I want to thank everyone who reviewed. (( I know I did this in the last chapter and I'm gonna be doing it whether you like it or not LOL!))
annayoh fan: Yoh's going to turn up in the later chapters, promise!
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Nearly 7 hours passed since Anna had woken up to find herself hugging the only warmth in the cold attic: a very ragged blanket, which barely covered her.
The sun rose on the same untidy front gardens, but barely had that affect on the house; it crept into the attic, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Anna's parents had locked her in the basement. Only the scars on her pale skin showed how much time had passed.
Years ago, there had been signs of kindness and compassion, with lots of pictures in the living room. Some of what looked like two couples holding hands with a tiny baby girl in a baby carriage-but Anna Kyouyama was no longer a baby, and yet the room held no sign at all that a toddler lived in the house, too. The flames of the fire had destroyed those pictures after they learned what she was.
They hated her more than anything; pure hatred. Yet Anna was still there, lying on the cold floor of the attic, but not for long. Manami Kyouyama was awake and it was her screaming which made the first noise of the day.
"Get out of there!"
Anna bolted with a start. Her mother banged on the door again.
"Get up! NOW! Anna heard her walking towards the kitchen and then the sound pf the frying pan being put on the cooker. She rolled on to her back and tried to remember the dream she had been having. It had been a rather peculiar one. There had been a boy about her age wearing orange headphones. She had a funny feeling she'd had the same dream before.
Her mother was back outside the door again.
"Are you up yet?" She demanded.
"Yes," said Anna,
" Well, get moving, I want you to cook breakfast. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything edible, understood?"
Anna yawned.
"What did you say?" Manami snapped through the door.
"N-nothing…"
Her parent's were going out of the country for 2 days-how could she have forgotten?
Anna picked herself up slowly and headed downstairs towards her room. She stood staring at her door, debating whether to go in or nor after yesterday. She chose to go in, thinking how angry her mother will be if she wasted any more time. With a trembling hand, she reached for the handle and opened the door. Her little blonde head peeked in and saw…not a soul in sight.
She sighed with relief and started to look for something to wear. She found a sleeveless gray dress and, after pulling a spider of one of them, put it on. Any other 3-year-old girl would have screamed at the sight of any insect, however Anna was used to spiders, because the basement was full of creepy-crawlies, and that was where she slept, usually to hide from the ghost's in her room.
Anna's room wasn't even considered fit for a child. It didn't even contain a bed, but Anna was used to this; in fact, she found it lucky that she had a roof under her head at all. The white paint on the walls were starting to were off and on the corner of the room sat a tattered old blanket, which she had used for sleeping.
Manami and Akira Kyouyama had never bothered to look after their daughter thinking it was pointless and a waste of time ever since they found out about her powers. Anna had to scavenge for food herself if not in the house then outside the forest close to their house and they weren't planning to take her to school since she would be doomed to die a young age anyway. At least, that's what they thought, but they had no idea how wrong they were.
Anna's parents only used her as a slave; a servant for themselves. Everyday Anna was subjected to cleaning, cooking, and following order's such as " Get the groceries" or " Go wash the dishes"
In such a situation, it was amazing how a youngling like Anna could survive all of the work not to mention the beatings she received between her chores, but somehow during the years she has gained incredible intelligence learning how to cook at the age of 3 and much more, yet it doesn't matter how high one's IQ is. Intelligence still cannot solve a mystery of how much your own parents hate you.
Since Anna was an Itako, her parents did everything to erase the existence of her. Photograph's, toys, clothes were wither thrown away or burned. They did everything to make sure no one knew about her. Now all Anna had was one or two dirty dresses, an old blanket, and her memories. But Anna possessed much more than that, yet she had no idea of being an Itako.
When she was dressed, she went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath old newspapers and books. It looked as though Akira was working more than usual; why did that seem odd?
Exactly why he wanted to work overnight was a mystery to Anna, as Akira hated his job as a lawyer-unless of course it meant not being anywhere near Anna, and tried to hit her for any faults or mistakes, but he couldn't often catch her. Anna may have been scrawny and weak, but she was extremely fast.
Perhaps it had something to do with being so skinny or living in the dark basement but Anna had always been small and thin for her age.
