It's been only four weeks since Seita's mother died, and we've been sitting here in this hollow cave calling it a home.
Little Setsuko has slowly began to lose pounds.
I'm Michiko; I'm a 17 year old girl with no family, no friends and, no one to turn to. I met the two of them inside the elementary school where my grandparent's bodies were burned along with Seita's mother. When they went to live with their aunt, she didn't allow "strays" into her home so I found my own place to stay. When she kicked them out, they stayed with me, I didn't mind.
So now it's me, Seita, Setsuko, and my two younger siblings Minako and Masuyo. Seita's great idea of stealing as we were being raided while people ran away from their homes... It held us up...for a while... and now...
Now, I sit here in our small little sheltered home with a baby, a toddler, and child lying on dirty mats; close to each other for heat as the rain falls. Seita left for food early in the morning but hadn't been back yet. My guess was that maybe he went for shelter from the rain but it's only a guess. I sat by the entrance and watched the pots I put out in the rain fill with rain water.
My eyes lost focus and only daydreamed of a life I wish I could give these children. Just then, Minako's cries brought me back to reality. I stood up and walked over to the dirt mat where she laid and picked her up. She cried harder, so I gently rocked her but her crying wouldn't stop. The last thing I could want right now is for the other two to wake up and complain that they were hungry.
So I laid her back down on her stomach and went into the rain filling up one of her bottles with rain water and sat the partially empty pot back in the rain. I walked back to her and rested her in my arms and fed her the cooling water.
Minako drank it down in such a hurry she cried for another. Refilling the bottle and feeding her again made her hush down. I looked at her pale frail body, Minako used to be so chubby, now she was skinny and her bones showed through her skin.
My brown eyes watered thinking what a struggle we were in. Because there are so many mouths to feed, the food vanished so quickly. That's why I stopped eating to provide more food for the younger ones because they need it more than I did.
"I'm back!" Seita called as he walked inside the cave.
"What took you so long? They haven't eaten one thing! If you didn't tell me to stay and watch them I would have went and gotten them food!" I said looking up at him as he stood over me and Minako.
"Ah! Michiko, you complain too much. I brought back more than enough just like I promised." He said taking off the big book bag he carried and kneeled as he took food, clothes, and even blankets.
"Where did you get all of this?" I asked peeking into the bag.
"Yeah, it's nice huh? I got it from one of the houses while they were away." He said taking a bite out of a rice ball.
With Minako in one arm I took one of the smallest blankets and laid her on top it, and as gently as I could I wrapped her inside of it with her small head poking out of it. I picked her back up and rested her against my breast.
"I've been thinking Seita, if I could get a job working around houses or anything to get us money. It would help a lot." I said taking a glance at him.
"We're doing just fine right now." He reassured eating his third rice ball.
I reached over and grabbed his wrist firmly.
"Save some for the smaller ones." I commanded giving him a hard stare.
"You know there's a lot in here, there's even enough for you. Don't worry, okay?" I looked at him slightly annoyed.
I don't know if he could tell I was pissed or not. But I thought to myself.
'Just because there's a lot today, doesn't mean there be a lot tomorrow.'
'Just watching how he thought for the day and not the week made it official! I need to g out and get a job somehow.'
"Minako, aren't you going to eat?" Seita asked.
"No thanks Seita, I'm not even really hungry." I said lying through my teeth.
I hadn't eaten a single bite of anything for 2 days; I was starving.
"Sei... ta?" Setsuko called slowly sitting up, next to Masuyo waking him up.
"Here..." Seita offered Setsuko and Masuyo rice balls.
They wolfed down all their food in a matter of second which I didn't blame them for but I let them eat their fill as I fed Minako as much as her little stomach could take before they all laid there head down to sleep.
That's all they really could do, eat and sleep... there was nothing else here for us but life or death. And I had no intention of letting death get the best of us. What I hadn't realized is as I was lying Minako to sleep, Seita had already fallen asleep.
I figured this was the best time to leave while everyone slept. I took some of the clothes Seita brought and I washed with the homemade bar of soap he got as well. I washed my previous clothes and laid them out to dry on Setsuko's swing, which was now are place to hang dry our clothes.
I combed my long black hair that resting on my shoulders and hit the center of my back and walked up the grassy hill up to the village in a determined search for a job…