Chapter 10
'past unfound'
And I'm haunted.
By the lives that I have loved,
and actions I have hated.
I'm haunted - by the promises I made,
and others I have broken.
I'm haunted - by the lives that rule the will,
inside my home today.
February tenth. It was another of those dreary, not-yet-snowing days with thick heavy clouds threatening to do so at any minute. A cold wind carried sharp flecks of moisture in the air, biting at my skin and turning my nose and ears red.
After I'd braved the weather to reach the store, and felt the blood return to my hands, I occupied myself with the selection. It was the last Sunday before her birthday, and today was the day to get something. I was prepared to spend the last of what I'd earned from the summer on it, but what to get? I wrinkled my nose at my surroundings. It was one of those 'cute' stores that Sakura would love so much, but I felt distinctly out of place. Outside, the wind was getting stronger, and I could hear the old-fashioned wooden sign bang against the brick wall.
"We have a lovely selection of brooches." I shook my head.
"No. No decoration. She doesn't do that." The saleslady looked slightly confused, but then my eyes fell upon something on a shelf. "There. That's what I want."
"Our ballerina?" Carefully she picked up the tiny wooden music box. Balanced on one toe, a crystal ballerina turned a slow pirouette in time with Fur Elise.
"It's perfect," I murmured, lifting it to get a better look at her chiseled face. "No color at all. It's just right."
The light was refracting in the cut stones of her tiara, creating tiny rainbows that flashed and faded as she spun slowly. Absentmindedly I hummed along with the song. But the melody was disrupted by the soft chime of the bell as someone else entered the store.
"Oh my! It's certainly cold out there, isn't it?"
"Good evening, m'lady. How may I help you?"
"I'm looking for a pair of pearl earrings to match this necklace. Do you think you have anything suitable?"
"I'm sure we can find something, madam, if you'll just step this way."
I turned slightly to move toward the cash register, and found myself face-to-face with the new arrival. The shock was so sudden and severe that I lost control over my hands, and the fragile ballerina crashed to the ground. Shattered glass went all over my shoes and the clerk gasped, but I was beyond caring.
- - - - - - -
The house was a different world when I returned home, as the sleet began to fall in earnest. It was warm and cheerful, and I felt alien there. Unwelcome. I kicked off my shoes and marched down the hall. Sakura and Dad were cuddled together on the couch, watching some program on TV.
"Hi, Nii-chan!" she chirped, but I didn't respond. I could hardly hear her over my thudding heart. Through some kind of haze, I saw myself pick up the remote and turn off the TV.
"Touya-kun, what -"
"I met an old friend of yours today, Dad." He looked up at me, a little confused. My voice was cold and frosty, and I tossed the remote over my shoulder.
"Touya-kun, what do you think -"
"It's been a few years, but I'm sure you remember her." I waited a second, and was rewarded with a flicker of fear in his eyes. Sakura just looked bewildered.
"So-" I began, "-nom-"
"Sakura, go upstairs," he said quickly. He pulled her off of his lap and plunked her on the ground.
"But why -"
"Please don't argue. Just go." Dad's probably never spoken so briskly to her in her life, and she looked hurt and confused. After seeing the way we were looking at each other, she bowed her head and scurried up the stairs. I waited until I heard her door shut.
- - - - -
She looked a little confused, seeing me stare at her.
"Do I… know you?"
"I know I know you," I said slowly. "Although I don't know how."
No one in the shop moved, even to clean up the mess at my feet. She frowned, studying my face, trying to understand.
"Think back," I continued. "To a funeral. Almost five years ago now."
Comprehension was dawning in those dark blue eyes of hers, and I took a deep breath.
"You walked past me, and you hit him. Hard, across the face. Do you remember this?"
By the look on her face, it was clear that she did remember. And finally, it clicked.
"You're Fujitaka's son. Aren't you?"
I gave a tiny nod, not trusting myself to speak. I didn't know who this woman was, but I knew she was important, somehow. I could feel it.
"You're the child."
"What?"
"You're the baby Fujitaka got my poor cousin pregnant with."
Cousin… I couldn't be hearing this right.
"My mother's family is all gone," I whispered. She gave me a disdainful look.
"Is that what he told you?"
- - - - - -
"You lied," I started. "You said she was no one. Just someone who was confused and didn't know who she was attacking."
