Two small parallel lines appeared after a few minutes. The woman holding the tiny, life-changing, answering device. The young woman was slowly pushing herself up off the bathroom floor, wiping away the tears that were slowly walked out of the room. She slowly sauntered into the living-room, where her mother was folding laundry. The mother looked up and saw the tear stained face of her daughter and immediately dropped the shirt she was about to fold. The mother quickly pulled the young woman in her arms, trying to sooth. The two women slowly fell onto the couch, where they stayed late into the night.
It was early in the morning by the time the young emotionally overwhelmed woman finally made it to her bedroom and texted her lover, who she knew was finishing up the at one of this side jobs, bar tending. The young woman was laying on her bed with only the night stand light on. She had a face of decision and fatigue, and was just trying to gage where her man was going to fit in this new picture.
She didn't end up falling asleep until mid-dawn and her lover had her wrapped protectively in her arms.
A tiny, frail, still toddling girl, mildly panicking, came running into the large, open, sunny dojo. In this room she saw her mother in the process of cleaning, much like she did every day. As soon as the little girl saw her mother, her panic went away and she smiled. The mother smiled back, leaning down with her arms open for the little girl to run into.
Once the little girl was in her mother's arms, the mother looked up at her lover who was finishing up his practice of kendo. The lovers smile as they finish picking up their things and head out to the car. The strapped the young five-year-old in her car seat and got in their seats with the man driving, heading out of town, for a small family vacation.
Once they were out of town and on the highway, the young girl was fast asleep, but just woke up with a start. She let out a small shout do to the bad dream she had. Her mother looked over and reached over to pat her knee to calm her down, but before the young mom could say anything. The man yelled and reached a hand out to this wife who he knew wasn't sitting correctly. This is when a thunderous crash and boom happened.
The little girl slowly opened her eyes and found the car on its side with a lot of smoke and loud noises. The little girl looked up to where her parents where and saw that her father had lots of blood all over his face, which was bent over at an odd angle. She looked over to her mom, who was sitting funny in her seat, and saw that she also had a lot of blood all over her face. There was also something sticking out of her mother's chest, with lots of blood on. The mother slowly opened her eyes and looked sadly at the little girl and tried to smile. The mother gave a small quiet, "Sorry. We love you always" before she closed her eyes again.
The little girl now didn't know what to do. Her mom closed her eyes and girl knew she wouldn't open them again. The girl was about to try to say something when she noticed that her chest was super heavy, like when she had breathing issues or asthma as her mom called it. Her arm also hurt really bad and when she looked down at it she saw lots of blood. When she looked closer at it, she saw that it had small and big clear pieces sticking out of it. There were clear pieces scattered all over her and her car seat. She could then tell that her head and legs hurt as well but not nearly as bad as her arm. With her chest hurting like it was, the little girl was having a hard time breathing, let alone trying to say anything, which (with the pain) led her to start crying. She was silently crying and trying to breath when she started to hear people over the other noises, but she believed she fell asleep at that point.
An older middle-aged woman was working on laundry, thinking about the little granddaughter, who the little dress she was hanging up. The grandmother knew that her daughter and granddaughter were on a small trip to the town over, where her daughter met the young man who gave the grandmother her granddaughter. Once the dress was on the hanger, the phone rang. The young grandmother hung the dress on a chair before grabbing the phone and answering it. Her face slowly fell, as well as her eyes started to water. She dropped to her knees clenching the phone, which caused her husband to rush over to her. He had to take the phone from her, to understand what cause his normally unemotional wife to become over emotional. Once he talked to the person on the other end, he got his wife into the car and they went directly to the hospital to hopefully get better news then what they heard on the phone.
The grandmother was sitting in a chair next to her granddaughter's hospital bed, while the granddaughter was asleep. The grandfather was leaning against the far wall watching his wife and granddaughter, who was also depressed over their daughter's and her husband's death. The grandfather was deeply depressed that his daughter was taken from life before him. Even more so that her husband is also gone, leaving their daughter, his granddaughter, behind alone. The reason behind them being gone is because some drunk served last second and hit their car, creating a nine-car car-crash, with his daughter's car in the middle and with the most damage.
The grandfather looked up at this granddaughter, who was covered in scratches and had a brace on her left arm, which was this worst wound, next to the asthma attack, though the doctors said that the asthma attack practically saved her life, because it prevented her from breathing in all the gas, oil, and other fumes that were in the air from the car crash, and the concussion from hitting her head in her car seat. The doctor isn't sure if the granddaughter has suffered any brain damage from the crash, but says the crash was very bad and to be prepared for anything. The grandfather looked at his granddaughter. She has been sleeping for three days now, not waking up at all. The doctor said there is a chance she may not even wake at all. His wife has been upset and next to their granddaughter since she heard about their daughter's death. He looked at his wife wondering what will happen next since their granddaughter in their care now, since they were all their granddaughter had left.
