Saturday, December 3, 2005

AEGFF, Chapter 15!!!!
HI HI ALL!! Most of this chapter is from Tera's perspective, so it'll be like she's speaking. ENJOI.

Chapter 15

“Okay, so… where to begin?” Tera asked herself, smiling weakly at Max, “oh, I remember. I’ll start with Mamoru. He was my older and only brother. I loved him much more than my stupid sisters. They were too… girly.” And then, Tera began her explanation. She and her brother got along well because they were always sticking together and keeping an eye out for one another. Tera ended up defending him more than he did for her though. Which led to their final problem.

***

I was sitting in my basement with my guy friends. We were playing foosball; I was winning. Then, Mamoru came downstairs and told me about the party. He said that he couldn’t go, so he’d suggested that I go. When I asked mom and dad, they said no, because I was “too young.” I ran off to my room, which I shared with Mamoru at that time. He came up to speak with me shortly after.

“Hey little sister,” He said to me, “why so glum?” I told him how badly I wanted to go to this party. Even though I knew there would be drinking, I figured nothing bad could happen. Boy, was I wrong. However, Mamoru smiled at me and ruffled my hair.

“Here, sneak out the window. I’ll cover for you.” Mamoru grinned, opening the window for me. I thanked him and told him I would call him on his cell phone if anything was wrong. He nodded, and off I went.

When I arrived at the party, dressed in the nicest clothes I had, I noticed how much of a drinking party it was. Almost everyone was drunk, and everyone was drinking. I had promised Mamoru that I wouldn’t drink, so I stayed away from that table Eventually, the party got too wild for my tastes, so I called my brother. He said he’d be right over. Right about then, a really drunk guy, at least 20 walked up to me and started fondling me.

“Hey baby,” He hissed in my ear; I could smell the alcohol heavy in his breath, “wanna get busy?” I told him no and broke away from him, running away from him. Eventually, he chased me into a bedroom, and pushed me onto the bed. Just as he was started to open up my shirt, Mamoru came and punched him off of me. I was too stunned and afraid to do anything. Eventually, the drunk guy pulled out a knife, and in a silver swish, I heard it sink into soft flesh.

“MAMORU!!” I wailed, kicking the drunk man in the face and kneeling over my brother. His lip was bleeding, and the knife was sticking out from between his ribcage. He felt really cold. Even though I didn’t want to admit it… he was dying. He smiled at me, wiping away my tears.

“Don’t cry, Tera-chan.” Mamoru smiled weakly, coughing up blood, “I was paying back my favor to you. You’ve helped me so many times… I wanted to repay you. Now… please, give me one last hug. I think you owe me this time.” I was crying to hard not to oblige him. I held him close, bawling my eyes out. And, in my arms, my big brother died, a solitary tear falling down his face as he tried to comfort me one last time.

***

“He… he died in your arms?” Max said, stunned. Tera nodded sadly, biting her lip as tears began to flow freely. Without thinking, Max hugged her, patting her head softly. At first, she was surprised, but she hugged him and cried into his chest feebly. Then, she let go, sniffling and drying her tears.

“Now… for father. I think his name was Tora. He died a year ago, just like my brother died two years ago.” Tera said, the autumn wind blowing playfully through her tear matted hair, “they died on the same day, a year apart… and yeah, I was just as close to dad as I was to Mamoru…”

***

“Today’s the day!” I called, smiling falsely as dad looked up at me, “your baby daughter is graduating today!” I hugged dad, smiling as he ruffled my hair. He had become my new confidant; we were closer than ever, and we were close before. Unfortunately, he had to work that day, so he might not be able to make it to the grad. However, mom was going to videotape it so that he could watch it at home if he missed it.

Well, once we were at the grad, all the procedures were done. Speeches were made, and the students were being called up. I was among the first; my last name is Aoki, after all. I saw mom, and my big sisters waving, but no dad. I remember being so mad at him, angry that he hadn’t showed up. I think I’m still beating myself up over it now. Once the grad was over, the police men came up to me. Something about them… it didn’t bode well.

“Miss Aoki…” One of the officers told me, “your father died. He was speeding to get to this point, when a younger driver cut him off. He had to swerve, and his car was hit by a coming semi.” As if that weren’t bad enough, Mr. Happy Sunshine cop had more to tell me.

“He was thrown from the vehicle, and impaled on a sign post. His seatbelt had snapped. We thought he died on the collision, but it turns out he died on the pole.” The officer continued, not noticing how hard I was crying, “he was holding a family photo… we think he was looking at it when he died.” I couldn’t take it anymore. I ran. I ran to were my father was. The ambulances hadn’t even taken him away yet. I hugged my deceased father, bawling my eyes out.

“Why did you have to die?” I remember wailing, swatting at EMS men who tried to pry me away, “you could have lived! This is all my fault! If I hadn’t told you to hurry to the grad, you’d still be alive!! DAD!!” I continued wailing; the ambulance took me to the hospital with dad. They did a scan; it turned out there was a tumor in his brain too. He would’ve died soon either way; it was large and would’ve killed him within days. At that comment, I felt so utterly helpless. No matter what, my wonderful father… Tora Aoki… would have died.

***

By now, Tera was hugging Max and crying again. He two most beloved family members had died within a year of one another. And on the same day. How she’d managed to live with it and keep smiling baffled Max. It was then, at that exact moment, he realized something. He didn’t like Tera.

He loved her.

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