A man in his early forties came wobbling through the front door.He hastily opened his shoes and threw them toward the wall. They bounced off the wall and fell on the floor upside down. He put his right hand on the wall as he supported himself as he walked.I was still there rooted at the end of the steps.His footsteps were loud and heavy. I hated this man. And of course, I hate to talk to him. But if I don’t talk here, the loud thumping will continue and this is for sure going to wake my mom up. She was tired and she needs rest. For the sake of her respite, unwillingly, I spoke to the drunk man from the spot I was in.“Hey, pipe it down, old man. You will end up waking mom up.”Upon hearing my harsh words delivered in a cold tone, my drunk father slowly looked up at me with his swollen, red eyes.“Oh, my son.”When he said that, I could feel blood rush to my head at an unbelievable speed. Hearing him speak, I felt enraged. I hated him. I hate his face. I hate his voice. I hate his e
The room was silent now that the storm had passed.My mom was still lying on the floor. Her hair was still a mess with tears staining her beautiful and lovely face.I slowly walked towards her and crouched down to gaze into her eyes that were cast down.I gently held her quivering shoulders and brought her close to mine, hugging her tightly.The quivering stopped and I heard the sound of faint sobs escaping her lips.“I am sorry.” She said.“No. Mom, why are you apologizing?”“It’s all my fault. Because of me even you have to suffer at the hands of your father. I am sorry. I am sorry, Kage!”The tears burst forth like damn and she wrapped her arms around me tightly.“No. Stop it, mom. It was not your fault. It never had been!”It was all his fault. All that bastard’s fault. She had nothing to be blamed for. It was my dad and his drinking habits that were the cause of it all.This had been a daily routine for us now. Day after day, I was made to witness the same scene again and again.
“Shit!”I said as I hurriedly jumped out of bed.Maybe it was because I had gone to sleep quite late yesterday, I wasn’t able to wake up on time. I had set three alarms at 6 o’clock, 6: 30, and 7 am. And I had – somehow – managed to miss all of it. I didn't know I had this extraordinary talent.The time currently was 7: 45.My school started at 8 o’clock sharp. That meant I had less than fifteen minutes to freshen up, get ready, have breakfast, and head to school.I ran towards the bathroom. I washed my face and brushed my teeth (well I just gave five strokes of the brush and then done) in a hurry.I went upstairs without even drying my face and put on my uniform.As I ran out of my room, I checked my mom’s room. She was still sound asleep. She must have been tired of all that happened yesterday. Without waking her up, I went back to my room.Since mom was still sleeping, that meant no breakfast was made.I had some extra money with me so I decided I will buy something at the convenie
When lunch period finally rolled over, I excused myself and went to the cafeteria.Since I hadn’t eaten a proper breakfast, I bought a heavy lunch.My plate full of all the available dishes in the school canteen, I made my way to the empty seat on the left by the window side.I immediately started wolfing down the lunch.When I finished, I was completely stuffed. Although I didn’t have my stomach sticking out, I stroked it gently.“Gosh, I don’t think I can move for a while.”I decided to stay there until the lunch period ended.As I was watching other students play on the ground through the window with my elbow on the table and chin resting on my palm, someone settled in the seat in front of me.“May I sit here?”“By all means.”Horikita-san sat on the seat with two cream-filled bread and a can of milk.Seeing that I couldn't help myself from asking.“Will just that be enough?”She immediately understood what I was getting at.“Yeah. Even this is more than I usually eat. I didn’t get
“It won’t be stopping anytime soon, will it?” I said as I looked up at the sky that seemed white now.Since I had woken up late today and didn’t have time to browse the internet or watch the television, I hadn’t been updated about the weather today. And as such, I hadn’t bought an umbrella today.Horikita-san did propose to go home together but I politely declined. Our houses were in the exact opposite direction. She had insisted that she was okay with first dropping me home and then going on her way, but I tried my best to get that idea out of her brain. It was no easy task but I had managed to convince her somehow.I put my right hand outside the classroom window and let the heavy drops of rain hit my palm. As the drops made contact with my palm, a cold sensation ran up from my arms to my heart calming and soothing it.Yeah, that’s why I love rain.No matter what I am going through, no matter what I am feeling inside when I touch the rain and when I let it seep into my body and sou
The days continued like ever. Not changing. The same as usual.The same routine at home. My parents continued to fight as usual. My drunkard father continued to drink and hurl all sorts of abuse and accusations at her. She was condemned for things she hadn’t even done. Like cheating on him with other men. That was just a drunken fantasy – no – the drunken nightmare of my dad. It was just that while he was drunk his insecurities will come to the surface and that overwhelms him which then drives him to abuse my mom. He even would resort to violence. Whenever he raised his hands on mom, I raised my hands against him. A fourteen or fifteen-year-old son raising his hands against his own father? How comical it can be. And how pathetic it can get.The same routine in school. I read as everybody else did. I spent time with other people. I continued to give a fake laugh so that they will accept me. Ayase-sensei tried once again to get me laid. And I once again resisted her advances.However,
“Mom…? Tatsuya-san…?”For a moment, I thought I was dreaming. No. It was probably a nightmare. Or so I thought. But, it wasn’t. Sadly, and unfortunately, it wasn’t a dream but a reality. A reality so removed from the reality I had been living in; removed from the reality that had been deceiving me. It was a reality that was even more nightmarish than a nightmare.Tatsuya-san’s eyes widened in shock and my mom looked on at me in horror.They didn’t move an inch.Although they had been caught, they couldn’t move a muscle. They were so shocked at what had transpired that they even forgot that they had to cover their naked body.“No, it’s a lie, right. How can it be?”I muttered those words.I didn’t even realize that I muttered those words.Something had crumbled and I could feel it. I had definitely heard the sound of something shattering. Perhaps it was my heart. Or perhaps it was my world. It could well have been the reality – the lie – being shattered. But, it definitely did shatter.
It had started raining at some point. It was a downpour. The rain was so heavy that it had made it difficult to see around. The very same rain that I enjoyed so much getting soaked in, I started hating it. It was making it difficult to see and I had lost where my dad had disappeared to. “Damn it! It had to rain at a time like this!” I cursed the heavens. That was when another realization hit me. Everything depends upon circumstances. The very same rain that I loved – I hated it now. It was the same rain but now I hated it. Why the difference? It was the circumstance that I was in that made me despise the rain. Maybe at some point in the future, I might come to love rain again. But at that moment, I wasn’t in the state to think about the future. I wasn’t so sure that I even had a future. I just ran along the road, not caring how wet I was and how heavy my dress felt. After that scene inside the house, my dad suddenly dashed off and I followed after him gripped by a deadly p