You were lying in the backseat of the car, half awake. You tried getting up, but you couldn't move an inch of your body. It was as if you were paralyzed.
It was pouring outside. You could hear the pitter patters of raindrops hitting the car roof. Some of it was getting inside, making the seats soaking wet.
The inside of the car was a complete mess. All the windows were broken. There was glass shattered everywhere, and items scattered all over the place. But the thing that made your heart drop was the dark, red liquid dripping from your mom's unmoving hand.
"Mom?" You struggled to talk. Your throat felt sore and your voice was coarse.
"Mom!" You tried to move again, but you couldn't move anything. Suddenly, there was a sharp ringing in your ears. Your head felt like it would split open. Your eyes began to tear up as you screamed from the pain.
You started to hear sirens coming closer and closer.
"Mom..." you whispered softly as you closed your eyes.
You spent the next few months in a hospital bed. Your aunt from your mom's side decided to pay you a visit with her husband.
"We're here again, Y/n," she said, as they sat in the chairs next to your bed.
You just stared out the window and watched the clouds slowly moving across the grey sky.
"We went to your mother's funeral today. Everyone there was worried about you," said uncle.
"If they were so worried, then why didn't they come to see how I was doing?" you asked with a monotone voice. You didn't take your eyes off the window.
Your aunt and uncle just looked at each other, not knowing what to say. After a while, they left. You knew what they were thinking. 'It should've been her.' 'Why did she have to die?'
Sometimes, you wondered the same things.
A few months later, you got discharged from the hospital and were to be living with your aunt, uncle, grandmother, and a few of your cousins.
The house was enormous. It had an old fashioned look to it. It was mostly made of bricks and had vines climbing the walls. There were also plenty of grassy areas surrounding the house.
The moment you entered the house, you received a slap across the face from your grandmother. She was in tears, with mascara running down her face.
She looked at you with eyes full of sorrow, but mostly hatred.
"Why did my daughter have to die? Why? Why!?" She was sobbing her eyes out.
Your aunt and uncle just uncomfortably stood nearby. The other family members that were invited just stood there and stared at you with unwelcoming eyes.
You felt sick to your stomach. The whole house felt suffocating.
You didn't go to school for a while and eventually dropped out because you didn't feel like doing anything. Middle school didn't matter to you anymore. Nothing did.
One night, you decided that you wanted to run away. You snuck into the kitchen and stuffed a banana, some bread, and a few apples into your backpack. You went out the front door and ran as far as you could.
You ran continuously without thinking and eventually got lost in a random patch of trees.
Suddenly, there was a high pitched ringing in your ears. You collapsed onto your knees and grabbed your head in pain. Your breathing was fast and you couldn't see clearly.
Then you felt a hand on your head. You looked up and saw the figure of a young boy, but couldn't see his face.
"Who..." You closed your eyes and passed out.
***
It was the day of the school trip. You were looking around a bamboo forest with the others.
"Wow! What a magnificent bamboo forest!" exclaimed Tohru. She was looking up at the tall, green bamboo, mesmerized by their size. "The autumn leaves are beautiful too."
"Yes, it makes me want to recite a haiku," said Hanajima.
"Please let us hear!"
"'59 was the date when Alaska and Hawaii became new states.'"
"Ain't a haiku," said Kyo.
"Wrong century," said Uotani.
"How about, 'In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue?'" suggested Tohru. Kyo and Uotani were getting annoyed at the fact these weren't actually haikus.
You and Yuki just stood there half smiling.
"You know, it kind of ruins the mood coming here as a big group," said Uotani.
"You're overriding the whole point of a school trip," said Yuki.
"It's torture that I can't eat whatever I want. I want herring soba," said Hanajima.
"You sure love your food," said Kyo.
You chuckled. "To be honest, I'm glad we came here as a group," you said.
Uotani swung her arms around you and Tohru. "Then how about we come here again but just us girls?" she asked.
"Yes! Let's do that!" said Tohru.
"I would like that," said Hanajima.
"Sounds like a plan," you said.
"Hey look at those love birds. I feel like everyone's confessing to their crushes now that they're on the trip," said a guy in your class.
"I'm so jealous! I want to be confessed to too!" said another.
"Now that I think about it, why isn't Yuki being confessed to? Shouldn't he be flocked by now?" asked Uotani.
"Now that you mention it..." you looked around to see if there were any girls spying on him.
"I'm not as popular as you think, Uotani," said Yuki.
You let out a sigh of relief.
Wait. Why am I relieved? It's because I don't want to see the Prince Yuki fan club, right? Yeah, that must be it.
Suddenly, a guy tapped you on the shoulder. "Um, is it okay if I talked to you for a second?"
You were unsure whether to leave the group or not. "Sure, but try to make it quick." You followed him. Yuki looked over at you as you left.
