Three: Familiarity

By Miss. Bra

But straight away you just moved into position again

You abused me in a way that I've never known.

You abused me in a way that I've never known.

So break me shake me hate me take me over

When the madness stops then you will be alone

I was already at school by the time the bell rung and walked casually to my next class- Science. I, actually quite liked science, especially the chemical equations that I only seemed to get. Of course, Miss Tue only knew that because of my outstanding test results in the exam we had last week. One hundred percent, no two ways about it and I knew she looked over my shoulder, watching me as I figured out the balance between corrosion ion reactions.

Heidi caught up with me in my last two steps and chatted to me for a while. Apparently, her friends were sorry for the other day at the pool and she wanted to know if I wanted to go to Kobe over the weekend- for shopping purposes. It was her, me (as I said quietly I would come), Rachel (who actually liked me) and another girl that I had never heard of. Apparently, she liked me too.

Class was a breeze, I must admit. Chemistry was just so easy and I could really latch onto it. Miss Tue was a young, intelligent teacher. She was kind and probably only twenty-three. She was exceptionally pretty with always straight, chocolate dark hair. All the boys in my class liked her. She liked me, which I always thought was a little strange.

Upon finishing my elemental sheet, which, Miss Tue marked swiftly, comparing my answers with hers, I sat back to relax. It was then that she called me up to the board, a sweet smile across her pretty face. I almost died.

"Oh, Chihiro, sweetie, would you balance this equation out?" She asked, ushering me up to the white board, handing me a marker.

Wordlessly, I got up, taking the marker from her hand. She almost looked smug. Then, I realized that the English teacher had stopped by (He fancied her, I knew) and Miss Tue was coaxing him into the classroom.

"Chihiro's going to finish the equation on the board. She is extremely good at it," Miss Tue crooned. I almost groaned.

My English teacher (Mr. Lee, if I have never made it obvious, and I don't think I ever have. I hated him too much to let his name grace my thoughts) grunted indignantly.

I got up and quickly balanced out the equation. It wasn't that hard, really. It only really needed three strontium's on one side, and oxygen on the other to become balanced. Miss Tue seemed smug and asked me to do the next one.

This one, however, was considerably harder. It took me a few moments to decide how to balance lithium over three other elements, but eventually, I managed to do it. Miss Tue was smug at Mr. Lee and I scuttled over back to my seat.

"Alright Ken, I'll see you later," Miss Tue bided him goodbye and he left. Miss Tue didn't stop smiling all that period.

I saw Nam's car pulled up out the front, and by the look of it, he wasn't on much dough. It was an old Ford in rusted red. It was a sedan and manual with a bashed up tail and a fine under the front windscreen wiper. Yes, my Nissan was a Jaguar compared to that thing.

I walked through to the lobby and took the mail out of the box, filing through the bills that seemed always present. Then, as I had expected, as it had been for almost a week now, there was a small, familiar, cream envelope addressed for me.

For a week now, the cheques had been coming in, one after the other, giving me money and no return address, no motive and no letter. They were anonymous giving of money and I hated to be a charity. I assumed it was for our 'fire appeal' that the community had been running and I even let myself think that some billionaire heard about my case and decided to give us some of his spare change. That would have been an interesting case.

But, there was no letters, only a name (and I had searched that name three times over Google and it turned that Larsten Overall was an 1970 c-list actor who died of a drug overdose- and that was going deep, deep into the pit of Google searches) that I had to work with. I hadn't even heard of the branch beforehand.

Apparently, my bank had and now I had a nice little savings account of just over fifteen thousand dollars.

I flicked open my envelope and the cheque only had seven hundred dollars this time. It still said the same thing, in the same strange handwriting and the same strange signature that looked nothing like 'Larsten Overall' at all. I slipped it into my pocket and threw the envelope into the rubbish bin as I walked into the apartment.

I left the bills on our dining table and stepped into the kitchen, pulling out a cream puff that I had made the night before hand. I noticed that two were gone already and I knew that Mum and Nam had had some. Strangely, all the left over cream was gone also. Mum and Nam's door was shut…

I didn't want to think about that and I fell in front of the television, playing with my diamond necklace I had bought as a small present for myself with my first earnings. I knew it wasn't wise, but I promised myself to save the rest, for moving out, or university, or something. I didn't expect the next cheque for two thousand or the next for five, but after the seventh in a row, I got a little hopeful.

I realized that the day was Friday, which was strange. I didn't think Heidi would be a 'last-minute' sort of person. We were going to Kobe in the morning and it wasn't long before she rang me to tell me about the minor details.

So I picked out an outfit before I went to bed, making dinner for one. It was simple jeans and a tee-shirt, which, really, I shouldn't have expected. I liked the t-shirt, I like the colour- purple- and the shining design of flowers and lines that it had on it. My jeans were just that- jeans. I pulled out silver scuffles to finish it off and collapsed into bed.

I didn't dream that night.

