Afraid of the Light | By : Resting-Madness Category: Beyblade > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 198 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I don't make a profit from this story. I do not own any Beyblade character mentioned or used in it. |
Ozuma loves car trips. He could spend hours alone just thinking about things to do while his family is on the road. He often drew pictures, played spot the car, sometimes he would make faces at the other drivers whenever their was a pile up- much to his mother's dismay.
Aside from that the trips were just relaxing. He got to eat all the fast food he wanted, and being out of the house for any reason is always a plus, and then there's the fact that school isn't an option when you wake up on a weekday.
"Himani did you check the map?" Asked Ozuma's mother. Her eyes were closed up until she felt a bump which jarred her from a rest, that seemed like sleep.
"Yes dear." Himani replied with a slight roll of his eyes. Women, what did they know about directions, most of them were often lost when it came to road trips. But they swear to the hills they know every which way to go because some piece of paper tells them so. Though, ask them to drive and the answer is always the same, 'umm no thanks.'
"Are you sure you didn't miss a turn?" The woman continued. "I don't see the truck anymore." She leaned forward as though craning her neck could extend her vision 30 more yards.
"Tsugani, the truck is right over there. Sometimes the cars and trucks can't be in the same lane." Ozuma's father explained, trying to keep an easy tone. He often got a bit edgey when it came to driving and he couldn't help it. But his family knows that it's not real anger and they should take it lightly.
Ozuma blinked as he listened to his parents conversation in the front area of the car. He loves them so much, they are always nice to him and listen to everything he says. They treat him as though he is their real son, and he couldn't have asked for better adoptive parents. Ozuma's real parents had died in a fire when he was very little, almost a baby, and the Balaji family picked him up from the adoption center almost two months after that.
Their new son had been quiet at first, far too young to understand why one day his parents would just be gone, never to return. Then he's surrounded by strangers until one day he is picked up by a pair of people who began to call him son. It was very confusing.
When Ozuma reached the age of 12, his host parents then explained to him that he is adopted and he understood that right away. And he continued to love them as though they were his real family and always would be.
His new mother and father are Native American. Ozuma is both Indian and Japanese from his real parents so the language barrier wasn't a hard one to over come and the cultures were very similar, you'd swear the whole incident had been written in the stars.
"I'm just making sure," Tsugani continued. Laying back on her seat she crossed her arms and relaxed into the position. Turning her head around, she smiled at her son saying, "Ozuma, what would you like for dinner, honey?"
"Uuhh," He had no clue. It was between not knowing and not really caring at this point, it felt a lot later than it was due to the fact that the clouds were dark with rain. But it is only around 5 o'clock. "I don't know."
"Pizza it is then." The woman laughed with glee. She always looked beautiful when she laughed, in fact he thought his mother to be the most beautiful woman in the world and his father the handsomest man. Tsugani has long black hair done in what people called a, wave effect, that stopped past her armpits. Her tanned skin had a lighter tinge to it than her husbands, and she looked like a gather of honey walking and her eyes, a serious brown, completed the look and gave some lean to her age being 35.
His father was almost an exact match to the woman only darker, his skin cast off more of a reddish brown and his hair is a shade darker due to the fact that it has no highlight to it, Himani's eyes are deep brown almost black, like looking into them you could get lost forever. He is a few inches taller than his wife standing at 5' 11'' to her petite 5' 7'' and he is 38 years old.
Ozuma is 15, 4' 10'' with beautiful cream colored skin from his mothers side and dark grayish hair with a burst of red running through the middle. His gorgeous green eyes make his looks exotic and you could spend hours gazing at the boy. Swept up in his beauty. Yeah the Balaji's are a good looking family and were stared at often whenever they went somewhere. Whether alone or together and they are very loved by all who know them.
But even with all the love and adoration the family had packed up their things and moved away. They have spent several years in Kita raising their new family, but now they are ready for a change and all the members of the family agreed that moving to Japan was a good idea, which brings them on this road trip.
Himani looked out the window with a worried expression. "Looks like a storm may be coming this way." He turned his attention back ahead of him. "We'd better get something portable and find a hotel to stay in."
"Good idea." Said Tsugani still looking rather relaxed, she could act like such a sloth sometimes, then be so energetic the next.
