Back from the dead...so to speak

"It might scare you," Rene told her honestly. "Or at least make you feel a little differently towards me..."

Rene didn't want that, Aska was his only friend. She was when he was younger, and now she is again.

"You couldn't scare me," Aska said, almost defiantly. Pretty much nothing could scare her. She lived by the philosophy, 'there is nothing to fear but fear itself.'

"Good I'm glad," Rene said to her, actually smiling a normal non-creepy smile. "I'd never want to scare you, or hurt you."

"But then...how come you scare and hurt other people?" Aska asked. "Why can't you be with them like you are with me?"

"Because other people hurt me, and judge me," Rene told her. "Or they iritate me."

Or they're related to me.

"Or if they're related to you?" Aska asked.

How did she know that? Maybe she could read minds. Maybe she's been stalking Rene. Maybe she just guessed really, really accurately. Either way, she said it.

Rene blinked at Aska, a little confused then shrugged, "Yeah I guess you could say that. I mean," he continued, "I do stalk my sister, and I killed my father."

"But he's not your real father," Aska commented. "Though he did hurt you. Why do you stalk your sister?"

Aska didn't think that if she had a sister she would stalk her. Then again, Aska wasn't crazy. At least not Rene!crazy. She was just Aska!crazy. The non-dangerous type of crazy.

Rene didn't really have an answer for that one, "I'm just so...fascinated with her, and it's so fun to see the fear in her eyes..."

Rene thought about those eyes, then the memory of that day when he had beaten her friend, the way she looked at him, that made him so angry.

He glared, and snarled a little bit.

"What's wrong?" Aska asked, noticing his sudden anger.

"The way she looked at me," Rene growled. "She looked like...me."

"Well," Aska began, "that kind of makes sense. I mean, you've done a lot of the same things to her that your father did to you. Why would her looking like you make you angry, anyways?"

"Because it made me feel like my father," Rene explained. "I don't want to be like him."

So instead he was much worse.

"So...stop hurting people?" Aska suggested, as if that were the most obvious solution in the world. Which it was if you're not a psycho like Rene. Oh well.

"But I can't," Rene told her. "I just can't."

He grabbed Aska's hand and looked at her, "Let's stop talking about this, let's play a game."

Aska's face lit up. "A game!?!?!" she exclaimed, bouncing up and down eagerly like an excited puppy. "What kind of game!?!?"

Rene smiled, once again a non creepy-like way.

"We could play hide and go seek," Rene suggested. "Like how we use to when we were little."

"Okay!" Aska chirped. "Who should hide and who should seek?"

"I'll hide first," Rene decided. "And you can seek. Count to...fifty!"

Rene waited until Aska had her eyes shut and started couting before he turned and ran off to hide somewhere. He found a wide tree and hid behind it. (Lame hiding place, Rene.) It was weird to find Rene, acting like a child again. It was almost disturbing.

"FIFTY!!!!" Aska practically screamed when she was done counting. She uncovered her eyes and looked around wildly. She saw a wide tree which was pretty much the only possible hiding place in the cemetery. (Hide and seek in the cemetery. How inappropriate.)

So she looked behind the tree and sure enough there was Rene! "FOUND YOU!" she yelled excitedly, jumping on him and knocking them both over.

Rene made an 'oof' sound as the two fell to the ground. He held onto Aska and started to laugh an actual normal sounding laugh.

"Now it's your turn to hide," he said to her after he stopped laughing.

"I dunno, there isn't really anywhere to hide," Aska noted, looking around. An idea struck her. "We should find a place to go swimming. I wish you could come to Ughdarras. It's the best place for swimming."

"I'm sorry," Rene said, disapointed. "We could still go to the beach, or the ruins, or tamar falls..."