Setting
- 57 posts here • Page 1 of 3 • 1, 2, 3
"If there's anything I missed, add it in then give that back and just step into the machine! It's delightfully simple!" She put her arm around the woman and squeesed her shoulder re-assuringly.
Her heart beating faster and faster, she waits for the woman to turn on the machine. She still doesn't really believe the old woman can do it. If she can't she only wasted a day, is out some money and will feel a little silly. But, if it works, she'll be young again.
Everything seems to be like a dream, the lights, the sounds, she feels dizzy. Then everything becomes blurry and she goes blank. When she wakes up she falls to the floor of the booth. She kneels on the floor for several seconds thinking. "Why am I here? Who am I?" she wonders. She's naked except for stockings that are too big for her, she's kneeling are some over-sized woman's clothes. "I'm... I'm Yukiko Ishishima." she mumbles. She's sure of her name, but not much else.
"Hello?" she yells getting up. "Hello?! Is anybody..." she stops when she gets a good look at the room with all it's knobs, wires and gadgets. "What is this place?" she gasps. "Where am I?" She stops scanning the room when she sees the old woman. "Hello." she says nervously. "Do I... Do I know you? Are you my grandmother?"
"I think there are some clothes in here for you. Do you remember anything at all?"
She takes the big red bag from Ms. Pheonix and opens it. Yukiko stands naked, looking through the bag thinking. She scrunches her face looking down as she thinks hard trying to remember anything, but nothing comes to her. She raises her head and stares again at the woman, finally, "No. I don't remember anything. Am I okay? Is this a hospital? Was I in an accident?"
She is confused and she's beginning to feel frightened. She pulls out the school uniform that from the bag, as she does a card drops from the neatly folded clothes onto the ground. Yukiko crouches down, picks it up off the floor and stares at it. "Shoko Chukin Bank." she says reading aloud, "Yukiko Ishishima. That's me." she says rising from the floor. "I have a cash card?" she feels even more confused than before. Forgetting everything else she begins pulling everything from the bag to see what else is there. She yanks the jeans out and shakes them to see if anything falls out. Then the shirt and knee length socks from the bag. She pulls out a rolled up shirt from the bag and shakes it open. When she does the money flies out of the shirt and scatters on the floor. "There's money in my bag." She says looking at the money and then up at Ms. Pheonix. "I have money in my bag." She looks at it, not moving from her spot, trying to count it. But it's a lot, there's too much there. She is now even more confused.
"Why do I have so much money?" She feels heart beating faster, she's breathing harder and small tears in her eyes, "What? Why do...?" she grabs the uniform and quickly puts it on, stuffing the other clothes back in the bag. "Do you know what happened to me? I'm... I'm so... What happened?" she says, a few tears running down her face. She runs over to the woman, "Is that money mine? Am I okay? Why don't I remember anything?"
After she had made them both tea, she sat down beside Yukiko and smiled, showing her the clipboard. "This is you. You weren't.. you. Just hear me out here. Now, your name before was Airi. Airi basically designed you and that machine in there changes people's lives, changes who they were. Do you understand so far?"
Ms. Pheonix leads her into a room with a large couch, a TV and a kitchen. Yukiko sits and takes the tea. "This is you. You weren't.. you. Just hear me out here. Now, your name before was Airi. Airi basically designed you and that machine in there changes people's lives, changes who they were. Do you understand so far?" Yukiko sits examining the clipboard, sipping her tea. She understands, sort of, but not really. She doesn't understand how a person can be made a different, how a fifty year old woman can change into a thirteen year old girl and why would she do it. Why be thirteen? It's not a great age and it's an age where you aren't independent, you need a mother and a father to care for you, you have to go to school.
Yukiko looks up at the woman and nods, "I think so." she says not really sure. "I... I guess... I guess I don't understand why? Was she, was I... was she a bad person? Was she a criminal? Do you know why she wanted to change?"
"Well, can you tell what this here says?" She pointed to the scribbled in address. "Miss Airi wrote it just before but I can't read it. I hope I didn't do something wrong..."
"A sweet old dear with a lot of money and time. Maybe she though it'd be fun. It is fun, isn't it? All the flashy lights and complicated stuff! Oh it makes me happy!"
Yukiko smiles, trying to not show how really upset she is, "Yeah. Yeah I guess it would be fun." she says softly.
"Well, can you tell what this here says?" Ms Pheonix says pointing to some really bad writing on the paper. "Miss Airi wrote it just before but I can't read it. I hope I didn't do something wrong..."
Yukiko stares hard at the writing. It is written really sloppy but she can make out some of the words, "It's...it's the Akita Prefecture." she says pointing to the first symbols. Yukiko looks long and hard at the lettering, leaning closer to the writing trying to figure out what the rest of it says. "Wait, wait." she says excitedly, "Misato Town! It says Misato Town. This is great!" she says hugging Ms Pheonix, "This is really great."
Yukiko releases and leans back in the couch. "I don't know what the rest of it says, but Misato is a really small town." Tears start to appear in her eyes, "I'm guessing this uniform is probably really unusual. Teal is an unusual color. If she went to all this work, I'm guessing she also enrolled me in school. I just need to find the school that matches this uniform."
Yukiko throws her arms around Ms Pheonix giving her a big hug, "Oh, thank you, thank you! This is so exciting! I know where to go now." Yukiko pulls away, realizing she's hugging the woman tightly and may be hurting her. "Sorry, Ms Pheonix. It's just so... I'm so happy. Thank you." Yukiko remembers the money that got thrown on the floor, "Do I... did she... Ummm... How much money do I owe you?"