"Touya-kun, it was your mother's funeral, I could hardly tell you the real reason."
"She was family!" I snapped. "You and Mom said all her family was dead or overseas. You lied! They're here, and they hate us. How could you lie about that? How could you keep that a secret?"
My father was slowly standing to face me. He looked pale, nervous.
"I didn't see the good of bringing it up. I certainly didn't think you would ever meet her. Where on earth did you even run into her?"
"Never mind that," I said coldly. "My mother's family has been here this whole time, and I didn't even know. You lied about Mom's health, you lied about her family, you've lied about everything!" I kicked the coffee table in frustration, and he cringed.
And that was when it hit me that my own father was afraid of me. I was taller than he was. When did that happen? I was taller, and stronger, and dangerously angry. This was what Kaho had been talking about. My dad feared me – and what I could learn.
"Just for once, Dad, just for laughs. Tell me the truth!"
His face was ashen, and he didn't say anything.
"This isn't the first time we've lived in this town," I started, prodding him. "Is it?"
He shook his head. "This is the town where I met your mother." I inhaled, then let it slowly. "This is where you were born."
"Unbelievable," I said softly. He was having trouble meeting my eyes now.
"What did she say to you?"
"Lots of things." I had the satisfaction of seeing him flinch. "Lots of very interesting things."
- - - - - -
"I spent my whole life watching out for Nadeshiko so no one would take advantage and ruin her life – like your father did. He dragged her down; got her pregnant! You're the reason she had to drop out of school."
She was starting to fume now, not paying attention to my face.
"The scandal was terrible! What kind of man marries and impregnates his own student?"
That last part caught me like a punch in the stomach.
"His own student?"
- - - - - -
"You said you met her by a tree!" I raged. "You said she fell off a branch and crashed onto you!"
"That is what happened," he denied quickly. "That's how we met."
"She said you were her teacher!" He swallowed and looked away again.
"I – I was. I had just moved to Tomoeda when we met. I was here to serve a year as student teacher at her high school. Yes, she was my student."
This was starting to sound familiar. No wonder he was suspicious so quickly.
"You married your own student," I choked. "When she was just sixteen. Mom never finished high school because of me!" I took a deep breath. "I was an accident."
He did not say anything, and I took a step closer.
"I was, wasn't I? Admit it."
- - - - - -
Her gaze was a little sad and regretful as she looked me over.
"You look so little like her. There's nothing of Nadeshiko in you." I stiffened. She was shaking her head now. "A boy… she had to drop out for a boy. It's too bad she didn't have the girl she wanted."
I was wheezing now, and didn't bother to correct her.
- - - - - -
"You never wanted me!" I was past simple anger by this point, all the frustration and jealousy boiling over. Years of resentment were coming to the surface. "I was an accident. And all either of you wanted was a girl. I – I was a mistake! No wonder Sakura was always your favorite. No wonder she's all you ever think about. You don't care anything about me!"
"That's not true -"
"Don't. Don't even try to tell me what's true and what's not. You don't have the right. You've done nothing but lie to me from the beginning, and I'm not even supposed to be here!"
- - - - - -
She slapped some cash on the counter.
"I believe this will cover your little accident. It was interesting running into you, Kinomoto. Had no idea he'd even come crawling back to Tomoeda. Tell your father that Sonomi said hello."
"I'll be sure and do that," I said stiffly.
She winked and sailed through the front door.
That, and a whole lot more.
- - - - - -
"Please just listen -"
"No! I can't take it anymore, all right? All you've ever wanted is for me to just be like her. You tell me so all the time!"
"I don't -"
"You do!" I heard my voice crack and knew I was close to losing it completely. "I don't matter at all to you; I'm just here to baby-sit the one you really wanted. All you ever do is wish I were more like her. Well, I'm not. I'm the mistake."
Dad looked horrified, but I was too angry to care.
"Touya-kun, please don't think of yourself that way. We did love you when you came along, we -"
"Stop." I didn't shout, but spoke quietly and coldly. I was testing my newfound power, and took a vicious pleasure in the way he shut up immediately. He feared me. "You didn't want me – anymore than her cousin wanted you. And I'm not listening to any more of your lies."
He was silent at that, and I let the harsh truth hang in the atmosphere just a moment longer before turning around and escaping up the stairs. Sakura's door was shut tight, and I could hear the TV that had been her Christmas present from Dad going loud. Not bothering to keep quiet, I stomped down the hall and slammed my door shut.
