An unhappy Christmas story eh?
Well…that would be a surprise!
I bet you would never see that coming…not in a million years!
Oh and sorry! I forgot that not everyone celebrated Boxing Day!
For those of you who don't know here in the UK (and other places as well I think…) Christmas lasts for three days. Christmas Eve on the 24th, Christmas Day on the 25th and then Boxing Day which is the 26th
From what I can tell it's a little excuse to party and get drunk! It's really great fun! But it used to be when people gave money and alms to the local poor people – the box was the gift. Hence 'Boxing Day'.
Hope that clears some stuff up!
Now onto the story! It's getting close now I'm sort of excited…though I know the last chapter is going to be epic because I have to tie everything up.
If I'm lucky…I'll get everything…
Advent
Day 21 – 4 days to go
Lost
Kyoko had cried the entire night.
When she got up her eyes were puffy and bloodshot from the added lack of sleep.
She was exhausted.
Kyoko had never been this tired before.
Sure she had pulled all-nighters…but this was something different…
Something deeper…
An aching tiredness that seemed to have sunk into her bones and the very fabric of her soul.
That night she had thought about Ren…and Sho.
After she had spent the first half of the night crying out all the hurt she had felt hollow…
Empty…
It allowed her to think.
Everything that had been her…all her thoughts and feelings had disappeared allowing her to see the world through a clear perspective.
How was it that when Sho had hurt her she had just gotten angry at him?
Vowed to take him down with every fibre of her being?
She had even launched herself at him for goodness sake!
Anything to cause him pain…
..To make him feel what he had done to her…what he had made her feel…
But with Ren?
With Ren, when he had hurt her…
All she had done was cry.
It just hadn't made sense to her.
So she had pondered, with her new self perspective, distanced from the world.
And she had come to a conclusion.
…The reason why Ren had elected such a different response from her.
It was because she was completely and irrevocably in love with him.
As soon as she had admitted that to herself her clear perspective disappeared and the world came rushing back in at her at a startling pace.
She thought again about what had happened and all that had been said between them…
And she cried anew. Her heart shattering into tiny pieces repeatedly.
When her alarm had finally gone off she had picked herself up and dried her tears.
Washing her face in the bathroom she surveyed herself in the mirror before her.
She looked ill…bone-weary…
But she had to go in.
She had to find Ren…
She had to make things better.
There was no point taking the day off and leaving her troubles like this.
If she did that then Ren would never get the right idea.
Besides…tomorrow was the last day and she definitely had to go in then to give out her presents.
It would make no sense to try to avoid him today while she would have to see him tomorrow?
It didn't.
She would go in today…
Otherwise Ren would hate her forever...
She shook her head.
No.
No, that wasn't going to happen.
She wouldn't let it happen.
She had the power to fix this, so she would.
No matter how much she wanted to just run away…
She had made a promise to herself.
…sacrifice everything...
And it was a promise that she was going to keep.
Once she had explained everything…if Ren still wanted to hate her…then she couldn't stop him.
It would hurt her more than she could say…but if he still wanted her to disappear…then she would.
Breathing deeply Kyoko leant against the sink.
She had to build up enough courage to go in.
A spark of determination flickered in her eyes.
It was time.
She would do this.
She strode back through to her bedroom with vigour in her step.
As she pulled on her clothes her eyes caught on the pile of presents neatly stacked in the corner.
Ren's gift lay balanced right on the top.
She slowly made her way over to it and picked it up.
Even wrapped up it fit snugly into the palm of her hand; bringing her comfort.
She stared down at her most precious possession covered in colourful festive paper.
Maybe…
Just maybe…
If she took it in a day early and gave it to him while she explained it would help show him how serious she was being.
He knew how much Corn meant to her.
If he saw that she was giving it to him to help take his troubles away then he might give her a little more time to talk.
…It was worth a shot anyway.
…Even if it was a long one…
Her taxi outside beeped to let her know that it was there and waiting.
Kyoko pocketed the present and hurried outside.
She would find Ren and she would make him listen.
Conflict coursed through her veins.
She really didn't want to search for Ren but on the other hand she just couldn't wait to find him and explain.
His present weighed down in her pocket.
She was looking for him…
…she was just not going out of her way to find him.
It was lunch time and she was sitting down on her favourite step again…trying to figure out what to do.
True she hadn't gone out of her way to find him but there should have been some sort of mention of him through the corridors.
