Chapter One

Chapter One

It happened again, I thought. I had that dream again.

I sat up in bed, running my hands through my hair.

“What does this mean?” I murmured, rubbing my hands together. Since last September, I have been having recurring dreams regarding the same situation: fire, murder, and war. In each dream though, the violence would only get worse. And every time I would wake up, the pain that I experienced in my heart would also grow deeper.

Each dream was like a puzzle piece; the more information I could retain from them meant that I could make more sense of what was going on.

I quickly grabbed my journal from my nightstand and jotted down the basics:

June 26th at 3:24 a.m.

Narrator is standing on hill and looking at the village burn to ground.

I paused for a moment, twirling my pen in my hand. As I remembered the dream moment to moment, I also remembered what it smelled like. The fresh sea salt from the ocean was still fresh in my mind, as well as the smoke that was the product of burnt cottages. I looked down at the paper, and continued to write,

There is a fresh smell of sea salt in the air was mixed with the smell of smoke.

I paused again, satisfied with what I had wrote down. Before closing my notebook, I closed my eyes to visualize the situation from my dream. I saw it perfectly, like I was there in a sense. The one piece that made it even more strange was that I felt the pain. I actually could feel the heartbreak beating in my chest, I could feel that longing clump that formed in your throat when you wanted to cry. I felt it all, and that made it even more unsettling. The anxiety crept away with each breath I took, making it easier to relax.

I fell asleep to the sound of my fast beating heart and the murmurs of the soft rain that hit my window.

***

“Hei! Okiru, okiru.”, someone says, shaking me awake from my sleep.

“What?” I mumbled, “It’s Saturday.” This was my first day off since starting at my mom’s nail salon. She called it “Cherry Blossom Nails” or something, I don’t really remember.

“Wake up. My sister is sick, or so she says,” It was my mom. She doesn’t sleep much, she probably gets about 2 hours of sleep a night.. “She cannot come in. So, I need you today.” she said, shaking me once again.

I rolled over and looked at the clock.

7:00 a.m.  

I groaned, “Mom, this was my only day off this week. Can’t you get someone else?” I asked nicely, hopefully she would let me go back to bed.

“No. Get up,” she said as she walked out of my room, “Be ready in ten minutes!!” I groaned again. I sat up in bed and rubbed my temples. Of all days, I thought, I can’t even enjoy my day off. As I rolled out of bed, against my will, my mom came into my room again. “We leave in 5 minutes!” I opened my mouth to argue, but I quickly shut up. It was too early to start fighting with her again.

I quickly got dressed, choosing to put my favorite black Nirvana shirt on with some jeans and Converse. I knew she would yell at me for wearing my shirt, but I didn’t care.

“You look like a bum,” my mom said, scrutinizing my look as I walked down the stairs.

“I’ll be in the car. “ I said as I quickly ran outside to the car and put my headphones in. As much as I loved working with mom, I loved the money even more. She paid me minimum wage, but my father usually gave me a tip for being able to put up with her all day long.

***

The drive to the shop was mundane as always. I sat in silence while I had to listen to my mom drone on and on about her sister and how worthless she was. Talk about sisterly love.

“Kanojo wa, kono yōna mudadesu!” She yelled, “I am so tired of her!”

“Yeah,” I mumbled, glancing down at my phone pretending to text.

She opened her mouth to yell at me, but she immediately closed it because we arrived at the shop.

“Get out and get to work! Hayaku!” She yelled, getting out of the car and slamming the door.

Today was going to be a very, very long day.

Author's Note

Hello. The chapters will be getting longer as I keep writing more.
Some of the dialogue spoken by Takeo's mother is in Japanese.
“Hei! Okiru, okiru.” - "Hey! Get up, get up."
“Kanojo wa, kono yōna mudadesu!” - "She is such a waste!"
"Hayaku!” - "Quickly!"