She looked even tinier with that small sleeveless dress she had been wearing since the age of two but Anna didn't grow much over the year. Anna had pale white skin, long hair, and huge dark onyx eyes with very long dark lashes. She was very thin, she usually wore old dresses that had holes in it because of the times Anna had fallen from the impact of the hits she had gotten from her parents.
The only thing Anna liked about her appearance was her extremely long golden hair. She never had her hair cut, because of her parents thinking it was too much of a bother. She wasn't complaining though; when she was, alone she spent her time playing with her hair, either braiding or just combing it with her small fingers.
"Obey first."-was the first rule for an almost quiet life at home.
Akira Kyouyama entered the kitchen as Anna was turning over the bacon.
"Tie your hair!" he shouted, making Anna jump in fright. Anna quickly braided her hair and tied it with a string lying on the floor.
About everyday, Akira looked critically at Anna and yelled at her to tie her long hair. Anna must have had more orders than all the soldiers in an army put together, but it made no difference; she had to obey and would rather work herself tired than face the horrifying consequences.
Anna was frying eggs by the time Manami arrived in the kitchen. Anna looked like a lot like her mother with her pale skin and slim figure. She too had long blonde hair except hers was waist-length and curly and brown watery eyes that usually held fiery rage towards Anna as though she had betrayed them.
Her father was also a blonde, with black eyes, which held no warmth, only coldness and anger. He was tall and his body was well built making this a great advantage for him to cause as much pain as possible for Anna whenever he hit her.
Anna put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Manami, meanwhile, was discussing their trip to North Korea. Her face fell.
"What do you mean "it's going to be longer than 2 days"? The deal was that it shouldn't take longer than a day!"
Anna's mother was the secretary, and was asked to accompany her husband on the trip.
"Don't blame me, woman! Is it my fault that the boss decided to take a vacation right at this moment?" he argued back.
"All right, but still you could have said this to me earlier." Manami said, going red in the face. Anna, who could see a huge fight coming on, began to scrub the floor clean as fast as possible in case both of the adults would have taken her anger out on her. Akira obviously scented danger too, because he said quickly,
"Well, incase you forgot the conference was only mentioned to us yesterday."
She thought for a moment. It looked like she was going to burst with anger. Finally she said slowly,
"Fine, just forget it."
At that moment, the telephone rang and Manami went to answer it while Anna continued to scrub the kitchen floor with a lot of effort put into it. She was about to stand up from her kneeling position when her mother came back from the telephone, looking both angry and annoyed.
"Bad news Akira, the trip has been extended to a week." She jerked her head in Anna's direction, who didn't move from her spot.
Akira glared at her, but Anna's heart gave a leap. Every time her parents went on trips, Anna was left behind on her own. But she didn't seem to mind that much At least she wouldn't receive any beatings. But the two of them wouldn't leave Anna alone for more than a day or two incase they find something out of the ordinary.
"Now what?" said Manami, looking furiously at Anna as though she had planned this. Anna knew she ought to feel sorry that her parents were burdened with her, but it wasn't easy when she reminded herself it would be a whole week before she had to endure any sharp blows from her parents.
"We could postpone the conference, and shorten it," Akira suggested.
"Are you stupid? We could get fired! And I'm not wasting my time on figuring out what to do with this!" Anna could feel herself being pierced with her fiery eyes.
They often spoke about Anna like this, as though she wasn't there-or rather, as though she was something brainless that couldn't understand, like a barbarian.
"What about persuading someone else to go instead of us, what about our substitutions, what's-their-name?"
"On holiday in Rome," snapped Manami.
"We could just leave her here," Akira said hopefully.
Manami looked as she had been hit over the head with a mallet.
"And come back and find the place in ruins?" she snarled.
"I won't do anything bad…" Anna whispered, but they weren't listening.
"Maybe we could take her with us," said Manami slowly,
"…and leave her in the hotel…"
"Manami, we've been though this before! I'm not showing everybody our shame, it's bad enough that she's our daughter!" he shouted making Anna whimper.
Half an hour later, Anna, who couldn't believe her luck, was sent off to sweep the front entrance, without any slaps involved for the first time of her life. Her mother and father hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with her, thus coming to the decision of leaving her here. After all, what harm could a little 3-year-old blonde do?
They had no idea of how wrong they were…
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Authors Note: …What can I say? I have a very dark imagination, but don't get me wrong! It doesn't mean that I only write about people suffering.