Whispers On the Wind: Amane's Spirit
Ryou sat at his kitchen table that morning, his head in his hands. Even though beautiful sunlight streamed through his kitchen windows and illuminated everything in the room, his mind and mood was grey. Ryou had awoken from another painful dream about all that had come to pass in his life. This time, it had been about his sister, and her memory shook him to his core.
"I just can't do this anymore Amane…" He whispered to himself, wishing she could hear. "I can't live every day in this much pain and be expected to pretend like it's nothing…"
Ryou got the chills when he could hear her tiny voice in what he only half-hoped to be his mind. "Big brother, you can't give up…" He could almost see her shining eyes that radiated with life even in her death. "You have to live the life Mommy and I couldn't… Please don't give up, I love you, big brother. You know we miss you…"
Tears rose up in Ryou's eyes, and his throat felt raw and threatened to choke him of air permanently His imagination or not, it would've been what Amane would've wanted for him. It would've been just like her to give him strength when she herself was gone from this Earth. After a few seconds of desperately trying to hold himself together, the boy finally lost the last of his will to stifle his tears and dropped his head in his folded arms on top of the table, sobbing violently.
He cried for a very long time, wrentching himself of all the pain he had been keeping in for a long time, his entire being as fragile as a deteriorating piece of paper in an Oklahoma wind. Ryou felt broken, in spirit and body, and decided nothing would get done today as long as he remained in this state. He crawled back into bed listlessly, and shut the shades, drawing the room dark.
Ryou's throat tightened again and he struggled to breathe regularly. "What am I going to do with myself? I don't know why you had to go…" He told himself, quietly even though he already knew the answer. Hugging his knees up to his chest, the boy cradled himself, rocking slowly. Staring into the blank space of the wall next to him, silent tears squeezed out his eyes, drawing wet lines across his face.
Ryou felt numb, weeping for the loss of the woman who gave him life, and the girl who kept the life in him, and for the father who drained the life out of him when they were gone. He mourned for a life his family would never have, and all the things his little sister would never experience.
"Amane… I wish you were here… I miss you, little sis…"