Fates

I. The identity in that dream, I mean nightmare

As I watched the faceless girl with a creepy smile, Nao suddenly called me.

"Kio." He said then he tapped my shoulder.

I felt shivers down my spine. As I blinked I was back to reality like the time was back to normal too. And it disappeared next to Mio and I never saw it in those moments again.

"Is that a hallucination? But if it's the same with my right eye, that's not a hallucination." I mumbled to myself.

When I finally realized that the first thing I saw was not a hallucination and that it was something new.

"Is this one related to that dream?" I asked myself in my mind, because I first saw this figure in my dream.

I kinda creeped out as I saw it for the second time but the fact that I didn't inspect its clothes again didn't get me anything necessary. It looks like I'm starting to be shocked by the thing I see because what I see is not normal.

I realized that almost everything that was happening to me was linked to my right eye. As with Chiaki-chan and the boy, both of them are about the gradually disappearing of the body and in that dream also I clearly saw the visions there but I'm still not certain about this since it's a dream everything is possible, everything can happen. And lastly after that dream that faceless girl with a creepy smile that I also saw in that dream but I still both not sure about the things related to the faceless girl with a creepy smile, because I'm still not sure if it's also related to my eye but one thing is for sure that every time I see that girl, my visions are clear and normal. That's why I need some more proof.

"Kio, I'll be going now, just beep me if anything happens." Nao said.

"Yeah, sure but wait, I don't have any phone. It broke because of the accident." I explained.

"Ok, here take my phone I got another one at home, take care ok? Bye, bye Mio." He said as he patted Mio's head.

"Oh yeah, always take care of your brother Mio." Nao continued.

"I'm the older brother you know." I said.

"Don't let him do reckless things when I'm not around." Nao said as he ignored what I just said.

"Yes !! Bye, Nao nii-chan." Mio said. And both Mio and I waved goodbye.

After all that happened, everyone returned to their jobs and stations after they found out that I was fine and nothing serious had happened.

When everyone left, Mio and I were the only ones in the room again. Mio fell asleep while hugging me because maybe she got tired of worrying and waiting for me to wake up.

Because of the silence that enveloped the room I thought of that again, the presence of a faceless girl with a creepy smile next to Mio.

"Is there any meaning about her appearance to me, especially when she appeared at Mio's side?" I asked myself, it got me thinking. I thought she'd appear only in my dreams but still I can't say anything since it only happened once, in my dream and in reality.

The only thing I noticed about that faceless girl with a creepy smile was that she was a girl, and almost the same as Mio, especially in height. Still I need some proof to make my assumptions true, I need solid proof about that faceless girl with a creepy smile.

*sigh because of the fun and noise a while ago, I don't seem to be used to silence anymore. It's weird how happiness can leave us easily, and visit us occasionally.

I suddenly felt hungry and heard a loud sound from my stomach.

I looked closely at Mio. I could see her sleeping face and dripping saliva from her mouth.

"I think Mio is hungry, she doesn't sleep like this haha." I mumbled to myself.

"Hey Mio, wake up. Let's go eat." I said as I tapped her face to wake her up.

She immediately got up when she heard the word food. I knew it, she's really hungry.

"You should have told me you're hungry after I woke up." I said to her while she's rubbing her eyes.

"I thought you're tired." She replied.

"You know that we didn't eat snacks a while ago right? So I'm also hungry now." I responded.

"It's because you lost consciousness a while ago." She said while pouting. That seems to be sulking.

"Hai, hai. I won't lose consciousness next time, so you don't have to worry about me." I said then I messed her hair.

She's still pouting haha, so cute. I lift her up to get her down from the bed and hold her hand as we go to the hospital's cafeteria.

-------

When we arrived at the cafeteria we ordered food at the counter and then looked for a seat while I'm carrying both our food. When we found some empty seats we went straight there, I put our food down and sat down.

While I'm focusing on my food, that faceless girl with a creepy smile appeared in my mind, which surprised me which caused me to let go of the spoon I was holding which also surprised Mio.

"Maybe she's a ghost? But why is she haunting me?" I mumbled to myself.

"I didn't remember doing something bad to a kid." I mumbled again.

"Onii-chan." Mio said as she touched both sides of my face that made me come back to reality and surprised to see Mio sitting at the table.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I saw her already sitting on the table.

"I woke you up from the slumber of thoughts." She answered.

"No, I mean why are you sitting at the table?" I asked again.

"Umm .. because I can't reach you from where I am." She embarrassedly answered.

