You're Just Fine Chapter 2: Lost Memories Reborn by The Creepy-Psycho-Loner
Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't bother me.
The storm was angry, lighting flashing and thunder booming, rain pouring fast and sharp. Mikeru stood under a closed shop's metal hood, her 5 year old body trembling with both cold and fear. It was somewhere past 12 am (according to her small plastic Mickey Mouse watch) and Mikeru wondered why daddy hadn't found her yet. She was sorry she ran away! She was even willing to endure whatever punishment he was surely to give her, all she wanted was to go home. She started to wail but was startled by shrieking. She turned her head and saw a family of four (a father and three daughters) running from a store that was closing behind them, snacks in hand and smiles on their faces. They were covering their heads with paper and the father scrambled to get his keys to unlock his big car.
Mikeru sniffled as she tried to shrank back deeper into the stone wall. She hit a can which scratched the concrete loudly. One of the girls with long black hair turned around suddenly with searching deep blue eyes when they happened upon Mikeru's small, frail and fearful figure. The girl turned back quickly. Mikeru thought the girl was going to ignore her but was surprised when she tugged urgently at the father's coat and pointed to the alley. The father followed her finger and his eyes widened. He rushed the girls in the back of the car before running over to Mikeru.
Mikeru's heart raced in fear. Who was this man? Could she trust him? She made a choked sound like a sob when the man ran over to her.
"Little one, why are you out here in this bad weather all alone?" he said, his voice like warm tea and Mikeru decided to trust him.
"I-I-I ran a-away from my daddy. But I w-wanna go home now!"
The father gave sympathetic smile. "Where do you live?"
"I don't k-know..." Mikeru sobbed and the father picked her up without thinking. Already drenched, he walked to the car and gently buckled her in the front before getting in and driving off. The ride was mostly silent, except for Mikeru's occasional sniffles and sneezes.
The father pulled in to the black and red driveway of their home. Mikeru, although half asleep, noticed a weird looking emblem on the walkway. The father turned back to his confused daughters.
"Reonaru I want you to run a bath when we get in. Rafae you gather the extra blankets. Donna grab some bags from the trunk."
The father opened the house door to let his two children in before going back to the car to grab the rest of the bags Donna couldn't carry. Then he went to the passenger side door and grabbed Mikeru before locking the car. Once inside, the father laid Mikeru down on the couch and set the bags down.
"Donna may she borrow some extra clothing?"
Donna, with soft brown eyes, meekly said yes. Then she ran off to the direction of her bedroom.
"Who are you?" came a small whisper from the couch and the father leaned down beside her.
"My name is... Mr. Y. Who are you, young one?"
"Mi... Mikeru," she coughed. Mr. Y nodded his head, something dawning in his brown eyes but he never said a word more.
"Dad, the bath's done. I put bubbles in it."
Mr. Y smiled at his daughter before turning back around to Mikeru. "Come on little one, you need a warm bath."
Donna ran back with a long night gown and gave it to Mr. Y. He then lead Mikeru to the bath, gave her the clothes and towel and left the bathroom, closing the door.
When she was finished washing and getting dressed, she already felt 10x better. She happily accepted the food Mr. Y gave her, eating the tomato soup and pizza slice hungrily. She sipped her tea in the kitchen while the other girls sipped theirs in the living room. Mikeru was shy and out of her usual element of being by herself but Mr. Y urged her forward into the living room as well. She sat next to Reonaru, who visibly tensed but didn't react. Mikeru looked down at her tea, at the steam. She didn't look back up until Mr. Y gave her some medicine. She saw the T.V. and they were watching Goblin Nights, a super scary movie filled with killing and screaming and butt ugly goblins. She covered her face as Mr. Y turned off the lights and sprawled the snacks across the floor. Reonaru picked up a bag of popcorn and turned to Mikeru.
"Want some.. Uh..."
Mikeru parted her fingers to watch the older girl's confused face. Mikeru would've told her she wasn't scared, if she wasn't. But she was, so all she did was let out a small whimper. Reonaru opened her arms and Mikeru happily snuggled against Reonaru's side, eating popcorn. She didn't care that it was a bit suspicious how perfectly she fit against her; all that mattered was that the ugly scary Goblins turned into ugly Goblins as she dozed against Reonaru.
Mikeru awoke with the blaring of the alarm before punching it mercilessly. She yawned and wiped her face with her hands. She looked throughout the familiar bedroom. 14 year old Mikeru sighed but thought about the dream, which was actually a memory from nine years ago. She almost wondered why she was dreaming about that memory before it clicked. She scurried under her pillow and pulled out the small photo of three girls. Leo...
The girl who saw her that night and told "Mr. Y", who made her a bubble bath that was toasty warm, who offered her snacks, and who chased away the fear by holding Mikeru as she slept...
Yoshi didn't accidentally leave behind the photo of the three girls. He gave it to her, reminding her of their first meeting... He knew Mikeru from their first encounter but she didn't remember until suddenly... But why was Yoshi a name so familiar? Why hadn't he told her his name when they meet nine years ago?
Mikeru quickly got up and pulled out a piece of paper. She drew from a faint memory the emblem she saw on the driveway and folded it up. After school she'll have to do some 'research'.
