All Gone

The doctors told it was a stroke and could easily be from stress.

Denial lingered like thick fog over the house for weeks.

Her mother had shut herself in the room unable to complete even the simplest tasks without breaking down in tears.

And Ryusuke was….

He sat in his room on the ground, staring blankly at the bracelet his sister had given him just few hours before she passed away; Slowly, while fidgeting with it, he turned the first bead –R— around.

There was an I on the other side.

One by one he flicked the beads over, his fingers trembling: First I…. then Z …….

Until the name revealed itself: Izumi.

His breath hitched in his throat. A sob tore through his throat as sadness seeped into his bones. He gripped the bracelet tightly, as if holding onto her— as if she wasn’t already gone.

Ryusuke would always have Izumi with him.

But…... how could she leave him?

‘Don’t be scared to chase your dreams the way I was.’

Her words echoed in his mind, pulling him back to that evening. They had finished playing badminton, and she had told him that with a bittersweet smile.

As though she already knew –

As though she knew she was…..

He sobbed harder than ever.

And he won’t be scared. He couldn’t be.

He wanted to hug her, tightly, just one more time. To play games with her, to argue about snacks, to fight with her. In this moment, he was willing to do anything— anything to see her again, for her to call his name once more.

She was the only one in this house who had listened to him, who understood him.

She was the one who actually gave him courage to speak up.

It was for her and only her that he wanted to be strong-

But the pain was unbearable. As though he had lost a huge part of himself, a piece of his soul that he would never get back.

His painful cries shattered the silence of the room as he sobbed for his sister—

The sister he would never see again.

---------------------------------

In the study, his father sat motionless, staring blankly out the window.

His mind replayed the moment over and over— Izumi, with her shoulders trembling, reached to him for a hug in a fragile whisper before she collapsed into his arms.

He realized too late.

Too late that his own daughter- his little girl who had once run to him with open arms, calling his name- had been breaking right in front of him.

The first time he held her was the most joyous day of his life. She had been so small, so delicate. As he cradled her tiny fingers, watching her sleep peacefully in his arms, he had vowed to give her everything.

To love her the way he had never been loved.

To give her everything she deserved.

To make her so capable and strong nobody would compare-

He believed if he pushed her for a career better than his, she wouldn’t have to struggle in the life the way he had to.

Yet he never realized- the success he was pushing her towards was what breaking her down.

In pushing her toward a future he thought she needed, he had stolen the present she deserved.

She was trying to keep up. She was trying so hard. And he never once stopped to see how exhausted she was.

The late-night studying. The weight of expectations. The fear in her eyes every time she handed him her report card, waiting for the disappointment.

The failing grades hidden under bed; her mother had only found them after she was gone and broke down in tremors.

Did any of that matter now?

The tablet in the cupboard, full of unfinished drawings and sketches, the outlines of the plots for the characters-

The social media account where she published her art.

Till now he never knew his daughter liked to draw. Or to write.

Why?

He never asked.

His throat closed up. His body trembled as warm tears spilled from his eyes.

He was so scared of her failing in life— that he failed himself as a father.

A parent’s first duty is to believe in their child. And he failed her.

And he failed her.

Never acknowledged her efforts.

Never praised her.

Never let her truly live.

His fear consumed him – so much that he had pushed her to the breaking point.

He had trying to give her everything.

But forgot the only things that mattered- love and happiness.

And now, he could never take it back.

The grief crushed him, more than any failure ever could.

‘I want my girl back,’ a sob trembled in his lips as he broke down in tears on his knees.

Izumi was gone, leaving behind an emptiness that would never be filled.