Dear friends,
You might know me as the classical singer Tomoyo Daidouji, but there's more of a chance that you've never heard my name in your life. The following story is true, though some of it seems quite unbelievable. According to police, my account is fictional. There was no mysterious child named Ayako, no "calls" from Sakura, no frightening messages, in their opinion. They seem to believe that I was suffering from schizophrenia at the time.
However, this is how I experienced these events, and several others have backed up my story with their own. The fact that Ayako is no longer here means nothing. You may choose to believe this, or you may choose to laugh and call me crazy. It doesn't matter either way to me.
This is dedicated to my best friend, Sakura Kinomoto, and also to Lindy Downing, whose sacrifices made this possible.
Love,
Tomoyo Daidouji
Chapter One—In Restless Dreams I Walk Alone
I stood in the center of a dimly lit room. It was a bare, silent scene without furniture or decoration. Three of the walls were painted stark white, with chips of paint peeling off; the fourth was a thick pane of glass looking into a room identical to my own. Pressed up against the other side of the glass was a child. Tears poured from her eyes as she pounded on the glass with her fists. Her mouth moved, but I didn't hear any words. I don't believe she made any noise; she only mouthed the sounds. Finally, growing tired, she stopped pounding and slumped down, looking at me.
We stayed that way, staring at each other. The girl's dark eyes pierced through me, looking inside to my soul and back again. Her face was all I could see of the child; her body was swathed in a black shroud. Suddenly, her eyes grew wide with pain, and she opened her mouth in a silent shriek as a strand of black hair fell across her face. A voice in the corner of my mind absently noted that she seemed a little familiar.
Suddenly, her mouth closed and her face became panicked. The child began to breathe more and more quickly as her feet began to disappear. An unseen force slowly devoured her while I stood by, helpless. I wanted to run to her, comfort her, but I saw no way to do so.
The stillness of the barren room was broken into a thousand pieces with the dull buzz of my alarm clock. I yawned and turned it off, wishing that it wasn't already time to get up. Stretching my arms a bit, I headed for the shower until I realized that, as usual, my roommate had gotten there first.
A shriek grew from the bathroom, and my roommate, Lindy, called, "We're out of hot water again, Tommie!"
I sighed. This meant no shower for me, for contrary to Lindy's belief, a cold shower is never better than no shower at all. I walked over to my closet and grabbed some clothing—a black and white striped top and blue shorts. Lindy came out of the shower and into the room we shared wrapped in a towel and dripping wet.
She shook her head out, her long cornrows slapping both her and me, and sent water all over the place the way a puppy would. "Sorry, Tommie. I know how you hate cold showers." Lindy shrugged her shoulders and pulled her dark face into her classic "forgive me, I'm adorable" expression.
I laughed as I yanked a comb through what little hair I had. Not being able to stand Wisconsin's hot and humid summers, I had shaved my head completely, and only three inches of hair had grown back so far. "Fine, fine, it's okay, Lindy. I won't die from lack of shower." I quieted suddenly as I remembered my dream.
Lindy, who was now sitting on her bed, trying to yank on a dark red t-shirt and keep her towel up at the same time, noticed my stillness. "Lemme guess, Tommie. You had that dream again?"
I nodded, replying, "I still can't figure out what it means, though, Lin. I looked through every dream interpretation book I could find."
"I dunno," Lindy answered, "But you're the almighty Tomoyo Daidouji, daughter of one of the richest people on Earth, possessor of a quick mind and great reasoning. If anyone can figure out why you're being haunted by a disappearing kid, it's you, Tommie."
When Lindy brought up Mother, I inwardly cringed. I didn't like talking, or even thinking, about money. It was so bothersome, and I never really understood why a piece of paper and a bit of metal was so important to people.
"Anyway," Lindy announced as she pulled her braids back in a ponytail, "You know what? I think I'm gonna have to borrow those dream interp books you're always looking at. I had the funkiest dream last night. I was an apple and you were an orange, and we were rolling down a hill with hungry fruit bats waiting at the bottom. Do any of your dream books know what that means?"
