Chapter 2. (Mai's POV)
...Memory seeps from my veins...
Was it really only one year ago?
I need to get a calendar or something.
The California sun had mixed with the damp, bay, air and created a salty haze over San Diego. Mom and I had been dying to go fishing for weeks and Dad was able to get a day off from work. his first in two months.
Dad worked as a manager of a well-known credit card company and it was difficult for him to take time off. The guys hadn't had a vacation in, like, three years; I swear.
Mom, on the other hand, owned a small café and if she ever wanted to take a day off, she could. Like that day.
We had been waiting for the light to change at an intersection and Dad was teasing me and Mom about the four thermoses full of coffee when the light, finally, changed.
Dad was halfway through the intersection when I saw the truck; an eighteen wheeler that was running his red light.
Mom screamed at Dad to step on it but she was cut short by the front grill sandwiching her in between Dad and the passenger door.
I didn't see what happened after that, I had shut my eyes and screamed. *This isn't happening, the whole thing is a ridiculous dream and I'll call Taka in the morning to figure it out.*
The only thing I remember after the truck collided with our Neon was hands bursting into the crumpled prison and pulling me out.
I woke up in a hospital three days latter. The nurses told me that I had lost a lot of blood and had a severe concussion. I asked them if mom and dad were ok but they only replied that it wasn't' their place.
Taka came in, then. She said that she had driven from L.A. as soon as she heard.
"Where's Mom?" I kept asking, "where's Dad?"
"Oh honey," her lip quivered, "they...they're..."
"Dead." I finished for her. Taka nodded her head in confirmation. " the doctors say that they died painlessly, that they were lucky."
Damn straight they were; my parents weren't pinned underneath nurses pitied gazes, they didn't have to go to the morgue and identify the bodies as a positive match, they got to go through their own funeral, dead.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The shrink paused and looked up from his notes; the girl was looking out of a windowpane at the mass of Tokyo.
"And when your aunt brought you to Tokyo, how did you feel? Separated from your friends?"
"Never had any," she lied, "so I wouldn't know."
Dr. Hoshi blinked at Mai and then closed his notebook. "Our time has ended, Aki Mai. I will see you again next Friday." He opened the door for her and she walked out.
"oh, Miss Aki?" Mai stopped at the door, "I know that it will be a little difficult but you might want to cut down on your caffeine intake and try and talk about your feelings with either your aunt or grandmother."
She smirked and ran out to her waiting aunt; laughing at the though of her giving up coffee and actually having a conversation with her grandmother.
...Memory seeps from my veins...
Was it really only one year ago?
I need to get a calendar or something.
The California sun had mixed with the damp, bay, air and created a salty haze over San Diego. Mom and I had been dying to go fishing for weeks and Dad was able to get a day off from work. his first in two months.
Dad worked as a manager of a well-known credit card company and it was difficult for him to take time off. The guys hadn't had a vacation in, like, three years; I swear.
Mom, on the other hand, owned a small café and if she ever wanted to take a day off, she could. Like that day.
We had been waiting for the light to change at an intersection and Dad was teasing me and Mom about the four thermoses full of coffee when the light, finally, changed.
Dad was halfway through the intersection when I saw the truck; an eighteen wheeler that was running his red light.
Mom screamed at Dad to step on it but she was cut short by the front grill sandwiching her in between Dad and the passenger door.
I didn't see what happened after that, I had shut my eyes and screamed. *This isn't happening, the whole thing is a ridiculous dream and I'll call Taka in the morning to figure it out.*
The only thing I remember after the truck collided with our Neon was hands bursting into the crumpled prison and pulling me out.
I woke up in a hospital three days latter. The nurses told me that I had lost a lot of blood and had a severe concussion. I asked them if mom and dad were ok but they only replied that it wasn't' their place.
Taka came in, then. She said that she had driven from L.A. as soon as she heard.
"Where's Mom?" I kept asking, "where's Dad?"
"Oh honey," her lip quivered, "they...they're..."
"Dead." I finished for her. Taka nodded her head in confirmation. " the doctors say that they died painlessly, that they were lucky."
Damn straight they were; my parents weren't pinned underneath nurses pitied gazes, they didn't have to go to the morgue and identify the bodies as a positive match, they got to go through their own funeral, dead.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The shrink paused and looked up from his notes; the girl was looking out of a windowpane at the mass of Tokyo.
"And when your aunt brought you to Tokyo, how did you feel? Separated from your friends?"
"Never had any," she lied, "so I wouldn't know."
Dr. Hoshi blinked at Mai and then closed his notebook. "Our time has ended, Aki Mai. I will see you again next Friday." He opened the door for her and she walked out.
"oh, Miss Aki?" Mai stopped at the door, "I know that it will be a little difficult but you might want to cut down on your caffeine intake and try and talk about your feelings with either your aunt or grandmother."
She smirked and ran out to her waiting aunt; laughing at the though of her giving up coffee and actually having a conversation with her grandmother.