Was I angry? Sad? Upset? I didn't know. I was so confused, all this new information had come so fast and I wasn't sure what to make of it. I hugged my arms to my chest and sank to my knees on the carpet, staring into the dark and trembling. I had never felt so alone and unloved in my life. I needed someone nurturing. I needed my mommy.
"I didn't mean it," I told the cold and dark bedroom. "I want to see you again."
But if she could hear, she wasn't responding. I was all by myself.
It's a scary time, after someone dies. I was all by myself in the dark as the sun set. The window was open to the sweet spring breeze, and Sakura's hair stirred slightly as she slept. She'd dozed off a little while before, slightly disturbed about how strange everyone was acting today but otherwise untroubled. Her sucking slowed, and eventually her thumb fell out of her mouth. I had been ordered to watch her and put her to bed, and this I had done, grateful to have something to occupy my mind with. But now she was asleep, and I sat on the carpet under the window with my knees drawn up to my chest.
Now what? I had taken care of my sister, and now I didn't know what to do. I couldn't just go downstairs and watch TV. I couldn't do homework. I couldn't go to sleep. My mother was dead, and I didn't know what to do.
Finally, I couldn't take the quiet anymore and decided that I had to seek out the company of another living person. Dad might still be mad how I'd hit and kicked him earlier, but it was a risk I had to take. The hallway was just as dark as the room, and I crawled toward my parent's room. I knew she was gone now, people had come and taken her away. I could hear him talking on the phone, and I crawled to the edge of the light spilling through the doorway to listen. Just hearing someone's voice was some kind of relief.
"I thought you should know, that she died today. She closed her eyes and she left here,
at8:03."
He wasn't pausing for a reply, and I realized he was speaking into an answering machine. I'd never heard my father's voice sound like this, strained and toneless. He sounded almost as if he were speaking in a chant.
"She sends her love. She wanted you to know… that she wasn't holding a grudge,
And if you are, you should let it go. Are you there?" Who was he talking to? "Pick up. Pick up, please."
I knew I shouldn't be eavesdropping, but I couldn't make myself move. After a while he gave up and hung up the phone, then I heard him fall back against the covers and sigh. This was the time that I could go in, crawl into bed beside him like Sakura would. Yet already the resentment that he had let her go too easily was beginning to assert itself in me, and the feeling that my father should have no more of me than I cared to give him.
And so I remained alone, in the hallway, and in the dark.
My mother was dead, and she wasn't coming back. It was so hard to understand that, to internalize it. I had seen her, seen her right here in the hallway that morning when Dad said she was dead. She had crossed over, and now she was just another of those inexplicable things that I could 'see'. My own mother had become an illusion.
I was upset and confused, and perhaps a more diligent parent might have noticed that there was more going on than typical mourning. But Dad had no one to help plan the arrangements; no one to assist him in caring for his children. All he had was me. "Touya, please keep an eye on Sakura. I have to talk to this man for a little bit."
Too sunk into my own misery, I just stared at the ground as he walked over to a man in a suit.
The shadows on the ground waved as the breeze rustled the branches. It was a beautiful warm day in spring, the sky a perfect blue. An especially strong gust caught the cherry blossoms above our heads, scattering them into the air. They mixed with the ashes as he opened his fist and released them, and together they were whisked away from us. Over and over I watched him do it, completely numb. It was occurring to me that I hadn't cried once since her death. There were plenty of Mom and Dad's friends standing around, crying. I should be crying too. What kind of son didn't cry at his own mother's funeral? Was Sakura crying? I looked down and my heart leapt into my mouth. My sister was gone.
Trying to keep quiet about it, I spun in a slow circle, but the toddler was nowhere to be seen. I was supposed to be watching her, it was the one thing that I knew how to do. How could I lose her on today of all days? I couldn't let Dad know. He'd be furious that I messed up. Unnoticed, I backed away and slipped through the somber gathering. It was quiet shrine, blooming with spring flowers. It was not especially large, but I couldn't see her anywhere. Now real panic was starting to bubble up inside me. I had promised.
I was a small distance from the others when a woman in a black suit brushed past me. She was walking fast, headed for the others, and something about her manner made me pause and take notice of her.
