No matter the person, everyone has a different type of reaction to loss. Sometimes its instant, other times a person won't recognize it until later on. But what makes a difference on how you handle that loss is if you have other people to guide you through.
Sadly, that wasn't the case for Reia.
When she first heard about it, she wasn't prepared. Reia was laying on the couch, baggy clothes layering over the ones she had used for work. Stuck in her exhausted daze, she didn't recognize that she forgot to take them off. As a plastic surgeon, her hours weren't too bad, but today of all days seemed to be the worst of it.
As Reia blankly watched her TV, a knock rapped on her door, causing her to slowly look at it.
Bruh, come on. I'm not even answering that.
She ignored it. While she tried focusing back on her TV, another set of knocks caused her to audibly groan. Getting up, Reia yawned as she went on the edge of her toes to reach the peephole. She rose an eyebrow at who it was, but opened the door.
"James, what are you doing here? It's like..." she looked at her clock, "2 a.m. in the morning?"
The man in front of her didn't meet her gaze. His light brown hair was disheveled, and the clothes he was wearing was just a normal white shirt with some regular pajama clothes. She guessed he didn't have time to dress up, but for what?
"Reia," he began, deeply sighing before looking up at her, "it-it's your parents. They're gone."
But that wasn't the moment she shattered. No. The girl could only stare at her family lawyer as he tried to get the details across to her. James wanted her to come with him to the hospital that just picked her parents up, which is why he was there. Apparently, they wanted her to confirm their identities and whatnot. All Reia did at the time was blankly follow.
The next few weeks didn't get any easier. On top of her work, she had to go over the will that her parents left her. That big house in addition to the land surrounding it that she always visited when she had time. The house that she didn't want to touch.
Reia buried herself in her work. As for her friends, some of her co-workers noticed the sudden change, and when they asked her about what was wrong, she didn't give them a direct answer.
"Please Reia, I know there's something wrong. Talk to us," Jaiden would beg her.
Reia looked around at her co-workers. Their eyebrows were scrunched up, and some of them had a hand on their shoulder as they waited for her answer. She gave them a small smile.
"It's nothing! Just a little tired. But thanks for your concern."
It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't a complete truth either. Reia tried not to think about it, but it didn't do much. Once she got home, a glint of silver caused her to look in that direction. An unfamiliar key sat near the key holders, and a little note was next to it.
Just think about it, the note said.
Reia frowned. Picking it up, she studied the lightly faded object in her hand. When James told her about the house, she downright told him no. She didn't want to see it. She just couldn't. Her parents were her rock. They were her everything, and then suddenly they...they were gone. It was too much for her to bare alone, and no one was there to help her.
But...it was her parents' home. They've left everything under Reia's name for her to care for. She was the only person who could take care of her parent's things now. So, after putting it off for nearly a month, she finally decided to go.
Taking her phone, a bag with some clothes, and the key that she now hung around her neck, Reia drove for three hours to the distant small town her parents lived in before arriving at the house.
She stepped out of her car, eyes gazing at the building before her. Even without a month's work of maintenance, the place still seemed like someone was living there.
The house had a geometric like architecture. Colored in white and a dark brown-grey mixture, it consisted of two stories and was long lengthwise. Reia walked up, unclasping the key around her neck before putting it to the door's keyhole. She hesitated.
Her previous thoughts of entering the now estranged house began to raise a fear in her heart. But a fear of what? Reia didn't want to think about it. As her heart raced, she placed a hand over her chest and made a deep intake of breath. Then, she opened the door.
The first thing that stood out to her was how quiet everything was. Every time that Reia visited her parents, there was always some old music playing in the background. It would be either from the 50s, 60s, 70s, or 80s, and sometimes, she would catch her parents slow dancing with each other. It never ceased to make her feel warm.
Moving inside, Reia looked around. Some papers were scattered on the surface of one of the tables, dust collecting over their dark color, causing them to have a lighter hue. A book was also on the coffee table. She walked to it and picked it up.
