Chapter 7-Chasing
Three days later
I woke up at 8 a.m. this morning. I hadn't the will or appetite to eat anything. My mother was killed by my own father. My father was arrested for third-degree murder. The only person that I had left in the world was my older sister, Mishi. Yet, the past night, she had stayed at Kyou-kun's home. So, I was left alone, in this house that my mother was killed in by my father's hand. That so much abuse and misery held within its very walls.
I lay on the bed for an hour before I heard a knock at my door. I didn't get up to open it. I knew who it was. So I just kept still, staring up at the ceiling.
"Nita-Chan?" Mishi walked into my room. "Are you awake?" She stepped in and closed the door behind her.
"Yes…" I mumbled I didn't want to go. I wasn't ready to go, not yet. How could anybody ever be ready to go to their own mother's funeral?
She came and quietly sat on the edge of my bed. She was wearing a black kimono that fit her well. Small, red buds decorated and covered the silk. A crimson wrap was around her waist. Her long purple hair, pinned up in to buns, hair sticks in each to hold them up. Her eyes were very red and puffy, yet she wore a smile. It was a small, timid one, but a smile nonetheless. Her right arm was in a cast, I guess father had broken it the other night.
"Thank you," I said to her as I slowly sat up. Looking at her, a tear came to my eye, and jumped over my eye lid. As if it would be better on my bed comforter than in my eye.
I slid over to the end of my bed and grabbed my Kimono. It was gray, with dark blue butterflies on it. It was Mother's funeral kimono when she was my age. I treasured it when she gave it to me. Now I will cherish it forever. Another tear fell from my eye. Quickly, I changed. Mishi helped me wrap the white ribbon around my waist.
I turned around and hugged her. "Thank you, Onee-san."
Kyou smiled at us as we exited the house. He was leaning against a wall, on the other side of the street. I walked over to him and gave him a small hug. Mishi came up and grabbed his right arm with her left. I started walking down the sidewalk.
Then I felt a hand slip in mine. It wasn't small, but large and it was rough. I looked down at the hand and followed up the arm with my eyes to find the owner of the hand to be Kyou. I turned red.
"Haha," he looked over at Mishi, "now I can see how ya'll are sisters." He looked back at me with a warm smile. He was the only guy that I didn't have a problem with. The only one that I wasn't afraid of. I smiled back at him and squeezed his hand a little as we headed for the funeral home.
It had started snowing by the time we got to the grave yard. More people than we thought would have had shown up. Almost all of mothers' old friends had shown up. They all were crying. Even though they had been run off by our father, they still loved and cared for mother. They came up to us to tell us how sorry they were. They came to pay their respects to her.
Five Weeks Later
"Mr. Taisuke Nagano, please stand." The judge looked at father, firmness in his voice. He then looked over at the jury. "Has the jury reached a verdict?"
A man with short blonde hair rose up. "Yes we have, your Honor." He looked down at a piece of paper. "In the case of Taisuke Nagano v. the State," I looked at Mishi and squeezed her hand, "we the jury fined Taisuke Nagano…."
I could see Father Gulp as sweat started at his brow.
"Guilty, in the murder of Jima Nagano." He looked back down as we sighed in relief. "We also find him guilty of Child Abuse against his daughters, Mishi Nagano and Nita Nagano."
Father turned around as Mishi and I embraced each other with a hug and tears. Free. We were finally free.
"Taisuke Nagano, I hear by sentence you to life in prison, with no chance of parole." A cop came and hand-cuffed him. He pushed him towards the side door as the judge banged his gable down. "Case dismissed."
