A Dream for Tomorrow

3. The Origin

The urgency of the footsteps mirrored the pounding heart in Ayumi's fragile chest. Desperation and urgency blended in her head like a cacophony of thoughts, dreams and reality itself.

Reality?

Soon enough Ayumi had caught up to and even surpassed her father. As she surged ahead, her heart pounded in the rhythm that was set by her heart. A rush of pure ecstasy enveloped her. It was as if the very essence of victory coursed through her veins, lifting her spirit to dizzying heights. With each breath, she drank in the sweet taste of triumph, leaving behind a trail of determination in her wake.

Ayumi felt free, she felt her chains fall away into the endless abyss that was the collective consciousness. She did well. She prevented fate. She felt untouchable.

Everything felt so invigorating, every step felt powerful. Ayumi felt her foot touch the pavement in a run to get to the other side of the road. From the distance she could see the fireworks being set up.

So pretty, if only it could last forever.

The patterning of her walk. Step. Step. Step. Step. Her rapid breath. In, out. In, out. In, out. Car honks. Screams. Panic. Movement.

Wait.

For even just a moment, time stopped for the young Ayumi Fujimoto. It was as if she had transcended and was no longer in her own body. Her bright eyes ceased to shine as brightly as they did just a moment ago. An unexpected force collided with her body, a surge of adrenaline followed, catapulting Ayumi off balance. Time slowed dramatically again as she stumbled forward onto the pavement on the other side. As she collided on the ground, a moment of peace ensued, she felt nothing, saw nothing and smelled nothing.

What happened? She didn't know, but just a moment after her partial unconsciousness, she heard it and she smelt it.

The smell of a metallic tang held pungent in the air, a primal scent entered Ayumi's nostrils, ancient and raw. Ayumi felt like she was hung upside down for at least an hour. However, it didn't register yet what she was smelling. Her eyes were shut, recoiling from the hit.

It didn't register what she was smelling until a warm liquid tickled her feet. It was an unsettling sensation of the liquid coated her skin like a chilling embrace from deep within the abyss.

Wait!

Ayumi's eyes shot open to the truth, to reality. Chilling didn't get near to describing the sight laid bare in front of her youthful eyes. It was horrifying. No horror movie had ever come close to comparing to what she saw, what she heard. Screams of mothers and children alike. High pitched screeches penetrated her ears and yet she didn't feel anything. Emotion had fled from her, hidden away somewhere deep within her psyche, nowhere to be found, lost, never to be seen again.

Drop by drop, she felt her sanity slowly slip away. Until a realization hit her like a tsunami.

'How many times have I been through this?'

Such insanity sprouted to a revelation. Nothing makes sense anymore. Deja vú didn't even begin to describe it. She had been through this, multiple times, it didn't make sense. Everything happened before, everything happened the exact same way and it would happen again when she said:

"Stop."

Yes, it was her. Her who still looks back on this moment over and over again. Why would she do this to herself? Her who still has not moved on, her who looks back and tortures herself, her who lost everything at this moment.