, after he cried for an hour in my arms when I told him I wanted to kill myself? What would you say if I told you that, Tohma? Would you let me in? Would you let me be the one to cry? Or would you still turn me away?

 

"Who is it, Tohma?" My sister. I can hear her. That silky voice, the perfume she dunks herself in.

 

"Mika?" I don't want to see her. Don't want you to retract, to second-guess your first instinct to hold me. Goddamn the need I have. The need for your comfort. "I didn't know you were back in town." She was supposed to be at my father's house.

 

"Came back, tonight," she tells me.

 

Oh. "So..." They must have been....

 

"We were staying in, tonight." You smile. I still can't see your eyes. The chain is still latched.

 

You were... with her... "I see."

 

"Come in, though." Mika sounds too happy.

 

You hesitate.

 

"No." I step away from the picture, the happy home, and the marital bliss. "It's okay. I'll get a hotel room."

 

"Eiri-boy?"

 

I stop. "It's okay."

 

"Come back, tomorrow."

 

For all I know, tomorrow may never come, Tohma. And you said your door was always open, for me. What a lie.