Chapter 1 The Beginning
My head is down; my eyes are shut. I really don’t want to be here. I hate this room, and they keep sending me to meet all these different people in it. From outside the room I can hear the click clacking of high heel shoes against the cold smooth pavement that makes up the floors.
I hear a few words being exchanged between a woman and the guard at the door, and then it opens. I look up to see a woman standing in the doorway.
She is tall and thin, looking to be somewhere between her late 20’s and early 30’s. She has long, straight black hair and brownish green eyes.She wears a suit just like any other lawyer, but with heels that look like they are meant more for a party than for the business she has here.
She walks over to me with her eyes glued to mine. The guard shuts the door behind her. She takes her seat across the table from me. She reaches in her bag and pulls out a tape recorder. She gives me a light smile, places it on the table, and hits the record button.
“Hi, my name is Faelin Klein,” she flashes another smile, “and I’m here to help you get out of this, Britiny. I -”
“My names not Britiny! Its Katsumi! Britiny is just what those people called me!” I glare at her.
“O…okay,” she says with wide eyes. I have been here for a few weeks and almost never said anything. They must have told her not to expect me to say much, so me yelling at her is definitely a shock.
“Okay…Katsumi. I’m her to help you, but in order to do that you have to talk to me. Tell me everything. Start from the very beginning, so I can understand how this all happened. Why this all happened. I need to know who you ended up covered in their blood!” Her hand slaps down on the table. She looks mad and hurt all at the same time.
I take a deep breath. “Okay,” I say in a whisper. “I’ll tell you everything from as far back as I can remember.”
-----The Beginning----
I was happy, and things couldn’t have been any more perfect. We lived in Japan, just the three of us. Me, my mom, and my dad. We were a happy, loving family.
When I turned six, that’s when things started to fall apart. My perfect little world was crashing down all around me. My dad was very sick. He had brain cancer. The doctors told us that he had at the most 18 months to live, but he died in 3.
Things just got worse; about a year later my mother and I were homeless. It was hard; all we had were a few clothes and a picture of my father that I always keep in my pocket. We lived like this for two years until she had left me, too.
**********
“Hey, wake up.” My mom said, shaking me awake. “Come on, baby, we have to go.”
“Mmmh, already?” I asked sleepily. Living like that, I never felt like I got enough sleep.
“Yes, the sun is starting to come up. You know we would get in a lot of trouble if we’re caught here.” she informed me as she picked up our few things and puts them in our backpacks. We were in an abandoned building.
“Okay.” I sighed. I got up and folded my blanket, grabbing my book and packing it into my backpack. I loved to read, it gave me a break from this life I’m forced to live.
When I am finished with my things, I fished the picture out of my pocket.
“I love you, daddy.” I kissed the picture. I had done this every morning since he died.
“All set?”
“Yeah.” I put the photo back into my pocket to keep it safe.
We left the building to join all the other people on the busy sidewalk. It was easier to be homeless in the city. Sometimes people just gave us money without us having to ask.
