The Light at The End of The Tunnel
My parents suffered the most bitter of divorces when I was only twelve. They could come to no agreement and our family was split in two. Father wanted his children to take up his idea of a business venture, while my mother wanted my younger sister and I to become academics. And so my mother took my sister with her to raise in another town and I was never to hear from them again.
To grow up without one parent figure was one thing but to exist without the other sibling, the one person each of us had grown to love and care for like no other...that was another matter. In the days leading up to the separation our parents grew more and more distant as we grew ever closer. When the squabbles stopped, it seemed so unfair that our family should be torn apart yet nothing would change my parents' decision.
There came a day that my sister took ill with Chicken Pox and was forced to stay home from school for almost a week. Mother kept us apart for fear of my contracting the same virus. The time I was neither able to see nor speak to her was spent in misery. On the Fifth day, I skipped a class during school to steal into the Teacher's room. My sister had always admired the butterfly-styled hair clip that her graduate classroom tutor wore and this I procured for her. I returned home that evening confident the mere sight of it would make her well, only to find the house emptied and my father butting the seventh Marlboro from his second pack on the front steps.
"They're gone." was all I got from him before he stepped past me back into the empty shell that had once been our family home.
I opened my mouth to scream but my power of speech had vanished along with my mother and sister. The sun was fleeing the darkening skies as I went in search of them.
Soon, night had fallen with the moon high overhead, mourning it's solitude as it hid behind the clouds. The hours spent in the shopping districts, parks and playgrounds had led to nothing but blistered feet and bitter disappointment.
My newfound bed that night was the cold, unsympathetic concrete of a discarded construction pipe. As I lay in that pipe, I cried for my sister to be returned to me but the only answer was the pathetic echo of my own voice.
I wandered the streets for the better part of a week, conducting my aimless search by daylight, returning to the pipe to mourn at night. Larceny became a way of survival and I began with standard Chuuka Manjuu (Roast Pork Buns). I'd progressed to Ginjo Nikuman on the third day (Twice the amount of pork crammed into the same bun!) and it was finally on the Tsu No Gokujo Nikuman (Twice the size of the average bun with twice the filling!) that my mini-wave of crime came to an end.
The baker called me a pest on the world. The police looked at this unwashed truant as an inconvenience. Even Father had showed no emotion upon his face when he came to pick me up, answering every one of the constable's humiliating comments with a quiet nod.
I wanted him to slam me up against the wall of the questioning room until I couldn't breathe. I wanted him to slap me senseless whilst screaming abuse and death threats. I wanted what most children got from their parents but received nothing, not even a disgusted look.
Silence hung thick in the air as he let the fog of my own guilt smother me during the car ride home. I felt even more alone sitting beside him than during all my time in the pipe. I never hated him more, than at that point.
We never spoke about that incident from that day onwards...
Not long after, Father remarried and our lives took a sharp turn. With the addition of my new mother, we moved out to Karuizawa. There, Father bought over and renovated one of the aging resorts with what should have been my education money.
I remember riding in our tourist mini-bus as we drove down Usui Touge to Yokogawa Station. From there we'd ferry the couples and families from their trains to our resort home. It was on the Usui pass that we'd often see the night racers flying past at breakneck speeds.
"Young fools! Racing only to their deaths!" Father would mutter as they passed. "Makoto, you must always show these roads due respect. Those who don't, find the valley below sooner than they might imagine."
Perhaps it was the rebel in me rearing his defiant head at my father's disapproval of the sport, but many a trip I'd imagine myself at the wheel of that bus, sliding through the turns like those Drift Racers.
One early September morning, my father's words rang true. It was a routine pickup for the Local train that linked onto the 7 AM Asama Shinkansen (Bullet Train) outbound from Tokyo. The sunrise was beautiful; an explosion of crimson and tangerine waves rolling out over the skyline as we traveled down the mountain.
A pair of lights swept in from behind us and my father gave his usual grumble as the car made to overtake us around the blind corner ahead.
I remember the beauty of that red Nissan S12 well as it slid sideways after passing us. I remember the tires squealing, the sound of that engine at 5500 RPM as the driver feathered the gas. I remember it well as it remains to this day the very last car I ever saw.
The driver of the grocery truck on the other side said he never saw us till it was too late. He'd swerved hard to avoid the S12 that had drifted onto his path, only to find himself face to face with our minibus.
Father had slammed the brakes and pulled hard to the side as he saw the truck attempting to steer back away. But in those days Anti-Lock Brakes were just coming into being and we found ourselves ploughing straight down the road towards a truck that was doing the very same. The very last image I have in my mind is that of my father putting his hand over my chest in a futile effort to shield me as the lights of the oncoming truck grew brighter and brighter. The world exploded into a blizzard of shattered glass and torn steel before my face struck the dashboard and I was pitched into darkness.
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When I awoke, there was still nothing but darkness. It took some time for the confusion to abate and for me to realise that I wasn't dead. At first, I thought it a miracle that I was still alive, but the stinging in my eyes told me that something was amiss.
