Ishiki (Consciousness)

3 - Akira (Part 3 of 5)

I went back home to 914 North without bothering to stop for dinner.  Exhausted from the day, I had no will to see or talk to anyone.  I just wanted some time to myself.  And that was something I hadn’t gotten since the yesterday’s train ride.  But when I opened my door, I was met with the unfortunate surprise of Ken’ichi and one other boy who I had not met before, sitting at the common room table.  

“Hi, there,” greeted the boy.  “I’m Han Watanabe.  Nice to meet you!”

Han’s face was cheerful, but I was too tired to do anything but frown back at him.  

“Joey Jyaki,” I said curtly.

“Hey, don’t be so rude,” Ken’ichi said.  “Han’s a good guy.”

A ‘good guy’ who is hanging out with you?  That’s what I wanted to say.

“We met in chemistry lab today,” Han chirped.  He was a scrawny boy with a bowl cut.  His voice might as well have been a girl’s.

“That’s great,” I said.  No emotion.

I turned my back to them, and unlocked my bedroom door.  Han said, “See you,” but I didn’t respond.  There was only one thing that I wanted to do now.

With my belongings all put away in the closet and organized in my desk, there wasn’t much left in my suitcase besides the scrapbook.  I pulled it into my lap and flipped the cover over.  There was my mother and blonde father on their wedding day.  Auntie Setona, young looking with long, bleached hair.  A baby in a hospital cradle that must have been me.

And there, against the back cover, two envelopes.  I took my mother’s out first, tearing it open gingerly.  The rest of the scrapbook went back into my suitcase and pushed back under my bed. 

Just like the envelope, the paper inside was yellowed.  My mother’s handwriting was flowery and perfect.  I stared at the way she wrote her characters.  Our handwriting was nearly identical.

‘Dear Joey,

My little baby boy, you are growing so fast already.  The doctor says it will be only a few more weeks before you are born and I can finally meet you.  I cannot wait.

So far, every moment I have spent with you has been a delight.  I have become so round and heavy.  I know you are going to be a big, strong boy.

I’m sorry that you will probably never meet your father.  He was a good man when I met him, and even though he left me, I still love him.  His name is Joseph Roberts, and he works at a carpentry company in Eiji Ward.  You, Little Joey, are his namesake.  Even though he is gone, he will always be a part of our lives.  I hope you don’t hate him for leaving.’

I stopped reading after that first page.  There was no way I could continue if all my mother wrote about was Joseph Roberts.  To see her words, ‘I still love him,’ written on the page.  It made me sick.  How could she have still loved someone who had left her in the middle of her pregnancy?  How could she have still loved someone who didn’t treat her right?  How could she have still loved someone who abandoned her only son? 

I heard a key turn in the lock of my bedroom door.  Quickly, I stuffed my mother’s letter into the pocket of my uniform pants.  It could only be Yusuke coming into the room, but I still didn’t want him to see what I was looking at.

“Hey, man.  What’s up?” said Yusuke, throwing his books on top of his bed and taking a seat at his desk.

“Eh, not much,” I replied, trying to sound casual.

“Wanna grab some dinner soon?”

“I don’t think so,” I said.  “I’m pretty tired.  I just wanna go to sleep.”

“Come on,” he said.  “We’ve got gym first thing in the morning.  We’ve gotta get our energy up for that, or else we’ll be total losers.”

“Really?  Gym, first thing tomorrow?”

Gym had always been my least favorite subject.

“Yep,” replied Yusuke, stretching against the back of his chair.  “First thing.”

“No way,” I said, and rolled over to get some much needed sleep.

***

Author's Note: Short, I know, but I wanted to show a bit more of Joey's family. Next section will be longer, and you'll finally found out why this chapter was named Akira :) 

Let me know what you think! <3