This is the newest installment of the original story "Crimson Sky."  Part 3
is titled "Close Call."  Constructive C & C is welcome.  Have fun reading.

Shuichi Minamino
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CRIMSON SKY
Part 3  Close Call

	Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock!  It's happening again!  It's one of those dreams
that have always haunted Ryan since he was two.  He will be running away
from something, and then he'll find himself surrounded by blazing fire,
except that instead of feeling hot, the feel of the fire is so cold that it
feels as if it can turn a person to ice and shatter him.  There, surrounded
by the fire, he'll run aimlessly through the maze of coldness.  He will turn
his head occasionally to see if anything is following him.  Often, he finds
two lights behind him, calling him to stop.  The lights are strange.  One
golden light and the other one is blue, resembling a golden quartz and a
sapphire gem.  He feels fear and comfort from those two strange lights but
he never listens to the warning from them.  He runs on anyway.

	Finally, Ryan will find himself to be a white room.  The sound of clock
ticking will become louder and louder, faster and faster then.  At the other
side of the room is a big old grandfather clock, ticking and thumping away.
As Ryan walks slowly to the clock and finally stands in front of it, the
clock will suddenly disappear as the world explodes in a flash of silver and
white.  

	The next thing Ryan knows, he'll be standing in front of a door.  The
ticking sound is still there and is getting louder and more erratic by the
minute.  The tick-tock finally turns into thump-thump as Ryan realizes that
it is the sound of his own heartbeat that is making the sound.  Then, he
will reach tentatively toward the door knob as a feeling of fear and dread
creep over him.  His heart will be racing by now and he knows that what lies
behind the door is something that he will not want to know or see.  But the
temptation and the force of attraction is too great.  Ryan's hand turn at
the knob and only to find that the door is slightly ajar to begin with;
he'll then push the door open and see those horrible images.

	Ryan can never recall what the images are, or if there are images at all.
All he knows is that whatever that is beyond the door is something of pain,
anger, and horror.  But this time, he doesn't wake up at that moment.
Instead the rage and shock blind his visions and seem to propell him further
into the room; and then he is running again, blindly toward a target.  But
before he can reach the intended destination, a sharp pain suddenly shoots
through his body as the world again explodes in a blinding light of red and
white.

	Ryan's eyes snap open at the impact of his falling on to the ground.  It's
that dream again, except this time it seems to have gone further than
before.  It's been a long time since he has had that dream.  Ryan has had it
since he was three and he hates reoccuring dreams; they give him the creeps.  

	"Good thing they don't always come true," he mutters to himself as he get
up from the floor.  He glances at the clock- seven o'clock?!!  He's going to
be late!  Why has he been sleeping over time these days anyways?  He curses
himself silently for his lateness, quickly changed, brushes his teeth,
washes his face, brushes his hair, puts on his shoes and runs out of the
house.  The rest of the trip is just a plain hassle.  Today is another day
with red sky.  There just isn't enough days with blue sky around.  Today is
definitely not his day; there are too many cars on the street today so he
can't risk violating traffic laws.  He can't rely on taking the bus either
since the bus has a tendency to come late during emergencies.

	*Damn!  My teacher's gonna kill me for being late!* While he is thinking to
himself, a car stops in front of him and the person inside scrolls the
window down.  It's Reshion.

	"Want a ride?" he asks.

	"You bet!" Ryan answers as he opens the door and jumps in.  "Thanks a lot man."

	"Put on your seatbelt if you don't want to die," Reshion says, then he
steps on the gas pedal, accelerating at top speed.

	"Whatta...Holy shit!" Ryan exclaims as he is being thrown back against the
seat from the force.  "You don't have to drive that fast do you?"

	Reshion turns his head, his eyes meeting Ryan's.  "I don't want to be
caught for jacking a car."

	"What?!!!!!  You what?!!!"

	"I.Stole.It."

	"Oh my god!  You're nuts!"  Ryan ducks as he sees an oncoming car driving
toward them.  Reshion have not swerved, it is the other car that did. Ryan
yelps as the windows on his as well as Reshion's side explode from bumping
against one of the telephone poles on the street.

