Fall from Innocence

Osaka, Japan 2014

I still remember it as if it were yesterday. The weather was brisk, slightly cool, but not cold enough to warrant a jacket. The trees danced ever so slightly in the wind, signaling the beginning of winter. It was a happy time in my life, one that was beautiful and calm. I found myself walking home from school, holding my bag over my shoulder, not a care in the world. Next to me was my sister, Aiko, her bubbly personality shining through even when she was quiet. We were on our way to meet our friends, Obee, Haru, Suki, and Kenji. I couldn't imagine what life would be like without them; we were inseparable. 

We ducked under the cut chain-linked fence, whistling as we walked down the overgrown path to the dilapidated shack. There sat our friends, playing a game of cards and laughing, turning slightly to look at us. "Hey guys, nice of ya ta show up finally!" Obee spoke, waving her hand at us. She patted the spots near her, motioning us to hurry up and come sit down to join their game. We walked over, setting our bags down nearby. "I'm surprised all 4 of you were able to skip school today," I said, sitting next to Obee with a blush, taking my coat off and laying it behind me. "Yeah, we were able to sneak out somehow, and they didn't even call our parents" Haru spoke, her voice soft and sweet. "Heh, I wasn't even worried! I just HAD to sneak out of school to see my sweet Aiko" Kenji said with hearts in his eyes, gazing over at my sister, who, in return, smacked him on the back of his head. We all shared a hearty laugh, while within myself I wished for this moment to last forever. We were kids with no responsibilities, not a care in the world. 

As the day progressed, it began to get late in the evening. "Well, it's almost dinner time, so we have to get going home now," I said, standing up and grabbing my bags as Aiko followed suit. "Oh yeah, we should all get going too," Suki said. She was more of a mom of the group, always scolding us for doing dumb things, which was her way of showing love, or at least I thought. "I'll see ya later Aries, kay'?" Obee said, leaning over and planting a soft kiss to my cheek, her voice was very southern despite being Latina, which drew me in even more to her. "Y-yeah, see you," I mumbled, my face bright red as the other four were a collection of "ooo's" and "aaaa's", teasing me. With a smug grin, Kenji began to lean towards my sister, puckering his lips for a kiss, "My dearest Aiko, oh how I will miss you dearly. For our farewell, a smooch on the lips" he said, earning him another smack against the back of the head, causing the rest of us to burst out into laughter. We all waved to each other as we went our separate ways, Aiko and I beginning our fairly short walk home to our loving parents, who, more or less, knew where we were but trusted us to stay out of trouble. As we walked, Aiko was suddenly in her bubbly, talkative mood again, yapping enough to break someone's eardrum. Me? All I could think about was Obee; I had a massive crush on her and wanted to make her my girlfriend someday. 

After arriving home, we walked in the front door, took off our shoes, and set our bags down before rushing into the kitchen, where we immediately jumped into the arms of our mother, Lilah, who was the sweetest and most beautiful woman you would ever lay eyes on. She was a schoolteacher at one of the local middle schools, and while she was fairly strict with us, she took the time to teach us right from wrong properly and helped us when we needed it most. "Mom, Mom! Guess what! Aries got kissed today!" Aiko blurted out, almost instantly realizing what she said before covering her mouth. "Why would you say that!" I said, my face as red as a tomato. "Oh honey, there's nothing to be ashamed of, it just shows that whoever gave you this kiss loves you, such as" She said before leaning down and placing a long kiss on both of our cheeks, holding us in place, "That". She had a smug smile on her face, knowing we were embarrassed by affection but still liked it anyway. "Come come, it's time for supper, your father should be home soon" she said, setting the plates down on the nearby table. My face lit up at the mention of my father arriving soon, he was my inspiration, my hero, he was who I wanted to be when I grew up. Soon after, the sound of a key entering the door lock, followed by the knob turning rang out, signaling the return of our father. With bright smiles, me and Aiko jumped up from the table and sprinted over to the door just as he was entering, tackling him to the ground. "Someone is glad to see me," he said with a chuckle, wrapping us both in his arms for a tight hug. After he got to his feet, he set his own things down before joining us at the table. "Welcome home, dear," My mother said, giving him a kiss on the lips as he sat down at the table. The rest of the time during dinner was the same as always: my father told us about his day, we told him about ours, we joked and laughed, and so on. 

