Chapter Twenty-Six: Secret Message:
Hana wasn't the
only one experiencing a change in her condition. Suddenly, Tatsumi's phone rang.
�Excuse me,� he
said. The secretary reached into his jacket and answered his phone. "Hello?" he
asked.
"Oi, Tatsumi!" a
woman's raspy voice hissed.
"Lucy?" the
secretary asked with an eyebrow raised. "How did you get this number?"
"Never mind that
now!" she said. "It's Barbie!" Tatsumi paused.
"What about
her?" he asked.
"It's her hand!"
Becky shouted in the background.
"What about it?"
the kagetsukai asked.
"It's moving on
its own," Lucy said.
That took about
five seconds for the news to sink into Tatsumi�s head. "What did you say?"
"Her hand is
moving on its own," the Goth repeated.
"Moving how?"
Tatsumi asked.
"Writing," Becky
said in the background.
"What is it
writing?" he asked.
"We don't know,"
Lucy said. "It looks like scribbles." Tatsumi took this all in.
"I see," he
said. "I'll be right there." The shinigami hung up the phone and turned to Mike.
"We have to so," the shinigami said.
"Why?" the demon
asked.
"It's Anna,"
Tatsumi replied. "Her condition has changed." Both men rushed out of Hana's
room.
--------
They found Lucy,
Hisoka, and Becky all crowded around Anna's bed. The woman herself sat up in
bed. She was still in a catatonic state with blank eyes. Her right hand wrote on
a piece of paper aimlessly. The trio turned to the men when they heard him walk
in.
"How long has
she been like this?" Tatsumi asked.
"Since
midnight," Hisoka said.
"Midnight?" Mike
asked.
"That's what the
doc said," Lucy said.
"Any reason why
this is happening?" Tatsumi asked. Becky shook her head.
"No," she said.
"It just happened like this."
"I see," he
mumbled. He glanced at Mike.
"Think the
poison's wearing off?" the demon whispered.
"Seems that
way," the shinigami replied. The men turned their attention back to the crew.
"Can we see what
she wrote?" Tatsumi asked.
"Hang on,"
Hisoka said. He reached over to the side table and got the papers. He handed
them to the older shinigami. The first two pages yielded nothing but scribbles.
Tatsumi turned the page and found more scribbles. Given it was close to nine
now, these really took a while. Around page seven, the scribbles tried form
Kanji. Mike squinted for a better look.
"What does that
say?" he asked. The shinigami took a closer look.
"That's what
we're trying to find out," Hisoka said.
"That look like�
what or why," the older shinigami replied. The other two tried to read what he
was pointing at.
"Guys!' Becky
shouted. "Look at this!" The men rushed over to her and Lucy. The former pointed
forward. The Kanji started to take shape. The coherency started to kick in; a
little sloppy, but clear enough.
"What does it
say?" Becky asked. A puzzled look came onto Tatsumi�s face as he read the
various lines.
"Why?" he read.
"Huh?" Lucy
asked.
"That's what
she's writing," he said.
"For what?"
Becky asked.
"Can't say," the
secretary replied. They all shifted their focus back over towards Anna. She
still wrote on the many pieces of paper the nurses gave her.
Why? Why? Why?
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Each time she wrote, the words got clearer, but what was she trying to say?