The Beauty Within

"...." My name is Hikawa Sayo.

"....." Rolling over to my side, I cover my bare body with the covers as I sit upright. The sun was bright this morning, had I slept in any longer, she would've woken up before me.

"..I apologize, but I shall take my leave first.." Slipping out of the covers, I began to slip on my clothes from the night before, putting on the knitted ring gifted to me by my family. ( I cannot have her see me like this. ) I didn't know her, it was a one-night stand. A fling meant for fun. It wasn't like I had any other way to feel loved. It wasn't like I even had a choice, to begin with.

Stepping onto the bus, I stood before the backdoors of the vehicle as it drove down the busy road. I'm 20, but I'm already working, why? I didn't have a choice. So like any other working adult, I'd have to take the bus to work. The only difference is-

"I'm home." I work from home.

Stepping out from the kitchen, the mint looked at me rather dumbfounded, she appeared to have been cooking. Looking down to my right hand where I wore my ring, she beamed her signature smile at me."Welcome home, Onee-chan!"

My name is Hikawa Sayo, and I live with a rare condition. So rare that I may be the only one who has it. "Are you having breakfast with mother, Hina?" My condition causes those around me to forget my physical appearance every morning when they wake up. That includes my voice, my touch, my warmth and my scent Anything that would be associated with my physical existence would be erased from their minds. All but my name would be forgotten.

"I'll be heading to my room then." I began making my down the halls that led to our individual rooms. "W-Wait!" "I'm fine, Hina, enjoy your breakfast." As I shut the door to my room behind me, I locked it and made my way to the lone mirror that stood by my desk.

"..." (.... It's me. I am me. ) As I reached out to touch my own reflection, I stared back into my bright green eyes. "I am me. I am Hikawa Sayo."

The condition causes those around me to forget my physical appearance every morning when they wake up. Granted, they didn't have to sleep through the night to forget, I'm unsure of how it happens, but it always occurs whenever a person rises from their slumber. Whenever I return home from work, my family would look at me as if a stranger had walked in. However, who am I to blame them for being unable to recognize me, when even I couldn't recognize myself every morning when I woke up?

Sitting down on my bed, I picked up my guitar and began adjusting my laptop in front of me. I worked as a solo musician online, playing the songs I'd write and posting them online as both classes and entertainment. It's enough for me to live by, and it allows me to do what I enjoy. I haven't been able to share my music or ideas with anyone but myself or my family. I understand that this form of isolation is to keep me safe from what was to come from outside if I was tasked to maintain a relationship of any form with anyone.

This...condition, came to me on my 18th birthday. I had woken up to get ready for school just like any other day, however, upon looking at myself in the mirror. The person I saw in my own reflection, wasn't the person I recalled to be myself- that is, if I even had a visual memory of what I had looked like before. I remember rushing into my mother's room where she had been making her bed, I was crying.

"M-Mother.." I was breaking down as I slowly stumbled my way before her as she stared at me with a blank face. " I-I don't know what- " She walked towards me as she cupped my face, brushing her thumbs over my tear-stained cheeks.

"...Sayo..my dear. It's alright. It'll be alright.." Hugging me tight as she attempted to calm me down with her gentleness. I cried out on her shoulder. All I could say then, on the morning that changed my life forever was, "Who was I". "What am I going to do?" "How did this happen?" "Why did this happen?".