I grinned. Lindy Downing was a genius when it came to making people laugh, I thought, as I watched her pull a plaid pink button-down shirt on over her t-shirt. Checking my watch, I said, "It's 6:30 already, Lindy. We'd better get going, or we'll be late!"
Lindy and I walked over to the kitchen, where she grabbed a chocolate frosted doughnut and I pulled on my shoes. I headed for the door until a sudden noise made me stop. Someone was whispering frantically.
"Do you hear anything, Lindy?" I asked her. She shook her head.
The whispering became more frenzied, and I strained my ears to understand. "Tomoyo! Tomoyo, where are you?"
"Who's there?" I asked. "I'm right here." Lindy glanced up from her doughnut.
The whispering continued, shrilly high but barely audible. "Tomoyo! Where are you? I need you to save me. Syaoran hasn't come yet. Neither have you, Tomoyo! Where are you? Please help me."
"I'm here!" I yelled, my voice shaking. It almost sounded…
"Tommie! What's wrong?" Lindy asked, shocked at my outburst. I noticed that she had dropped her doughnut to the floor. Chocolate frosting smeared on the white tile.
"What do you want?" I screamed, dropping limply to the floor. From this point on, my mind is blank. What happened next was told to me by Lindy.
Lindy rushed over to me, but I tensed and sprang away, baring my teeth like an animal.
"No! Don't touch me! Get away!" I growled, whimpering slightly. "Stay…Stay away…
Lindy crawled over to where I was and shook me. "Tommie, what the hell's up with you? Stop it! This isn't funny."
I wriggled, tears streaming down my face. "Get away! Stop it! Please!"
She backed off, and I skulked to the far corner of the kitchen. "I'm here…"
After that, I can remember again. I stopped crying and stood up.
"We're going to be late, Lindy," I told her. "Why was I in the corner?"
"You don't remember?" Lindy asked incredulously. "You were crying and telling me to stay away. You sounded like you were insane. Maybe you shouldn't go to school today."
I shook my head slowly. "I don't remember anything, except for someone…someone wanted me to help them. They kept asking where I was, over and over."
I pulled on my jacket and opened the door. "I have to go to school today. There's no time to get a sub. Come on, Lin'."
She followed suit, and we walked downstairs and out the door.
There was a small crowd gathered on the street when we walked outside. It was funny seeing all those people so early in the morning. At the center of it all was a policeman tapping his foot, his arms crossed impatiently. He was listening to a little girl who spoke animatedly, waving her arms.
The girl looked about the age of the students I taught. Her hair was wild and matted and a bit dirty, but if it were washed, it would be a light brownish colour. She stood, dressed in a lace-edged crème blouse and dirty pink jumper with a fluffed out skirt, with her back to Lindy and me.
"Please, sir, I can't find my sister!" she wailed, though at the same time, her voice was jesting. She spoke English with a bit of an accent, much like mine. It was just barely there, but noticeable. "I've misplaced her!"
"You can't tell me what your sister looks like, what she was last wearing, or even her name," the policeman said, running a hand through what little grey hair he had. "Hell, you can't even tell me what your name is. It's timewasters like you that're forcing me into early retirement."
The girl ignored him and spun in a circle, her arms stretched out and eyes closed. "Bai la lai, bai la lai. Where are you, sister? Bai la lai, bai la lai."
Suddenly she stopped spinning and pointed straight at me. "Sister, there are you! There are you, sister!" She darted through the crowd, ran up to me, and hugged me. Lindy suppressed a snigger, the twenty or so gawkers standing around said "Aaaaw…" and I just stared blankly at it all.
"Oh. So she belongs to you?" the policeman asked. "All right then; I'm leaving. Good morning, and watch your sister more carefully." He left and the crowd began to dissolve.
I unclasped the girl's arms from around my waist. She looked up at me and grinned. Her eyes were a dark red colour, I noticed.
