Crimson Purple E-Book

Emilia Sayaka Sarajlija

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 147

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

"How tightly can you close your eyes?" Crimson Purple is a unique take on a story with supernatural and cruel elements, playing itself out in a parallel Tokyo. We get to follow the unusual lives of the twins Ayame and Ayaka. How their tales unfold is worse than one can even imagine. Monsters from both sides appear, betrayals are made and killings go off. How will this tale take a turn for the better? Only one way to find out.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER I

It is a gloomy night in a modern, parallel Tokyo. As we look down upon the big city, you would expect it to be lit up with people, even at this time. Surprisingly though, there are barely folks around. A tired-looking man in an office suit carrying papers, a drunk fellow stumbling around with his empty bottle… There are not many on the main streets indeed.

Perhaps it is because of the incredibly heavy fog that has laid itself like a blanket over the areas we can see, maybe because of the obvious reason that it is very late. Or is it because of the recent potential dangers that has begun lurking behind every dark corner, unseen, unheard and unknown? With the little we have observed, we can tell that this potential danger is not a made-up illusion. A darkness no one could fathom has broken through the blanket of fog and the smell of a bittersweet, yet cruel evil is in the air. Something has arrived, but none is aware of what it exactly is. Only the humans who become victims of this abnormality can look the perpetrator in the eye and learn a fact they still cannot comprehend, as they take a painful but quick last breath and disappear from this world.

Continuing to scan, we begin to dig closer and deeper into the abyss of Tokyo’s more shady squares, mostly consisting of just as shady beings, apart from small love hotels here and there. Even a love hotel has its secret though; we have not been particularly keen with looking for more signs of life, but this case seems interesting. A middle-aged man exits a love hotel hurriedly. What strikes our interest is not how he looks like, since he has a completely normal and average appearance for a man of his age. What intrigues us is his actions. A smug grin appears on his face as he stands for a moment outside the entrance door to the love hotel and pulls out jewelry and money from his pockets. He does a speedy examination of the content in his hands and pulls them back into his pockets before anyone has gotten a look at it. Unfortunately for him, someone spots him and has been hiding in the shadows ever since he came out from the little hotel. A young woman is sitting on the rooftop of a nearby building. As far from what we can see, she seems to be in her late teenage years of life. She has a petite-built shape to her body, but we can tell that she is strong nevertheless, giving her composed posture and threatening dark purple eyes that is almost trying to stare this man to death. How did she manage to get up on the building’s roof to begin with?

And then, it happens: The middle-aged man, as if answering to her unspoken threats, locks eyes with the adolescent woman. His smile disappears and his brown orbs fills up with fear in an instant, and his legs start going off as fast as they can, even though he knows that they cannot carry him far.

“Time for another simple hunt, I suppose. It gets awfully boring when they make it this easy for me”, the girl quietly sighs the words to herself in a beautiful but serious tone as she picks herself up, jumps down from the top of the roof and begins chasing the man in the speed of light. His rapidity is not something that seems to save him though, as she keeps standing in front of him every time he turns around a corner in the valleys. It is like she has the ability of teleportation on her side, her with her extraordinary stamina and willpower to get ahold of this man. Why is she after him though? Is it the valuables she wants, or is it his life? At the same time, why would she want to take a stranger’s small worth, that is like the size of a pebble? All questions imaginable is coming and going through the middle-aged one’s head as he is running out of breath and finds himself in a dumpster valley. It is a dead end. He never did pay one bit of attention to where he was letting his legs take him, but maybe this is the fate of the man to face the dark purple-eyed young lady. He does not want to accept such a fate though, even when he hastily turns around and sees her standing there, with her breath fully intact.

“Stay away from me, please! If it’s the money you want, just take it!”, the exhausted man pushes out those words from his lungs as he pulls out the pricey jewelry and a few thousand Yen from his light-brown coat and casts them in front of the purple-eyed. She slowly draws closer and leans down to inspect the items laying on the ground. As she gently touches a fancy pink ring, her amethyst orbs light up a bit, like a magical gem. After a couple of seconds, she throws the ring away and mumbles to herself, but loud enough for the older man to hear it.

“It is just as I suspected. He persuaded a prostitute to visit that love hotel with him… entered a room with her… pushed her around like a puppet on a string… and raped her until she couldn’t breathe anymore”, she mutters. And with every word, her voice becomes rawer; she is clearly angry, and the man notices it, shivering in fear and shock at the thought of what she knows and what she wants to do with him.

“How do you know— “, he tries to speak up but is interrupted by her.

“You are already admitting it? Boy, you really are an easy target to kill.”

