Chosen

The Boy and The Rat (Chapter 1)

Flashbacks are in First Person POV

I was there that day, when a little boy I knew turned into a rat. In fact, I was the girl that caused the mayhem.

We were playing in the schoolyard with some other kids, I think we were playing TAG. I remember it was raining and the grass was wet, making things slippery, and I was "It." I chased a boy with silver hair and lost my footing, falling into him.

It felt as though it happened in slow-motion. There was the popping sound and then smoke, and when I looked down, the boy was gone. His kimono was there and there was a small grey rat, staring up at me. 

I panicked and ran home, trying to make sense of everything I saw. A boy turned into a rat, and it was my fault.

I run inside the house and see my father on the couch in a way I'd never seen him. The television was on the hockey game like usual, except he wasn't watching it. He was slumped over with his hands covering his face.

"What is it, Papa?" Everything that happened at school was no longer relevant. What mattered was that my dad was upset.

"It's mom," his gruff voice replies. "She's gone."

"What about the baby?" I ask gently.

"You would have had a brother," he says.

Would have, I never forgot that. "What was his name?"

"Your mom wanted to call him Koi," her father tells her. "The name you had picked out."

"Oh," is all I had to say.

"I have to work," he muses. "Make sure you eat something, get your homework done and are in bed at your normal time. Things are going to be different, and we're moving back to Canada."

Present Day is in Third Person POV

It was ten years ago when her mother had died. Arabelle's father, Mitsumi Kumi had remarried five years ago to a French Canadian woman named Irene.

"Oh good, you're home," her stepmother says. "Come and sit down, your father and I have something to tell you."

Arabelle removes her shoes and sits in one of the armchairs.

"Welcome home," Mitsumi greets his daughter. He sits on the sofa next to her stepmother. "We have some news."

She watches as he and Irene exchange a glance.

"We're moving back to Tokyo," Mitsumi drops the news. "Well you are."

"I am?" Arabelle prompts. "How? Why?"

"Because we're expecting," Irene replies. "And we really don't have the space for both you and a newborn."

"I still have our old house," Mitsumi tells her. "You'll be welcome to stay there while you're in school."

"You don't want me living here anymore?" Arabelle felt hurt. "I don't take up that much space, do I?"

"Not currently," Irene says. "And we are looking to purchase a house, but there's really nothing on the market that's suitable."

"You get to see Arisa again," Mitsumi points out. "You were just saying how you missed your cousin."

"I do miss her," Arabelle lets out a breath. "I don't understand why we all just move to Tokyo if you have the old house. It's got plenty of room."

"I can't just move my entire life to another country," Irene says with her authoritative voice. "You already have citizenship in Japan, while I do not. I wouldn't be able to work."