Hello my name is Ichigo and this is my story. First of all I want to say that this is not fiction. It really happened. You may think that I'm crazy for saying this; you may think that I'm just making up stories just to attract some attention or to make myself popular, eh? I really really hope that that's just the case but… NO! I don't want to believe it either but you see the person involved on this strange story is sitting next to me right now and like I can hold her, I can see her, I can hear her complain about this long introduction that I'm writing, … so I therefore conclude that she's real? And also, I'm writing this because my friend (definitely not an imaginary friend) wants to deliver a very important message to everyone, and to say this message I must tell the whole story first. And now I'm going to tell you everything since my friend here is really pissed and in the act of kicking me if I make this intro much longer, and believe me you don't want to be kicked by her. Why? First, she's not a normal girl. Second, she's really really tough. Last but not the least, she won't kick you on your butt or on your face. Guess where? She will kick you on your prized and sensitive organ. I think you know what organ I'm talking about so no need for more descriptions. Yes, she's really like
OUCH!
Monday-morning
BORING DAY.
Well I just opened my eyes. I said that it's boring because I have predicted that this day would be just the same as yesterday, the day before yesterday, and the day before the day before yesterday or maybe tomorrow, in other words I'm expecting my life to be just the same forever!
-That's always the first line on almost every page of my journal. My life has been so boring ever since I know and can remember except of course for some highlights which were too long to mention. And yes I have a JOURNAL which is a big one, I think it's about the size of a small file case and it's so thick. It was given to me by my dad's friend when I was only 8 years old. I never used it because I think that journals aka diaries were just for girls and of course I don't want to be teased doing girl's stuff. I started using it when my mother died two years ago. It was after her funeral when I was alone in my room,crying, that I finally took notice of my journal. It was there, standing on my book shelf together with my old textbooks. I remember staring at it blankly for several minutes and I don't know why but I just suddenly opened it, turned to the first page, and wrote all the things that I wanted to shout out loud. I felt so relieved after writing, it suddenly made me feel a little better, a little lighter. And so after that I decided to write at it daily. I'm always careful when I'm writing on my journal. I don't want my sisters or my dad to see me writing on a diary so I always make sure that the door to my room is locked before writing. I also put this journal under the mattress of my bed just to make sure. And that's the story of my journal. My journal by the way is my reference obviously for this story but I edited some for I-can't-tell-you-reasons, and I added some information as well. And now here's the REAL start of it.
REAL Monday-Morning
I woke up on the side of my bed facing the window that morning without any idea how this ordinary looking day would change my life. The weather is nice. The sun is shining brightly outside and the birds were chirping on a tune I don't know and don't have the intention to know. It's so loud I don't know what these birds had been eating to make such noise. I looked at the alarm clock beside my bed and to my surprise it's only 6:30, one hour earlier than my usual waking time. Well that's unusual but I don't really make a deal out of waking up early. I stood up yawning and fixed my bed, still yawning. I went downstairs, head to the kitchen and on one of the dining chairs I saw my dad sleeping. He's still wearing his doctor coat. I can tell from the way that he sleeps that he's drunk. His head was leaning on the top rail of the dining chair; his mouth was so open a frog can freely hop inside it; and he's snoring like there's no tomorrow. His snore adds rhythm to the chirping of the birds, and to my surprise they really blend very well. It's like the birds were the soprano and my dad's snore's the tenor of a choir. I was about to go back upstairs to get my recorder when I heard my sister Karin's voice called me.
"Nii-san?" I think she said it as a question and not as a statement.
"Karin, you're so early today." I teased.
"So as you. Where are you going the food is almost ready?" she asked.
I don't want to say that I'm about to record our father's snoring mixed with the chirping of the birds so I just pretended that I didn't heard her question and ask her if what happened to our dad instead.
"So, what's up with Pops?"
"Isn't it obvious? He's ." She raised an eyebrow to me and immediately went back into what she's doing.
"Ohh." I took out a carton of milk from the refrigerator and gulped its contents. "That looks good." I looked hungrily at the friend eggs and bacon that my sister has prepared on the table.