“Kill…?! No, I beg you to spare me! Listen— “ “Shut the hell up, filthy rapist”, she says as she runs to the middle-aged one with her inhuman speed, uses her mere hands to bend his thin neck until it cracks and reveals her long teeth as she furiously sinks them into the flesh of her victim. The man does not even have time to scream in pain. It all happens in a second, but it is feeling like an eternity for the young lady. She continues to suck his blood, and the taste is supple and satisfying. His eyes widen, his mouth hangs open, his skin turns pale from being empty and the body drops down next to the dumpster. After she is done with her work, an even more mysterious man jumps down from a building out of nowhere and positions himself behind the adolescence.

“Clear?”

“Clear”, she responds to him before the strange man and the girl jumps into the darkness of the night, leaving the lifeless body behind.

It is morning. The sun is trying its best to break through the Sakurapatterned curtains and into the bedroom, filling it with hues of a fierce red, a mild orange and a pretty pink. A girl sleeping on the top of a bunk bed is starting to slowly wake up from the sun’s colors shimmering into her beautiful blue eyes, as if being her alarm clock. Her mouth lets out a quick yawn as she sits up and rubs her eyes while scanning the room.

There is no doubt that this is a small home, since the room does not consist of many things, but we can also tell that this is a very girly room, considering the Sakura curtains, the white bunk bed, the idol posters on the walls… there are also two wooden tight closets next to the beds and two desks, one having books and writing material on it and the other one having makeup and CDs on it. Another girl is in the bedroom, though she is awake and sitting at one of the desks, occupied with something. Appearance-wise, she resembles the girl on the bed so much that they are most likely twins. The only distinguishable difference is their hair color: One has hazel brown hair and the other has pure black.

“You’re awake, Ayaka?”, the girl at the desk says out loud while continuing with her business, but we can tell that she is talking to her sleepy sister, whose name is apparently Ayaka. As soon as she hears the question, she almost jumps down from the bunk bed and hurries to hug her twin firmly from behind, with a smile stretching across her fineshaped face.

“Ayame! As always, my diligent sister is awake and sitting at her desk, doing whatever while waiting for me to wake up!”, Ayaka happily says and then rests her head on Ayame’s left shoulder to peek at what she is doing.

“I’m practicing poetry and calligraphy again. I find it to be such a wonderful combination. It’s time-consuming but calming at the same time. You should try it sometime.”

“Hmm… Nah. You’re the old and traditional soul here, not me. There’s no way I’d be able to draw in the gorgeous style that you do anyways, even if I try!”

“Haha, I suppose that’s true. I find my soul to be kind of old too when I think about it”, Ayame confirms with a small smile showing on her face as she continues to focus on the ink and paper. She seems to be the type of teenager who is often in her own world, filled with seriousness and art, while Ayaka’s world is a bit more open and carefree. They may be twins, but both have strengths and weaknesses that makes them slightly different. That does not mean they don’t have anything in common though.

“Considering you love the bed, you’re up quite early. It is 5:06 AM, and you usually sleep until our karate lessons at 7:00 AM”, Ayame states while steadily letting the brush flow and form Japanese characters.

“Of course I woke up now: I sleep more than you to make sure that I am strong enough for training and school. But this time, I had to experience the wonderful sunrise! You know I love when the sun rises, just like you enjoy watching when the sun sets”, Ayaka responds brightly while opening the curtains and letting the sun kiss her lips.

After becoming more awake and warmed up, she proceeds to walk to her closet to take off her dark blue pajamas and put on a daily attire that suits her: a medium-long, simple white dress with matching white stockings patterned with red roses and leaves. After being happy with her clothing choice, she goes to sit on the desk beside Ayame’s to brush her messy light brown hair and to put on a bit of a crème foundation to her face. She looks at herself in the mirror several times to make sure that she’s happy with today’s look and smiles when she’s complete.

Ayame’s closet seems to have more casual clothes and darker colors though, as she is wearing merely a black pair of tight jeans and a purple T-shirt with the Japanese character for “love” written in the middle of the shirt. Each sister has their preferences and tastes, but everything about them suits just right.

“How do I look?”, Ayaka asks as she stands up and makes a humorous model pose, waiting for a positive response.

“As beautiful as a blooming rosebud”, Ayame answers in a serious but affectionate tone.

“You’re too sweet, Ayame! And you don’t have to be jealous: I can tell that you are when it comes to my appearance… but I need you to know that you are more beautiful than me. The auras that you give off apply to your beauty too! Also, remember how you are popular with both students and teachers in school for being so cool yet old-fashioned?