"Err, Tommie? Care to explain all this, or are you as lost as I am?" Lindy asked, jerking her head towards the girl.
"I'm as lost as you are, Lin'," I assured her. "As far as I know, I've never seen her before."
The girl tugged on the hem of my shirt. "My name's really Ayako," she whispered. "And Mama said that we had to pretend to be sisters while I was here, or nothing would go according to plan. An' Mama's always right, so we have to be sisters. Okay, Tomoyo Daidouji?"
"Uhh…Tommie?" Lindy asked. "What'd she say?"
I was confused for a moment until I realized that Ayako had been speaking in Japanese. I hadn't even noticed, but it was nice to hear after years of English.
"Her name is Ayako. She's been told by her mother that she's got to pretend to be my sister so that some plan will work," I replied, and then turned to Ayako.
In Japanese, I slowly told her, "Please speak in English. You could before, so you should be able to now. It'll make everything easier."
She nodded and chirped in English, "Okay, Tomoyo! My name is Ayako. Mama sent me here. I'm supposed to stay with you, Tomoyo."
"Hooray," I replied, a tad sarcastically. "It's 7:00. We need to get to school. She can help me teach music or something."
The three of us began to walk briskly. On the way, I interrogated Ayako. "What's your full name?"
"Ayako Chisa Li."
I halted for a moment. Li? "Who are your parents?"
"What do you mean?"
"What're their names?"
"I don't know."
"Don't they call each other by name?"
"No. Daddy is dead, and has been for a long time. Mama doesn't talk to anyone who calls her by her first name."
"Don't you have any aunts or uncles?"
"I had five aunts, but they're dead, too."
"Where do you live?"
"Tomoeda."
Of course. "How old are you?"
"Eight."
"When were you born?"
"November 15th, 2020."
"But then you aren't born yet," Lindy cut in, a perplexed look on her face.
"Huh?" Ayako asked.
"It's September 16th, 2020, today. You can't be eight years old and born in two months," Lindy replied. "Kindly tell us the truth."
Ayako's face darkened. "Mama did it wrong then," she muttered faintly, equally perplexed as Lindy. I could barely hear her. "I was s'posed to be born already."
We arrived at school. "We'll have to figure this out later," I said. "We're here."
Lindy and I both taught at the local primary school, River's Edge Elementary. Contrary to its name, there was no river, and the school was not at the edge of anything except for the city of River's Edge. It was a fairly nice school, red brick and of medium size. Outside, children sat on the steps, gossiping, or ran around on the blacktop. There was no playground; only a bit of grass. Wary school board members who were 'worried about the children's' safety' had gotten rid of anything that could be played on long ago. River's Edge Elementary was a sea of asphalt.
As the three of us walked up the stone steps, various children waved and yelled in our direction.
"Hi, Miss Daidouji! Hiya, Miss Downing!"
"Hey, Misses D; see you in music and art!"
We waved and walked inside.
"So," Lindy asked Ayako, "Would you rather paint or sing right now?"
"Sing!" Ayako exclaimed.
I smiled. "All right, then. You can come with me. Maybe you can do art with Lindy this afternoon."
Lindy stopped off at the art room, leaving Ayako and I to walk down to the music room on the far end of the school. The music room was a tiny space that I had filled with plants and bright posters. There were three rows of chairs for the children to sit in, and a desk for me. Next to the door were shelves holding music books. The walls were not a sanitary, sterile white like the rest of the school's; I was convinced that they had to be painted and was granted permission to paint the walls light blue.
Ayako bounded in and spun around in the middle. "Bai la lai, bai la lai! I like this room, sister!"
"Call me Tommie," I said. "Do you have a nickname at all?"
Ayako shook her head. "My friends sometimes calls me Aya, but not often."
I grinned at her awful grammar and replied, "Well, I'll introduce you as Aya, then. It'll be easier than getting them all to say Ayako. Trust me."
