Chapter 3: Emotional Ties
Matthew's POV
After Sensei Wu told us our fate, he left the room to ourselves. My hand covered my eyes, as tears ran down my cheeks. I didn't want to look at my sister. No, I couldn't look at her. Biting her nail nervously and looking out the window, Jayden hadn't said a word since Sensei left the room. Neither of us said anything, the fear of the past were no longer our worries, but the fear of the future had us running for our lives. My fate, at first I thought it was good, I would see her again.
An old friend...
I could still remember everything detail about her, but there was one thing I had forgotten a long time ago, her name. Many of my memories were erased when we had the ultimate battle, and for a short period of time, I along with my father were dead. Over the past five years, I had manged to regain most of my memories, but sadly the memories that seemed most hazy was when I was between the age of seven and ten years old. Luckily, for pictures I regained them, and I remember what she looks like.
Lite orange curls barely reached her shoulders, turquoise eyes, creamy pale skin that burned easily in the sun, and lite freckles that settled across her nose. With each passing day her freckles became darker from the times we spent outside. But there was one detail I would never forget about. Her right cheek adored a quarter size scar. I remember the day she told me about how she got it; that was the day I found out her biggest secret, but it was also the day we became friends.
Nobodies POV
The hot July sun shined brightly onto the Walker household. A young girl ran around the large oak tree; that sat calmly on the far-side of the pond. While a young boy stood behind the sliding glass door, too afraid to talk to the new girl. His mother stood in the kitchen making lunch for her two children. Her daughter Jayden ran down stairs greeting her mother. "Mommy, are we going to see Uncle Kai?"
She jumped up into one of the bar stools, swinging her legs back and forth, waiting for her mother to answer. "Of course Jayden, Matthew do you want to see your Uncle Kai?" Matthew shook his head furiously, his mother sighed in disapproval. For the past couple of years, her son became shy. Not the type of shy you get when you meet new people, Matthew was so shy that sometimes he didn't even want to talk to his own mother or sister.
The little seven year old boy didn't want to leave, he wanted to go outside and play with the young girl, but the fear of speaking kept him from leaving the confines of his home. "Matthew, why don't you go outside and play with her?" His mother, Nya, squatted down beside him, while Jayden sat at the island and ate her lunch. "What if she doesn't like me?" Matthew muttered under his breath.
"She really needs a friend right now Matthew, she's very sad." Nya ruffled her sons hair and walked back to the kitchen. She had done research on the family that just recently moved in down the street from them. The mother died giving birth to the young girl that now ran happily around outside. The father was a alcoholic, not much needed to be said about him. The thought of the man sickened the widow to no end.
"Alright Matthew, we'll be back in an hour." Nya called out to her son, clicking the button on her large ruby bracelet, the eight foot tall black metal fence rose out of the ground. Keeping all unwanted intruders out and the children in. Being an inventor had it's pros. One of them being able to watch her backyard while she was away. The cameras slid slowly out of the walls and paneling on the house.
It was nearly 30 minutes later and Matthew sill stood inside the house, watching the girl play. Finally, the girl took notice to Matthew's presence, running up to the glass door. Her hands made smudges on the outside door, making Matthew slightly annoyed. He hated seeing his mother clean, and slave around the house all the time after work. Matthew had offered multiple times to help her, but she would disagree, saying that she could handle it.
"Hello? Will you play with me?" The young girl knocked on the door, gaining Matthew's attention. Shaking his head, the girl didn't budge, she wanted to play with the young boy, and that's what she was going to get. The stubborn girl glared into the glass, attempting to get the shy boy outside. Luckily for the girl she didn't have to try too hard. Matthew's curiosity peaked when he notice the quarter sized scar on her right cheek. The skin was healed, but it was rough and uneven, leaving an ugly discolored mark on the girls face.
"What's wrong with your face?" The girl gasped, covering her mark as if she was embarrassed about it. "You don't have to be mean." She said barely loud enough for Matthew to hear. Opening the sliding glass door, he stepped outside and stood next to the girl. Lifting up his black bangs, Matthew showed the girl the scar he adored on his eyebrow.
"It's okay! I have one too, see?" Letting go of her own face, she hesitantly reached up and felt the scar. The girl smiled, grabbing Matthews hand, she dragged him across the yard towards the large oak tree. Climbing into it, she reached down a hand for Matthew, his mother always said that climbing trees was dangerous, but she also had said to play with the young girl.
Grabbing her hand, Matthew pulled himself up, sitting down next to her on the thick tree branch. The soft pink pastel dress that she wore, drifted with the wind, her shoulders were left bare, considering the scorching heat. "How did you get your scar?"
Matthew burrowed his eyebrows in thought, "I'm not sure, but my mommy said I was born with it. How did you get your scar?" The girl rubbed her scar, tears threatening to spill over, and onto her cheeks. "I spilled my juice on accident, and my daddy hit me, his big red ring cut my cheek. My aunt, saw it a couple weeks later and took me to the hospital. Does your daddy hit you too?"
Matthew looked at the ground with sad eyes, "I don't have a daddy. My mommy said that he was in a place called heaven."
The girls eyes widened, "My aunt says that my mommy is in heaven too! Maybe they know each other. And that's why we're friends!" Matthew moved away from the girl, "We're not friends." He muttered under his breath.
"B-But..." Tears ran down her cheeks, "If I tell you a secret will you be my friend, please?" Thinking it over Matthew realized he has never had a friend, besides his sister, but that never counted. Shaking his head yes, Matthew prepared himself for the worst.
"My daddy, is really mean. Whenever I go home he hits me, I don't know why, but he does. Somebody told me that he was a bad man. But he's my daddy, daddy's are suppose to love you, right?" Now sobbing the girl cried into her hands.
