Thanks, Kaouthara for reviewing the first chapter of Like Father, Like Daughter.
Chapter Two~The Melancholy Life
Ethan places the picture back into one of the opened boxes, until her heard the small crying sound of her daughter, Harumi. He looked over to the stairs without a noise to see her covering her eyes too as well. He slowly made his way to the bottom of the staircase and he was standing still until her cleared his throat to get her attention. She remove her hands from her face, as she quickly wiped the tears and hid her black lighter and spare cigarette in her black jacket, while looking at her father's blue eyes.
"Yes, Dad?" She asked.
"Are you alright?" Ethan asked. "Are you going to tell something or you just need some time alone?"
Harumi stood up from the top of the staircase as she climbed down. "I… just need some time alone so please… let me meditate, before the little brat returns from school."
"Harumi, it's Shaun." Ethan corrected her with a hint of rage.
"Whatever." She walked out the back door of the backyard and closes it.
Harumi really needed the cigarette break after what happened today at school. First she was bullied into a fight with three girls and now that she has to handle being with her father. Ethan for the week until she and her brother are able to return to their mother, Grace and her new boyfriend named Steve. Harumi has a gain a friendship from her mother's new boyfriend since she wasn't close to her father like she used to be.
After breathing in and out the toxic menthol smoke, Harumi let the rain take away her smoky cigarette scent away from her hair and body before walking back into the house, seeing her father in the laundry room hold Shaun's teal looking teddy bear in his hands.
"That boy is way too old to be having a teddy bear." Harumi commented, before Ethan turned to face his daughter. "Next time, I'm going to burn that ugly little thing."
Ethan places the teddy bear down on top of the washing machine, before leaving the laundry room. Harumi was about to drink orange juice from out the carton and she was about to put her lips on it before Ethan stopped her. "Hold it right there, Harumi Mars."
Once Harumi heard her full name she knew that she was in trouble but she doesn't care about it, since she became a troublemaker anyway. She places her lips on the opening of the orange juice carton and started taking her large sip before removing her mouth from it, while smacking her lips. "What Ethan?"
Ethan pointed his finger to her. "It's Dad and you will show me some respect, little lady." Harumi wanted to bite her father's finger, but she ignored her gut feeling and places the orange juice carton back into the refrigerator.
"Whatever, Dad." Harumi said it like she really doesn't care.
Ethan crosses his arms and sighed before saying anything. "Harumi Mars, I have had it with this new attitude of yours. I love you with all my heart, but now I don't think you'll never change." Ethan retorted at her, while she had her arms crossed and tapping her feet on the cold floor of the kitchen.
"So, what if I don't ever change." Harumi asked her father. "The girl you knew before Jason's death disappeared and now this girl right here, standing in front of you is the new me."
Ethan examined his daughter while thinking about what he should say to her next. Harumi has definitely changed over the past two years. Once she was a happy teen growing up and dressed in girly clothing. And now, she was a depressed and rebellious teen with tangled long brown hair and dressed in dark clothing. "Well, Harumi, I have no other choice but to ground you for the rest of the week, until your mother comes to get you and Shaun."
Harumi was shocked at her father's suggestion. "That's not fair! This is bullshit!" She retorted. "How come I get punished for something that I didn't do at school?!" She ran out the kitchen and upstairs to her room, before slamming the door. Ethan was wide-eyed at her reaction after seeing her angry face. He didn't know what to do after what he said to her. He looked up at the ceiling before placing his hand behind his neck.
"I might have been too hard on Harumi." Ethan thought to herself before walking was climbing up the stairs to see her bedroom door closed with a sign which his daughter made up saying 'Harumi's Crib. No little brats, parents, and police allowed!' with a white marker on a small black poster board.
He knocked on it and opened the door until he noticed that a flying manga was about to hit his head and the architect father closed the door when the manga book hit the door. "Go away!" Harumi yelled. "I hate you! I wish that you were dead!"
When Ethan heard those words, he didn't know what to do or what to say. Those words have really hurted him so bad. He walked into his bedroom and layed down on his futon looking up at the ceiling before his blizzard blue eyes started to turned red and puffy when he started to cry.
"Harumi, my little girl. What happened to you in the past two years?" Ethan asked himself.
4:15 pm
Later on, Ethan returned from picking up Shaun from school after showing up late. Once her return he noticed that Harumi was sitting on the couch drinking 'soda' out of the bottle, while watching anime on the TV. Shaun removed his beige raincoat, before Harumi removed her legs from across the couch.