The warning bell rang just then, and the school grew louder as all the children scampered into the school, screeching like howler monkeys. In twenty minutes, one of the second grade classes would come for their music class. Until then, I let Aya play on the piano, so long as she promised not to pound on it.
"I swear, sister, that I won't pound on the piano," Ayako told me solemnly. She ran over and began to run her fingers up and down the keys.
I sat down at my swivel chair behind my desk and pulled out the day's lesson plan. 'Let's see. Second grade: Talk about Star Spangled Banner, get ready for Patriotic Concert in three weeks. Great.'
Suddenly, I stopped. It was back again, whatever it was. Tomoyo! Where are you? I froze and looked around nervously. The last thing I wanted was to look insane in front of an eight year old.
"Tomoyo! Help me, please!" I covered my ears, but the voice continued. "Help me, Tomoyo."
"Shut up," I muttered. Ayako turned around, confused. "Not you," I told her. She smiled and went back to her playing.
"Tomoyo! Please come!" the voice continued.
"I'm ignoring you," I told the voice. "You can just talk all day for all I care, because I'm not listening.
Oddly enough, the voice did stop, but I wasn't sitting in the swivel chair behind my desk anymore. I rested on the ground, my wrists and ankles bound with cord tied so tightly that my circulation was nearly cut off. Wherever I was, it was dark, but I could make out vertical bars around me, as if I were trapped inside a cage.
Off to one side, a man stood holding a candle. He was outside my cage—as I now knew it to be—with a blackened smile. The man was missing several teeth, though the rest of him was very dignified. His hair was well kept, and he wore a black suit. With a nod, he left the room, taking the light with him.
I was consumed in darkness and wanted to scream, but I was gagged. From somewhere, that high, childish weep emanated again. "Do you see, Tomoyo? I need your help!"
Someone shook me, and I groaned. The room was so bright, and people surrounded me. I stared into the anxious eyes of Mrs. Lund and her second-grade class.
"Tommie! Are you all right?" Mrs. Lund asked. Dorothea Lund was often given to attacks of melodrama. She pushed a strand of flaming red hair out of her face and helped me up.
"I'm fine, Thea," I replied. "Is it 8:20 already?"
All the children nodded and sat in their seats, staring pointedly at Ayako. She was lost in her own world, happily pressing the piano keys at random. Her song was strange but merry, too.
Kaya Sinclair raised her hand. "Miss D? Who's that?" The other second-graders nodded and began to whisper to each other.
I raised my hand with my pinky and first finger raised and my other fingers lowered together, so that it looked like a small animal. "Quiet fox, children. This is my younger sister, Ayako Daidouji. She's eight years old like you, and she's called Aya. Aya will be visiting for a while."
I walked over to Ayako and gently lifted her hands from the piano. "Go sit by Jasper, all right? You can sing then," I said, pointing to a seat. She nodded and skipped over to the seat.
"All right, everyone, go get your music books," I said. The usual mad scramble to the shelves occurred. Boys fought over the books with dirty words written in while the girls looked pickily for the books in best condition. I sighed, unheard amid their raucous shouts. This would be a long day.
~*~
The REAL Author's Notes:
Hello, all! This is the real author speaking. I hope you enjoyed the beginning of this. It's been very fun to write so far. I hope you've enjoyed it at least a bit, even though it's a bit—odd. Anyway, thank you for reading and please review if you hated it. Or if you liked it. I dunno. Just review, eh?
I'd like to thank Paul Simon for the inspiration to write this fic. "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel is obviously a huge influence on this fic, but to a somewhat lesser degree, so is the song "Déjà vu" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. If you have never heard these songs, I suggest you have a listen, because they're great.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Card Captor Sakura. CLAMP, among other bigwigs with the power to sue, does. Please don't sue me.
I do, however, own Ayako and Lindy Pixel Downing (Yes, her middle name is Pixel. I know it's odd.). Kindly don't borrow them without my permission.
Thanks for reading, everyone! Please review!
Love, Cal