YEAR: 2011
The sun had begun to fall beneath the horizon and illuminated the ocean with a beautiful golden colour before slowly being enveloped by the black of night. A house close to the sand continued to shine and inside were the voices of children. The noise belonged to two young boys enjoying a home-cooked dinner. As they ate, they seemed to whisper things in each other's ears and laughing hysterically. Whatever they were talking about had them giggling uncontrollably, only able to stop after being interrupted by a woman who sat opposite to the two boys.
"What's got you two giggling so hard?"
Her gentle but mischievous tone managed to get through the children's laughter and as they managed to bring their giggles to a halt, the older-looking child, no more than four years old, responded with a cheeky grin spread across his face
"Nothing~!"
As the pair finished their dinner they headed to the living room to watch a show, engrossing themselves with the TV before it was cut off as they saw the women standing behind them with the remote
"It's time for you two to go to bed. Kosuke, can you grab a small futon for Izumi? Remember he's staying over for a little bit while his father is away, so make sure he's comfortable okay?"
She said while addressing the slightly older boy
"Ok mummy" said Kosuke, a little upset at his mother for turning off the TV but he went to do what she said anyway.
As Kosuke went to grab the spare bedding he saw something that caught his eye laying at the back of the closet, and being the child that he is, reached for it out of curiosity. What he now held in his hand was a small knife that looked like it had been put to use very recently. He unsheathed the blade to reveal what seemed to be a sticky red substance, which Kosuke believed to be blood, left on the blade. Not wanting to get in trouble, Kosuke put it back where he found it and went to his room with Izumi's futon and rolled it out on the floor with the help of his mother, putting the pillow at the head and called for Izumi.
"Izumi! Your futon is ready!" Kosuke yelled out and soon enough Izumi poked his head into the room with a small toothbrush in his mouth
"Thank you Kosuke" , his words almost incoherent as he spat toothpaste everywhere and then disappeared back towards the bathroom. After cleaning out both Kosuke and Izumi got changed into pyjamas and headed to their room.
"Lights out boys!"
Kosuke's mother turned off the lights for the two boys to go to sleep but Kosuke couldn't sleep, he tossed and turned while thinking about that knife he'd found in the closet. As an attempt to clear his head he wanted to take another look but as he approached the door, he could hear his parents' muffled voices coming from the outside. Kosuke couldn't make out a word of what they were saying but he could tell that whatever it was had them concerned. Kosuke headed back to bed hoping his parents wouldn't hear his movements and tried to sleep, soon dozing off and entering a strange dream. It was Kosuke, but he looked older and scarier with a chilling gaze directed at himself but before the dream could go further he woke up with a dry throat and drenched in sweat, even on the verge of tears.
It was still dark outside so Kosuke looked at the clock on his wall. It was only 5:30 am but Kosuke couldn't go back to sleep, or rather he didn't want to. He was scared to see that older version of him again so Kosuke stayed awake just laying there under his blanket until he remembered the knife from yesterday, he wanted to see it again. When Kosuke was sure everyone was still asleep, he slowly opened the door making sure to make as little noise as possible and snuck out toward the closet and rummaging around to find the knife. To his surprise, it wasn't there, but in its place was a small patch of dried blood.
With nothing else there, Kosuke decided to go back to his room and try to fall asleep again hoping to avoid that same nightmare. He drifted off to sleep again to find himself awake three hours later with a shaking and screaming Izumi on top of him.
"Izumi what are you doing?" said Kosuke, his voice sounding uneven from the shaking
"It's wake-up time Kosuke. Up! Up!"
Izumi's continued chant began to hurt Kosuke's ears forcing him to get up and stop the shouting. A few minutes later the boys were at the table to eat the breakfast Kosuke's father had prepared for them when Izumi was waking Kosuke. After they finished their food they went to get dressed and brush their teeth to be ready for the day.
"Well don't you boys look nice, are you ready for a little adventure today?"
"Yes!" they both exclaimed rather enthusiastically
They stepped outside to a beautifully sunny day with no clouds in the sky and a small breeze carrying the smell of the ocean towards them
"What do you want to do today?"
"Let's go to the beach!" Izumi proclaimed already holding a little shovel in his hand
"That's a wonderful idea Izumi! How about you lead the way."
"Okay!"
As they walked down the road and old man started talking to Kosuke's mother
"Ah Mrs. Eve, could I possibly trouble you for some assistance? I seem to be having trouble with my air conditioner."
"Of course," she replied, "could you look after these boys while I take care of it?"
"Ah of course of course," the old man turned to the two of them "would you boys like an ice cream?"
Their smiles somehow grew larger as they accepted the old man's offer. Roughly 10 minutes passed and Eve, Kosuke's mother, came out of the house
"All done, let me know if there's any more trouble okay?"
Her hands looked a little grimy but she just wiped the mess onto her pants
"All right boys are you ready to g-"
As she turned to look at them, both Izumi and Kosuke managed to eat their ice creams in such a way that it managed to get all over their faces and they were laughing at each other.
Eve turned to the old man "Is it alright if we can borrow your bathroom?" she asked while letting out a little giggle
Once the boys were all cleaned up and said their thanks to the old man they continued their walk towards the beach again. When they arrived, both Kosuke and Izumi ran to play in the sand while Eve simply laid down a towel to sit so she could comfortably watch over them. They watched boats go out to sea to catch fish and Kosuke even managed to spot the boat that his father was on.
After a couple of hours, Kosuke and Izumi inevitably grew hungry, so Eve decided to take them to a nearby restaurant for lunch. During their meal, Eve's phone had begun to ring however when she answered it, her expression darkened, turning away to hide it from the children. She excused herself to the bathroom as to avoid being interrupted. On the other side of the call was her husband, both of them speaking in Tagalog to avoid anyone understanding them
"Did you find anything Kaito?" Eve asked
"Yeah, I found some more traces. They're definitely here." Said Kaito, his voice hinted with anger and frustration
"We'll have to be more careful now. Leave the house less and protect the boys. I'll be back soon."
Kaito hung up and Eve walked back out of the bathroom in a subtle rush, grabbing both boys before paying for the food and exiting the building
"Let's go home now you two."
Eve put on a smile to mask her concern.
The three of them walked out of the restaurant where Eve challenged the boys to race and see who gets there first and of course being the children that they are, they accepted the challenge and ran the whole way back to their home.
The following hours of the day were rather uneventful, the moment Kaito walked back in the door they all had dinner, got into pyjamas and ready for bed but Kosuke struggled to sleep. While everyone else was asleep he decided to walk around the house but he tripped on something. When taking a closer look, Kosuke saw that the edge of a floor mat was sticking up a little.
He lifted it and to reveal heavy black box underneath. It was unlocked, and when one finds a mysterious box in their home, regardless of being a child or grown, you have to open it and so Kosuke removed the lid to find multiple small firearms and ammunition.
As Kosuke rummaged through the box in the ark, he heard a *creeeak* come from right behind him.