That’s Why I Skipped School

The waning crescent moon shone brightly that night. The empty streets were bathed in the soft glow of the streetlights. Nothing made a sound except for the ambulance siren piercing the air. The clock turned to midnight, but to me, time had frozen to a standstill. I found myself unable to move or focus on anything. I had Karou by my side, holding my hand, but I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t think about anything else.

It took a while until the doctor came out of the room. He informed us that she suffered from alcohol poisoning, which caused her to become unresponsive. She had overdosed long before they arrived home, so she was left unattended for a while. She was now in a coma, and they weren’t sure when she would wake up.

Nothing could have prepared me for this. Emotions flooded my mind, but the main one was anger. But it wasn’t anger towards my sister. It eventually overcame me, which caused me to smash our bathroom’s mirror with my bare hands. Karou came running in and saw what happened. After scolding me, she used the medical kit to patch my hand up. I could tell she was concerned for me since she was wrapping the bandage around my hand slowly and carefully.

Tueday. I decided to skip school to go to the hospital and check on my sister. Visiting her was a deeply emotional experience. Since our parents’ deaths, her mental health had been going downhill, and as a result, she had changed. Consequently, she was now lying in a coma. As I entered the quiet hospital room, the steady beep of machines filled the air. Her stillness was a stark contrast to the energetic person she had always been. I placed the flowers in a vase next to her bed and sat down beside her. I held her hand, hoping that she could feel me and that maybe that connection would reach her unconscious mind. She was the only family I had left. I couldn’t lose her. I prayed. I cried. I hoped. I knew she was also doing her best to recover, but I couldn’t help but worry for her.

Wednesday. I stayed at home again. Karou had been providing me notes from the lessons I had missed, but this time, she had invited Yoshi to our house as well. I assumed it was an attempt to get me to go back to school. It took his usual odd humour and a lot of nudging to get me to smile at least once, and in the end, he managed to convince me to return to school.

On the day I returned to school, grey clouds covered the sky. As predicted, people were quietly talking about what had happened to my sister. Karou swore that she didn’t tell anyone besides Yoshi. I assumed someone must have learnt about it somehow. That’s usually how rumours spread anyway. I hated the constant questions that were thrown at me, but I pretended to pay no attention to them. Karou would become very protective, as she could tell I was feeling uncomfortable. Throughout the day, she would correct people’s theories and criticise them for theorising and gossiping about my sister. The entire day, I felt like I was stuck in a small, tight room, and a speaker was playing voices that would overwhelm me. The only safe spot in school I could think of would be the nurse’s office, but I knew Sensei would probably ask me about my situation as well. It was her job as a teacher, after all. However, there was this one time when I encountered her in the hallway. She had noticed my bandaged hand and questioned me about it, but I simply told her I had burned my hand and excused myself from the situation.

For the rest of the time I was at school, I barely talked to anyone besides Karou and Yoshi. On the first weekend since she was hospitalised, Karou and I went to visit my sister in the hospital. She always looked at peace lying on the bed, something she had barely had since the plane crash.

“I swear I’ll give her a good scolding when she wakes up,” declared Karou.

“That’s if she wakes up.”

“She’ll wake up. She wouldn’t leave her precious little brother behind.”

Images of the time I spent with my sister came to mind. Although she was not her past self, she was still my older sister. I loved her a lot, and she loved me as well. She always looked after me. So why didn’t I do the same? Why wasn’t I there when she needed me? Why didn’t I protect her?

I had to go to school again. Unlike the week before, people were gossiping less about my sister’s condition, which relieved me of the stress I was experiencing before. As I was walking through the hallway, I was pulled into the nurse’s office by Sensei. What did she want from me this time? Suddenly, I felt her arms wrap around me from behind. I was really surprised by her actions.

“Sensei?”

“Just accept it.”

“This isn’t something a teacher should do with their student.”

“I know. But I’m not doing this as a teacher. I’m doing this as a friend.”

It was comforting. She didn’t ask me what happened. She just knew that something had been on my mind lately. I appreciated it.

At the end of the day, I got a call from the hospital informing me that my sister had finally woken up. With that information, I rushed to the hospital to see her.

There she was, sitting up in her hospital garments.

“Yo, Sozen.”

I couldn’t hold my emotions back any longer. I grabbed her and hugged her as tightly as I could. Tears ran down my face as relief and happiness overcame me.

“Sorry, Sozen. I made you worry, didn’t I?”

“Don’t ever do that again!”

“I promise. I will do everything in my power to get better.”

That was enough for me. My sister was still here. We were still together in this mortal world.