The young girl was running through the halls, towards the room she knew best, the room that always had her parents. But once she ran through the door, she saw a bunch of students practicing their kendo and the young girl started to cry. She now knew her parents were gone and never coming back. She was crying and rubbing her eyes, until a boy, much taller than her, came up to her and held out his hand. She looked at his hand and saw that it was similar to how her father's looks and immediately grabbed it. The tall six-year old led the little five-year-old over to the side and started to teach her some steps.
The grandmother rushed into the dojo panting, causing one of the black belts to rush over to make sure she was okay. The grandmother frantically searching for her granddaughter, until another blackbelt walked over and pointed to where the granddaughter and young tall boy were practicing together. The blackbelt went on to say, how surprised he was that the granddaughter was picking up the moves and over all style quickly and correctly right away. The grandmother let out a sigh in finding her daughter and that she was okay. The grandmother was super worried how her granddaughter was going to respond to getting out of the hospital and returning to the home that she lived and worked at, along with her husband and daughter and her daughter's husband; the house that her granddaughter grew up in and around. The grandmother should have known that her granddaughter would have ran to the places her daughter typically worked or the dojo, where her son-in-law would practice or teach, when he wasn't working elsewhere.
The blackbelt then dropped his hand and asked the grandmother where her daughter and son-in-law where and why the little girl was in such a state. The grandmother then responded with a sigh and gave the young male blackbelt the news about his fellow teacher and friend. He got depressed right way, but watched as the little girl of his friend picked up on sport and discipline the friend lived and got his daughter through. The blackbelt gave a small smile and offered to the grandmother to have her granddaughter attend lessons on him, which the other blackbelt said he would help, which caused several other blackbelts to nod their heads in agreement. This is when a couple of confident, powerful men, dressed in traditional gi, walk over to the small growing group. All the blackbelts in the dojo bow to them, along with some of the students while the rest kept practicing.
One of the men, the one who owned this current dojo and house, then stepped forward in response to seeing the blackbelts of the dojo offer to train the little girl of an apparently deceased married couple of employees; a couple of very good employees, dojo students, and kendo practitioners. He gave a small smile, not at the loss of their lives, but at the life they created and her enthusiasm for this way of life. He also smiled at the way she was smiling at his son, despite giving into the depression she had with her current situation in life. The man felt pride in how his son was helping the little girl and that the son was taking the girl's injury but need for this connection to her parents. The man then turned to the grandmother and gave the over to train the little girl free of charge as a gift to both the girl and to her parents. The grandmother was surprised, but over joyed and thanked the head of the house profoundly for this gift. The head of house nodded and walked over to his brother-in-law, but stopped to nod to his son, who nodded back, before heading to the dojo office with his brother-in-law.
The little girl, about six months older, is heading to the dojo with a book in her arms, still in her pajamas. It was late at night, about one a.m. The girl's grandma was following a bit behind, not understanding what her granddaughter was doing, but couldn't get her stop. The girl then walked into the dojo, where a tall young boy she trains with was at. He was completely out of control, super upset over the death of his mother, though she didn't know about it, let alone her grandmother or the rest of the house. The boy didn't know how to respond to his loss, but his father didn't know how to either. The father was also in the dojo, trying to help his son, but can't help himself at the moment.
The little girl properly stepped on the mat, heading straight for the frustrated young boy. She gave him a sad smile and he just stopped his violent tantrum. Her grandmother came into the room ready to run after and protect her still weak, but getting stronger, granddaughter, but stopped when she saw both the man and the boy stop and give her granddaughter their full attention. Both males calmly closed in on the girl, in the front center of the mat and dojo. The girl then held out the book she has been carrying to the boy. He looked puzzled, but wouldn't take the book. The girl gave another small smile and opened the book to a random page.
Inside was a pressed gladiolus flower. There was also a passage on the page opposite of the flower that read "Symbolizes strength of character, faithfulness, and honor". The little girl then went on to say, "Your mom may be gone, but she never left you alone. She is in all the flowers around you." The girl then calmly closed the book and opened it to another random page. This one was of a ylang-ylang with the description, "Never-ending love". The girl started again, "She has always been around and watching over you and now she can do an even better job of it." The girl smiled. "My mom made this book from watching your mom and how she moved around the grounds and created and grew the gardens all around here. I want you to have this book." She said closing the book, only to open the front cover, with a folded piece of paper. Taking the paper out and handing the now closed book to the boy. "I drew this earlier." Opening the paper so show a small artistically drawn picture with a white five petal flower, that had several small pick flowers around it. "I had to ask Nana what flowers these were and she said the one in the middle is a mayflower, which means "welcome" and the small other ones are sweat peas. They mean goodbye. I think this for you in that your mom is saying goodbye, but to still welcome other who come into your lives." She handed the drawing to the man. "I know it doesn't help much, but I don't think she wants you to be sad." The little girl gave a bright smile, that turned into a yawn, before turning back to head to her grandmother, who looked surprised, but smiled at the males before picking up her granddaughter, bowing, and saying goodnight. Before the grandmother even left the dojo, the granddaughter was fast asleep, with a smile of contentment and peace on her face.