------- Sanji POV age 7
It was Saturday.
Saturday was my favorite day of the week 'cause it was the day I get to go on a date with mom.
Just me and her.
Dad wasn't allowed.
We always go on a picnic.
Dad helped me make her a special lunch.
When we where done, Dad gives me money to buy Mom flowers from the market while he packs the lunch in a basket.
When I got to the flower stand Margaret, the flower lady, smiles at me.
"Saturday again is it Sanji kun?"
"Yup!"
"What do you want for your mom this week?"
"Lilies!" I beam "Those ones! With the pink inside."
"Oh your mother loves those, doesn't she?"
"Yup! She sure does."
I take my flowers and run back to the restaurant.
Mom's waiting for me.
She's wearing a pretty yellow sundress and a white floppy hat with a big daisy on it.
"You look really pretty." I tell her.
She smiles "Why thank you."
I give her the bouquet of flowers.
"Oh Sanji kun. My favorites. You're so sweet." She bends down to kiss me on the cheek.
"Heehee."
"Ready to go?"
I nod.
"Dear! We're heading out." Mom calls to my Dad.
He comes over to us from the kitchen.
"Ok you kids have fun." He hands me the basket
"No funny business. And make sure you have her home before 10." He says sternly
"Daaad my bed times 8." It was our running joke.
"Ah. So it is. Well then I guess its ok."
Mom kisses Dad bye and we go.
Today we head down to the beach.
As we turn onto the street that leads to the beach front there's a voice that comes from behind us.
"Beautiful day isn't it?"
Mom jumps surprised by the voice.
She hadn't noticed the person.
You never do.
He just seems to appear out of no where.
Unconsciously she clings tighter to my hand.
She goes stiff for a moment.
In the next moment she relaxes and turns around with a smile.
"Yes. It is. A very beautiful day." She casually guides me behind her slightly.
I peek from around her.
It's that guy again.
Dad calls him 'creepy stalker guy.'
And he his creepy.
And he's always bugging Mom.
I don't like him.
"Where are you off to this fine day?"
That's none of his business. I'd wish he'd just go away.
"Where goin ona date! And you're not invited!"
"Sanji…that's not very nice…"
Creepy stalker guy chuckles. "A date now? Don't you think you're a little young to be dating son?"
"I'm not your son."
"Sanji, it's just an expression…we call it a 'date'. It's a special day that's just for the two of us to spend time together.
Not even my Husband is allowed to come."
"Ya! Not even Dad's allowed! I gedda have 'er all to myself."
"Hoh? How nice for you."
Mom laughs nervously. "Yes well I have to cherish this time I can spend with my son now. It'll be all too soon before he gets older and will be too embarrassed to spend time with his mother."
"Aw mom. That's not gonna happen."
Mom giggles. "Oh that's nice of you to say sweetie. But one day you're going to find a nice special girl of your own to spend the rest of your life with and you won't need me any more."
"Don't say that!"
"Oh how very touching. Well I'll leave you to your 'date' young man." He looks back to my mom. "Maybe some other time we can chat at more length. I do so enjoy chatting with you Celest."
It made me uncomfortable that he spoke to her so casually. Just who does he think he his?
"Yes some other time."
Mom turns around and pulls me by the hand.
"I don't like that guy." I tell Mom when were far away from the guy. "He's creepy. You should have Dad beat 'im up for you. He really wants to ya know. Dad doesn't like him either."
"I know Sanji. But let's not talk about that today." She smiles down at me "This is our special day so let's enjoy it ok."
Her smile calmed me down.
That was her smile that always made me everything all better.
I smile back at her. "Ok."
We go and enjoy our date.
We go to the beach and have our lunch.
I find some pretty shells for her.
We go walking along the water.
We explore the tide pools.
We find some shade and Mom reads her book while I sit in her lap and take a nap.
We walk to the pier and have dinner at our favorite sea side café.
We get ice cream on our way back home.
Saturday is the best day of the week ever.
A few days later Mom and Dad were having a "discussion".