Heidi beeped at me bright and early as I scuttled out of the lobby and into her car. It was nice, but small. A small white Mazda with pink cover seats. I slid into the back seat with Rachel, who smiled brightly at me.

"Good morning Chihiro!" Heidi said, looking into the rear vision mirror. She looked stunning as usual. I noticed she had dyed her hair. It was now a blonde, which, to the tone of her skin, looked like her natural colour. "This is Mae; she's new to the school."

Mae turned around and waved at me and I waved back. She seemed rather familiar and talked in slang.

"How you going, Chihiro?" She said quickly, in a strange tone Chihiro was sure she recognized. "It's sad about your condition, isn't it?" Obviously she knew I was a mute.

"It's not my fault," I replied back slowly, forcing the words out of my mouth. Mae looked at me sympathetically and I hated it.

"Yeah, I know girl," She said quickly. Mae turned around, looking out to the road. We were on the highway now and I could see the turn off for Kobe in front of us.

Kobe was… well… Kobe. Large and busy, as Kobe usually is. We decided on one shopping centre, well, two really, as there was one just across the road.

I followed behind as they went into shops and I expressed my opinion on countless clothing. I never knew how bad Rachel's clothing taste was, but Heidi seemed to make up with it. Mae wasn't interested in clothes, though she wore the big brands the way that was the 'in' thing now. As she turned, I saw the silver Chanel symbol on her bag. She wasn't interested in shopping and I wondered why.

I bought one dress, as Heidi had instructed me to. I liked it off the rack, and I only let Heidi come with me to the dressing room.

It was a low cut and showed off what I didn't have there. Apparently, it showed off my 'curves', how a stick can have curves, I'll have no idea.

But it was Mae, who popped her head into the dressing room that said 'Wow, it looks so good on you' to me. I wasn't angry that she had come in, just a little embarrassed and ashamed. Mae, however seemed completely normal (well, most girls are totally normal around their barely dressed friends, I had noticed this from a lot of movies my mother had forced me to watch during my first year of mute-ness) being around me and Heidi and a change room. She even pointed out how skinny I was in a tone that sounded rather familiar.

In the end, I bought it, and it was on sale. I swiped my card, deducting the balance from my amazingly stocked bank account. We went home soon after that.

I checked the mail again as I walked into the lobby. I was thankful that my mother hadn't gotten around to checking it yet. It was only five and she still would have been at work. My fingers brushed over the familiar cream envelope.

I was walking down the main street on Saturday morning, intending on cashing in all my accumulated cheques. It was none of their business, but I knew the clerk at the bank was wondering where in the world Chihiro Ogino (cringe!) would get all this money from.

I passed the old sewing shop and noticed something that I had never seen before, something odd in the boring-ness of my town.

It was a house, a large house looming behind the frail old sewing shop. The sun glittered off the new tiles of the house and there was a lot to reflect off. How big was this house? Since when did anyone remotely rich move into town? Remotely rich and with a straight head?

The curiosity took the better of me and I slinked between the old sewing shop and the bakery, down into the alley, then out into the street behind the shop.

The street was quiet as I stepped out into it. I took up walking in the middle of the road as no cars ever passed.

It was quite strange, because the big house was much farther back than it looked over the sewing shop- almost four houses.

The other houses were common. They all had common size, common brick and common colours. The big house however, was a lovely cream and was rendered brick. I stood in front of it, admiring it.

It was cream and navy themed, with lovely glossy deep blue tiles across the roof. It was two storied- a rarity in my town with pretty French windows. They, however, were draped with a light cream curtain, letting no peeping toms look into the expensive home. I frowned and took my eyes to the garden.

The garden wasn't really much, but was simple and suited the house well. It was two strips of perfectly green grass either side of a winding pathway of cemented rocks and two navy pots with hydrangeas in them. There was one near the receding wall of the door, under the small patio near the door, and another at the front wall, on the opposite side of the house, just near the door. They were in bloom in a gorgeous purple flower and I could smell their sweet fragrance from where I was standing.

Then, I noticed, I must have looked like an absolute idiot and the owners of the house were probably staring at me through the windows wondering what the hell I was doing. With a flushed face I turned away and scuttled back down the road quickly.

I walked to the bank and cashed my cheques for eleven thousand, bringing my total balance up to thirty thousand dollars.

But, as I walked back, I couldn't help but gaze at that large house that loomed over the old sewing shop, the sun glittering off the navy tiles.

Disclaimer- I don't own Spirited Away, all rights go to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghilbi. I don't own the song 'Break Me Shake Me', all rights go to Savage Garden and associates.

Reply to past reviews:

La'Sharna: Thank you. Sorry this chapter doesn't give much away. Keep reading and reviewing. Thanks!

Mizaka: Thanks, I'm glad you took the time to review. Hope you liked this chapter.

Please Review and I'm hoping to get the next chapter up soon. Maybe by Saturday next week.

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