New Beginnings

Chapter 1

            I walked up to the colorful two story house that appeared to turn grey with each step I took. I held the bags with all of my belongings in them tightly by my sides as if they were about to fly away. My pregnant mother and her new husband lived here. I had just been dumped here by my father, his wife, and my stepsister. I turned around to see if my father had even waited to make sure I could carry these bags by myself and maybe get out of the car to offer help, but he was already gone. My attention went back to the house. I hesitated to step on to the porch. I took a deep breath and worked my way up the steps then knocked on the light brown door. My mother answered. Her stomach seemed to greet me before she herself did. She looked the same as she did the last time I saw her except for the extended belly. Her dark brown hair was gently placed on her left shoulder and her blue eyes still made me jealous that I inherited my father's boring brown eyes. 

“Aika, come in.” She smiled at me and then turned back into the house. I hadn’t been around my mother in almost a year and a half. She had been busy with her new husband and it became harder for her to come see me when she discovered she was pregnant. It was strange hearing her voice in person instead of over the phone. As we walked through the house I could heard her husband in the next room watching the news. We walked passed the room he was in and went straight towards the stairs. She held on with all her strength and forced herself up the steps. I followed behind her and put my hand on her back to give her support. "Thank you, sweetheart." She sounded as if she was already out of breath even though we only walked up two steps.

         I had come to the conclusion, as we made our way up, that her husband decorated the house due to the green wall paper. My mother always told me she detested green. The color seemed to be everywhere around the house and if it wasn’t green then it was tan. When we got to the top of the stairs, she turned into the first door on the right and sat down in a small tan chair near the tan dresser. She was desperate to sit down and rest. 

“Those stairs are going to kill me.” She laughed. It took her a minute to catch her breath. “Anyways, you like the room?” She asked laying back in the chair which caused her belly to become more defined.  

“Is this where I’ll be staying?” I asked wondering if I could put my bags down. I stuffed everything I owned in just two bags last night, and the weight from carrying them was starting to strain my shoulders. 

“This is your room now. I had Seiji fix it up for you yesterday. You can mess with it however you want just give him or me a heads up before you do.” She turned to her side slowly and opened one of the dresser drawer. “Come here,” I sat my stuff down near the door and walked over. I looked into the the drawer which was filled with clothes. “I went shopping yesterday and bought you some new clothes. I also got your uniform for your new school.” 

“What school am I even going to?” I forgot to bring up the topic when my dad told me I was going to live here. I’ve lost track of how many schools I’ve gone to in the past five years since my parents got divorced. I used to keep track but after a while it just seemed pointless.

“Oujihara Academy, it’s an all-girl private school and since you’re a second year all your teachers will be female. They have a weird rule that you don’t have any male teachers till you’re a third year student.” She closed the drawer and re-positioned herself in the chair. 

“Why an all-girl school?” I turned to her. I could even hear the confusion in my voice as I asked it. I’ve always gone to co-ed schools and didn’t understand why the sudden change.

“Seiji said it would be better for a girl of your age to be in an all-girl school so you could make friends easily.” She slowly stood up from the chair. “I’ll leave you alone so you can relax for a while. If you need anything tell Seiji or me.” She seemed to mimic a penguin as she left the room. I closed the door behind her and fell on the bed. It was hard and cold. I turned on my back and stared at the white ceiling. The night before kept playing over and over in my head. My father and step-mother had bought my step-sister, Lisa, all new furniture for her room even though mine had been falling apart for months. I just snapped at him when they revealed it to her after dinner. I was tired of being second place to her and after yelling at each other for four hours straight, he called my mother and sent me here. I’ve been sent to the other before but this time was different, this time I was kicked out. At least the other few times my parents argued over who would take me but I’m not their little girl anymore. They found a new love, a new home, and have new children. This all started when my parents divorced a year after my older sister, Rei, died when our house caught on fire. I don't blame Rei, she was only kid and no one could have done anything to help it. My parents saw it different though and blamed the other. Once they were free of each other they jumped from house to house which caused me to move in with whoever had the stable home at the time. My father married his wife, Katsumi, three years after the divorce and my mother married Seiji the following year. Now everything is the way it is and there is nothing I can do about it.

A knock on the door caused me to sit up. I got up and opened the door to my step-father. He was a tall, thin man with pitch black eyes which were enlarged by his huge, clear glasses. His hair was dark black which was cut very short and his skin was pale white. For some reason the sight of him caused my stomach to churn. I took a step back from the door and he let himself in the room.

“Hello, Aika. I don’t believe we have been properly introduced. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to greet you at the door, I was trying to catch a news report.” He was obviously a man with no personal space and took a step closer to me. Every time I would take a step back it seemed he would take two steps towards me. I felt like I was a mouse trying to hide from a hungry cat.

“I-it’s fine. You don’t need to worry about a proper introduction, Mr. Tachibana.” I let out a small nervous laugh.

“Please, call me Seiji.” He moved in closer. I wanted to push him back and leave the room but I didn’t want to do anything that could cause me to be kicked out again. This was my only other place to go and if I was kicked out then I would have nowhere.

“Seiji!” My mother called from down stairs. Relief filled my body when she got him away from me.

“If you want to come to dinner we’ll talk then.” He said as he left the room. I closed the door behind him and locked it. After that I had no appetite. I decided I needed something to get my mind off of that awkward encounter and walked over to my bags. I started to unzip the first one and sat down next to it so it would be easier to get everything out at once. When it was fully opened the first thing I saw was the picture of Rei and me. She was six and I was four. I loved that picture of us. We were watching a movie and I had fell asleep on her shoulder. My mother caught the picture before Rei had the chance to wake me up for us to run away from the camera. I slowly stood up and put the picture down on the nightstand. I made sure it faced my pillow. It took me a minute to snap out of my daze. I shook my head and forced myself to finish unpacking. I placed my old clothes next to the ones my mom bought me. My eye caught the uniform for the all-girl school I was being sent to. It was a long white blouse with a black neck tie and had a black skirt that would hit me mid-thigh. My other schools always had skirts that hit me mid-knee. I never liked showing skin but I guess that was just another thing I would just have to be quiet about.  

It took me about an hour and a half to finish putting everything up. I was exhausted and slammed down on the bed. I unbuttoned my jeans and lifted my hips to slide them off. I dropped them off the side of the bed and sat up to yank my shirt over my head. I tossed it with my jeans on the floor and fell back down. I turned my head towards the dresser and sighed. “Screw it I’m sleeping in this tonight.” I untucked the blanket from the sides of the bed and covered myself with it. The hard bed from before magically transformed into a warm, soft cloud. I could hardly keep my eyes open anymore and I let myself drift away.

I was standing in a room that was pitch black. I hesitated to take a step but I gathered my strength and started to walk into the unknown. I stopped for some reason and turned around. I heard a cry. The room became brighter except for a corner which had a small black haired girl curled up in it. Her cries became louder and louder with each step I took towards her. I sat down in front of her and tried to reach for her but when I did she vanished…

***

I shot up from my bed. My shirt was soaked with sweat and my face had tears running down it. I ran my hand through my short, black hair and wiped my face with the other. “Dammit not this again.” My aunt ran into the room and came towards me.

“Hitomi, are you alright?” She said sitting down on the side of my bed. I just nodded.

“I’m fine Aunt Mika. You can go back to bed.” She pushed my bangs back and kissed my forehead and got off the bed.

“If you need anything, please, tell me.” She said as she left the room and gently closed the door.

“Why the fuck did that dream come up again?” I asked myself as my body fell back onto the bed again.