This is a story I came up with, didn't come up with a title for it review with suggestions if you come up with any. Enjoy!
It was a quiet evening at home. The family in the living room watching TV. I, on the other hand was sitting on the front porch sketching.
My name is Rowan Ryo Takahiro. I was born in Japan and lived there with my family until I was fifteen. When I was thirteen, my mother divorced my drunken, abusive, father. We lived just the two of us for two years before she remarried my stepfather, Landon, an american. When she became pregnant with my sister, Saki - only three months after their wedding - my mother decided she wanted to live a new exciting life in America. So after discussing with Landon all the wonderful places in America, they decided to move to San Diego, California. I love the beaches there, I love the swimming. But I miss Japan. I never wanted to move, but that wasn't my choice. I'm now seventeen and Saki's two and a half. I have a few friends at school, they call me by my middle name, Ryo, because one of it's meanings is 'distant' and they say I can be distant from the world sometime, sketching of Japan and wishing I was there.
I sketched a picture of our old house in Japan. I missed that little house, I was born there and lived there until we moved. My sister never got to see Japan, but she coos over my drawings, and pictures I show her on the internet. Landon's a good dad, he treats me as if I were his birth daughter, and he wants to be the good father I never had but I'm just, distant, as everyone says. I got up and went back inside, finished with my picture and went to sit cross-legged on the family room floor to see what they were watching, a Japanese anime. My sister always loved this one and my father enjoyed it as well. I sighed, bored with it, and also upset since It reminds me of being in Japan, so I decided to go to bed early.
"Night mom, Saki, Landon." I said, walking to the bedroom.
"Goodnight Rowan."
"Night Rowan." I changed, brushed my teeth and braided my hair. Grabbing a book, I settled on my bed and read until I fell asleep.
I woke up with my book over my chest, opened with the bookmark in my hand. Fell asleep reading again, not like that's unusual. I got up sleepily and placed the bookmark back, putting the book on it's spot on the shelf. I pulled some clothes on and brushed my hair. My mother hadn't found us a school yet, and being in the middle of the school year she figured she could school us at home until the right time. Landon works as a part-time teacher at a high-school. He started at a substitute when a teacher broke their leg and ended up taking over when that same teacher resigned. Mom's also a part-time teacher at the same high-school. It leaves me and Saki alone at the house in the mornings until two. I walked to the kitchen in time for Landon to give me a hug and wish me a good day before leaving for work. Saki woke up not long after and rushed to my lap, her little eyes wide open.
"Story-time?" She asked. I always read her a book in the morning. I picked her up, sitting her on my hip, as I walked to the library. The library was a small bedroom that was left unused so we put bookshelves in it and fill them with books. I grabbed 'The little cricket' - Saki's favorite, a book I wrote myself when I was fifteen, and my mother helped me get it published. Though I didn't make copies or try to sell it, it was a favorite in our house. After story-time Saki decided she was hungry so we went to get a bite of breakfast at the little breakfast diner a couple blocks from our house.
"Hello Rowan, Saki." Tina, the friendly waitress who serves us every time we come.
She wrote down our regular orders and then checked to make with that Tina twirled and went off. Saki and I colored the coloring pages they had set out, and then she remembered something, her little eyes widened
"We forgot to order the cinnamon rolls." She told me urgently, it made me smile how worried she looked over this. Tina came up with our plates just then, and obviously hearing Saki she said
"Cinnamon rolls coming right up, sweetie." With that, Saki was satisfied, so she began eating. We ate our breakfast and then went to the beach.
I loved watching Saki chase the waves, then they would come back and get her all wet. Where sometimes other little girls would cry, or get upset because of being all wet, she just laughed, and looked at me with that big smile. She brought me seashells and sometimes we would find a starfish. We walked barefoot through the waves and I picked her up and held her up, running along the shore making her feel like she was flying. I enjoyed these moment with my sister, quiet mornings after breakfast on the beach. I took pictures of our footprints in the sand, of Saki's sandcastles, and of us. After tiring little Saki, I carried her back home and laid her in bed for a nap right as mom and Landon got home. They asked how our day went and I told them about the beach and showed them the pictures and then they would go on to grade papers and then spend some time together before mom would get dinner started. That was how a typical day would go, but something inside me said today wasn't a typical day. I ignored it, thinking it was silly and that it was just my mind.