"Hey buddy." Harumi greeted her baby brother. "How was that hell hole called school?"
"It was alright." Shaun sat down next to his sister. "What are you watching?"
"Some anime show that was on."
"Oh, ok." Shaun said staring at the TV, until they felt the presence of their father behind them. Harumi was staring at the ceiling ignoring her father's eyes.
"It's time for your snack." Ethan said. "Are you both hungry?"
Harumi shock her head no.
"I guess uh… a little."
"Harumi," Ethan called on her, as she removed her lips from the bottle. "Could I see you in the kitchen?" He walked in the kitchen, while Harumi places the 'soda' bottle on the coffee table and follow her father into the kitchen.
"Harumi, while I was picking up Shaun for school and I have decided on what you should do while you're grounded." Ethan pulled out his iPhone and went into his notes app. "I want you to wash and dry the dishes, wiping the dust off the furniture, and also do the laundry. That's all I want from out of you." He put his iPhone back into his blue jeans pocket. "And maybe I can let you off your punishment for the rest of the week."
"Alright, so I might as well get started on the dishes." Harumi said, before walking back to the couch to see Shaun smelling her 'soda' bottle, until he noticed Harumi returning back to the couch. "What are you doing?" She whispered to him loudly, until Shaun smelled the same smell on her breath.
"You're drinking again?" Shaun asked.
She snatched the bottle out of her brother's hand while glaring at him. "If you tell Dad who's been drinking, someone is going to get hurt." Harumi left the living room area to return back into the kitchen to start on dinner and chores.
6:31 pm
That night, Harumi did every chore that her father has made her do in order for her to be ungrounded for the rest of the week. Ethan decided to cook chicken dumplings with steamed vegetables for dinner instead of making one of those TV dinners. Once Harumi started up the washing machine, she heard her father's voice calling for her and he wanted for her to help cook dinner.
Harumi was putting the small silver pot full of vegetables on the stove while Ethan was watching her as he was chopping up the chicken. "Hey, I have something that I want to ask you."
"Yeah, Dad?"
"Well, your birthday is this Friday, so I was wondering of having a small birthday party just for you on Saturday, and your mother and I thought it will be a great idea if you can bring your friends if you want."
"No thanks."
"Are you sure?" Ethan asked. "We just wanted you to be happy again?"
"Dad, I'm ok and I'm not a baby, so for my birthday don't do anything just like the past two years."
"Harumi-"
Harumi slammed her hands on the counter. "Dad, I hate repeating myself!" She retorted. "Don't you ever listen just for once?!" her hands covered her head, as she was looking down on the counter. "You're such a headache, sometimes." Ethan wanted to comfort her, but afraid that his own daughter will start yelling once again, so left he returns back to his cooking with dumplings
Without looking, Harumi grabbed a knife from out of the dish rack and she had the blade aimed at her wrist.
Finally, the three Mars' were now sitting at the table eating their dinner as there was silence except for the TV was still playing anime shows in the background. Harumi and Shaun was distracted the TV at the table until Ethan made their plates and place it under their noses to get their attention.
"I hope you two will love this dinner." Ethan said, placing his plate down on the table.
"Yeah… I hope." Harumi murmured softly.
Shaun taken his first bite of his chicken dumpling and he really enjoyed it by stuffing his face.
"So, Shaun how was school?" Ethan asked. "Is your teacher nice?"
"Everything is fine, Dad." Shaun replied.
He looked over at Harumi to see her looking melancholy as usual just like his son. She was using her fork while playing with her food after taken a few bites, Ethan noticed a red spot on the table and also a red stain on her black jacket. It looked like blood.
"Harumi, are you bleeding?" He asked surprised, until she looked up at him slowly. Shaun looked up at his sister before using his knife and fork. He reached over to her to pull down her black jacket sleeve to see that there was cut mark around her wrist and it was bleeding out slowly. "What happened?"
"I… I cut myself when I slipped on the floor on the bathroom upstairs." Ethan looked up at her daughter's eyes and she wasn't showing any pain from it, so the cut must have happened a few minutes ago. But how was Harumi not showing any pain from the cut.
8:15 pm
"Come on, Shaun." Ethan called. "It's time for bed."
"I'm not tired yet." Shaun complained. "Can I stay up a little longer?" He was looking at his older sister as she was drinking more from out of her 'soda' bottle, but this time he was worried about her. She was swinging the bottle down slowly as some of the small and tiny beer stains hitting the carpet floor. Her head was spinning a bit before looking up at her brother. "Shaun… *hiccup* go to bed." She mumbled.