There was something rather clipped about her pace, something that set her apart from the other adults there. Looking the way she had come, I almost collapsed with relief when I saw the limo parked by the road. The rear door had been left open, and Sakura was handing a flower to a little girl about her age seated inside the car.
Finally. I hurried over, just as Sakura had persuaded the other girl to climb out of the car and join her on the grass.
"This is my new friend," she announced happily, and the girl with long dark braids smiled.
"That's nice," I said impatiently. "Come on, we have to -"
"You let her die!" The sharp accusation carried easily across the shrine, and my head jerked up. The woman in black was standing in front of my dad, screaming. His face looked absolutely white and he cringed. After that she said several things that I couldn't hear. Everyone in the group looked uncomfortable.
I was watching my dad uneasily when she threw up her arms in frustration and made as if to turn away. I was just exhaling in relief when she changed her mind and slapped him hard across his face. I could hear the sharp crack clearly, and all the guests gasped. He didn't do anything, just looked down as she spun on her heels to return to her car.
Certain that she had gone crazy and was ready to attack anyone in her path, I scooped up Sakura in my arms and backed away from the limo and the other toddler. Sakura wriggled in my arms, not wanting to be separated from the other girl, but I placed a hand over her mouth. I was shaking with fear and confusion as I hid in the shadow of a tree. I needn't have bothered. She didn't seem to notice anything as she picked up the girl and placed her back in the car. I heard a broken sob and realized that she was crying too, behind her sunglasses. I had a very clear look at her face as she straightened and then got in the car herself. And then the limo pulled away from the curb and left us alone.
I didn't move after that, but waited with Sakura in my arms for him to come find us.
"Touya, there you are. I told you not to run off."
"Who was that lady?"
He hesitated and looked away.
"She was nobody, Touya. Just someone who was confused and didn't know who I was."
And still he was lying. I let him take Sakura from my arms and stuffed my hands in my suit pockets. I didn't believe him, I was sure that he knew who she was. But everything was so uncertain that day. I couldn't take any more unpleasant news. I wanted to believe him, wanted to convince myself to trust my father on at least this much. So I pushed it out of my mind and went home with him. And that night, I saw him bury his face in his hands at the table and my mother lean over and kiss him on the top of his head. He couldn't see her. Only me.
There's something terribly lonely about being able to see someone that you miss very much, but to be the only one. It took me a while to realize how she was preventing me from moving on and healing, but I figured it out eventually. That's when I started to hate it.
I hummed brokenly to myself in the darkness, trying to fill the quiet. Every detail of that day had been etched vividly into my mind. I would never be able to erase that image of the mingled ash and petals flying away from us on the wind. Gone, in a heartbeat.
The blossoms had scattered, and there was no way to pick them back up again.
"I'm sorry," I tried again. "I didn't mean it. I don't hate you. I want to see you again. I – I didn't mean to push you away like your own family did."
Still no reply, and I hugged my pillow to my chest. It was ridiculous, but I was so desperate that I think I would have even picked up Sakura in my lap if she'd been there.
"You wouldn't abandon me – would you? The one child that can see you? Even if I am," I swallowed, "an accident."
I waited, trembling, on the bed as the hours ticked away. She never appeared.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I did the unthinkable the next morning. I waited upstairs for Sakura to finish dressing before I went downstairs. She was my safety, my shield. As long as she was there with us, he couldn't say anything. That morning was quiet, with him giving me miserable looks over her head as she ate. I had no appetite, and waited listlessly by the door for her to join me.
"Aren't you going to eat anything, Onii-chan?" she asked through a mouthful of food.
"Not hungry." I pulled on my jacket and gave her an impatient look. "C'mon. Let's go, already."
"Okay, okay," she huffed. "I'm coming. Bye, Dad!"
"Bye, Sakura-san. Bye, T -"
I slammed the door behind me, and we walked to school in silence.
- - - - - - -
She found me in the music room during the lunch break, playing Fur Elise slowly and thoughtfully.
It's quite beautiful.
It's easy. The first song she ever taught me.
She drifted closer, and placed her hand over the small box on the piano.
I told you that you didn't have to.
Trust me, I want you to have it. You wouldn't believe what I went through to get it.
She sighed and gave a tiny smile, seating herself next to me on the bench as she opened the lid. I paused, and when she pressed the switch to send the ballerina turning, I began to play again in time with the song. After the last few notes trailed off, I stared into space for a minute.
