• Chapter 1: Awakening

    “Her heart is starting to beat faster; she’s awake.”

    “She better be, Doc. I waited a year for this moment.”

    “Don’t worry Haruku; she finally came through.”

    What… what are these people talking about…? Hold on; what is this thing I’m lying on? It feels so…so… alien.

    I didn’t move; I didn’t even open my eyes. The setting felt so… weird. That boy, Haruku, sounds like he knows me. I never met anyone with such a strange name in my life! Where am I…?

    “It’s okay to get up, Yuuki. You’re in the hospital. No one is going to hurt you,” said the man that Haruku seemed to think was the doctor. I assumed my name was Yuuki, so I slowly opened my eyes to a bright light shining on my face. My eyes fluttered for a few seconds before they adjusted. I found myself in what my mind is telling me a hospital room. The room looked strange; it was all white with monitors to the left and these weird movable computer things to the right. There was a wire coming from the movable computer that was connected to my arm. My body didn’t seem to mind; it was supposed to be normal for a hospital room. The thing I’m lying on is called a “bed”; this bed is really lumpy and white. To my left is the person I think is Doc, and to the right, I think the boy is Haruku.

    Doc is a man who seems like he’s in his late thirties. He looks about five foot, ten inches. Doc’s eyes are a warm brown; a cross between dirt brown and chocolate brown. His hair is as bright and blonde as the sun and he wears a gentle face. He has laugh marks on his face and currently he is wearing a normal doctor’s robe: long, white, and has a little pocket to the right.

    Haruku is way different Doc. Haruku has spiky hair that would be shoulder length if it was straightened; Doc has hair as long as a bowl cut, but it is layered on the outside and looks a little spiky. Haruku is about five feet, five inches which is a good height to be when he looks about seventeen. His eyes are really dark brown; he looks Korean. His face looks like it has worn a worried expression for weeks, maybe months. Right now, he is trying to straighten his face into a smile.

    “Where… what…?” I questioned a bit dumbly. I couldn’t finish, my mind hurt too much; I’m taking everything in too fast. I realized I moved way too fast up, making my head spin.

    Doc pushed me back down into a resting position. “You need your rest. You just came out of a coma.”

    “But… If I was in a coma, wouldn’t I still have my... memories?” I questioned. According to what I know, which is very little because of this “coma,” comas are not supposed to make you lose your memory.

    “You’re coma was due to falling off a thirty foot cliff. We were surprised to find you alive. It would be a miracle if you still had your memories,” answered Doc.

    “Doc,” I began.

    “I prefer Dr. Joey or just Joey.”

    “Ok then. Joey, how come I fell off a cliff?”

    This time Haruku answered. “Because you were not paying attention where you were running when you and your sister were playing tag one day.” I could tell by his shaking voice that he was lying. He didn’t seem like a really good liar. I just decided to play along.

    “Oh really? Well I must have been really oblivious then. I’ll make sure that I won’t be oblivious anymore. Don’t want that happening again, right?”

    Haruku gave a shaky laugh, “Haha, yeah.”

    A lady wearing a pink formal top and a pink mini skirt with a pink hat that has a red plus on it came running in. “Dr. Joey, our patient needs you.”

    “Walter?”

    “That’s the one.”

    Joey sighed. “Okay I’ll talk to you guys later. Why me…?” The nurse and Joey left the room leaving just me and Haruku.

    Haruku went around to the right side of my bed and sat near my hip. I felt uncomfortable but my body seemed used to it. I must have been with him a lot before the coma happened. “Yuuki, they said you could hear me during your coma. Did you hear me? Remember anything I said?” His eyebrows were scrunched together; this must have meant a lot to him.

    I suddenly brought everything into focus. How the bed’s outer appearance changed when he sat on my sheets, how he’s wearing baggy dark blue jeans with his black trumpet shirt that commented him, and how his face is only a foot away from mine. I started to stutter when I attempted to answer him. “Um…I-I don’t remember,” my voice was trembling, “I’m sorry.”

    “Oh… It’s fine… Yeah it’s oka—”

    A random girl with shoulder length, maybe longer, hair in pigtails, wearing a sailor suit and high socks with boots came running in yelling my name. “Oh Yuuki! I haven’t seen you since last year! I missed you!”

    She kept moving and bouncing as she spoke, so her dark brown hair got all messy and was all over the place by the time she was done. She couldn’t help but move; that girl seemed to be too excited to see me. Wait, how does she even know me? I never seen her in… the past hour I was awake?