	"If you don't want to get caught, maybe you should stop attracting attentions 
to yourself!" Ryan yells at Reshion while trying to catch his breath.
Reshion, as usual, ignores him and continues with his reckless driving.

	"Looks like we have company," Reshion says quietly.

	"Huh?" Ryan ventures a look behind him and to his horror, it's a police
car.  "I told you so!  Great!  Now we are really dead meat!"

	"The fun has just begun, Ryan," Reshion replies calmly as he again, steps
on the gas pedal.  The car speeds off the road and turns right into a narrow
alley.  The police car follows and starts to gain speed.

	"They are gainning on us!!  How fast can this go?"

	"675," Reshion replies.  "but I can make it goes 1300."

	"What?! How?"

	"Overheating the engines."  With those words, Reshion shifts the gear.  The
car gives a sharp jolt and plunges forward.  Ryan feels himself being
slammed into his seat again as the car literally flies down the narrow
alleyway.  He looks at the meter and find that they are now traveling at the
speed of seven hundred kilometers per minute.  He can already feel the floor
of the car heating up.  The meter continues to rise, it eventually rises
past the one thousand mark.  The car now has a burnt smell to it.

	"I want to get out of the car!"

	"The speed of the car and the force of your throwing yourself out will be
enough to rip you in two," Reshion remarks. "and I am not planning on
slowing down."

	"Wha...I..."

	"You still wanna leave?  I can push you out."  Reshion glances at Ryan
coldly.  Ryan shudders inwardly at those pair of unblinking blue eyes and
decides that it is best to stay silent for the rest of the chase.

	"Scared yet?" 

	"No."

	"Well then," The car speeds up again, hitting one thousand and ten.

	"What the hell are you trying to do?!  We've lost those police already!!"

	"You said you aren't scared."

	"Stop it!"

	"You don't wanna be late, do you?"

	"Life man, life comes first!"

	"Life means nothing," Reshion replies.  The car is going at one thousand
and twenty kilometers per minute now.

	Just as Ryan thinks that he is going to get a heart attack, the car comes
to a sudden halt.  He winces as he feels the seatbelt straining him while he
gets flung forward from the force.

	"We're on time," Reshion says flatly.

	"Great, just great man.  Thanks a million.  Now if you'll excuse me," Ryan
says as he struggles with the seatbelt.  He certainly wants to get out of
the car as soon as possible.  It's been a complete nightmare!

	"Hasn't that been fun?" Reshion continues as Ryan realizes with dismay that
the seatbelt won't budge since the driver has the control of it.  He'll have
to endure a few more minutes of Reshion's crazy remarks.

	"Fear is nice, isn't it?" Reshion's blue eyes stares into Ryan's green
ones, captivating his attention.  "You look best when you're frightened."

	For a minute, Ryan just sits there, stunned.  What in the world...??
Reshion stares back at him, emotionless.  Then still keeping his eyes on
Ryan, he brought up his right hand, which is stained with blood because of a
few broken window pieces that has embedded itself in it, and pulls them out.
Blood splashes on to the windshield as he does so.  Without taking his eyes
off Ryan, he brings his bloody hand up and starts to lick the blood off his
hand.

	"Four minutes,"  Reshions says suddenly, snapping Ryan out of his trance.

	"Eh?  Oh, gotta go then," Ryan says in a hurry as he scrambles out of the
car. "aren't you coming?"

	"I'm returning the car to the rightful owner," he replies as he closes the
door after Ryan.  Reshion sits in the car for a few moment, watching Ryan
racing toward the school before restarting the engine.  

	Good, that should've scared him enough for him to stay away.  Now, he must
find the troublemaker who has been trying to trigger the chemical inside his
body to cause him to kill again.  Reshion has thought that he has gotten rid
of all those chemicals already.  He thought that he can control his power
again but obviously he still can't.  Will they ever leave him alone?!!  That
has been a very a close call, Reshion thinks to himself; for he has just
come *that* close to killing both of them.

---------Crimson Sky: Close Call End (TO BE CONTINUED)----

	      --Shuuichi Minamino
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