"Happy birthday."
"Thank you."
"Birthdays are strange, aren't they? An anniversary of the date you came into the world. People generally consider it to be a happy time. What was the day like when I came into the world, I wonder? There's my dad, broke and serving a year as a student teacher here in Tomoeda. There's my mom, seventeen years old and a high school dropout. Can you imagine how difficult I must have made it for them? How hard those first years must have been? They obviously didn't intend to have any children, they didn't have Sakura for another seven years. I was a mistake."
"Does that make you any less of a person?"
I examined my hands in front of me. It did not concern them what my origins were. I could still make a fist, play the piano, run my fingers through her red hair.
"I wasn't just a surprise for them. I was the wrong kid. They wanted a girl like Sakura, a girl that would look and act just like Mom when she grew up. It's true; I don't have anything of her in me. I don't even really look like him. I don't know whom I take after, and I never will. I'll never know any of my family. They don't want us, just like my parents didn't want me."
Frustrated, I blew my bangs out of my eyes. My black hair, and my dark, flashing, eyes. I don't look anything like either of my parents. I didn't fit.
"You are every bit his child as much as your sister."
"Much to his regret, yes," I answered bitterly. "He's always wishing I would act like her. Do you know what it's like to be unwanted? To never feel like you belong?"
She was silent, and I traced my finger lightly up the smooth keys.
"Why was I born? Why am I here on this planet? Do I have some kind of purpose besides watching my little sister?"
She took a deep breath and leaned back against the keys before replying.
"Nobody knows exactly why they're here, Touya, whether their parents were expecting them or not, whether they wanted a daughter instead or not. Your destiny is something that will come to you when the time is right."
"I don't believe in things like destiny."
"Destiny is not concerned with that," she said with a straight face. "It will come to you when it's time to make a choice. And that choice will be entirely up to you. There will be no one else that can fill your role. It will be you alone who can act."
I wish I knew what she was talking about, but I knew I couldn't ask. She wouldn't tell me. But it was slightly reassuring to know that I could still make my own choices. Maybe I was just an unwanted child, but I was still a person of independent thought.
"You want me," I whispered, "right?"
She placed a hand on my cheek and I covered it with my own, taking comfort in her touch.
"You are not unloved, Touya. Always remember that."
She hadn't said it quite the way I wanted her to, but it was close enough. I leaned in and kissed her.
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I didn't know what to say to him. What do you say to someone when you know you made his life more difficult, just by being born? What do you say to someone who is looking at you and wishing you were someone else – or not there at all?
I stared at him silently over dinner, then dropped my eyes to my food when he looked up. Three days had passed since Kaho's birthday, and neither of us had exchanged a single word. I caught him looking at me every so often, and it was clear he didn't know what to say to me either. Five years of living together under one roof since her death, and we were still perfect strangers.
"Run upstairs, Sakura-san, and get your bath started. Then you can have some dessert, okay?"
My head jerked up. What was this? He was sending her away?
"Okay."
I pushed away from the table at the same time she did, and made for the stairs.
"Touya-kun, wait. Please?"
"No."
"I want you to -"
"Well I don't."
"Touya-kun, please! Give me a chance -" He laid his hand on my shoulder and I whirled around. He took a step back, nervous, as I snapped my fingers and pointed up the stairs. I could tell she was still there, watching.
"Bath. Now." She was silent, but turned and continued up the staircase.
"Touya-kun, if you would just listen -"
"Why should I? My whole life you've never told me the truth. I have no reason to believe anything you say. Who do you think I am? Some little kid like Sakura?" I took a step forward and he took another step back. "Not anymore. You don't ever get to tell me anything again."
I had the feeling that I would suddenly suffocate if I stayed in this house, and turned away from the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"None of your business."
"It is my business," he declared, sounding like he was trying to convince himself as much as me. "Touya-kun, wait, don't -"
"Try and stop me."
"I'll just come with you -"
"And leave Sakura alone? Somehow, I doubt it."
"Touya-kun, I'm asking you not to walk away from me. I'm trying to tell you something."
"And I'm pretty sure I told you that I don't want to hear it." I opened the door and he put his hand against it, pushing it closed again. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
He swallowed, but held his ground.
"Where are you going? Is it to her? Is that who you're running off to?" I was just going on a walk, but something in his tone goaded me on. I was so angry, I didn't care if he knew or not.
