Doki Doki Literature Club - The Taste of Sunshine

Forever and Alwaya

Genji sat on his bed with his back to the wall, in his hands he held a letter that he had received that morning in the daily post delivery.  The lined white sheets felt heavy in his hands, they seemed to carry the same gravity that the subject material of the letter did.  He had read the document in its entirety at least three times, as well as meticulously looked over the two photographs that had been included.      Genji cursed at himself, he should have just thrown the unopened envelope into the trash along with the other advertisements and junk mail that they received.  With a return address in Sandcrest on the envelope, he wracked his mind initially trying to think if he knew anyone in the city, or for that matter if his mom did.  The letter was addressed to him specifically, the script on the envelope carrying the air of being written by someone with a bold yet elegant hand. 
Bad things come in threes.  That was the superstition that Genji had always been told about by his mother but he always brushed it off.  Of his friends, the only one who believed in it was Yuri, and Genji more than once gently poked fun at her for it.  But today?  Today was going to make him rethink that, big time. 
Sayori had been texting him non-stop at 7am that she'd been up all morning throwing up.  The smell of her morning coffee was enough to make her wretch, even the notion that Sayori could be pregnant made him want to retreat to some far off place where no one would ever be able to find him.  Yes, he was engaged to Sayori, but they were both so young and not even close to being established to take care of themselves let alone a child.  The thought of running away caused him to feel so much shame, it was the same thing that his own father had done to him.  Was this who he really was?  When the cards were all down on the table his first reaction was to cut and run?  This wasn't at all how his mother had raised him, and was a slap in the face to all of the sacrifices that she made to ensure that he had a good life growing up.  Sayori told him that she was going to stop at the drug store to pick up a pregnancy test and then she would be over later morning to take it and they could find out the results together, which meant that she'd be over sometime soon seeing that it was half past eleven.  This was the first of the three punches in the stomach he would receive today.
The second, in some sort of sick cosmic coincidence, arrived in that morning's mail.  While there was the usual assortment of junk mail, bills and advertisements, there arrived a letter that was addressed to Genji that had been mailed to him from a Sandcrest address.  He didn't know anyone out there, and to his knowledge neither did his mom.  A quick Google search of the return address did little to aid in figuring out who it could be from.  Search results didn't bring back any names but it did provide him with a street view of the house situated at the address.  It looked like a quaint two-story home in the suburbs with sand colored shingles on the roof and the house an interlace of white siding and pink brick around the garage and foundation.  There was a large maple tree in the front yard with a swing attached to a large branch which served as a beautiful set piece to the spacious picture window looking into the home's living room behind.  Whoever sent the letter, Genji was impressed, their home was beautiful.  That feeling of admiration would be short lived though after opening the envelope.  Contained within was a three page hand written letter, along with two photographs.  The first of these had "Hitome, 14" written on the back.  Hitome was a slender looking girl wearing torn black leggings that had graffiti all over them (clearly by design, likely purchased this way) with a neon yellow t-shirt that had something written on it.  Genji couldn't clearly read it due to her sitting on what he assumed was the curb outside their house when the photo was taken.  Her hair was dyed a deep aqua but her black roots were growing in, and her eye makeup was so heavy that he thought that she looked more like a raccoon than a teenage girl.  Hitome had gauges in her ears and her lip pierced, and she was sticking her tongue out for the camera as she proudly displayed her skateboard for the photo.  The second photo had "Suzume, 11" written across the back.  The girl in this one was slender as well, but not nearly as skinny looking at Hitome.  She had a huge smile on her face and was holding up what looked like an award that she received from school.  She had black hair like her sister which was just past shoulder length, held back by a striking white red hairband with a small white rose on it.  Unlike her sister, she was wearing a floral pattern dress, with countless white, pink and red flows cascaded across a black background.  Even the earrings that she was wearing looked elegant, little (fake) diamonds shining in the sunlight.  It dawned on Genji that this photo had to have been taken at a special event, very likely an awards ceremony if what Suzume was holding was any indication.  He had thought about texting his mom about the letter, but he didn't want to upset her while she was at work.  This would be something that he would wait until she was home to show her, because he knew that her reaction would not be a good one.  He looked at the letter and began to read it to himself again.