As the evening wound down, my sister and I followed our nightly routine: showering, brushing our teeth, changing into our pajamas, hopping into bed, and waiting for our mother to come and tuck us in. Soon after, our mother entered the room, sporting her usual bright smile that seemed to light any room she entered. "Mama, can I become a teacher like you?" Aiko asked from the top bunk of our bed, peeking over the rail at our mom, who chuckled for a moment before rubbing my sister's head, "Of course you can, but you have to make sure to study hard every day until you are old enough" She spoke, her voice soft and delicate, one of reassurance. Aiko giggled and laid back, looking up with a confident smile, determined to grow up to be a teacher. On the other hand, I aspired to be like our father, who was a well-known politician in the area, renowned for helping anyone and everyone with a smile, regardless of their social status. That's who I wanted to be: a fearless leader capable of helping everyone, but all good things must come to an end, I guess. 

I went to sleep that night like any other night, happy, grateful for everything in my life, and excited for what tomorrow would bring. How could I be so naive? Thinking that everything in life would always be sunshine and rainbows. In the middle of the night, there was a loud crash at the door, followed by several heavy footsteps. It woke me, and my sister immediately filled us with curiosity as to what it was. You know what they say, curiosity killed the cat. We both hopped up from bed and peeked our heads out of our room, only to be pushed back immediately by our mother, who, for the first time ever, didn't have a smile. Instead, it was replaced by one of extreme worry and fear. She was standing in front of our door to protect us, always thinking of others before herself - a classic. Our father? He was close by, meaning he was at the bottom of the stairs, lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Seeing that made me sick, I felt dizzy, like I was going to puke everywhere. As the men ascended the stairs, our mother quickly began to close our door, mouthing the words "I love you" before shutting it tightly. My sister started to panic, causing me to quickly cover her mouth to shush her, tears streaming silently down my face as I shook my head. All we could hear were screams, then bangs, then silence. My heart sank, and my sickness got stronger. My mother and my father, both my world, were gone in an instant. Everything was fine earlier that day; we were happy, sharing a meal, a laugh, and love, and now it all flipped upside down. 

We stayed as silent as possible while the men rummaged our house, finding whatever valuables they could get their hands on. In the distance, I could hear sirens, I guess a neighbor called the police, but that seemed to startle the men, causing them to forget about us and hurry out before they were caught. A couple minutes later we heard more footsteps, this time they were followed by voices different voices. "This is the police! Show me your hands now!" They yelled; I guess they caught someone who had gotten greedy and stayed behind. We slowly opened our door, peeking our small heads out, only to immediately look down and see our mother's lifeless corpse, her smile on her face. One of the officers saw us from the bottom of the stairs, a look of dread on his face as he rushed up to cover our eyes, holding both of us tightly. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry we didn't make it in time," he said, like it was his fault this happened, I knew it wasn't his fault, but, regardless, I began to sob, clinging to this random police officer for dear life, bawling my eyes out at this loss. Aiko cried even more, screaming and wailing like a toddler for her mom to come back. It couldn't get worse from here, right? Wrong. 

About a month had passed since that event; we had the funeral, buried them, etc. Me and my sister went into foster care. Luckily, the family that chose us lived near our school so we could still attend it and see our friends. The day we returned to school, I had just an ounce of hope that we could return to our everyday lives, but that was soon snuffed out. We entered our classroom to see our desks destroyed, vulgar and obscene names written on them, and our "friends" gave us stares as if we had done something wrong. "Why are you guys acting like that? What's wrong?" Me and Aiko asked, worried about our friends. They handed us a newspaper, the article making our stomachs drop. "Famous politician turns out to be criminal" I couldn't believe what I was reading, our father? A criminal? How? Apparently, he was doing shady things behind the scenes to get his fame and wealth, such as drug and gun trafficking and, worst of all, human trafficking, and the home invasion was meant to be a setup, but it went wrong, resulting in the death of my parents. But why get angry at me and my sister? What did we do wrong? They were children who assumed we would be the same as my father, so we became the targets of bullying for the next several years until we eventually graduated from high school. 

All that time spent being bullied, mulling over my parents' death, my father's betrayal, my friend's betrayal, and this fake love they pushed onto me changes a person.