She lives in a fairy tale Somewhere too far for us to find

Forgotten the taste and smell Of the world that she's left behind

~ Brick by Boring Brick {Paramore}

Itoshi Yomi was the girl who blended in with the background. The quiet girl who always had a book in her hands. The one was known for reading in every class. The one who sit in front to avoid the loud and mean people who like to mess with her. She was not a talkative person even with her friends. She would just voice an opinion if asked or reply with a simple sentence. She wished that she could be the girl who had the confidence to walk up to a boy or to wear revealing clothes. She hated her body. The awkward jutting hip bones, skinny limbs that were to long for her body, her short, limp blonde hair. Her thick black framed glasses were the focus of her face. Her bright blue eyes always seem forgotten when people looked at her. She had large eyes but due to her glasses they seemed smaller than they are.

Books where her only comfort. American literature was her favorite. She loved how she could learn so much about a place she has never been. They let her go to a place where she could only dream of going. Like into the world of Jane Eyre or the life of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. Her favorite book was Invisible Man. She related so much to the main character, how he sees himself as a man that nobody can see. People would walk past him and not take any notice. She felt the same way as she walked through the halls. People would bump into her and not take a second look. She was always hurt by that, she knew she shouldn t but it did. It hurt more than physical pain ever had.

She wanted to go with her dad; he was always away on business. He was gone a lot of the times. He would always in town at the most random times. Her dad never really talked about his job much. She never even knew where he worked. Her mother said he worked with a large company and traveled a lot. When he was home the house felt brighter, her mom would come out of the funk she always in when he was gone and her brother would actually stop spending all of his time at baseball practice or basketball. Then it actually felt like a real family, if just for a moment.

Yomi nervously sat in front of Yumiko at the small restaurant that they usually went to after school. She started picking the wood on her chair, scraping small pieces off with her nail. Yumiko was chatting about her art club project, how it was going to be displayed with other kids at the art museum. Yumi was only half listening as she was staring out the window, watching people walking in front of the large window.
Yumiko was the complete opposite of Yomi. Yumiko had dark black hair that she kept in a long braid. Her eyes were black just like her hair. She was an aspiring artist and wanted to be seen by everyone. Her personality was as bright as Yomi s is uninviting. Yumiko moved from the neighboring school to Namimori in the 5th grade. She was drawn to Yomi because of her depressing attitude. She vowed from that day on that she would bring this turtle from her shell. It took a lot for Yumiko to even get Yomi to come to the restaurant.

Yomi pushed her glasses up her nose and placed her hands onto her lap. Yumiko had switched to another topic and was making wild hand gestures. The people at the table next to them were giving them strange looks. Yomi sank a little more into her chair. Yumiko calmed as the waiter brought the food to the table. He placed Yomi s tea in front of her and Yumiko s ice cream in front of her. Yumiko took a large spoonful and looked at Yomi.

"Your moms pregnant again, right?" Yumiko asked as she waved the spoon around. Little bits of melted ice cream dribbled onto the table. Yomi nodded.

"Damn, can t your dad keep it in his pants? That s like the third kid she s having. I swear, all the time your dad is gone he makes it up with great sex." She said with a chuckle.

Yomi giggled along with her and took a drink of her green tea. Yumiko made a face at the drink.

"That stuff is the grossest stuff ever. It tastes like lettuce and sweat. Me, Take the delicious and non-health related route." Yumiko took another large bite of her ice-cream. Yomi rolled her eyes at her. She never liked it because she was used to the disgusting sodas and energy drinks. Yomi warned her about those but she just drank more.

"Hm." Yomi replied when Yumiko pointed to the window on the opposite side of the room.
Yomi quickly turned toward the window and saw no one. She turned back and looked at her. Yumiko swallowed the ice-cream that was in her mouth and said He walking this way.

"Who?" Yomi asked as she turned and stretched her neck to see who she was drooling over. Three people where walking on the sidewalk laughing and smiling except one boy.

"Hayato Gokudera, that s who," She said with hearts in her eyes. "He is the hottest guy in our grade and I just want to mount him like a dog."

