REDO (Darkness Without A Candle Light) The Forgotten One

Prologue

December 9th, 1994

"You're... You're sending me away?"

"Yes, sweetie. Your Mother and I hate to do it, but you need to pack up some stuff and leave. We can't be together anymore."

"Why?"

"It's just the way it has to be..."

"Where will I live?"

"..."

A little girl, about 8, was standing in front of her parents, who were sitting on an old sofa, not knowing what else to say. An oil lamp sitting on a stool was flickering silently, as she heard a water drop from the old sink.

The little girl's name was Umeko Sohma. Her mother, Hoshi, and her father, Gorou, were poor, and couldn't lead a very stable life. They lived in a deep part of the woods, and couldn't afford to pay all their debts, so their electricity had cut off, and it was difficult to find food, let alone cook any, since the heat would sometimes turn off and not come back on for weeks. Fortunately, they had a fire place, and they had a garden for vegetables. They received their clothes from a second hand shop, and Gorou would get small payments while doing odd jobs like delivering newspapers. He was also working on an autobiography he was working on, hoping that when he finished the book, he would get a fortune for it. Unfortunately, the book never got finished.

Hoshi was very young, almost 20, when she had Umeko. Even though she was only 8, she had helped out a lot around the house. They couldn't afford schooling, so Umeko partly took it upon herself to at least read and write. Of course, there was still a lot of things she didn't know, so she made a bunch of mistakes, and had minor wounds as a result. When she was 2, she was watching her mother iron. She had left the room to do something, and Umeko wondered what was coming out of the iron (it was steam), and pressed her whole little hand onto the iron to stop it. She had a second degree burn on her hand as a result.

Another time when it was summer, Umeko almost drowned when she tried to walk on water like in a fairy tale book she had read. She was only 4, and if her mother wasn't out working in the garden nearby, her life would've ended.

Umeko winced, remembering the two incidents, as she curled her hand into a fist. Fighting the urge to cry, she looked at her parents, who had deeply sadden looks on their faces. Silently, she went upstairs to her room. The old boards creaked as her weight was pressed against them, making them sound spooky.

She looked at her old bedroom, which used to be shared by her older brother, Kenshin, who was always in bed due to Consumption since he was 4. He had died at the age of 13, while Umeko was at the age of 5. Even though he was fragile, he had loved Umeko, and tried to help her in stuff such as reading and speaking. When he had found out that he was going to have a little sister, he swore to himself that he would try to love her and care for her the best he could, since his parents were trying to look for work, even if he was restraint to a hammock.

Then came March 9th. It was his 13th birthday, and Umeko had found her old music box in the cellar. She handed it to him as a gift, knowing that her brother liked collecting them. Kenshin gently took a music box from his shelf, and handed it to her. Umeko shook her head, knowing that he was handing her his favorite, the one with the tiny spinning glass bear. Kenshin smiled, shook his head, and pushed it back to her. He opened his mouth and said a promise that Umeko had kept since his death.