in the back, cramped leg space, and little-to-no room, daiyu felt a strong sense of melancholic nostalgia. bringing her legs to rest against her chin, the girl didn't bother to get angry at the man sitting in front of her with his seat adjusted too far back.
her head hurt. everything hurt.
shuffling through the bag adjacent to her, daiyu fumbled with her tangled mess of strings before plugging them into her phone.
the screen was still badly cracked, hardly usable. daiyu didn't feel the need to replace it. she needed to save money now, after all. pressing play on her list of songs, the girl did her best to make herself comfortable on the mildly turbulent ride.
at least with all these people on board, she was sure that her nightmares would be less violent or sweat-inducing when she wasn't alone.
with the little warmth her clothes provided—these days, daiyu could never shake the cold chill within her bones no matter how hard she tried—the chinese-korean girl snuggled into herself, lifting the hood of her brown hoodie over her head.
there was little to no comfort in the fabric, nor the even baggier jeans that seemed to scrape uncomfortably against daiyu's knees. everything fit her a little too loosely than before.
it made her feel small. insignificant. there was no more pride on her face, only collapsing fatigue and that frown that was now sown onto her features.
curling herself into a ball, daiyu closed her eyes and let the music streaming in her ears do its best to calm her into a hopefully dreamless sleep.
only three more hours to land. she would be fine.
━━ WITH A DRY throat and an empty stomach, daiyu emerged from the familiar airport, dragging her suitcase with one hand and her bag slung against her shoulder.
her eyes scanned the language plastered in every sign, the characters forming words within her brain. a dull relief filled daiyu as she realized that she still remembered. lowering her hood and exposing her mess of reddish black hair, she made for the exit of the airport. the smell within the place was too similar to that of a hospital, and she didn't like it one bit.
hailing a taxi was easy. all the chinese-korean girl had to do was stand at the exit and wait for a car to park in front of her and lower their window to ask if she was in need of a lift. the more difficult part was giving the driver a location.
daiyu didn't want to see her grandparents yet. whether they blamed her for his death, or comforted her, she would break and shatter into a million pieces either way.
someday, the teen reminded herself. just not today.
the taxi driver dropped her off at daiyu's question towards cheap housing or apartments, suggesting a cheap building close to the place she lived in when she last visited.
at first, reluctance filled daiyu because she didn't want to even be near anything that might bring bad memories, but she had no money to live elsewhere.
with a 'thank you' and the taxi fee payed, daiyu was left to lug her suitcase into the small inn-like building. the scent of old liquor and cigarettes greeted the chinese-korean girl at the front desk, where bottles of soju and an ashtray filled to the brim with cigarette butts were littered on the wooden surface.
fourteen.
Start from the beginning