Ozuma's happy demeanor wore off at the thought of that. He hates storms, storms meant darkness, storms meant artificial light that hardly covered all the bases of comfort that he needed. Yes, it is true. Ozuma is afraid of the dark. He's been afraid ever since he was a child and it has never gone away- nor has it dwindled since it started. He wasn't sure if it ever would. "Is there one close b-..."
Boom!
He ducked his head down, covering his head with his arms as though to shield off the storm.
"One should be pretty close I saw a sign a ways back," his father mentioned. "I'll take the next exit."
"It's ok baby." His mother soothed, reaching a hand back to stroke the boys hair. "The storm can't get us inside the car."
"It's not really the storm I'm afraid of..." He clarified quickly.
His mother frowned. "We'll be at the hotel pretty soon, they'll have plenty of light inside."
The young boy nods, reaching for his blanket. Wrapping it securely around his body, leaving a gap on the back that acted as a hood, Ozuma rest his head against the window gazing up at the sky. Just don't be severe. He prayed.
Ozuma's mother gave her son one last sympathetic look before returning her attention to the road ahead. Leaning up in her seat she grabbed the knob for the radio turning it on. A light hearted song began to play into the air, calming the boy a bit. Smiling at her ease to her son, Tsugani's gaze slipped past him and out the window.
"Look there," she points a finger. "That poor couple..."
Both Ozuma and his father turned their heads to look out the window. There, standing on the side of the road were two people, what looked to be a male and a female. There heads were covered by thin jackets and their clothes seemed soaked to the bone, though there was no rain yet. How could they have gotten wet?
Both the man and woman's faces were covered in dirt, their bodies seemed soiled as well. Their posture appeared broken and slack as though they had run a great distance to get to the road. But something about them seemed off, more so than the dirt. Like maybe they weren't for real.
The woman held a sign in her hands, Ozuma squinted as he could barely make out the large words written on it.
"Run from Dawn..." Himani read. "Wonder what that could mean?"
"Beats me... probably hippies."
Run from dawn... Ozuma ponders. His attention was called above him as he heard the sound of rain pounding down on top of the car. Lowering his back out the window, the young boys eyes widened in shock that the couple was gone. Where did they... go? He didn't think his attention was away from them that long. But maybe it was for the better that they weren't there, the look of the couple was just too eerie to think about too long.
"There's the exit." Tsugani points out. "Not a minute too late either. I just wanna flop down on a bed and go to sleep."
"Yeah, I'll come back out and get dinner once we've got our rooms." His father informed them.
The car drove along the highway, splashing water up onto the grass beside the road. Ozuma glared out the window, vision set toward the light of the city in the distance. He is beyond happy to be off the road when it came to rainy days. Give him good old sunshine any day of the week. Nice... bright... sunshine.
Tsugani began to sing the next song that started on the radio. Ozuma laughed when his father sped the car up to reach their destination faster, both of them knew more than anyone that when it came to singing, Tsugani Balaji is a minus.
...
"We'll be back before you know it." Himani told his son.
The family had checked into a nice room with two large beds. The room was wide and gorgeous! The walls of the hotel are an off yellow, pale like it was done for the summer season but the look worked well for any of the other three. Big glass windows are set on the right side of the room with heavy, cream colored curtains blocking out the view of the parking lot and blinking lights of the town in the distance.
A lovely entertainment center built of mahogany wood stands right in front of the beds, holding a 50" TV set and VCR underneath it on a compartment shelf. Pictures of what looked to be some Dutch home with several children playing outside, decorated the walls. To the left, by the door when you walk in is another door leading to a closet and across from that is the bathroom. A marble countered sink is set along the left wall of the bathroom, a long mirror from top to bottom is placed over the sink and the toilet a step or three away from it.
The shower is a walk in with no bath, shielded by heavy glass doors. The bathrooms décor is done in nothing but white. And finally, from wall to wall is a plush, beige colored carpet to match the curtains.
Ozuma had never seen a nicer place. Most of the hotels they stayed in weren't as ritzy as this place, but then again his father has a large company now, working on environmental studies and when it comes to pollution, the pay is enough to knock your eyeballs out of your head.
"You gonna be all right until we get back?" His mother dug into her luggage for something.
