That night, I dreamed about a man.
He had a mask.
It was a terrifying mask, one that struck fear into my heart.
And then, there was a faint whispering. I couldn't make out what it was saying, but it soothed me; made me feel tranquil. As I stood there, in the darkness of my dream, I struggled to listen, to hear the words the mysterious mask was mumbling.
And then there were screams. Blood-curling screams that rattled my bones, and made every inch of my being freeze in absolute terror. The mask was slowly inching towards me, its whispers only slightly masked by the screams. I couldn't move; I was locked in place. But strangely, I didn't want to move. I believed the mask would protect me. I didn't know why…but I knew it would.
And as the mask pressed up against my face, the screams ceased.
And I could finally hear what it said.
"It is time to create a new era."
I woke up, beads of cold sweat dotting my face. I rubbed my eyes and looked around; everything was the same.
I was still living with Seiji. Momma still didn't have the sense to get out. I was still trapped.
My faith was escaping me; if the spirits really were looking out for us, wouldn't we have escaped already?
I tried desperately to hold my tears in. Why was life so miserable? Why did Momma have to have married Seiji?
I tiptoed outside; to my surprise, I found Seiji working at the desk in the corner of the room.
He must've been sober. I turned around to go inside my room when Seiji's gruff voice pierced the silence.
"What the hell do you want?" he asked, irritated.
"Nothing. I was just going to sleep," I gulped.
"Leave me alone," Seiji grunted before returning to his work. I nodded and went back to sleep.
This time, the man in the mask did not grace my dreams.
Seiji left before any of us woke up; probably to drink more.
I felt disgusted at the thought. I silently made a promise never to try alcohol; it destroyed people.
Not that Seiji was a good person to begin with.
Over the next week, Seiji lost his job as a reputable politician.
He went in drunk to work one day and embarrassed himself in front of his entire cabinet and colleagues. The only money we were making came from my mother's laundry business. She worked constantly, without any breaks, to support all of us.
However, because Seiji lost his job, he only drank even more. He was never home; he always went to the pubs in the city and slept spirits knew where. His constant drinking ate away at Momma's income.
Before we knew it, we were in danger of losing our house.
I took on a job as a babysitter. I took Akash with me. For a six-year-old, he was very mature. He no longer cried or threw tantrums. He sat quietly. He was also extremely intelligent, a prodigy, in fact.
He knew how to do advanced earthbending at the mere age of four, completely without Seiji's help. Akash raised some extra cash by performing his earthbending skills for passer-byes. His cuteness and his prowess at earthbending earned us a lot of yuans to pay rent.
He made me proud.
Ever since the day he ran away, Akash had become one of the most important people in my life, besides Momma. I would have done anything to protect him, and I regretted the way I acted toward him when he was first born.
Babysitting was difficult, however. The children were often rambunctious and whiny, and annoyed me and Akash to no end. It didn't help my mood that they kept bringing up the subject of Jia.
"I miss Jia," said Midori.
I tried holding back my tears. I could only imagine how awful Mr. Fa was feeling; he had lost his wife while she was in labor. Jia was all he had had left. Akash looked at me, tears running down his eyes. I understood his pain. When he was two years old, Momma invited Jia over every day. She played with Akash and made him laugh like no one else could. She had acted like a real sister to him, while I had neglected him. I pulled Akash close to me and stroked his hair while he silently wept. Midori and her little triplet brothers, Mitsuri, Minoru, and Masatu stopped their obstreperous behavior for once, and looked at us with sad eyes. While they too were poor, I could feel them pity us. They had normal parents, and a close family that loved each other. I envied that to no end.
The six of us sat in silence for the rest of the evening. I gave the children food and water, and, as we were eating, Midori's parents came home.
"Akira. Akash. We could not thank you enough. Here, take these yuans. They are well-deserved," said Mr. Gui, their well-spoken father.
I greedily grabbed the yuans out of his hand and counted. It was only ten. I suppressed my disappointment and bowed deeply.
"We are honored, sir. Thank you," I replied.
Mrs. Quiang gave me a hug. "You children have a bright future ahead of you, so smart and hard-working. One day, you'll be just as accomplished as your father," she said, oblivious.
I grimaced. I couldn't even fathom growing up to be like Seiji. Everywhere he went, he brought pain and unhappiness and misery. I nodded curtly to Mrs. Quiang and took Akash by the hand. We walked up the stairs to our apartment.
"Only ten yuans?" Akash asked.
I nodded. "I know. But we can't expect much from a couple that has four kids. They need to feed themselves, you know. I heard that Mr. Gui and Mrs. Quiang don't eat for days so that they can give their food to Midori and her brothers," I explained.
"But still…" Akash replied sadly. I shrugged my shoulders and swung open the door.
To my surprise, Mr. Fa was sitting on our couch, drinking tea.