"Alright, we'll wait a little before going to bed." Ethan replied to his son. "Don't say anything to your mother ok." He looked at his daughter for a second as she sat still to hide the fact that she was drunk. "Harumi, do you mind washing and drying the dishes?"
She helded up a thumbs up. "Yeah… I will, Dad." She slurred her speech, before Ethan walked and climbed up the stairs to go up to his room. Once Ethan disappeared, Harumi slowly tries to get up off of the carpet floor, until she fallen down on the floor, drunkenly. "*hiccup*... Who put that manga book on the floor? *hiccup*"
Shaun got up off the couch and helped her sister get up of the floor and grabbed the green soda bottle from her, as she slowly tries to grabbed it back from him. "Hey, little boy… give it!"
"Harumi, you need help and if you don't get any help, I'm telling Dad about your drinking." Shaun said.
"So what? Ethan isn't going to any- *hiccup* anything."
"I'm going to tell Dad, Harumi and he said that he will be able to help you." Shaun told her, as she slowly walked into the kitchen before sitting down in a chair and laying her head down on the table. Shaun walked into the kitchen to see her fast asleep, before throwing away the green soda bottle full of Ethan's beer from the refrigerator.
The architect father was complaining about he was missing a few beers from the refrigerator and also in the laundry room, but both of the kids said that they never touched it. So, Ethan was confused maybe it must have happened when he had his blackouts.
Shaun wasn't going to take this. He decided to tell his father what has been going on with Harumi. Once he disappeared, Harumi looking up and walked up to the refrigerator to grabbed her third beer.
"Dad," Shaun called out to see him closing the blinds in his bedroom.
"What's that matter, Shaun?" Ethan asked.
"Dad, what will happen if I tell you that something's wrong with one of us?" Shaun asked his father. He didn't know how to say something about Harumi's drinking and cutting problem.
"Well, why did you ask, Shaun?" Ethan asked. "Is there something that matter? What's this about?"
"Well… it's not me… it's Harumi." Shaun said.
"What about Harumi?" Ethan asked his son, as he the ten year old boy sat down on his bed and his father did as well.
"Dad, you know that Harumi changed over the past two years right?" Ethan nodded. "And she's doing bad things to herself."
"What kind of bad things?" Ethan was truly listening to him.
"She was drinking your beer and cutting herself with the scissors in her room."
Once Ethan heard what came out of his ten year old son's mouth suddenly he heard glass breaking from downstairs so he ran downstairs to see and check on Harumi while Shaun was tailing behind his father. They noticed Harumi in the kitchen laying down on the cold floor and she looked unconscious from far away. There was a green broken beer bottle and it was broken into pieces. Shaun was truly right about Harumi. She was drinking her father's beer when it was missing.
Ethan ran to her side to see her not moving with her blue eyes closed. Her mouth was opened a bit, as he smelled the alcohol on her breath. "Harumi?" Ethan called as he places his hands on the side of her soft face cheeks. "My God Harumi, answer me!"
"Dad, what should I do?" Shaun asked his father, until he looked up at his worried brown eyes.
"Go grab my phone and dial 911!" Ethan said, before he places Harumi's head on his lap, until she opened her eyes slowly.
"Dad…" Harumi said, softly until she slowly closes her eyes once more, but kept shaking her so she wouldn't sleep.
"No, no, Harumi, stay with me!" Ethan cried, until he decided to lay her down on her left side and rubbed her back slowly.
"Dad, here!" Shaun handed his father's phone to him as the 911 operator was on the line.
"Hello?"
"Sir, what is your emergency?"
"Yes, my daughter was drinking my beers and now she's having alcohol poisoning."
"Ok, sir. We have an ambulance on the way, but I need you to stay on the line until they arrive."
Sorry for not updating this story for a while. I was busy working on my other stories and I also have a job working at daycare and college as well. Right now, I'm having a fever and I was able to work on this since I missed a day working.
So, Harumi is now having alcohol poisoning now and being rushed to hospital what will happen in the next chapter? In the next chapter Grace will be in it along with one of Harumi's friends that Ethan will meet for the first time.
Whoever loves my first Heavy Rain story of Norman and Yuuki, I feel like make a sequel to it but I need some time to figure out how will happen and how many years it will be since the Origami Killer week.