"Sure." He watched her intently.
"Here's the phone, you can call your friend if you want."
Smiling, her son accepts the phone. "Thanks."
"We'd better hurry, it sounds like it's getting pretty nasty our there."
Zipping up her jacket, making sure she was safe from the rain, Tsugani blew a kiss to her son.
Ozuma caught it with a mock of hesitance then placed it on his cheek. Once his parents walked out of the room, he flopped down on the bed bouncing once then twice, feeling the comfort under his car seat sore bottom.
Quickly, his fingers pressed in the familiar buttons to his pen pal over the net and by snail mail. He hadn't talked to him since they had gone on the road and he missed him dearly.
"Hello?" A high voice piped up on the other end of the phone.
"Hey Zeo." He smiled as he spoke to him.
He would never admit it to his friend- or anyone else for that matter- that he has developed somewhat of a little crush on the boy from all the letters they had written to each other over the years. Zeo is flamboyant, and funny and cares a lot for him- he can tell! Zeo's also genuinely a kind person, because even though they have no clue what each other look like, he compliments Ozuma's personality all the time.
That's what made this trip extra special, through writing the two boys found out that they would be attending the same school once classes started again in April, and that Zeo's house is a mere block away! They would finally get to see each other and maybe Ozuma could find the courage to... confess his feelings for the faceless friend.
"Are you guys still on the road? How close are you?" His friend asked, his voice sounded as though his full attention were on nothing and no one but him; it made Ozuma's heart begin to race.
"I can't really tell, my mom is hording the map to herself and my dad doesn't really keep us updated on that sort of thing." The mixed boy spoke in his fluent Japanese to his friend.
The toe of his sneaker busied itself by digging into the back heal of his left foot to pop the shoe from his foot, then his socked toe returned the favor to his right heal to remove that sneaker as well.
"But I think we're pretty close, I see a lot of signs written in Japanese when we're on the road."
"Cool! I can't wait to see you in person." Zeo cheered, enthusiasm in his tone. "I've been waiting for this since we started talking. Hahaha, my friend Tyson says he's never met anyone that's half Indian, half Japanese. He thinks you might look like an alien because your eyes are green."
"Tell Tyson he's the one who sounds like an alien." Ozuma countered.
He knows about Tyson because Zeo spoke of him often enough, same as Tyson with Ozuma so they were comfortable picking on each other even if they've never met. They both know it's all in fun.
"With the way he eats, it sounds more like refueling to me."
Zeo laughed on the other end of the phone, his voice saying something to someone in the distance. "Sorry about that, we're having a sleep over tonight."
"That sounds cool, whose there?"
"Just-... ome of my best... Tyson a-... ax- oh and Mariam! I... you... comes from Kita too." His friends voice was suddenly broken in half, making the sentence choppy.
"What?" Ozuma covered one ear. There was an odd tapping sound coming from the window. "I can't hear you so good anymore, I think we're breaking up."
"Wha..." Zeo spoke back.
"I said-..."
A loud boom from outside startled Ozuma enough for him to jump a bit. The phone is dead. That didn't sound like thunder. He got off the bed carefully, folding the phone closed in his palm. It sounded more like something hit the window. He walked cautiously toward the window, not sure what he was going to see. A bird. Maybe a branch was close and it broke free hitting the glass on its way to the ground. Whatever it was, he had to know.
Ozuma paused at the window, fear addressing his actions silently though, telling him what he might see behind the thick curtain. His hand rest in mid-air just about to yank the curtain over then a thought crossed his mind. He turned, clicking on one extra light to make the room three times brighter then it was- just incase. Wetting his lips, he then gathered his courage and tugged the curtain over. His eyes were scrunched closed, then with another wave of hesitance he peeked the right eye open then the left.
His breath sucked in sharp as he saw the most horrifying thing, staring him in the face. It was the sign! The large black letters written on the cardboard glared at him as the couple from the road flashed through his mind.
How did that get here?! He wondered, horror written all over his face.
He stepped forward looking out the window down at the street, almost as if he expected the couple to be standing down there looking up at him, but no one was there. Run from dawn? He read it over. As if the weight of his mental words tugged at the sign, it lilted backward, falling to the concrete of the parking lot.
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