The cover had a collage of vegetables and flowers on the front. It was a book on gardening, which she presumed it was her mom's. Reia set it down. Inside, the whole place was actually a mess, which was no surprise. It was her parents after all. Fixing around, it took about half an hour to put everything back and clean it up. Once she was finished, Reia went outside.
The garden was the first thing she came across. It was certainly a big area, and where most of the growing vegetables used to be were just dead. It wasn't as beautiful as it used to be, but she guessed it was her fault for not visiting earlier. Green hedges bordered the garden area. Near the exit, a white arch connected the two, leading into a pool area with two summer houses on each end. And beyond that was unused land her parents didn't touch.
Reia sighed as her hand grazed a dead flower bed.
I should fix this when I have the time.
For the rest of the time, Reia spent hours on fixing up the house. Cleaning it was a hassle, but it was what she needed to do. Once she finished up most of downstairs, she went up. When she entered the first door on the right, a short chuckle of disbelief left her mouth.
The room that she stayed in for most of her childhood was still covered in various posters of different animes she's watched over the years. Attack on Titan, Assassination classroom, etc. However, there wasn't as much compared to her BNHA posters. Reia remembered how excited she was when she lined most of her walls with the specific show, and how happy she was when she began collecting a lot of the pop funkos for each character.
On the side were two shelves next to each other. While one held regular books, the other held various volumes of different Manga. She could only sigh shamefully at herself as she looked at the multiple plushies of MHA characters on her bed.
My god, I can't believe I was this obsessed.
But this didn't stop her from rewatching one of the episodes. Looking through the CDS underneath her TV, Reia chose the last episode from season five. It almost felt like a moment of relief when she was reminded of her childhood again. How she was so carefree, how most of the things that concerned her was the next episode of another anime. It was nice. But then, near the end of the episode, something that Aizawa said stuck in her mind.
"Don't apologize for being alive."
Immediately, the thoughts and memories of what happened came back to her, causing Reia to instantly shut it off.
What am I even doing?
With a sigh, she got up, closing her room's door behind her.
She cleaned up the rest of the rooms on the second floor. Taking out cobwebs, she also went and cleaned the bathrooms, which was an unfortunate thing to do. Eventually, Reia was finally on the last room of the house. Her parents' room.
Hesitantly, Reia placed her hand on the knob. Then, slowly turning it, the door opened.
She flicked the light on, glancing around the room with half-lidded eyes. It was still just like she remembered. On the far left was the dresser. Two pictures of her parents and her with them stood side by side, split by a wooden plane that sat idle in the middle of it. Next to the dresser was the walk-in closet her parents shared.
Reia remembered when she was younger, she would sometimes hide in there just to scare her parents. It never failed to make her laugh, even when her mom would sometimes hit her with a slipper. Towards the right side from where she could see, two desks were next to each other. One was elevated higher than the other, a blank blueprint spread across its surface. A pencil with no eraser at the edge was laid down on the border of the desk to prevent it from falling.
The other desk was a normal top. With some other pictures decorating it, another book was wide open, and a sketchpad was placed next to it. It was a half-finished drawing of her dad. He was smiling in the photo, and Reia felt herself go weak.
Heavily, she walked towards the bed in the center of the room. The sheets were changed, courtesy of James she guessed.
Neatly made, the brown comforter laid across the top of the bed, and the pillows were set up next to each other against the headboard. She fell against the soft mattress, and before she knew it, Reia finally felt the dam break.
Sobs racked her body as pain erupted from her chest. It felt like her heart was being torn apart, and she couldn't even do anything to stop it. Noises of agony escaped her throat as her fondest memories all led her back to what she's been trying to ignore.
Her parents were gone.
"Mom, Dad," she cried, "I can't. I can't do this. I don't want to be alone anymore. I can't do this without you."
Reia clenched the fabric over her chest and coughed. Unbeknownst to her, she had been crying for almost 2 hours, and the fatigue began to take over. She closed her eyes, sobs now turning into light sniffles before closing her eyes.
Please. I can't do this alone.