Mom and Dad hardly argued but when they did, though they never shouted, it was always heated, long and intense.
Dad found out about 'creepy stalker guy' appearing during our date.
"I just don't understand why you didn't say anything. I told you to tell me if he ever bothered you again."
"I know dear but I really don't think it was that big a deal…He's harmless…really."
"No big deal? Harmless?
He follows you when you go shopping in the market, when you're out with your friends. I've had to ban him from the restaurant.
And I know I've seen him sneaking around here at night.
Now he's bothering you when you're out with your family.
Darling that guy just isn't normal.
Everyone in town thinks so.
He makes you uneasy, I know he does.
I'm putting a stop to this."
"And just what are you going to do?"
"I'm gonna go pound the guys face in."
"Darling, don't. You're a grown man for haven's sake.
It's not like it was when we were teenagers and you'd beat up any guy that eyed me in a way you didn't like.
What kind of example is that setting for Sanji?"
"That a man protects what is precious to him by any means necessary."
"Well there are other means besides going up to a guy and punching him out."
"I could kick him too."
Mom just gave Dad a look that said she wasn't amused.
Dad sighed. "Well I'm not gonna just stand by and do nothing.
He's gone too far.
I have a bad feeling about that guy.
I'm only looking out for you."
"I know."
"A restraining order." Dad says firmly
"What? That's a bit extreme isn't it?"
"I don't think it is."
"Dear."
"A restraining order, you not leaving home without an escort or I get to knock this guys teeth in.
You deicide."
"Alex…"
"Celest. I'm worried.
And I know Sanji is worried too.
He thinks the guy is creepy and he's only a kid.
Children have a sixth sense about things like this..."
Mom sighs "Yes I suppose you're right."
Dad took Mom into his arms and kissed her on her forehead. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Dad's head dropped down to take my Moms lips with his.
They kiss.
Deeply and lovingly.
Hmm. Boy Dad's smooth.
I wonder if I'll ever be cool and suave like Dad is…
Dad looks over in the direction of where I'm hiding.
Ack!
"Sanji! Get back upstairs and go back to bed."
"Ah! Hai!" I scramble backward and fall over. I pick myself up and run back upstairs to my room.
……
Mom agreed on the restraining order.
Creepy stalker guy wasn't allowed to come within 50 feet of my mother or her family.
But even so, he still followed her.
He stayed his 50 feet away, but he'd just be watching her from a distance.
I thought that was even creeper than before.
Dad was going to have the distance increased to 100 feet, but the guy stopped.
We didn't see him anywhere around.
It was like that for weeks.
We all felt a bit better, but Dad refused to let the restraining order drop.
One day, like any other day. Dad took me and we went down to the fish auction to buy fish for the restaurant.
Dad had started my official chef apprenticeship this year, though I'd already learned tons of stuff by watching him and the other chefs already.
But now I'd go with him when he did errands outside the restaurant.
Mom went to do business with our suppliers about other inventory things for the restaurant like she normally did every week.
Dad and I were finished at the fish auction and met the assistant head chef and long time apprentice to my father in the food market.
Dad looked over what the assistant had pick out in terms of fruit and vegetables, explaining the different qualities to me.
After we where done we all headed back to the restaurant.
Now normally Mom would be back and be working on the flower arrangement for the entry way, and she'd greet us her usually happy smile.
"Okaeri nasai." And give my Dad his welcome back kiss while the apprentice hauled me off to the kitchen and started me on prep work.
But she wasn't back yet.
She's always back before us.
And the fact that yesterdays' arrangement was still out told us she hadn't been back yet at all.
The restaurant was shut down completely.
Everyone went out looking for her.
Once we started asking around and it got wind that my Mom was missing half the town was out looking too.
We retraced her steps.
But after a certain time no one could account for her whereabouts.
It was as if she'd disappeared into thin air.
My dad was frantic by now.
I'd never seen him like that before.
If Dad was panicked I knew things were really bad.
Then someone mentioned they remembered seeing creep stalker guy that day.
