Disclaimer: I do not own The Grudge, The Grudge 2 or any of the characters from the original film. I only own my creations and ideas.
Author's note: The prologue to my new story 'Innocence Lost'. Set after the events of The Grudge 2. Enjoy!
PROLOGUE
Happiness was all she felt. Pure happiness. Five years earlier, she remembered she had felt the precise same build of emotion but for an entirely different reason. It had been sadness then. Sadness, anger and she had been scared. When all these emotions hit a six year old girl at once, the results are of course catastrophic. She had cried. But now she was happy. That was what mattered.
"We're really moving back?" Maya cried, delight evident in her voice. "Back to our old neighbourhood?"
"Yes dear," her mother told her, pleased that her daughter was so happy, "It's all been arranged. Pack your stuff we leave first thing tomorrow remember."
Maya grinned and ran upstairs. Five years ago her mother had told her to pack. That had been when they were moving away. Maya had not wanted to move. She had liked things the way they were. She had friends in Japan. She had a home in Japan. England had been too strange, too new. Oh, she had tried to fit in. Tried her hardest. But nothing ever came close to the beauty of Japan. The kids here were unwelcoming, unaccustomed to changes like new foreign girls. Maya smiled to herself. No longer would she have to put up with the strange looks she received, just because she was different.
As she piled her belongings into a bag, her eyes caught a small photo frame. One of the few things left from Japan. It was a picture of her most favourite memory of all. He sat next to her, seven years old then, grinning up at her. She was with him in the photo, hugging him, clinging to him, as if she knew that a few weeks later, she would have to leave him behind. But now she was going back to him. She couldn't wait. She decided that would be the first thing she would do when she got to Japan. She would run straight to his house.
She wondered if he had changed at all. He would be about twelve now. She wondered if he had made new friends. She wondered if his father was a little better tempered now. She wondered if he still had his cat, Rudy.
Yes, it had been decided in Maya's mind that the first thing she would do when she got back to Japan would be to find out.
She would go and see Toshio.