People look up to you and everything that you are. I mean, look at your long and straight black hair, your flawless body that any guy would want their girlfriend to have— “ “You’re babbling again, Ayaka”, Ayame interrupts to speak. “Besides, it actually sounds like you are the jealous one”, she says with a now confident tone to her voice and a smug smile, making her sister flustered as she just caught her in a lie. They both decide to laugh it off.

“We should go eat breakfast. I’m sure everybody’s in the kitchen… I also know that you’re starving”, Ayame proclaims with another overconfident expression.

“What makes you think I am hungry, sister? I can survive without food!”, Ayaka says and, before she even has time to hide another lie, her growling stomach reveals the truth.

“Come on, silly”, Ayame giggles while dragging Ayaka out of their bedroom and right into the kitchen, where they are warmly welcomed by the other family members.

“Good morning, my daughters!”, mother Izumi greets happily her girls when she hears them walking out of their room. She is sitting on the floor at the square-shaped Japanese table with a very young and small child, helping him eat some crushed vegetables. Beside her and the young one, there’s a man with glasses and a newspaper sitting down as well. He greets the adolescences with a firm nod and a sincere smile before he goes on with reading. Ayaka looks around and notices that someone is missing, so she asks the man for confirmation.

“Father, where is big sis?”

“Reina had an early shift at the office that she needed to take”, father Yasu flatly responds while focusing so much on reading the papers that an eye wrinkle appears and goes away in the level of concentration.

Izumi adds some words to the conversation.

“Your big sister is very hardworking and devoted to your father’s company and that is how she got the job, even without much experience on the workplace. Reina shows great potential and I hope you two will be reminded of that, now when you are preparing for your final exams.”

“Of course. We will not disappoint you or father”, Ayame says with determination in her voice as she responds to the motivation their loving mother is trying to give. Yasu looks proudly at Ayame but disappointedly at Ayaka, who is not saying anything or even indicating that she is listening. She seems to worry over something, and that something could be anything.

“Anyway, you two should make some breakfast for yourselves. I would help if I could but I have to finish feeding your little brother. Sora is a hungry boy!”, Izumi tells the girls, and now that the topic is food, Ayaka snaps out of her thoughts and onto the fridge… but then, she hesitates again, and whispers a few words to Ayame.

“Hey… can you cook something for me? Anything, pretty please?”

Ayame looks confusingly at her twin and asks, “I thought you knew how to cook?”

“I know how to, but your food tastes amazing! Please?”

“Well, make a meal with me then. I’ll teach you the ways of the culinary arts! What do you say about some okonomiyaki?”, Ayame whispers back and gets a smile filled with gratitude from Ayaka in response. Their parents take a quick look at them as their daughters are happily working together to try to cook the best Japanese pancakes ever, and they feel just as happy to have raised a big yet stable family.

“It is finally done!”, Ayaka announces after 30-45 minutes in a loud tone while spinning around and showing her mother and father a plate stuffed with the okonomiyaki she made with her sister.

“Have a taste and let us know what you think”, Ayame adds, in her usual calm voice. Yasu’s eyes broaden a bit while still reading his news articles.

He is clearly surprised by something he read.

“Izumi, you taste their food. Ayame learned her cooking from you, after all”, Yasu says in a monotone way, completely uninterested in engaging to the twins’ effort and conversation. They take heed to their father’s lack of interest because of one of the articles, and so they ask him what is wrong.

“You should read this”, he flatly answers while putting the newspaper on the table and pointing at one piece of text. Ayaka comes closer to read out loud the headline.

“Latest news: Prostitute and customer found dead last night” … The twins sit there in a confusing state, as they do not seem very shocked.

Yasu speaks up.

“Look at what’s written about their deaths. The customer was a man in his 50s. His body was just like the other victims that’s been reported. No blood in his body, yet no open wounds. His DNA was found all over the 18-year-old prostitute’s body, so the police assume he beat and raped her to death, and then somehow got himself killed quickly afterwards.”

“Despite everyone being used to that news these days, it is always horrible, every time this happens”, Izumi suddenly says while handwashing the dishes. “That girl was around your ages, Ayame, Ayaka”.

Their mother gets more emotional the more she speaks. She finishes the dishes, and by the time she turns around to face her daughters, her eyes are slightly filled with tears. “Please, my beautiful girls… be extra careful when you go outside. Don’t let anything happen to you”, Izumi says heartfelt while closing her eyes and hugging her daughters tightly. Yasu puts the newspaper away and decides to leave for work, mostly to look after Reina there. Before he closes the entrance door, Ayame quickly expresses herself.

“Be careful, father. None of us can afford to lose you either.”

“Always careful”, Yasu responds with a small but confident smile to cheer his worried daughter up and heads out into the huge city.