No one had seen him in weeks and now, he suddenly resurfaces the day my mother seems to vanish.
My Dad wasn't the only one that jumped to the conclusion of were my mother might have disappeared to.
It was like the part in a horror story when the angry mob storms up to the monsters castle with torches, pitchforks and shot guns.
The guy lived in a house just outside of town.
Some of us went into the house while others looked around outside and others went into the woods behind the guys house.
The place was empty.
No one was there.
And to everyone's surprise the house wasn't creepy at all.
To be perfectly honest it was a relatively nice and quant little house.
It was tidy and simply furnished with modest decoration.
The place was searched top to bottom but no one found a thing.
Some people said they saw something that looked like a shed some ways away, so people left to go check it out.
Dad told me to stay behind.
The apprentice and a few other people stayed too.
I went back inside the house to be alone.
I sat down in a corner.
"Mom where are you?
Where did you go?
Are you ok?
Did creepy stalker guy get you?
You should have let dad beat him up for you.
Mother.
I wanna see you."
I started crying.
I didn't like this.
Where was she?
Why couldn't anyone find her?
The sun had shifted and started to beam through a window.
I saw the light reflect of something on the other side of the room.
I went to over to see what it was.
It was a red glass bead.
I looked around to see where it might have come from and saw another one down the hallway.
At the end of the hallway was that guy's room. I walked in.
We had searched there already.
It was dark and the shades where drawn.
I turned on the lights
Though when I did the bulb burned out.
I sighed and was about to leave the room when I noticed something.
The light had gone out in this room but there was light coming from some place else.
I looked around and noticed there was light coming from behind the bookshelf.
I went over to it.
I pushed and pulled at it and it swung forward.
It opened like a door.
A secret room.
I was afraid to go in.
Who knew what was in there.
But I had to go see.
I had to see if Mom was there.
"Is anyone in here?"
No answer.
"Mom?" Not a sound.
I went in and was shocked at what I found.
There were pictures all over the wall.
They covered it like wall paper.
When I looked closer at them I was even more shocked and worried because they were all of my mother.
My Mom in the restaurant. In the market, at the beach, even ones in our home above the restaurant. Pictures of her sleeping. Undressing. In the bath.
I was horrified.
Next after the pictures I found a table with all kinds of stuff on it.
Stuff that belonged to my mother.
The handkerchief she lost, hair clips and scarves, hat pins, a glove, pieces of a bottle of perfume she dropped and broke.
There was a small dish on the table full of beads.
Some matched the ones I'd found.
Red ones and gold ones a few black ones and some small metal spacers.
There was a gemstone charm in there too.
An emerald.
Mom's birthstone.
My eyes went wide with shock and horror.
It was pieces of the bracelet I'd pick out for Mom for her birthday.
She had been wearing it today.
I backed away from the table.
I backed into something. There was a small bed in the corner of the room.
There was something on the bed covered with a sheet.
I grabbed the sheet.
I closed my eyes and yanked it off.
Slowly, I peeked one eye open and was petrified with distress and panic.
I wanted to look away but I couldn't.
There she was.
But I couldn't be.
It just couldn't be.
My Mother was laying there.
She wasn't moving at all.
Her eyes where wide open.
Her head was bloody and part of her face was swollen.
She had marks on her wrists and arms.
Her blouse was all torn and parts of it where completely ripped off.
Her skirt was torn too.
There was blood on it.
There was blood between her legs too.
"Mother?"
"Mother?"
"MOTHER!"
I started screaming.
Screaming and crying.
No. That wasn't my Mother.
There's no way.
Something like this could never happen to her.
Never.
She so sweet and kind and she never did anything mean to anyone.
No one would ever hurt her.
This wasn't real.
It was just a nightmare
I'd wake up.
I'd be in my room.
Mom would come in and comfort me.
She'd hold me in her arms and tell me everything was ok.
She'd smile her smile that made everything all better.
It was just a dream.
Just a dream…
------ end of Sanji POV