Difference between revisions of "Cutscene: A Phone Call Home"

Latest revision as of 02:37, 6 October 2012

IC Date: October 30, 2009

Characters Involved: Shiori Hibiki

"Hallo?"

"Shiori? It's been a while since you last called home. Are you all right over there?"

"Mum? Um. Hallo. I, er, I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine. Did you fall ill? It's getting colder, so remember to dress warmly. Do you need me to send someone over-"

"No! I mean, um, no. No, it's all right, Mum. I, uh, I don't need anything here. I don't need anything more, I mean. From home."

"Shiori, did something happen? You don't usually sound like this. Something's troubling you, I can tell."

I tried to save my friend from a person who might be her boyfriend, and to save him from himself. In return, he broke my arm. They worked it out on their own anyway, making everything I did pointless. "It's nothing, really, Mum."

"Remember, if you have any troubles or problems, you can always talk to me, okay?"

I was thrown into a strange dimension in the television. My deepest secrets and shame were paraded in the open for all to see. My inner self tried to kill my friends. "Okay."

"You're still living in the... the SEES dorm, right? That's the school club you're in?"

The school club I'm in thinks I'm a liability and a troublemaker. If they've changed their minds, they haven't bothered to tell me. "That's right."

"How is it? Have you made any friends? You've always been happiest chatting with others, Shiori. Try to make lots of friends you can talk to."

Everything I try to say comes out wrong. I tell too many secrets, even when I don't mean to. When I stay silent, nobody believes I did. Everything I do is to try to keep people safe, but it never works. Nobody ever listens. They use me to learn what they want, and then discard me, leaving me with the blame and the guilt. "Okay, Mum."

"Any close friends?"

My boyfriend is a silent middle-school boy traumatized by his brother's death. He was last seen having apparently murdered five men, before vanishing in the company of a supernatural little girl. "A few."

"Of course, you need to watch out for what you say. Be sensitive to other people's feelings, or they won't like you. Try to be friends with everyone."

The enemies I've made include creatures made of darkness and those who control them, a cult wishing for the end of the world, and a megacorporation led by an evil man intent on world domination. All of them want to kill, enslave, or subvert me. "Okay."

"Are you going to be busy this weekend? Made any plans?"

I'm going to confront the megacorporation, in search of my boyfriend, who may have had his psyche consumed by his darker, base instincts. It's all my fault. "Um, yes, I have. Just... stuff. Sorry."

"No, you don't have to apologize! It's great that you've settled in over there. It sounds like you're having fun."

Every night in Port Island, I live in fear of the hidden hour, where everyone else turns into coffins and water turns into blood. Sometimes I wish I'd never come here. "Yes. Fun. Um, how's Dad? And Yuuki?"

"Your father's still on that business trip in Shanghai; he won't be back for a while. Oh, and Yuuki got third place in his class for the recent exams! Isn't that great? We've got such high hopes for that boy... oh, don't worry about your grades. We received the copy of your report. You did very well! Better than before. As long as you try your best, Shiori, we'll be happy."

Everything I try, I fail at. Everything I do goes wrong. I'm useless, a liability, a troublemaker. Maybe it would be better if I never existed. "Thanks, Mum."

"Is there anything else you want to talk about, Shiori? Anything you want to say?"

Help me. Save me.

I don't know what to do.

"Nothing else, Mum."

"All right, then. It's been nice to hear your voice again! Remember to call home often, okay? Bye!"

"Okay, Mum. Goodbye."