Are You Still my Family?

The Beginning of The End

November 8th 2012

Kikyo Suho

        "Ah man!" I whine as I pass my older brother 25 dollars in fake Monopoly money. It's family game night, and since my Papa is fascinated with America, we play American games.

        Ayato—my older brother—laughs giddily as he snatches my money away from me, giving me a teasing smile. "Don't be a sore looser Kikyo-Chan" the grin never leaving his face.

        I stick my tongue out at him. As my younger sister, Miwa rolls the dice and lands on the free parking. I groan again; most of my money was there!

        "Quit groaning, Kikyo," my older sister, Ume scolds. "You're doing better then Subaru at least." She takes her turn.

        I have a big family. Ayato at 15 is the oldest, then Ume who is 12, me at 7, Miwa at 5, and Subaru at 3. My mom and dad chuckle at our banter, and give us loving looks.

        My mother is the most beautiful woman in the world, at least to me she is. She doesn't look a day over 20, and it's hard to believe she has five children. Wavy light blue hair that's always in a ponytail flows down her back. Her bright blue eyes hold all the warmth and kindness in the world. Even from were I sit I can faintly smell her scent of warm cookies; she does work in a bakery.

        My Papa is one lucky man. He's handsome, but the stubble kind that you don't really look twice at.

        He has unruly dirty blonde hair and a set of golden eyes to match. As a joke I'd call him Prince Sunshine, because that's what he is; sunshine. My Papa is one of the funniest men ever, I could never be sad around him. He's also fun and creative, there was never such of thing as a dull day with him.

        Snapping out of my thoughts, I grab the dice and roll them. I get a 10. I'm in jail and I don't have enough to bail myself out. I huff in annoyance, this is the third time for Pete's sake.

        Suddenly I hear my Mama gasp. I look up to see her clutching her chest, eyes tearing up as she gasps again. "Mama?" I ask hesitantly, a sharp gasp comes from Papa this time. His hand is at his heart, face scrunched up in pain. Ayato groans and falls on his back, gasping for air; his hands in his hair.

        What is going on? I jump to my feet in alarm as I look at my parents and brother in fear. Ume is already up. "Papa? What's wrong? Where does it hurt?" She rushes to our father, slightly shaking him.

        I'm paralyzed with fear. This couldn't be a joke, they'd never play one as dirty as this. I look over at Miwa and Subaru, they're shaking as they look at our fallen family members, tears rolling down their chubby faces.

        I rush over to them, big sister instincts kicking in. "Sh sh" I coo as I block their view of the scene, "it's okay, Onii-Chan's here." A sharp gasp comes from Ume, and I look over to see her fingers on Papa's wrist. Her face has gone pale and grief and fear take over her face.

        "Go to my room" I whisper to my younger siblings. They nod and rush off. I get up and go to Ume, noticing our parents and brother are still. "What's going on?" I ask even though I'm sure I don't want to know.

        "They're dead" she whispers looking at them in shock. "They don't have a pulse" but I don't hear the words. They're dead? No no no no no! They're not dead! She's wrong! What could have killed them?! What does she know? They're fine!

        "Papa," my voice cracks as I shake him. "This isn't funny! Stop playing!" I end up yelling when he doesn't respond. "You too Mama! Ayato! You're scaring us! Stop pretending!" I angrily hit my father's chest.

        "Kikyo," I ignore her. They're not funny. "Kikyo" why would they play a prank like this? "Kikyo" I'll never forgive them for this. "KIKYO!" Ume screams as she grabs my hands. "STOP IT! THEY'RE GONE!" She screams, then starts to sob "they're gone" she whimpers repeatedly.

        I want to cry. To rip my hair out, to scream, but I can't. I get up and run out the apartment; I need to find somebody. I ignore my sister's shouts, and tear down the hallway. I stop at Ms. Ibuki's door. "Ms. Ibuki!" I yell banging on the door, she can help, she'll know what to do she's an adult.

        She doesn't answer. And I race down the hall to Mr. Fujioka's door, he also doesn't answer. No one on our floor will answer the door, same with the next one. When I get to the lobby I see Hikaru-Sama, the doorman slumped against the counter.

        He won't wake up. I look outside and see a few passerby's are on the ground, unmoving. What is going on? Everyone can't be dead, can they? I race back up to my apartment. My heart is racing, I felt sick, like I was going to throw up.

        "Ume," I say as I enter the apartment. My hands are shaking and I can feel the tears slide down my cheeks. "No one will answer the door, a-a-and pe-people a-are p-p-passed out o-on th-the s-s-streets l-like Ayato, P-Papa, and M-M-Mama." I barely get through the sentence because I'm sobbing too hard.

        My big sister rushes towards me and hugs me close. "It's going to be okay" she whispers, her voice cracks and I can feel her tears in my hair.

        Miwa and Subaru peek out the crack of the door. Fear, confusion, and worry on their small faces. They come out and join the hug, Ume and me holding them close.

        I don't know what's going to happen. Why were we alive but our parents and brother were....dead? What would happen to us? I hug my family a little closer. We still had each other, as long as we had each other we'd be okay, right?

        Why did I feel like this was the end? Or at least the beginning of the end.