train tracks

Standing in the cooling breeze of my mother, embraced by a handsome boy I just met. “Am I dreaming?”, that’s all i could think at the time. After what felt like a life time, Akemi looked down at me not saying a word. He grabbed my hand and began to walk me to the front gate. “Where do you live, I want to walk you home.” He said calmly. I was stunned, I wasn’t expecting him to say that. “Down by the train station”, I said quietly. He took my hand and began walking in that direction. We didn’t say a single word. Quietly walking with this questionable boy while the sun began to set. “Is he crazy?” I thought. Who would do this for another person with no intent behind it? He confused me more than I could have ever imagined. We arrived at the train tracks and just stood there. I looked into his eyes again, his eyes felt like they had so much they wanted to say. Seeming like they were ready to burst. “Do you know how to get home from here? I don’t want you getting lost.” he said, he was like a guardian  bounded to me by some sort of fait. The level crossing signals at the train track began to go off as soon as he said that. A train horn blasting in the distance. When i was about to answer his caring questions, a large gust of air blew past from the train passing by, blowing my hair and skirt toward him. While uncovering the hair from in front of my face I answered “Yes, I live right over there”. I said blushing from embarrassment as I pointed at my grandmothers house. “Alright i’ll wait here till I see you get inside”. I looked to me feet overwhelmed. He stood there confused watching me wait. “Why are you being so nice to me” I said annoyingly. I instantly covered my mouth in regret of what i had just said. Shocked he said “You remind me of my little sister” with a sigh. “What does that even mean?!” I said on the verge of tears. His kindness scared me, I didn’t know how to respond to his acts. He squatted down now being able to see my face. “Your expression just has that look of emptiness my sisters had” he said timidly. I didn’t know what he meant by that at the time. He stood back up and let out another sigh. “We are friends now Yami, I want you to open up to me okay?”. He said with such a soft voice. It was almost as if it were coming from my mom. All i could do was nod, I had no idea what to say to him. “Alright now go home, I will be waiting here”. I turned in the direction of my grandmothers house and began to walk home. I could feel him still watching me as I opened the door and stepped inside. My dad was home and was looking at a bunch of papers with grandma. I turned to walk to my room when he stopped me. “Yami” my dad said “I think we found a house”. I was a bit upset, I liked living with grandma and I didn’t know how much more change I could handle. I turned back around and went over to the table. “Do you have any pictures?” I asked. The pictures my dad showed me were of an adorable one story, blue house. It was 3 bedrooms and had an amazing backyard. I fell in love with it instantly. It was also a small walk away from grandmas house, so we could visit whenever we wanted. We would begin moving in the following weekend. The next morning Akemi was out by the train tracks waiting to walk me to school. I was surprised but happy. He cared so much for me after knowing me for such little time. I told him the good news, he said “you’ll have to show him the new house so we could still walk to school together”. He’s so sweet I couldn’t help but fall in love with him. The week continued that way with him walking me to and from school, while also eating lunch with me. Those two girls continued to pick on me, but whenever Akemi was around they ran away like scared puppies. I wonder why? Saturday came fast, I packed all my belongings and said bye to grandma as i got into the moving van. We didn’t have much, but with dads new job we were able to buy new furniture. I was taking the last box of mine out of the van, when I saw Akemi. I was gonna shout out his name, when a young boy came running out of the house next door after him. I don’t know what he said to Akemi, but they both ran inside the house next door with frightened looks on their faces. I tried to brush it off and continued unpacking. I just couldn’t shake it, what did he say to Akemi? Why did he go into the house next door? Is he my neighbor?! I fell asleep with all the questions circling my mind. The next morning I continued unpacking boxes and trying my best to help dad. There was still tension between us, but it was slowly getting better. I stepped outside onto our front porch to get some fresh air. When I stepped outside a small gust of air blew past me, in the. direction of the wind was Akemi again. “Maybe he does live there?” I thought to myself. I walked over to him, he was bent over watering what looked like a garden. I tapped his right shoulder, just like how he had tapped mine days before. He turned around and looked shocked to see me. He said “why are you here” in a sort of scared tone. While he was looking around and over his shoulder I responded “I moved in next door”. He seemed relieved. “You scared me for a second” he said while giving out a sigh. He took my hand and began walking in the opposite direction of his house. He made small talk asking how the move was and such. He continued to confuse me more and more. Why was he frightened? “Why did you seem so scared to see me” I asked letting my curiosity get the better of me. Hesitantly he said “my dad is a little strict”. He was very blunt and ended the topic of his family very quickly. Why was he so closed off toward me? How does he expect me to open up to him when he’s so reserved?! He was so frustrating. I didn’t want to push anymore, but his family was always in the back of my mind. He asked me about kai. “How do you know about my brother?” I asked, since I had never mentioned him before. “He was playing with my brother earlier” he responded. How many siblings does this guy have? A sister and now a brother? That must be so overwhelming for his parents. I didn’t know what else to ask him about. He was so standoffish about his family that there wasn’t much else to talk about. We just walked back home in silence. “I will see you tomorrow” he said cheerfully, he was always so excited to walk to school together. “I will bring you breakfast tomorrow” I said as i ran inside before he could answer. He never brought lunch to school, and he was always up so early there was no way he could be eating breakfast. As I laid in bed for the night I wouldn’t help but think about all the unanswered questions I had about him. I never saw him talking to anyone at school. How could a handsome boy like that, not be the most popular guy in school?