CHAPTER 4: KIDA’S TRUTH.
I felt an arm go round my shoulder and I looked to see my Mum standing there, comforting me as I watched Seraph turn and walk away through the village, following Mr. Furumura.
I felt tears on the verge of bursting through my eyes, but I kept them back with an iron will.
“This is silly.” I thought to myself. “He said he will be coming back. Why am I so upset?”
“It hurts, doesn’t it? The bond between the two of you. It’s tugging at your heart.”
I looked at my mum in surprise.
“Yes. I know about symbiosis. Your aunt used to have it with your uncle. When your uncle died, your aunt felt the same tug at her heart as you are now.”
“Does it mean its breaking?” I asked my mum, my hands trembling as I made the appropriate gestures.
“I don’t know. It obviously did for them. Maybe yours is different. He is something special.”
Something special. In the split second I had seen him open the door of his house, the instant the bond between us had joined us together, I knew that Seraph was indeed something special. And not just because he supplemented something I had lost a long time ago. In the day we had spent together, I had felt myself drawn to him, like a moth to the flame, to be burnt by his passion for life.
I had had other boyfriends before, but that was more to satisfy my budding curiosity as puberty gripped my body. None of them had even come close to being like Seraph. I remembered his kindness as we explored our newfound connection. I was still wearing the clothes he had leant me. I remembered the meals he had cooked, the easy going conversations we had, the first conversations I had had with someone who didn’t know sign language. I remembered the village store and Seraph’s easygoing relationship with everyone. The more I reminisced about the last couple of days, including the journey up to my village, the more the pain in my heart grew. The breaking point came when I thought of the fountain and the wish I had made. The dam cracked and the floodwaters broke through. Tears streamed down my face.
A hand appeared by my side. In it was a raincoat. I looked at the owner of the hand, my mother.
“If you hurry, you can catch him up.”
I just stared at my mum.
“I don’t know. Maybe Im going soft in my old age. But I know one thing. He’s your destiny.”
I stared at my mum, and then hugged her.
“Okay, Okay, get off me. Go on, get going before the rain gets any harder. Just promise me you’ll return to finish your third year of school.”
“I promise.” I kissed her on the cheek and the started off towards the trail. I paused, and then turned around.
“Mum, auntie and uncle didn’t have symbiosis did they? It was you and father. You don’t have a sense of taste or smell, yet your cooking has always been excellent. And father was also blind. So that’s why you know so much about symbiosis.”
My mum just smiled a knowing smile, and then waved me off. I smiled as well and then took off towards the trail. My heart began to pound along with the rain, which was starting to fall more and more heavily. I ran along trails that I had ran along my whole life, but with a new urgency, knowing that I was going to be with my destiny.
“You don’t remember me,
But I remember you,
I lie awake and try so hard
Not to think of you
But who can decide what they dream?
And dream I do…
I believe in you,
I’ll give up everything just to find you,
I have to be with you to live to breathe
You’re taking over me.
Have you forgotten all I know?
And all we had?
You saw me mourning my love for you
And touched my hand
I knew you loved me then
I believe in you,
I’ll give up everything just to find you,
I have to be with you to live to breathe
You’re taking over me.
I look in the mirror and see your face
If I look deep enough
So many things inside that are
Just like you are taking over.”
* * *
SERAPH TAKES OVER…
I was standing on the platform of the station, waiting for the last train. The rain was getting heavier now. I could feel it pounding on my neck, soaking me to the bone, but I didn’t care. My mind was in a spin, sinking in darkness and despair. I knew logically that I could and would see Kida again, but something was pulling at my heart and had been the whole journey back. And with the pulling came a melancholy loneliness, the same kind I had heard in Kida’s music. But now all I could hear was the rain, pounding in a regular rhythm.
No…I couldn’t just hear it. I could see it as well. And I could see a solitary figure standing on the edge of the platform, getting larger in my vision. At the same time I could hear pounding steps and heavy breath. The figure in my vision and I turned as one in time to catch Kida as she leapt into my arms.
“Kida!?”
“Seraph!”
And then we kissed. The darkness was back this time, but I welcomed it as we took a taste of each other and knew that neither one of us wanted to let go of each other this early.
The kiss broke apart but the hug did not.
“But I thought…”
“Mum said I could. She knows that I’ll be fine. Besides, I’ve got you.”
I smiled and sighed. “Yes you have.”
Kida slept on the way back, exhausted from her run from Yokosuka to Goto. I was happy. My wish had come true…
KIDA: I slept most of the way back. But at one point I was awake. I was happy. My wish had come true…
SERAPH: I was with Kida. I knew now that she was what I wanted.
KIDA: I was with Seraph. I knew in my heart that we were meant for each other.
SERAPH: We had all of summer together…
KIDA: All of summer to get to know each other better…
SERAPH: And to enjoy our strengthened bond together…
KIDA: We knew we were each other’s destinies…
SERAPH: and that was all that mattered.
SERAPH AND KIDA: And so Life continued…
“I believe in you,
I’ll give up everything just to find you,
I have to be with you to live to breathe
You’re taking over me.”
(Lyrics by Evanescence, from the song “Taking Over Me” from the Album “Fallen,”)
“See No Evil, Speak No Evil” Vol. 1
© Philip Weston
This is a work of literary fiction from the author’s imagination.
All Characters, Events and Places (except Shimizu) are fictional and any resemblance to people alive or dead is purely coincidental.
