A Dream for Tomorrow

1. A Hope, A Wish & A Plea

Ayumi Fujimoto leads a peaceful existence. She was born to two loving parents in 1990. Parents who spoiled her with pure parental love and attention. Ayumi was a kind soul; shy but innocent nonetheless. She didn't have many close friends, but among the ones she had, she cherished her as much as they cherished her back. Her grades were average but her success in the arts, sports as well as in the student council was a sure indication that she would get into a great college when she was of the right age.

Everyday she would come home, to a mother cooking in the kitchen and a father watching TV on the couch as they would welcome her with open arms and shower her with praise as she would tell them the many recommendations for colleges she had been getting. They would sit by the dinner table with food that was as delicious as the smell, cooked up with a motherly love that Ayumi would thank her for every day. While eating the meal her parents would ask her how school had been and she would respond the same that she would do everyday:

'Oh, it's fine. Nothing much happened today really.'

And as fast as the question came they would move on to the next topic of conversation. This cycle of affection and stability would repeat day after day after day after day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, week after week after week after week, month after month after month after month, January, February, March, April, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, year after year after year after year, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010.

Ayumi would grow up to be a lawyer fighting on the side of justice. She would date a boyfriend who cared about her, at some point get married and have kids and they would become amazing parents. Ayumi's parents would love their grandkids, coming to see and take care of them every moment they could.

After living for a good 80 years, Ayumi's parents would pass on to the afterlife, but Ayumi would stay strong, she would stay strong, she would stay strong, she wouldn't cry, she couldn't cry, she'll never cry. Ayumi would move on and live her own happy life and die with her loved ones by her side, they would be there, they would always be there... Oh, how she wished they would be there.

But, that Ayumi doesn't exist, she never existed and she will never exist. Instead, the world is stuck with the knock-off, secondhand Ayumi Fujimoto. One that doesn't have a stable, loving family and a tight inner circle of close friends and never will. For the world will never look at Ayumi Fujimoto in pity and give her something nice, she doesn't deserve it. It was like, on the day she was born god was having a bad day and took his anger out on a newly born baby girl and cursed for a life of eternal damnation and suffering in life, a suffering that could only ever be quelled by the sweet release of death.

Death covered Ayumi Fujimoto like a warm blanket, a sweet lullaby, a promise that no matter how much she suffers in her life it all wouldn't matter in the end. In the end she would, like all other people, be taken by death and nothing would've mattered. Maybe, just maybe, when she stands in the afterlife, when her broken, bruised and battered body stands in the presence of god, he would finally take pity on her and grant her access to a peaceful afterlife. One where she could finally live as the Ayumi Fujimoto she dreamed of. A life where someone would finally come up to her and give her a hug and whisper : 'It's okay, you've done well' so gently that she could only hear it because of the lack of space in between them.

And in the end, it would all be worth it.

All the suffering.

All the deaths.

All the guilt.

It would have all been worth it.

Because, if it wasn't, Ayumi wouldn't know what to do anymore.

'Please...'

'...someone...'

'... **** me...'