Standard Disclaimer: I do not own this or anything for that matter...;
I hung up the laundry today
But I could not finish
It has been five weeks
And ten days since you left
Since you walked out that door
I've done nothing but weep
Done nothing but mope around
And wait for your return...
Your Return...
She stood by the door, awaiting his arrival. It was the third time this week...she would wait by the door until the wee hours of the morning and he would come stumbling in, drunken and ill-tempered. She worried about her two small children, if they saw their father in his true form...oh gods, the questions...She tapped her foot, looking at the clock. It was quarter to four in the morning.
The young wife sighed and poured herself a cup of coffee...it was another one of those nights...a sleepless one at that. Then, as she started to sip at the brew, a pair of headlights pulled up into the driveway. She sighed...he had returned home again. But, there were two car doors closing...two pairs of feet ascending the front porch steps. There was a knock at the door...a knock that resounded in the young woman's very soul...
Approaching the front door with a great amount of trepidation, the woman grabbed a hold of the door handle and pulled. The door swung open to reveal a pair of police officers. She gasped, fright frosting her expression. The first officer spoke, "Ma'am, are you Mrs. Higurashi?" The young woman, now identified as Mrs. Higurashi, nodded mutely and motioned the officers inside her home.
Gesturing to the couch, she hastily took a seat in her husband's recliner. The two cops glanced at each other, each wondering if this was normal behavior for the young woman. Before they could explain their presence in the Higurashi residence at such a late hour, Mrs. Higurashi spoke up first, her small voice saddened. "How did it happen?"
The first officer, closest to the Higurashi woman, quirked an eyebrow, "Your husband, Mrs. Higurashi, was killed tonight in a car crash." Mrs. Higurashi could only nod her head slowly, "Is there more, officer?" The officer nodded, trying to sound compassionate, "I am afraid so...you see...Mr. Higurashi...appeared to be high on cocaine..." His words echoed in the small living room, the silence deafening.
Fifteen minutes later, the police officers had left and Mrs. Higurashi was on the phone to her father. "Poppa...Poppa...listen to me...he's gone...no...I know the kids will take it hard...but...Dad...listen to me...he's gone...he's gone..." Her voice broke; all the years of abandonment could not erase her love for her dead husband. "Okay...we will be in Tokyo this evening..." She hung up the phone, tears dripping onto the receiver. Collapsing onto the floor, the young widow sobbed silently into her hands...her marriage had been rocky from the start...her husband soon turning to his former evils to fill the void in his heart. Now, he was gone...Kagome...Souta...so young still...
The sun crept up into the sky. It was six thirty in the morning...and Mrs. Higurashi gently opened the door into the room her children shared. Tiptoeing over to her daughter's bed, she sat down on the edge, shaking Kagome's shoulder lightly. "Kagome...honey..." The 7 year old girl's eyes fluttered and she smiled up sleepily at her mom. "Morning mommy." Mrs. Higurashi smiled sadly at her daughter, "Honey...there's been an accident with Daddy..." Kagome frowned, "But, Daddy's here, right?"
"No, baby...he's not...he...didn't make it." The young child sat there for a minute, appearing shocked. Then, a river of tears flowed down her cheeks, "Daddy's okay...he's okay...he can't be gone..." Mrs. Higurashi took her daughter up in her arms, crying with her... "Shh...it's gonna be okay..." Kagome looked up at her mom, hiccuping, "Is Daddy in heaven with Grandma?" The widow paused for but a second, "Yes, sweetie...Daddy's in heaven...I bet he's looking down on us now..." Kagome smiled a little, "Mommy, whatta we going to do now?" Mrs. Higurashi looked over at Souta, and then back at Kagome, "You remember where Grandma used to live?" Kagome nodded, "Yes...at the old place..."
"That's where we are going to go...we are going to go live with Grandpa on his shrine..." Kagome nodded solemnly, "Grandpa always said that it was our destiny to come live there..." Mrs. Higurashi, keenly remembering those very words spoken by her father, answered her, "Yes...I guess he was correct in saying that." Mother and daughter sat up from the bed and stood, each accepting their loss in different ways. Kagome lost a father figure, someone to call "Daddy". Mrs. Higurashi lost her lifemate...and gained a new chance at freedom...
You left for good back then...
You left me in the cold...to
Explain to them why you were gone...
But, we will live again...
The laundry was forgotten there
On the hook where once we stood
Together, hanging onto our dreams by a thread...
Fin
Silver's been here.