A change in heart lead the boy to regretting what he had said earlier. He did promise the girl that he would be her friend if she told him her secret. He knew if he refused to be her friend, the other kids at his school would think he was a bully, that he was mean. Just like her daddy.
"I'm Matthew, and you're my friend." Jumping down from the tree, Matthew waited for the girl to join him. Wiping the tears from her eyes, the girl obliged. "I'm gonna call you Matty instead." She smiled, before running away from the young boy.
"But that's a girl name! I'm a boy!" Matthew, or "Matty" called after the girl. Running towards her, she never gave her a answer. "What's your name?" Ignoring his question, or he didn't hear her answer, the children continued to play in the yard, until the sunset.
Opening my eyes, I noticed that I was still in the hospital. The pain in my shoulder had numbed down, leaving the upper left half of my body numb. The door to my room opened, a nurse-in-training peeked in before wheeling a cart, dinner.
Setting the food on my side table, that conveniently moved over my bed for easy access. The nurse fluttered her eyes and giggled, she looked to be around eighteen or nineteen. My eyebrows furrowed, was her motive to look cute and flirt? Rubbing the back of my neck with my uninjured arm, I smiled slightly, making the young newbie blush.
After that she left my room in a frenzy. I stared at the door, until it opened again. My mom walked in holding a Styrofoam cup of hot liquid. "I see you're getting a lot of attention from the nurses." Sitting down in the chair next to my bed, I looked down at the tray of food.
A medium sized chicken breast, covered in Alfredo sauce, there was green beans and noodles on the side. A small roll and a cup of applesauce, was placed separately on the table. "She's not my type." She raised an questioning eyebrow at me, but continued to sip on her hot drink.
"If there's something you want to tell me, you know you can always talk to me." I smile, more tears start to stream down my face. She always knew when something was on my mind, unlike my father. "You'd be disappointed if I told you." Ignoring the food, I lay down on the bed trying to get some sleep.
"Matthew, I would never be disappointed in you. I don't want anything to happen to you, but when you feel comfortable, please tell me."
'I can't do that, I'm sorry. I already know my path after graduation, and I intend to follow it. No matter how much you beg me to stay, no matter what you do to keep me home, I'm destined to leave.' My body feels lighter and lighter until I'm pulled into a deep slumber.
Jayden's POV
Fresh tears rolled down my cheeks as I sat in the passengers seat of my dad's blue sports car. Snow pelted the windshield as he went the respected speed limit. I can't recall leaving Matthew's room, I must have blacked out like I always do. The sunset made the snowflakes shine bright, they stuck to the windshield. Until the wipers pushed them away, destroying their uniqueness instantly. But a new snowflake took it's place, making me forget about the one that previously stuck to the windshield.
It was almost symbolic.
As humans we ourselves are unique. Their is only one of us, similar to the snowflake. Each one is unique, they could be similar in size or patterns, but there was that one difference that made it different.
Our life can be stable, but suddenly destiny can slide in and destroy everything. And just like that.
You're no longer unique.
You become like the other people who have been destroyed by destiny. Now, you're just like everybody else. Broken; you're dead. And then there's nothing left of you, only a memory. Even then, they won't know what made you unique. Your friends and family could know every little detail about you. They could know your deepest desires by heart. But they will never know why you were, you
But sooner or later, there's another person who is born and takes your place. Your friends and family replace your face with a name. You are longer the person they missed so dearly, just another grain of sand. Your soul and everything with it is washed away in the sand storm that is your emotions.
Your grave stone becomes another slab of granite in an empty field of death. The flowers they leave next to your final resting place will only be a reminder to others, that somebody actually still cared for you. In reality, they just felt sorry for themselves. They were in pain and sorrow, once they realize that there is only one of you.
In the end, they meet you again in the field of death, only to apologize for trying to replace the void of empty space that you filled when you were still unique, when you were still alive.
'Your future holds death.'
The sentence replayed in my head, like it was a record player that was stuck on repeat. I never asked to become the Green Ninja and Sensei knew that when I entered high school. People only wanted to be my friends to get popular, or to swoon over my uncles.
The only ones that had managed to disregard that fact that I was somewhat famous was, Oliver, and the kids that were obsessed with Spinjitzu. Only talking to me when they were begging me to teach them. Of course, I had to turn them down. Even I wasn't a master, yet.
Sensei always would tell me I had a lot to learn, sooner or later his teachings would be in vain, considering death was in my near future. That's the sad thing about life, either you know everything you need to or not, destiny doesn't care. When you die, you're gone. End of story.
Everything you learned, everything you've seen no longer matters. "Dad, what happens when you die?" He slams to a halt on the road, luckily the road is empty. Pulling off the side of the road, he puts the car in park and looks at me.
"Jayden-"
"No! I don't any sappy speech about I shouldn't be thinking about this at a young age. Dammit dad, I'm one of Ninjago's protectors, and if I'm risking my life, I want to know what's going to happen if I bite the dust!"
Silence filled the car, and my dad had decided to start back on the road, taking us home. I didn't know how much time passed until he spoke, "Death is nothing, you are nothing, you see nothing. Everything is white, no matter which way you go, you'll never find a way out."
So, everything I said before was wrong. The snow didn't represent us as living creatures. It represented death lying over us like a thick blanket. The windshield wipers didn't represent destiny taking it's course. It represented destiny saving your life. And that's when it hit me. Death wasn't in my future, it was in somebodies future, somebody I love.
I was the windshield wipers pushing death away from the ones that I love. Now I know that it wasn't going to work, no matter how much I try. Death is inescapable.
This chapter was very emotional, in my part. Lost feelings of mine inspired this chapter and I hope you all liked it. Now we kind of know who she is everything will be explained in the future. Please review and have a good day!