I grabbed a book and sat in the my rocking chair in the library that had my name engraved on it. Landon had bought it for my birthday, it matched the decoration in the library, and it was my favorite type of wood, cherry. I read my book, letting my mind dive into the it, see every detail of every person, every hair. I saw the faces of the people in the book, I saw their personalities, how they walk and I swear, I can hear their voices faintly in my head.. I figured this was a normal thing for one's imagination, but when I told my mom she said it was more detailed than she'd ever heard from one just reading a book. I only shrugged it off, I already knew I was different so having a large imagination was nothing. After reading awhile, I glanced at the clock, seeing it was four thirty now I figured I should help my mom prepare dinner. I got up and put my book on the shelf in my bedroom and went to the kitchen, starting to help my mom without her even asking. Once dinner was ready Landon and Saki came in and sat down. Landon complimented how it looked and smelled, repeated by Saki, and we ate. After dinner Saki helped mom clear the table and wash dishes, and Landon pulled me aside.
"I wanted to talk to you," He said, so we went to their office and sat down. Memories of my father 'wanting to talk to me' leading to beatings flashes in my mind, I sat in the chair closer to the door, slightly nervous but trying to hide it. "You just seem so quiet." Landon said. "I'm worried about you, you never go out with friends and you just don't seem very happy. Is everything okay?" I glanced at the floor, wanting to tell him nothing was okay, that I was made fun of at school, and that even my friends usually have better things to do, and that I feel mostly alone, and that I just want to move back to Japan. But I didn't, I didn't say anything. "Rowan?"
"I'm fine," I lied, meeting and staring directly into his eyes. He searched me a moment, face soft, then nodded.
"Okay." He said. I stood, "I love you, Rowan." He told me this often, I was just too uncomfortable to repeat it. I left the room and grabbed my sketchbook and went to the front porch. I spent hours outside, I lost track of time, I paced in the front yard, going over things in my head, occasionally trying to settle down and draw but couldn't get myself to calm down enough. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream.. But I kept quiet and paced. I looked up as the lights went off in the house. Landon normally didn't go to bed before having me come inside...
I went to the door and opened it seeing the whole house was dark, I didn't even see Saki's night-light she usually had on in her bedroom. I walked in slowly, keeping light on my feet. A dark uneasiness crept into the pit of my stomach. My heart hammered in my chest and I tried to keep my breathing quiet. Something was wrong. I tiptoed to Saki's room, but I didn't see her in bed so I went to my mom and Landon's room, but nobody was in there. I went to the family room and froze when I heard something, I saw a figure, a man, covering something on the floor. My heart skipped a beat. No... The smell of blood filled my nostrils. It hit me then what it was the figure was covering. A body... No! Everything inside me screamed to run away but I stood there staring, begging that this was a nightmare, praying to any God that might be out there that my family was okay. But I saw the figure look around and listen for a moment. Tears poured down my face, and I prayed he wouldn't hear my breathing, I held my breath to be safe, I tiptoed down the hall to the library just before the figure's head could catch sight of me, I hid behind the rocking chair breathing as silently as I could. I heard footsteps... Step, step, step, step... The creaking of the door, then I saw the man enter the room. I held my breath again he looked around the room carefully before leaving, I heard a crash, and something being moved and then I heard his footsteps on the front porch and the door shutting behind him.
For minutes I sat where I was behind the rocking chair. Finally I forced my limbs to work with me and I stood up walking slowly to the family room and to the body on the ground. Without warning tears broke out and I was crying hysterically as I pulled the blanket back, revealing my mother with a bullet wound in the head. I pointlessly felt her neck and wrist for a pulse finding none. I stood up, nearly falling and feeling dizzy and sick, I saw another blanket covered heap. Pulling it back I saw the small bloodied body of my sister. I cried so hard that it hurt, I wanted to throw up at the sight of this poor innocent girl killed so horribly. Stumbling again, I got to Landon's body. For some reason when I saw him dead, my everything shattered. I cried harder than I cried for my mother and Saki. I think it was because how much he loved me, and how I lacked to love him. How he worried for me but I brushed him off. All he wanted was to be my father but because of my real father, the bastard, I rejected him. I stood again and forced myself to walk out, I stumbled out the front door, unable to cry anymore. I fumbled through my pocket until I found my phone and called a cab to meet me at the park. I dug in my pocket to make sure I still had my wallet, with the emergency stash Landon had given me. Once I got to the park I called the police to report strange activity, I pretended I was a neighbor then ditched the phone, crying all over again. I was thankful the cab took awhile so that I was done crying by the time the cab arrived. I went to the airport, throwing two twenty dollar bills at the cab driver when I got out of the car. I went into the airport and bought tickets for the next flight out and got on the plane, sitting in my seat.
I didn't know where I was going, and I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to get away from California. Away from the hell I'd just experienced.
To be continued...