Yomi made a face Gross, She downed her tea and place some yen onto the table. I got to go. My mom wants me to go grocery shopping with her. She hauled her book bag up with a grunt and started for the door. Bye, Yomi. Yumiko yelled, waving an ice-cream covered spoon in the air. Eyes still locked on Gokudera. The people sitting at the surrounding table screamed in displeasure. Yomi waved back and high tailed it out of there.

Yomi unlocked the front door to her house. She kicked off her shoes in put on her slippers. Her mother lay on the couch with a damp hand towel over her eyes. Yomi quietly walked over to her and tapped her small baby bump. Her mother lifted the towel to uncover one eye. Itoshi Kairi was the mother of two children Yomi and Taji, her eldest son. Her long blonde hair was always kept in a low pony tail. She is three months pregnant and her hormones change as often as the tide. Yomi had to run most of the errand since her mothers ankles so swollen she can t walk. She doesn t mind much. She liked going out, its not like she had a social life to be busy with, unlike her brother. She would usually bring Yumiko with her and it would be more fun. Yomi, give me thirty minutes, please. My head is killing me. She said with a scowl. Yomi nodded and made her way to the stairs. She picked her cat, Tobi, as he walked down the stairs. He immediately purred and rose to her touch. She nuzzled into his black fur, almost tripping over the top stair.
Yomi is the first to admit that her room is a little creepy. Torn stuffed animals lay scattered along her room. Pieces of their stuffing falling out of the holes. White fluff littered her floor from when Tobi gets bored. A large sewing box lay open on her desk, spools of thread in every color spilling out. The light in her room stopped working and she didn t want a big fuss going on in her room. She was content with using lamps. She had a large paper lantern hanging in the center of her room. A small lamp on top of her desk, another one beside her bed for reading, and a tall standing lamp beside her bookcase. Yomi let Tobi jump from her arms and climb the book case where he watched her from the high perch. She clicked on the lamp that was on top of her desk and sat into the rolling chair. She was working on a large blue and white penguin she was going to give her to the little girl next door. Yomi liked the idea of taking something nobody wants and fixing it into something nice. She handed them out to the neighborhood children when she babysat for them. The kids loved them and the parents love it when the kids are happy. That was probably the real reason for her fixing these animals.

Yomi just finished stitching the small holes on the beak when she heard her mother voice from the stairs. "Yomi, are you dressed yet?" Yomi silently cursed and dug the needle into the penguin s stomach. She took off her uniform and quickly pulled on a black skirt and white and yellow shirt (striped) on. She turned the lamp off and ran down the stairs. Her mother was waiting by the door, holding it open. Yomi muttered an apology and pulled her shoes on. As her mother walked out, closing the door behind her, she looked at her daughter.

"You didn t brush your hair." She assumed by the messy frizz Yomi s hair usually was. Kairi ran her finger through Yomi s hair to try to tame it. Yomi slapped her moms hand away and patted her hair down. "I was just trying to help." Kairi held her hands up and backed away from her.

"Let s just go, Mom." Yomi sighed out. They started walking the short distance to the grocery store.

Yomi s mother was talking to the grocer s wife next to the vegetables. The grocer s wife was rubbing her mom s stomach and laughing. Yomi rolled her eyes and left them alone to wander the store her self. It seemed like everywhere they went Kairi would always find someone she knew. They could talk for hours and Yomi would always be ignored until either of them had to leave. Yomi wandered down the bread aisle towards the small section where they put out magazines and books. The books where those poorly made romance novels but she was desperate. She grabbed the most interesting looking one and opened it randomly to the fifth chapter.

"Rosalie pulled the bloody knife out of her ex-husband s dieing body and wiped it on her green blouse.

Torrance lifted a bloody hand toward her; she stared at him with cold eyes. She took her stiletto heel and smashed his hand into the ground."

Yomi eyes widened in interest at the paragraph she had read. She turned it over and looked at the cover. A naked woman sat straddling a man with her back towards the camera, holding a bloody knife behind her back. She turned it over and started reading it from the beginning. She began walking toward her mother, intent on buying this book. She was so focused on the book she didn t see the person she was about to run into.