An Inconvenient Attachment

Prologue (part 2)

Anzu Momoki's POV:

I can no longer recall much of my birth family; everything is a distant memory that is almost too fragile to return to. My birth family almost feels like a dream. Sometimes I reminisince on those distant memories and think, maybe I really lost it, maybe those days of being chained to cargo ships like a prisoner and those days of crawling around city to city swallowed the entirety of my sanity whole. No, I am sure these feelings are real. They are drilled into my memories, they exist deep within me and cry along with my tears. That is why I am determined to find them; I want to see my parents again. How did all these begin?

For as long as my memories could bring me back, I had a perfectly normal life. I wasn't born into an incredibly rich family but we live a comfortable life. I remember playing piano with my mother. I remember watching my father coach his soccer team. I remember practicing with the team and they cheered as a little girl scissor her way through the grassy field. I remember having so much fun in that past life. It was until that fateful day that my world went to dust.

A few years before the incident I had a best friend. Their name? I don't want to remember. What happened between us? It's too painful to remember. I want to forget that they existed. However, what was important to you can never truly forget. You wish they would approach you. You wish they would smile and say they were sorry, that everything will be okay again. Then you realise what you get at the end only existed in your 2:33pm daydreams in English class wishing you were more like Jane Eyre. Needless to say, we had a fall out. 

Flash forward, I was about to walk home from a tiring day at school. Dragging my feet to the front gate, I noticed a flamboyant black coupé parked at the front, to the side of iron gates. It wasn't common to see expensive cars around this neighborhood. We were middle class folks who did not believe in that extravagant lifestyle. Standing next to the car was a man who dress just about as eye catching as the vehicle beside him. He seemed familiar but I wasn't sure. I knew there was no way I had any encounters with well to do folks. Maybe when I was in the CBD, I might've made eye contact with the man? He still seemed oddly familiar. 

The man glanced up, combing his hair as he do so. Eyes half opened, lips slightly ajar holding a cigarette in place; he wore the most bored expression I have ever seen. Then he saw me. As if that eye contact made any difference, I finally recognised him. "Mister (whose last name I do not want to mention)! What are you doing in town?" I called out to him, waving as I do so. I ran up to the man and he patted my back. It was my (ex?) best friend's father. They moved away a few years ago. Since then nobody has heard from them since. It was not any of my business but they were very modest folks. I wonder how this lavish lifestyle went into play. 

"My, my haven't you grown. How have you been? Actually I was looking for you. (Insert name of person never to be brought up) wanted to talk to you. They just want to talk Anzu. I know the two of you had a fall out but they really want to clear it up. Please just give them a chance. We all miss you coming around." 

For me? I wasn't sure I heard him right. I wasn't sure whether my ears were transferring these sound waves correctly to my brain. 

"I know it is hard on you. Please them a chance Anzu?" 

No I definitely heard him right that time. I definitely heard him right. Every fibre of my being was about to explode and burst into a million parts. I wanted to cry and wail. Even though I haven't even met them yet, even though we haven't even sorted out the problem yet, I felt like all my problems were resolved. The past few years, it took everything in me not to reach out to them. It took everything in me not to come to them crying, saying I was wrong and knowing that wasn't true. It took everything in me not to beg them to stay. It took everything in me not to tell them how much I loved them. They were now looking for me? They want to talk to me? I nodded frantically like I was having a seizure.