In The Blink of an Eye

Chapter 1 – Prologue

Taris City Hospital

It didn't take me long to find how chaotic and unfair life is. I learned this fact of life on one date that I will never forget. December 30th 2117, that was the day that I heard, "I'm sorry kid, we lost him. There was nothing that we could do." At the time, all I could do was stare incomprehensibly at the doctor, not truly able to accept what I had just been told. How could I understand what those words truly meant at the time? I was only 9 years old and had just been told that my father... my dad was gone.

In that one moment I had lost everything I had ever known, my mom had passed earlier that year in my home country, all of our possessions were destroyed along with our new home in Taris city, and my dad was now gone forever.

I don't know how long I stood there in that hallway, how many people passed by, what the doctors said after. All I know is that after a while the doctor lead me to a different floor in the hospital to meet with a social worker to discuss where I would be going. I don't remember what the social worker and doctor were saying to each other; everything was just white noise to me. But I do know that what she said next snapped me out of shock and sent me into a full blown panic. Looking back; what I did next was not very smart, and very easily could have cost me my own life if I didn't finally have a bit of luck that day.

When the social worker said to me, "Come on now, let's get you to your new home." I freaked out. That one sentence had finally caused the reality of the situation to hit me and all I could think was that I wanted to be alone, that I didn't want to go anywhere with anyone no matter what. Panicking I began frantically looking around the room I was in and I found my escape, a glass window. Without a second of hesitation or thought I activated my quirk and was immediately out the window in a blur of motion. I was fortunate that there was another building not to far away from the window, and that it wasn't that long of a drop from the floor I was on the the ceiling of the building.

After I got up from my crash landing on the roof I proceeded to put as much distance between myself and the hospital as I could. It didn't matter to me where I was going, just that it was private and far away from the people that had just informed me that the life I knew was over. After aimlessly fleeing from the hospital I spotted a broken window on what I would later find out find out was an abandoned apartment complex. Quickly looking through the window I blinked inside before anyone could see me. Seeing a closet illuminated from the moon light coming through the window I went inside, closed the door, curled up in the corner, and started crying. I must have cried myself to sleep as the next thing I remember was waking up in the morning feeling numb. Leaving the closet and searching through the apartment I soon realized I was completely on my own, that I truly had nothing but the clothes on my back. After realizing from then on I would have to take care of myself, that I had no more family to take care of me, that I would never see my dad again, that I didn't even know where I was, I did the only thing I could do. I started sobbing again.

I spent the rest of that morning and afternoon alternating between crying and remembering the day before and the events that lead up to my dad's death. Dad and I had only been in Taris city for a little more than 2 months, having moved away from our life and home in California mid October after Mom passed 6 months earlier in May. Moving to Japan from the States had been a easy choice for my dad, he had already lived there before and had wanted to distance himself from memories of Mom. He figured that I wouldn't have to hard time adjusting since he had taught me Japanese growing up and I never really had close friends there anyway. The first two months had been a bit awkward for both of us having to get use to speaking Japanese instead of English.

One thing that struck me then and still strikes me now is how good the day had started off, one specific thing I remember was our talk of what our New Years resolutions where going to be.

"So bud any idea what you're New Years resolution is going to be yet?" my Dad had asked.

I had replied, "Not yet Dad, I still can't make up my mind. What about you, have you come come up with your resolution yet?"

He looked at me, smiled, and answered, "Yep, next year I am going to do everything I can to create good memories here with you D.J."

I remember looking up at him while he smiled down at me and saying, "That's an awesome resolution Dad, I'm sure you will come up with tons of cool stuff for us to do."

Dad just chuckled and said, "Actually I can think of one thing we can do. how about when you turn 10 next year I start teaching you how to fight with your Quirk, how does that sound?"

I was so happy and excited when he said that I couldn't help myself, I immediately blinked into a hug and said, "YES YES YES! That would be so much fun you are the coolest dad EVER!"

He just laughed and hugged me in return, telling me, "Yeah I am pretty awesome, you're a pretty cool kid yourself you little motormouth."

I just tucked my head into his chest and said, "I love you Dad."

He rested his chin on the top of my head saying, "I love you too son."

The memory of that conversation caused me to start sobbing all over again, the reality of knowing that he could never fulfill that resolution, that I would never hear him again hitting hard. I finally got myself up and out of the apartment in the evening, blinking my way up to the roof of the apartment complex to get a look around and memorize where it was. Deciding to start searching the area I was in to see what was nearby I blinked down to the street and started walking, already feeling heated and tired from using my quirk so much recently without having anything to drink in between. Eventually I found a grocery store and rushed inside, basking in the cool air conditioning while looking for something to drink. It wasn't till I was in the store that I remembered something important; I was very low on money and had no idea how to get more.

I was fortunate that I had any money then at all, my Dad having given me around 2000 yen for doing chores around the house. Looking down at my meager amount of money in despair I tried to figure out what the best option for me to get was with my limited funds to make it last. Eventually I decided on getting three bottles of water and the cheapest bag of chips I could find, remembering that I couldn't get anything that required any type of cooking. Walking up to the register I paid for my goods and was left with 1100 yen to live off of. Returning to the abandoned apartment complex I prepared to spend News Years alone for the first time.

I spent the rest of that night on the roof of the apartment complex, staring out at the city remembering memories of my family while trying to hold back the tears. Looking down at the ground I considered jumping before remembering how firmly my dad's stance against suicide was, calling it the cowards way out. While feeling ashamed at myself for even considering suicide I remembered that I had never come up with a New Years resolution. Looking back out at the city, my mind went back to what that social worker said and I knew what my resolution would be.

Standing up from where I was sitting I gazed up at the sky and shouted, "I PROMISE THAT I WILL SURVIVE, AND THAT I WILL NEVER HAVE A NEW FAMILY, NO ONE WILL EVER REPLACE YOU I WON'T ALLOW IT, I SWEAR!" From that moment on I was determined to do whatever I could to survive and make my parents proud.