"So what if I am?"
"This isn't the way, Touya."
"What, afraid I'm going to end up like Mom?" I almost regretted my words once they'd been said; he looked as if I'd slapped him.
"That's not fair."
"You'll live. Unlike her." And with that I slammed out of the house and left the house at a run. I didn't even feel the cold February air. I just ran.
His light was off by the time I returned at midnight.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The next day was cold but dry, and a distant sun gave off meager warmth. The elementary school courtyard was filled with students, but my sister was nowhere to be seen.
"Sakura?" I scanned the courtyard unsuccessfully, and wondered if she'd gone on ahead alone. "Sakura?"
"Kinomoto-san?" I turned sharply, and saw a smiling woman coming out of the school's front doors, Sakura in tow.
"Yeah?"
"I'm Sakura's teacher." She smiled and bowed, after a second I copied her.
"Is something wrong?"
"Well, I'm not particularly sure." She squeezed my sister's hand and then released her. "Sakura-san, would you like to go practice with your baton by the statue? I just want to ask your brother some questions."
"Okay!" Sakura skipped off blithely, and I narrowed my eyes.
"What? Is something wrong?" She looked down and then up again to meet my gaze.
"Kinomoto-san, your little sister is a joy to have in my class. She's so full of energy and enthusiasm, and I adore her."
"Join the club," I muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"But lately, I've been noticing a kind of reluctance on her part. A shyness."
"Sakura, shy?"
"Yes, it does seem strange to believe, but she's been growing more quiet lately. I asked her what was wrong this morning and she said she's afraid to speak up because she'd get yelled at."
My eyebrows went up slightly and I glanced involuntarily at the girl practicing a few paces away.
"The behavior she's exhibiting – I've seen it before. It happens when there's a domestic disturbance, such as parents in the middle of a divorce. It's a little early to be making this call, but I don't have long before Sakura's in the third grade, and then I won't be able to help. I just wanted to have an informal chat with you, see if you knew what was going on. Is everything all right between your parents?"
I didn't answer at first, and she blushed.
"Gomen nesai, I didn't mean to pry, but -"
"No," I said shortly. "No, everything is not all right between her parents." She didn't say anything, and I shuffled my feet. "It's really affecting her?"
"Yes, I think it is. It's none of my business what the troubles are about, but you're obviously a sensible young man. You might talk with them and remind them that no matter what the problem is, it's not worth subjecting their children to. Someone Sakura's age is particularly sensitive to these things."
"I'll tell them."
She brightened.
"Oh thank you, Kinomoto-san. It's a relief to talk to you. I'm sure you can help resolve whatever problems are going on at home. For your sister's sake."
I couldn't look her in the eyes and just muttered something before moving away.
"Come on, squirt, time to go."
"Onii-chan! Don't call me that!"
"Make me stop." I snatched the baton just before it was about to hit her in the face again and started walking.
"Hey! Give that back!"
"Go ahead and try for it." A tentative smile grew on my face as I held it up high and watched her leap for it. No, it wasn't her fault what happened with our parents when I was born. No matter what my feelings were on the subject, it wasn't fair to put her in the middle.
I still had no idea what I was going to say, but as it turned out it didn't matter. When we got home, I found a note on the counter explaining that he'd been called away to fill in, last minute, for a colleague on an excavation in Laos.
"Unbelievable," I said aloud.
"What?"
"Dad's gone for the next week. We're on our own."
He ran away. He actually left the country just to avoid me, and after lecturing me last night about running away. He really was ashamed to look me in the eye.
"Oh." Her face fell, then she sent me a timid smile. "But he'll be back in time for your birthday, right?"
I crumpled up the note and threw it in the trashcan.
"I don't know. Would you like to rent a movie tonight, and make popcorn?"
"Really?" She perked right up, and I grinned. Already the atmosphere was less tense, now that he was gone, and she was relaxing.
"Sure. Whatever you want. Get changed and we'll go."
"Okay!" She raced up the stairs like a rabbit, and I glanced at the calendar. My birthday, such as it was, was almost two weeks away. But Laos is quite a distance.
"Hmpf." I strode away from the fridge and stomped up the stairs. My birthday wasn't anything to celebrate. I decided I didn't care if he made it back in time or not.
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Disclaimer: I do not own these characters
Music:
Fur Elise – Beethoven
Haunted – Poe