"I'll call Yuzu." She said that as if she heard nothing from me. She went upstairs and so I was left in the kitchen together with my drunken sleeping father. I sat on the dining chair parallel to the chair where my dad is sleeping. I just stared at him for a couple of minutes. I know it is weird staring at him with a blank mind because I find it weird too. But there's something in me that made me just want to stare at him. It's like the feeling of …,I don't remember what but I know I've felt this before. It's really Weird, with a capital w.
After we ate our breakfast I went upstairs and did my usual routine. I took a bath, arranged the things I needed for today's class, watched some early morning shows, blah blah blah and head to school. Even though I woke up one hour earlier that day, not-so-surprisingly, I'm still late for my class. I guess I've stayed a little longer in front of the television.I ran to the fastest I can. Oh God I have a quiz on my first subject! While running I saw Kyuu waved at me.
Let me introduced you to Kyuu first. Kyuu is a little girl ghost (yeah I typed it right "GHOST" and yes I can see ghosts). She was hit by a car two months ago on the very place that she's standing right now. I always pass by this street when going to school and of course when going back home. When no one is around or passing by I would talk to her and she would tell me stories about her parents. Kyuu never left that place because she's still waiting for her parents to come and fetch her. It never occurred to her that she's already dead and unluckily, I have read on the newspaper, that her parents migrated abroad saying that staying in Japan would only made them remember about the unfortunate fate of their daughter. I really wanted to say this to her so she could rest in peace but I just can't find the courage to reveal it to her. I don't want to make her upset but I know that keeping the truth from her will only make her hope, and the longer I kept this from her the harder it will be for her to accept the truth. I will tell her someday, I don't know when or how but someday.. but please, not now!
I'M SO LATE AND I WILL MISS THE QUIZ!
I waved back at her.
Good thing I arrived just as when the guard's about to close the gate. I screamed "STOP!" just when the gate's about to close.
"Thanks" I said to the guard, panting. He gave me a nod and I smiled back.
The classroom was a mess and everybody's laughing their ass off. Pieces of paper were flying everywhere like they're having a paper fight. I'm so disappointed because I think I just missed the quiz. But then, I remembered how our teacher is always late. So, there's a chance that our teacher has not yet arrived. That's 50-50 for me and I hope it's the late thing.
"Ichigo join us! Our teacher arrived so early because he has some errands to do. He already left, quiz is over." My friend Tatsuki shouted that at me. It's like she slapped me with those words.
"Here's my quiz result!" she threw a crumpled paper right at my face. Of course that won't hurt since it's just a piece of stupid paper but I'm on a REALLY bad mood (Hey, I studied all night for the quiz now this!). I opened my bag and took my notebook out. I tear several pieces of paper from the back of my notebook, crumpled it, closed my eyes and throw it everywhere.
"Paper fight round two!" That's the next thing I heard, and when I opened my eyes, I saw crumpled and whatever shaped papers flying everywhere. I even saw a paper airplane got stuck on Asano's hair.
Monday-afternoon
My classmates and I ate our lunch on our school's rooftop. It's really nice eating there especially when the weather is perfect. Today is sunny but it's not that hot, just the right temperature to enjoy our bentos under the sun. The girls were eating at the right side facing the door of the rooftop while us boys were on the left.
"What do you have there?" asked Asano.
I took the lid of my lunch box. "Umm, just fried eggs and some vegetables." Asano took some vegetables without asking my permission.
"Uhh Ichigo do you want to go with us tonight?" Asano asked with his mouth full of food that he took from us.
"Where?" I looked down at my lunch.
"Ghost hunting." I don't know why, but the moment I raised my head I saw Asano wearing a Scream mask, and he's making sounds like "Awooo Awooo". Very pathetic.
"Where did you get that?" I asked, not giving a single damn about the sounds he's making.
"Halloween is fast approaching so I bought this from the prank shop to scare all of you guys. Ha-ha-ha" He's so full of himself, I felt sorry for the guy.
"Well it did not frightened us." I grinned at him.
Asano scratched his head. "... uhh so, are you going with us tonight?"