"Hahaha, well get down for now. It's rude to sit at the table." I responded as I laughed at her excuse.

So she went down to the table and then returned back to her seat as she hid her face in shame. And she ate again.

Oh yeah, speaking of ghosts. I remember what I asked Nao a while ago. About the name of the faceless ghost.

[Flashback]

Nao and I talked about what they did at school, student council things and all the things that happened at school. As I was talking to him, my dream suddenly came to my mind, which led to me questioning him.

"Hey Nao, when we were still a kid do you remember the name of a faceless ghost? That grandma used to tell us?" I ask while trying to remember its name.

"Ohh, you mean the Noppera-bo?" He answered in an uncertain tone.

"Why do you ask?" He continued.

[End of Flashback]

Noppera-bo, that ghost. Maybe the one that appears to me in the dream and in reality is that? But what I remember there in Noppera-bō is that they have no creepy smile on their face but only faceless. I guess I need to search more about it. So I brought out the phone that Nao gave me. And started to search all about that ghost.

"NII-CHAN !!!" She yelled at the same time and stood at her seat as she stomped her hand onto the table.

I was even more surprised by what he did today because it caused a loud sound. I looked around, everyone around looked at us. I looked at Mio and saw her hand pointing to the cell phone I was holding.

"What are you doing again ?? What's wrong now?" I asked in confusion.

"Nii-chan it's rude to use your phone while eating." She said in a grumpy tone. as she sat back.

I was so occupied with my thoughts that I forgot what I'm eating and also forgot my table manners.

"Haiii, haiiii." I said while smiling and I messed her hair.

She pouted looking at me with doubt in her mind hahaha. I pinched her cheeks and said "haii, I'm sorry." Then put my phone down.

I resumed my meal and stopped what I was doing on the cellphone. I noticed that Mio was just bowing as she watched her food and suddenly fell silent. I looked at her and noticed that some water was dripping down her chin.

"Is that tears? Is she crying?" I said in my mind.

That's when I remembered some of our past.

[Flashback]

That was dinner time. We sat down and prayed before eating. I raised my arms to get food when dad suddenly slapped my hand. I was a bit surprised by what he did.

"That's rude, both of you go wash your hands first before eating. And use your utensils when you eat." Dad commanded.

Dad said when he noticed we did not wash our hands because we went straight to the dining table.

[Flashback]

Dad taught us everything we need to know about good manners, all kinds of good manners. He taught us all that because he said that no matter what happens and no matter what our circumstances in life, good manners are the thing we use most in life until we grow up. But he started teaching almost all of this when I went to Senior Secondary School where they started to change so it didn't impress me very much. I already learned these things when I'm still young but not from them but from Nao and Hans.

But on Mio's part, the meaning is different, because all her life they have been next to her, mom and dad, that they didn't do to me but only recently.

"Why did they even leave Mio so early?" I thought to myself.

I stood up and went to her side and sat down. I touched her face and then wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Mio, don't cry, I'm still here, don't be sad." I said while comforting her. I know it's hard on her because she's too young to accept and understand everything that happened.

We finished eating but Mio's expression is still the same because of remembering the memories from the past. I just carried her on my back as she leaned on my shoulder until we reached our room.

I laid her on the bed and covered her with a blanket. I tucked her hair on the side to see her face, she looked so peaceful and yet, so lonely inside.

"I can't bring them back to life but would you prefer that I should have died instead of them? I'm sorry if that didn't happen." I seriously said with a fake smile on my face.

"If only they took me instead of them." I continued.

All I know is that I think that accident is not really an accident because I saw something weird that time. That light that suddenly strikes us is strange.

I kissed her forehead and stroked her head.

I sat on the other side of the bed and then resumed what I was doing earlier. I look at all the sites that came up with the result but it says almost the same thing. That noppera-bō only shows itself in quiet and unoccupied places at night, so it means it's not really a ghost because it showed it's appearance to me where there are many people inside our room. And I feel like it's not really a yokai or ghost too because it didn't actually scared the sh*t out of me. I just search it like this because maybe by searching the internet I will find some information on what is happening to me.

So I tried to search for something else and typed "Faceless human means in dreams". All the articles that I saw say that it's part or an identity of me that I still haven't seen before as if I have never really met myself or the people around me. I didn't find any information on what I was looking for.

I just lay down next to Mio and looked at the ceiling.

"How could I relate to what the article says if I don't know who I am in that dream?" I thought but despite what I've said it really feels so familiar.

Like I really know the identity of that body that I'm in but "Who really am I?"