But there hadn't been a whisper.
It had confused her slightly.
But really…
It meant that she had to actually search for him.
She swallowed dryly.
Now that she was so close to actually talking to him she was suddenly nervous.
It had all seemed so much easier this morning…
…When she was at home.
Now though…her self preservation instincts were kicking in.
She looked down at her lunch which was balanced on her lap.
She didn't feel hungry.
Putting aside her uneaten lunch she sat with her head in her hands.
The situation she found herself in was really messed up.
She hardly knew which way was up anymore.
She really needed some help…but Moko was away and she couldn't get hold of her and she had no one else to turn to.
She looked around her slyly. Nobody was around.
Reaching deep into her pocket she pulled out Ren's present.
Clasping it in both hand she whispered to it all her problems.
It didn't do anything physically but it made her feel better.
Feeling calmer she stood up.
She would go search for Ren now before she lost her nerve again.
She grabbed her uneaten lunch and ran back down to the locker room.
She had spent most of the afternoon searching for Ren but had neither seen or heard any mention of him at all.
It was most peculiar.
She would just have to search harder, that was all.
She turned around a corner and ran into Mr Yashiro.
The piles of papers he was carrying spilt across the floor.
"Ahhh! Mr Yashiro! I'm SO sorry!"
Mr Yashiro pushed his glasses back up his nose so that he could see.
"Ah! Kyoko! Are…you okay?"
"Um…yes, yes I am. Ah! Here let me help you!"
She bent down to pick up the papers. Seeing this Mr Yashiro stooped down to help as well.
"Kyoko…there was something I was meaning to ask…"
"Mr Yashiro!" Kyoko interrupted. "Have you seen Ren at all today?"
Mr Yashiro frowned at the interruption but let it slide.
"No…Ren isn't in today."
"Huh?!"
Kyoko was shocked.
Ren wasn't in today? Why on earth not?
Mr Yashiro watched emotions flicker across Kyoko's face.
She was staring at him with her mouth open.
Ren wasn't in.
She couldn't explain.
If he wasn't in tomorrow then she wouldn't see him again until next year.
Who knows what kind of conclusions could have been thought up in that time.
"Did…" Kyoko's voice was hoarse and she hastily cleared her throat. "…did he say why he wasn't coming in?"
"He didn't have any work today so he took some time off for…personal reasons."
"Oh…"
Kyoko's mind became blank.
The only thought that ran through it was that Ren was taking time off because of her.
It was all because of her.
Mr Yashiro gently took the papers from Kyoko's unresisting hands.
"Kyoko?"
What was she going to do?
She stared at Mr Yashiro with his worried expression.
Wait!
That was it!
She could give Ren's present to Mr Yashiro to give to Ren!
It was genius!
She quickly stood and reached into her pocket to pull out the present.
…It wasn't there.
Her eyes widened and she fervently searched all her pockets.
It still wasn't there.
NO!
This couldn't be happening to her!
Why?!
Just…why?!
Mr Yashiro slowly reached out his hand and gently grasped her shoulder, calming her fevered searching.
"Kyoko?" He asked slowly, "Are you feeling okay?"
Kyoko felt tears spring unbidden in her eyes but she fought them down.
Why did these types of things keep happening to her?
Eventually she gave up. The present obviously wasn't in her pockets.
"Yes. I'm okay." She replied dejectedly.
"Okay. I'm going to go now. Will you be able to carry on with what you were doing…I mean what you should be doing?"
Kyoko sighed.
"Yes."
Mr Yashiro nodded slowly and walked away; shooting nervous glances back at Kyoko.
Kyoko didn't notice, she just stood there in a slump.
Where was the present?
She must have dropped it somewhere.
She calmed down, pushing away her panic, and thought reasonably.
Where was the last place she had it?
At lunch!
She must have put it down when she picked up her lunch and forgotten all about it!
A smile spread across her face and she practically ran to her lunch spot.
She had to get that present.
Kyoko stood on the staircase.
She had searched for about an hour and she still couldn't find it.
She didn't want to admit it…
…But it had to be said.
She had completely lost Ren's present.
This was NOT good.
Hey! Sorry about the late chapter!
I was travelling all day as I am now HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!
YAY!
I just wanted to ask…is everyone following the story okay?
I'm not quite sure how it sounds when you read it all in one go as it's a bit different when you are constantly writing and rewriting the chapters.
…just wanted to know really…