The darkness didn't abate and over the next day, the tearful voice of my newly widowed stepmother broke the news to me. Both my eyes had sustained substantial damage from the impact and surgery had proven to be little success.
What the doctors discussed with my stepmother didn't make any sense to me then. Terms like 'Optic Foramen fracture ', ' Ethmoidal Labyrinth Haematoma ' and 'Optic Nerve Decompression' took months of research before I was fully able to understand them.
The conclusion was simple: I had lost all sight in both eyes with no chance of recovery.
All they could do was make me comfortable...but then there was also my father to mourn. The driver's side had taken the brunt of the impact and Father had been killed in that instant. Ironic that the truck driver hadn't suffered a scratch and that the S12 driver hadn't even stopped or turned himself in since.
The news was to get worse. The resort, also our home, was still under debt and the bank had as much sympathy as a Ugandan Dictator.
The town helped where they could; Donations at least covered Father's cremation and part of the hospital fees.
On discharge, I aided my stepmother where I was able but the first year was still a struggle for both of us. Days of no sleep, endless duties and low cash flow exhausted me and damn near killed my step mother.
It wasn't long before I realized the gravity of the situation and made a vow not to allow my blindness to be a burden. I learned the Japanese Braille Six dot System within three weeks and spent tens of hours each week reading every Braille and Audio book available at the Matsuida Library. In particular, I took a keen interest in Engineering and anything to do with Business and Management.
We scraped into the green in the second year and through my advice, my stepmother chose to hire some staff in taking over operations while she and I focused on management.
Five years passed, and by the time of my 'Seijin no Hi' (Coming of Age day - An auspicious day for everyone turned twenty in the past year), we had complete ownership of the business, regulars that filled the rooms most weeks in summer and enough staff to allow the place to run on it's own.
I chose to renovate the East and West Wings in the following three years, expanding the resort to twice it's original capacity. We now had double the staff and had received several lucrative offers from other resorts to sell...all declined of course.
I smile to myself each time I think of how far we've come since; my step-mother is secure for as long as she lives and Father would have been happy to know that we'd achieved his dream. I myself had already been approached by a number of small hotel owners on consultancy work.
Each night, I lay my head down to rest and the same questions are whispered in my mind as the past returns. What of my True-Mother and my Sister? How had they fared since moving away? I guessed perhaps my sister had already married and I had a nephew or a niece, or even both.
Part of me felt saddened at the prospect that she might have moved so far ahead in her life, while I had yet to discover most of the world for myself. The other felt relieved that she probably hadn't suffered like I had...and that above all else she still had her sight.
I didn't know, might never know how she'd fared, but I thought of and prayed for her each night as I twirled that butterfly hairclip in my fingers...just as I'd done every night for the past 12 years.
Now, I had my own life to live, dreams to pursue, my own course to set. I wasn't content with what I had. I wanted to live the life that I would have lived had the accident not happened: I wanted to walk the streets without being stared at, to cross the road without being offered help, and perhaps most of all, to be able to drive a car without assistance...
...but that's a story for another time...
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Replies:
Chisha: Oh goody, I've done my job right if you can understand it now. Don't do what Makoto does in the story during your driving lessons though. Car wise it's the same car I drive in RL - sent you a pic didn't I? Go watch the show when you got some time (smile).
Tiger Eyes: He he - same thing. If you managed to keep interested while not knowing much, I've done what I needed to. And now now -you've only had to wait since Easter. ;) Don't you go terrorising the streets of Ohio in your van either.
KOKO: :) Thanks - all I have to do now is update a little more often than once in 6 months :p I've seen Patlabor from back sometime - but how do you mean on the reference?
Thanks again for your time!
WildGoose: Cheers! I've tried to make sure that the char is interesting write an hopefully read about too. As for Makoto's gender - you should have your answer by now.
Carwise - not quite. The RX's use turbo- charged Rotaries rather than Flat Four Boxers.
By the time you read this - you should already have another review for GK02. If not - it'll be close. Nice fic - keep it up!
P.s - Impact Blue? Well...why would you think that? (Innocent look) :D
Li'l penguin Girl: Merci my little B & W Seabird :D - I'm hoping to keep the road a little twisty too :) Thanks for reading!
Rossriders: Yo, nice to have you onboard. Certainly keep going on with 'Around the world' as well, it's come quite far.
Carwise - Ping Pong! You've got it. It's an Impreza turbo :)
Ross wins...a darn long review on his latest chapter of 'Around the world'!
BuntaWRX: Hee hee, I could have gone with a GDA but Yah - GC8 with an EJ20. Thats it. Unfortunately Ross got there ahead of ya. :P
Thanks for reading! I'd drop a review but you haven't got any stories yet
See you next review!
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And yes...I'm headed off to Japan in a week. :D I'll be doing a little research whilst I'm there on places like Haruna (Akina), Akagi and Myogi should I get the chance so at least I'll have SOME idea what I'm writing about. Thanks all reviewers for reading and hope this at least stays interesting for yous all
Till next chapter, where there'll be a little car info for you tech heads to enjoy :)
My Rant
Ko-Chan