Echoes from the past

Reminiscence

It's been two days since that event happened. It was a peaceful morning. Kiyoshi was lying in his bed trying to remember what happened that evening but he was unable to do so. His injuries were not that serious and he was recovering real fast. He rubbed his eyes and got up.
"Hello my dear friend." Kiyoshi was surprised to see Arata at his home so early in the moring.
"What are you doing here Arata? Don't you have anything else to do??"
"I came here to check on you. I woke up early so that I can meet you before school."
"I see. I am going to school today anyway. It was a complete waste of your time I guess. Now get out." Kiyoshi said as he took out his uniform from the closet and headed to bathroom. Although they were really close but kiyoshi didn't really like people barging into his home uninvited.
"It wasn't a complete waste of time. I got to eat really tasty meal made by your mom." Arata said as he patted his stomach and burped really loud....loud enough to make kiyoshi annoyed.
"I am going to take a shower. And you ...you just behave."Arata giggled and left Kiyoshi's room. Kiyoshi lived in a two room apartment that wasn't in a very good condition.

Kiyoshi entered the washroom and turned on the shower. Water tricked down his well built body. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what happened that evening but instead of that his memories took him to his bitter past. Kiyoshi's dad used to pull scams on people. But as police become suspicious of him,he ran away leaving behind his wife Nori and nine years old son. Things started to fall apart for Kiyoshi's family. They had no money. Kiyoshi was really intelligent,even his teachers used to call him a genius but due to money shortage his studies started to suffer. His mom started working in a restaurant but she was paid poorly. She was in desperate need of money. One day a customer noticed Kiyoshi's mom. His mom was gorgeous. She had long brown hair that were rolled into a bun and had glistened fair skin. Her shiny grey eyes were mesmerising. She was short but she really did stand out from the crowd because of her beauty. That customer was a pimp and asked her to join his "business". At first she was disgusted and slapped the guy. That night when she came back home she saw kiyoshi holding a note from school's principle. Since she was unable to pay his fees for three months,kiyoshi was terminated from the school. Kiyoshi's mom made up his mind and agreed to do that pimp's dirty job.
"I am going to do a new job kiyo. But this time I have to go at night. You can take care of yourself....right??" Kiyoshi remembered how his mom first told him that she will be working at some company in night shift. Kiyoshi was just nine years old at that time.
"Yes momma. I will be alright. You just take care of yourself. Don't over exert yourself at work." Kiyoshi replied with a smile. At that time he didn't know what his mother's job was.
Four years passed by and little Kiyoshi was now thirteen years old. One day he went to supermarket to buy some household items.
"Isn't he Nori's son??" Kiyoshi heard two women whispering. Those two lived in his neighbourhood. He didn't looked at them but he was aware of what they were talking about. Since his dad left,people used to look down upon him and his mother.
"Yeah he is the one."
"I have seen Nori so many times at late night with different men. God knows what kind of filthy job she is doing." One of them spoke a bit louder just to make sure that  kiyoshi hear everything.
"SHUT UP!! How dare you speak about my mom that way." Kiyoshi shouted and everyone at the store stared back at him.
"Oh you don't  even know what your mom do!! I feel sorry for you. Why don't you ask your mom ...you filthy child."She laughed and left with other women.
Everyone at the store was looking at kiyoshi with strange expression. Some were disgusted and some felt sorry for him. Kiyoshi ran away from the store with tears in his eyes.
When he reached home he decided to ask his mother about her job. He waited till  two o'clock in the night but he fell asleep. He suddenly woke up hearing noise of car's engine from outside the house. It was three in the night. He looked outside his window to see his mom with a stranger in a car. He was holding his mother inappropriately. He felt sick to his stomach and that was the first time when he changed into "something else" just like the time he fought with those gang members. He didn't remember what happened next. When he woke up the next day he found his mother crying near him. His mother explained why she took that filthy job of prostitution. She cried her heart out. Kiyoshi took his mother in his arms and comforted her.
"You don't have to do that job anymore mom. I will work....I will never let you go into that dark pit of desperation again."
From that day onwards kiyoshi took two part time jobs. One at a office as a cleaning staff and second at a fast food restaurant's drive thru. But even though his mom left prostitution but they were always looked down by others. Kiyoshi hated his dad more than anything.
     "I will never forgive you dad....never." Kiyoshi punched the wall of bathroom.
"Honey how long you gonna take?? Your breakfast is getting cold." Kiyoshi's  trail of thoughts were cut off by his mother's voice.
"Coming out...just a moment please."
      Kiyoshi ate his breakfast while Arata kept on talking. Arata was the only one who never judged him because of his past. They became friends two years ago when kiyoshi saved Arata from some bullies. Arata knew how kiyoshi could change during a fight. Even kiyoshi couldn't explain his own transformation. He looked like the same but somehow different. His eye colour would change and his strength would increase ten folds and would look like being possessed. Many of his classmates were afraid of him and some of them were disgusted by him only because of his past. But he never cared about anyone's opinion of him. Only Arata was the one who understood him.
"Final exams are near. How's your preparation going on?" Arata asked while stuffing his face with a toast.
"Aghhhh.....Arata why can't you stop talking while eating!!??" Kiyoshi was rather annoyed.
"My preparations are going on good....you just take care of yourself. Don't flunk like you did in the mid terms." Kiyoshi said bluntly.
"That to be expected from the  ace student of our class,Kiyoshi Fujita. By the way I was not well during the mid terms but now  you will see me passing the finals with flying colours." Arata said crossing his arms.
"Yeah will see. Let's go now we are getting late for school." Both stood up and walked out.
"I am happy to have you as a friend Arata." Kiyoshi thought to himself as he saw Arata walking right beside him. "Only you can understand me my friend....."