Part 1
1 - Windhole
When I was in elementary school, Ruri-chan's seat was on a corner behind mine. In class, she often threw bits of eraser at the back of my head. When they stuck and got tangled in my hair, I’d hear a voice laugh, “Gross, she has dandruff!” When I turned around, she would shriek.
She had dragged me to the bathroom after class like always. Poured a bucket full of water over my head, stripped off my soaked uniform. A riot of shrill laughter echoed through the bathroom when the school swimsuit I wore underneath was exposed.
“Look! You're ready to hop in the pool, aren't you?”
My weak constitution meant I was sure to catch a cold if I stayed in chilly water for too long. It was why I didn't participate in school swimming lessons. Ruri-chan fussed over me, so she helped me out by playing pool. She filled a bucket of tap water that smelled like chlorine, and I felt nauseous and short of breath once the smell filled my sinuses.
“Okay, ready for the diving lesson? Hold your breath~!”
My head was shoved in the bucket so suddenly that it knocked the wind out of me, and I watched a parade of large bubbles float to the surface. Not even ten seconds passed before I felt like I was going to pass out, but the moment I felt a single, uncomfortable heartbeat, Ruri-chan yanked me out.
I coughed and gasped for breath. Even I was surprised by how loud the coughing was while my body flailed in search of oxygen. Before I was able to catch my breath, though, my head was grabbed and shoved back into the water.
“How is it? You're finally getting to play in the pool like you've always wanted to, isn't it so fun?”
The sounds of my burbling and thrashing mixed with the three voices of Ruri-chan and her toadies. Their muffled voices sounded like the wails of the damned, straight from the depths of hell.
I see, this must be hell. I must be about to die.
That didn’t scare me; death was my only ray of hope. It was the only time I found something even close to the unfounded hope for my spirit to finally find comfort. Ruri-chan knew better than to kill me, though. She'd get in trouble for that, so she pulled me out.
When she did, I barfed everywhere.
“Ewww! What is wrong with you?! Clean it up yourself!”
Ruri-chan and her toadies went back to the classroom, leaving me behind. I got a cloth from the supply closet and wiped up the wet floor. I struggled to make it back to class, since the drops of water falling from my bangs left growing dark stains.
Getting soaked meant a fever. It was a week before I went back to school.
“What, what's with you with missing class? Are you saying it was our fault?”
“N-nooo, I wasn't…”
“Come to school, then. Even if it kills you.”
“B-but my mom told me to stay home.”
“Like! I! Said! Come to school even if it kills you! If you don't, you're dead anyway!”
The group of three had my arms pinned up behind my head in the bathroom as usual. Ruri-chan stood in front of my restrained body and pulled out a mechanical pencil. It was the same kind that we used in class, but the bright silver emerging from the tip gleamed like a knife. The clicking sound of the lead coming out reminded me of a box cutter.
“Hmmm… Your body needs to be drilled into shape, doesn't it? Where should we start? How about with the thighs!” She yanked on my skirt as hard as she could. The skirt fell uselessly to the floor with the sound of snapping hooks. “Oh, hold on a sec, this dweeb is still wearing character underwear, isn't she? What a freak!”
I couldn't tell if the heat growing in my face was from my being restrained or from embarrassment. Before I could tell her to stop, she stabbed the lead into my thigh.
“AAAHHH! Ow! That hurts that hurts that hurts! No! Stop!”
“Huh? It's your fault for taking a vacation!”
Even after the lead broke, Ruri-chan didn't stop stabbing me. The open wounds wept dark ooze and, scared that the lead had broken off inside, I started crying.
“Hey! We need to sterilize this!”
She pulled out a lighter and cauterized the open wounds. I shrieked from the heat and pain.
“Hey, shut your mouth!”
The toadies' hands covered my mouth and pressed down on my neck. It was almost impossible to breathe, let alone scream. My face filled with tears and snot while I struggled, and I unintentionally kicked Ruri-chan's leg on reflex.
Her scowl flushed with anger. “What's with the kicking, you bitch?!”
She is going to kill me. I am going to die.
“No, stooop!”
Since both of my arms were pinned, I flailed the lower half of my body as hard as I could. In response, Ruri-chan tried to subdue me with a knee to the stomach. I bit the hand of the toadie who had my neck pinned and heard a yelp of pain. I heard a stall door kick open as Ruri-chan put me in a headlock and started pulling my hair. She dragged me in while I tried to squirm loose.
“Enough already, you bitch!” She yelled, brandishing the mechanical pencil over me in a tight grip. “Ah!”
That was the moment her foot slipped on the wet floor. Time slowed to a crawl. The mechanical pencil's tip fell from the sky like a raindrop. The rest of the work was all gravity.
I still think about that moment.
It was like a cavern’s windhole had opened into my very existence. As the mechanical pencil slammed through my eyeball, something like a rainbow heralding good weather spread across my field of view.