The red haired boy introduced himself. "My name's Himi, Himi Riffs."
"My name's Sonata Dusk, or Sonata." The two smiled awkwardly, but this was interrupted by the slamming of a tray on the table, causing Sonata to jump out of her seat, screaming.
"Move," he ordered harshly, however softly.
Sonata looked at the boy. "O-o-ok," she said cautiously, moving her chair over.
"And you chose Himi here to be your boyfriend?" The boy asked mockingly.
"Boyfriend?" asked Himi. "We're just friends is all, stop being such a bully!"
"Oh, if THIS is bullying, you won't like what goes beyond that," he said darkly, clenching his fist.
"I don't wanna start a fight," Himi uttered, backing away.
"OK," replied the boy. "Well I do. So, ya wanna go?" He slammed his other fist on the table, and aimed one at Himi.
Himi stood up, urging Sonata to another table. "Let's go to another table, it won't matter if their full, we need to get away from Silver Tiara."
"Silver Tiara? Sounds a lot like..."
"Diamond Tiara?" He nodded. "He is her brother, sent here for anger issues, as you can tell."
Just as the pair sat at a table with barely any room, Silver Tiara grabbed Sonata by the hood, almost strangling her. Himi had just taken a bite of his sandwich, and almost choked when he heard her cry for help. "Hi-Himi..." She uttered weakly, trying to free herself of Silver Tiara's deadly clutch.
Himi didn't want to start a fight, but it didn't help that the other teenagers in the room chanted for one.
"Sonata," Himi said, uneasy about what he needed to do. "I'm so sorry about this."
***
Silver Tiara had recovered from his nose surgery after a day, and Himi was kept in his own room. If I hadn't saved Sonata... he thought to himself, smiling a little. Viki walked into the room.
"Himi? Are you ready to come out?"
"I'm ready," he said truthfully, letting go of his anger towards Silver Tiara.
Viki led Himi outside to the courtyard where some of the same people from the event two weeks ago were. Snickers and chuckles snuck through the groups of kids as Himi entered, but Sonata greeted Himi with a hug, which took him by surprise.
"I can't thank you enough for helping me," she said happily, "I don't know if I would have even lived-" Sonata zoned out for about a second to think about the word LIFE.
***
"Mommy?" Sonata asked as her mother almost choked on Sonata's stomach pills. "Silly mommy, those are my pills. They might make you sick."
"No darling," she replied, holding back tears as she swallowed another pill. "They help my stomach as well. " She ruffled the young girls hair as she turned her around towards the clock. "It's pretty late. You should go to bed."
"Okay, mommy," she said, leaning in for a hug. "Good night, I love you!"
"I love you too."
Thought not audible to Sonata, sounds of vomiting could be heard from the bathroom that night.
***
Sonata pulled away from Himi in tears, dashing to a corner to cry. The tears from her trail evaporated in the hot sun. Himi ran over to the girl and put a hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her.
"I-It's okay," Himi said, however awkwardly, flashing an even more awkward smile. Sonata still cried, but not as much after the heard Himi's voice.
"I'm sorry," Sonata sobbed, and apologized several more times.
"Don't worry," Himi said gingerly, laying a warm hand on her shoulder as he knealt down beside her. "Don't worry."
***
Sonata trudged back to her room in the hospital.
Only one more week and five more days to go, she thought as she fell asleep.
***
Sonata awoke with a start the next day, rubbing her eyes and yawning. What she didn't realize was breakfast was almost over, and a frantic Viki urged her over to the cafeteria.
"Hurry," she said, "you don't want to be late for breakfast!"
"Right," Sonata said with only ten minutes left to eat. She sat next to Himi, who patted the chair, signaling her to come. But once she sat down, an infuriated Silver Tiara banged his tray down as usual on the next table over.
"MOVE!" he bellowed at the helpless kids, none of which moved; they were petrified with fear.
"Don't make me move you, because you won't like that." Still no one moved, but a few at the table started to weep.
The room turned silent with quiet gasps here and there when he grabbed a girl by the legs and threw her against the wall, blood spurting against the tiles. The girl was out cold, with the exception of a few whimpers. Kids ran over to her, but were stopped when Silver Tiara screamed, "GET ANY CLOSER TO THAT GIRL AND YOU'LL TAKE A FLIGHT AS WELL!"
It baffled and also made Sonata worried that no one had tried to stop him other than the adults in the room, who soon after pinned him down and dragged him to his room in the hospital. Everyone resumed eating, but in almost silent whispers. "Did he just..?" "Why would he..." "That nutjob!" A few went over to help the girl who had been injured as well as many nurses and medics.
***
Sonata lay awake one night, reading her favorite book. She always read under the covers with the flashlight at night, but tonight was different. The usual idle chatter between her parents suddenly evolved into some sort of argument.
"Look, Herb, there's no way we can care for Sonata properly if we don't have the money for it. We have to sell this house and get an apartment."
The father, clearly annoyed, eyed her with suspicion. "That's the fourth time you've proposed that this month, and I said no the other three. So this one is..."
"Yes!" The mother shouted defiantly.
"No." Sonata heard a slap, followed by a small squeal.
"Don't wake Sonata!" She whispered tearfullly.
"You know I love Sonata, but do you?" He dashed to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, unaware Sonata was already awake. "If you really love her, scream." He points the knife at her chest, and inserted the blade slightly. A bloodcurdling scream erupted through the room, the house, the street, the neighborhood. Sonata had had enough, and had charged into the living room. She stared in borrow, motionless.
"Oh hi, Sonata," he said to the twelve year old girl. She may have been young, but she understood a lot.
"No." Sonata clenched her fists. "Shut up."
"Oh?"
"SHUT UP."
"Having a temper tantrum like a baby? Awww," he mocked, making crying motions and pretending to cry.
"DAMMIT I SAID SHUT UP!" Sonata reached over and kicked him in the crotch, hard.
Her dad looked up and laughed. He kept laughing and laughing and laughing.
Her mother weakly lifted her head.
"I want a divorce."