Seira found herself in the area where her father had died and it caused the same feelings of panic and pain to build up inside her. The dark alleyway made her skin crawl and she didn't like the feeling it gave her. Seira knew that it was because of the fact that her father died in the cold and dark area. The sun didn't even light up the area. Eimi's hand tightened on her shoulder, bringing her back to reality. "I'm sorry, Seira." The woman spoke to Seira, knowing that area brought up bad feelings in the girl.
"It hurts, knowing that he died here." Seira spoke as she looked at the ground, where the man's body once laid. Something built up inside of Seira and the girl turned around to puke, the memories of her father's death making her feel nauseous. The bile left her mouth but it didn't help her feel better as she leaned against Eimi. "Can...we...leave? I don't want to be here anymore." She begged the woman and Eimi walked Seira to a bench that was far away from the alleyway.
She hated that she had brought Seira to the alleyway, but she needed to confirm something and she was able to do that with Seira by her side. The killer would have convinced Seira that it was her fault that her father had died had Seira not ran away to find someone to help. Eimi hated that she knew that she was right as she had seen the crime scene right after the murder had happened. Seira had unknowingly saved her own sanity by leaving when she did. Other people have been manipulated into thinking that they have been the one at fault for someone else's death. I would have hated to have seen Seira in such a state. Eimi thought as she winced at the thought of Seira being manipulated into thinking that she had been the cause of her father's death. That would wreck her. The woman thought as she knew how Seira would have reacted if it had gotten that far. "Seira." Eimi called out to the girl and the crying girl turned her face towards the woman, her face covered in tears.
"What if it's my fault?" Seira asked, tugging at her hair. Eimi looked down at her with horror in her eyes. Seira, no! The woman thought in horror.
"Seira, it's not your fault. Sweetie, you didn't do anything that aided in his death." Eimi spoke, trying to get Seira to believe that she wasn't the cause of her father's death. "Sweetie." Eimi knew that she wasn't getting through to Seira when the girl started wailing even louder.
"I ran away. He needed help and I just left him alone. I let him die." Eimi could do nothing but lift Seira into her arms to hug her as she knew that she couldn't reassure Seira of not being the cause of her father's death at the moment. It will take time. She's still grieving and of course, she would think it's her fault. She felt bad about running off. The woman thought as she hugged Seira closer to her.
Eimi knew that she couldn't convince Seira that it wasn't her fault.
She knew that it would take time for her to even realize that she was processing her father's death by pinning the blame on herself, however, Eimi knew that Seira thought that she had genuinely caused the man's death, which wasn't true.
As Eimi hugged Seira, she allowed herself to take Seira's pain for herself as the girl deeply sobbed in her clothes. "Mommy." Eimi's eyes popped open at the title and she looked down at Seira and sure enough, she was addressing Eimi as she was looking at her. She wasn't seeing her birth mother as she was seeing her foster mother. Eimi allowed herself to cry as she watched Seira drown in her grief.
The two were back home and Eimi was holding Seira close to her as the girl was napping on Eimi. Eimi ran her fingers through Seira's hair as the girl hadn't asked for a trim in a while. She could see that the hair was getting wild and Eimi knew that the girl was too distressed to even ask about getting her hair trimmed. Her hair is getting longer. Eimi thought as she gently stretched out some of Seira's hair. It was longer than what Seira would have ever liked but the trauma was making her not think about it. I know the hair doesn't feel right to her. I will ask her if she wants to trim when she wakes up. The woman thought as she watched as Seira curled up even more in her hold.
It had been thirty minutes and Seira had woken up. "Mom?" Seira called out to Eimi and Eimi looked down at her with a soft smile.
"Hey, sweetie." Eimi helped Seira up from her lap as she moved her upright. "You want me to trim your hair?" Eimi asked when Seira was fully aware of her surroundings. Seira felt her hair and her eyes widened when she noticed the new length of it.
"Please." Seira spoke that one word and Eimi walked with her to the kitchen. Genichiro was out while Meimi was still napping and so, Eimi knew that they could sit in silence as she trimmed Seira's hair. After she had gotten the chair set up, she watched as Seira sat down and attempt to relax but the long hair aggravated her senses as she never enjoyed having long hair. Eimi knew that Seira would continue to fidget until she felt the new do and she decided to trim it while Seira relaxed as she trimmed her hair.
It had taken her a few minutes because she knew the perfect length that Seira wanted it and after it was done, she removed herself from Seira's personal space to allow the girl to feel her hair. When Seira let a smile grace her features, Eimi smiled back. She was glad that this one thing could make Seira happy as she enjoyed a certain length for her hair.
Eimi couldn't wait until the police department found the killer of Seira's father as she knew that was worrying Seira most of all. She knew that it put the girl at peace with the man's killer off of the streets. She allowed herself to stop thinking about that as Seira hugged her as the girl smiled a watery smile.
Author's Note: So this chapter ended up being the saddest one I have written for this story. Please let me know about you think about this chapter. There will be a new chapter tomorrow as well as I will be working on this story today and tomorrow.