Once you two were in an isolated area, he turned to you with a flushed face. "You know, ever since you transferred here, I began to have feelings for you. You're so nice to everyone and you have a great personality. I was just wondering if you wanted to go out with me."
"Uh, sorry. I'm going to have to decline. I appreciate it and all, but I don't really know you," you said with an apologetic smile.
The dude had a shocked look on his face. "We can always get to know each other. Or... is it because you already like someone else?"
"No, like I said-" he suddenly grabbed your arm. You winced as he tightly gripped onto you.
"I promise I'll be really good to you, so let's just try-"
Before he could finish, Yuki pulled his hand off you.
"Did you not hear her?" Yuki glowered down at him. "She said no."
The guy left in a hurry. Yuki took a look at your arm. He pulled your sleeve up. Your arm was slightly red around the area he grabbed.
"Are you okay? Does it hurt?" he asked.
"I'm okay. It's just a little red," you said with a smile.
"You're lying."
You were dumbfounded. "Huh?"
"I said you're lying. You always smile like that whenever you're hiding something. You were smiling like that when I was walking you home that day too." He looked at you with a stern looking face, but you could tell he was worried.
You looked down at your arm, which was being held in his cool hands.
Then you finally gave in. "Fine. I'm not okay. My arm hurts a little and to be honest, I was kind of scared when he grabbed me like that." Yuki stared at you intently. "But now, I'm okay because you helped me," you said reassuringly.
His eyes went wide. He then smiled with relief. "That's good, but if you have anything you want to talk about, just know that you can always talk to me."
He's probably talking about the day he walked me home.
"I'm not really ready to talk about anything yet." You unfolded your sleeve back down. "But I'll talk about it when I am."
Yuki was satisfied enough with your answer.
He held out his hand and said, "Let's go. The others are probably waiting on us."
You stared at his hand and slowly took it.
***
You got up and changed. Uotani stretched. "Morning, Uotani."
"Morning," she said in the middle of her yawn.
"Let's wake the others up so we can go get breakfast."
You all ate breakfast together and went to explore more of Kyoto.
"Y/n, what are you going to get for souvenirs?" asked Tohru.
You cocked your head. "Souvenirs?"
"Yes. Are you not getting any?"
"I don't think I will. I mean, why would I need them anyway?"
"Most people are buying souvenirs for people that aren't here," said Uotani.
"You can give your souvenirs to your parents or loved ones if you'd like," said Hanajima.
"My parents huh?" You then spotted something. Then you grabbed everyone and pulled them along.
"Huh!? What do you think you're doing!?" yelled Kyo.
"Where are you taking us?" asked Yuki.
You pointed at the tiny photo booth. "I want to take pictures with everyone in there. Is that okay?"
"It doesn't matter if it's okay or not! How are we even gonna fit in there!? That tiny thing could fit no more than 3 people!" said Kyo. It was true it was really small.
You then acted like you were upset and looked down at your feet. "I see."
There was a pause. Uotani and Hanajima sent Kyo a dirty look.
In the end, they all tried fitting into the booth and successfully took group pictures.
You sneered at Kyo and stuck your tongue out at him.
He pointed his index finger at you. "Y-you! You were just guilt-tripping to make me look like the bad guy!"
"Hm... even though it's the truth?" you teased.
You could literally see the steam coming out of his ears.
***
You looked around Kyoto the next day with Tohru, Uotani, and Hanajima.
You then spotted Yuki having a chat with Kakeru and Kimi. You then smiled. He used to be the black sheep of the group. Now he has other people he can rely on.
Later that day, you all went back to school. You got your things to go home when you forgot about something.
You walked all the way to the student council room. You opened the door and found Yuki with the other members.
"Y/n! What are you doing here?" asked Yuki.
You handed him some of the pictures you guys took at the photo booth.
"Here. I have extra copies with me. I wanted to give these to you. You said that you wanted to keep precious memories close to you, so just take them."
Yuki's expression softened as he looked down at the pictures. "Thanks, Y/n. I'll cherish them."
Feeling embarrassed, you quickly turned to leave. "See you later, idiot." You slid the door open and left.
"Yun Yun, you had a girlfriend?" asked Kimi with twinkling eyes.
His face went red. "You're misunderstanding. She's not my girlfriend."
"Can we just get back to work!?" yelled Naohito.
When you arrived home, you dropped your things and immediately fell face forward onto your bed. You felt so exhausted.
You then took out the pictures from the photo booth and stuck them on the bulletin board attached to your wall. They were right next to the leaf Yuki caught for you. You admired them for a good 15 seconds.
Your phone vibrated as it received a message.
Father: I deposited the money into your account.
It was the so-called father who didn't even come to see you when you almost died. He probably didn't even care whether you lived or died anyway.
Did he even go to mom's funeral? No. He wouldn't care enough to go. Besides... he never had the intention to come back.
You just stared up at the ceiling. "Mom, why'd you give birth to me if you were going to leave?"