    I moved my head closer to Haruku’s ear, my hair falling in front of my face as this happened so the girl wouldn’t see. “Haruku?”

    “Hmm?”

    “Who the living heck is she?”

    “Your sister, Mika.”

    “Arg!” I said a little louder then a whisper, “Why does everyone have such weird names here other then Walter?”

    “Because, we are in a white washed part of Japan .”

    “And so… we’re in Japan ?”

    “Correct.”

    Mika became bored of our whispering; probably because she wasn’t included in it. “Umm…” she started, “Yuuki, you don’t seem happy to see me… Do you hate me?”

    Haruku spoke before I even got to make a sound. “Yuuki…” he began slowly, measuring each word, “lost… all of her memories.”

    Shock suddenly was written all over her face. Mika’s eyes went wide and her jaw popped open. She tried to absorb those six words within five minutes. She started to relax after a long pause. “Well, Yuuki will always be Yuuki even if she lost everything she can remember. So, when you planning to get out of this dump Yuuk? It smells like sick people in here,” she sighed, not letting me answer, “All those years worth of memories wasted.”

    I couldn’t reply; she seemed too sad. I felt useless; I can’t even help Mika, my own sister. I need to comfort her, to let her know that the old Yuuki she remembers is still here. Even if the old Yuuki just lost her ways in the past.

    I tried coming up, but the dang needle in my arm held me back. I whimpered inaudible whimpers because the needle almost tore out of my second layer of skin. I sighed; all I could do now is to give her an air hug, so obviously, I did. Mika noticed my air hug and she gave the room a wave or joy and relief, because she knows I still care, even if I can’t remember her. I couldn’t help but smile to the joy of my sister.

    Then, it hit me. I can’t believe I never realized this before! Not even from the moment she walked into this room. I must be not a quick witted person to not have realized it. She would know… Of course, she would know! I can’t doubt her, for she is my sister! I took advantage of this moment. “Um… Mika…? Could I ask you something?” I gave Haruku a quick glace as I said this to make sure he was not totally n tune to our conversation.

    “Sure, anything for my twin sister.”

    “Okay… Why did I fall off a cliff?” This is when I finally felt like I was awake and out of my nothingness land.

    Mika hesitated. She turned away, trying to avoid my intense (or what is supposed to be) stare. All of her words she spoke after my question were carefully weighted, making sure they’re the right words to be spoken, but they were shaky. She seemed like she was forced into a thinking or focusing poker face. Mika became very stiff as she explained, “I can’t really remember… Um…” her inner eyebrow tips turned upward fixing her face into a sad position. She turned back to face me; her eyes burning into mine. It hurt. She wore a convincing depressed appearance. “I’m truly sorry Yuuk, it’s a blur; too long ago for me to remember. Maybe it had something to do with dad?”

    I sighed; I knew she was lying… Then again, I don’t know anything without my memory. “Thanks, Mika,” I forced my face into a demented unconvincing smile, “That meant a lot to me, to know.” I could see traces of guilt from lying remaining on her happy face, or maybe it was just me.

    “Well,” Oh, I just realized Haruku was still here, “you guys done? I want to get outta here. Hold up, I’ll get Dr. Joey to take that IV out of you.” Haruku got off my bed making the mattress inflate. He straightened out the sheets, flashed me a quick smile (which I surprisingly enjoyed), and turned towards the door near the monitors. “Joey!” He yelled as he left me and Mika in the room.

    It was awkwardly silent. It shouldn’t have been awkward or silent in the first place! I mean, she’s my sister! Don’t sisters usual talk their mouths off if they haven’t seen each other for a year? Mika attempted at a conversation before I got to speak. “Yuuki!! You are so lucky! You were in honors everything before you know what happened! So you don’t have to retake junior year! Well, on the bright side, you’re in the same grade as me now!”

    I suddenly became lost from her words. I was taking in the lies she and Haruku told me. Why did they need to lie to me about my attempt at death? Did I want to die? At the time, was I pushed off, or was I just so oblivious that I ran off like Haruku said? It could be my father too… My father could have been the reason, like Mika stated. But that just leaves one lingering question if that’s the case… Why would my father be the reason of my attempt at death?

    “Yuuki! You hear me? Oh god! I think she went back into her coma… oh no, oh no…”

    “Huh? Oh I hear you. Sorry… just… thinking.” Think logically Yuuki, would your own blood related twin lie to you?