"I don't know what the rest of it says, but Misato is a really small town." Patricia grinned, wiping the tears out of her eyes. "No crying allowed, Yukiko. You have to be happy. Jump up and down like a butterfly happy." She continued to listen to Yukiko go on about the unusual uniform and the school. Then she was taken by suprise again, with another hug. She was also being some-what suffocated this time. She coughed, pressing her hand flat against her own chest. "Well," She coughed again. "You don't owe me anything, Miss Airi paid in the reception."
The smile on Yukiko's face gets even bigger, "Really?" she squeals happily. Yukiko hugs her one more time and gives her a kiss on her cheek. Then she gets up, bows, "Thank you, Ms. Pheonix. I'll never forget you." She races toward the other room and stops at the door holding up the arm with the bandage, "And I promise I'll never take it off unless you tell me to. Okay? Bye bye. I love you."
Yukiko grabs the bag, stuffs the clothes inside it, then picks up all the money and puts it in her jacket pocket and the bag. She looks around making sure she didn't leave anything and she races out the door of the shop to find Misato Town.
On the street, she looks around at the sights and listens. She's very excited, so excited she's forgotten about being sad. She watches the cars, the buses, the people all around her. "Amazing!" she whispers. She races to the bus stop and gets on the bus for the train station. The bus is crowded, but there are some seats. Yukiko takes a single seat near the front and sits holding her bag.
After some stops she hears a voice from above her. "Ypu must stand up and leave that seat little girl."
Yukiko looks up and a man about 45 is standing above her, looking down at hear, his face looks angry. Yukiko blushes when she looks and sees the bus is full and there is an old woman standing near her. "I'm sorry." she says leaping up and bowing to both of them. "I was... I was... I am sorry." Yukiko is so embarrassed she moves as far back as she can, she lowers her head so her hair covers her face to hide from both of them. "I have to be more observant." she mutters to herself.
After a few more stops, she arrives at the train station. She races to the ticket counter and buys a ticket for Misato and pays. She got lucky, it's the last train for Misato today. On the train she finds her seat and sits. She takes a few breaths and thinks about everything that has happened today.
"You're a pretty girl." a man says looking at her smiling.
"My dad's a policeman." she says dropping her head hoping he understands.
She waits for a few seconds and looks up, the man is gone. She lets out a big sigh, "Thank God." She doesn't remember anything about her past life, but she does remember men like that who try and meet up with middle school and high school girls. They're not dangerous, he won't try and kill her and he won't come back.
The train schedule says it;'s three hours twenty minutes to Misato. Yukiko lays back in the seat and falls asleep.
"Ms. Pheonix." Yoshiko's mother yelled panicked. "Mrs. Pheonix, please. I need your help." she said, seeing the woman in the room. "I just... I just killed my daughter. We had an accident. I had a drink. I'm sorry." she cried. "Please. Make me her." Yoshiko's mom cried more, "Make me Yoshiko."
"Oh, thank you." Yukiko says getting up, bowing and getting her stuff. "I'd have missed my stop." she says smiling. "Thank you." she says as he escorts her from the train.
When she gets off the train it's early morning about 7 am. She isn't sure where she lives or what day it is. "I should find my school first and see if they know where I live." she says to herself. She doesn't know what school she belongs to, but after walking for about ten minutes she sees a couple of girls standing at the bus stop who are wearing the same color uniform as her. She doesn't say anything she just stands behind them.
The girls look back at her and then whisper to each other. Yukiko blushes not sure whether to talk to them or just stand silently. Finally one of the girls talks to her, "Do you go to Wakayama Girls Middle School?"
She isn't sure if she does or doesn't. She decides to be honest, "I don't know. My aunt enrolled me and she was gone when I got here. You have the same uniform. So I'm following you." She blushes because she knows she sounds stupid.
"Your aunt sounds strange." the other girl says. She blushes, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
"It's okay." Yukiko smiles. "She is a little."
The three girls laugh.
"Well, Wakayama Girls Middle School is the only school with these uniforms, so welcome to our school." the first girl says smiling, "I'm Hanako and this is Yukari." Yukiko bows. "What grade are you in?"
"First grade?" she says bowing back. She isn't sure, but she hopes she's right.
"So are we." both girls squeal. "Maybe we'll be in the same class. Do you know which class you're in?" the second one asks.
Yukiko shakes her head.
"That's okay. We'll ask when we get there. We'll show you everything."
The girls wait for the bus talking about the school, the teachers, the town. She avoids any talk about where she lives because she doesn't know.
For description, she wrote everything she was sure her daughter knew; friends, school, father, relatives, colors, food, everything including her. The things she made sure to leave out were the accident and the alcohol. She had killed her daughter because of her drinking. It made her so sad.
She handed it to Ms Pheonix, "Here. Tell her she came in here alone and you don't know her mother, please. Here's her father's cell phone number. She had her school uniform in the car, give this to her." the woman cried.
She felt nothing painful or unpleasant. When the machine stopped Yoshiko Miura was standing in the machine and her mother was gone.
Yoshiko looked around for a bit confused, "Where am I?" she asked quietly. She looked at herself, "Why don't I have clothes? Where is my mother?" Yoshiko was confused. She remembered she was suppose to go to a dinner after school with her mother. She remembered getting in the car and getting to the dinner. But after that is nothing. "Hello?" she called out from the machine. She looked around and stared at all the dials and knobs wondering where she could be. "Maybe I'm in a hospital or a lab?" she thought as she tried to guess what all the things in there could be, "Is anyone there? Am I okay? Is my mother okay?" she asked. Yoshiko wasn't scared, she was confused. She didn't feel hurt and didn't know why she had no clothes on. She didn't understand where her mother was and how she got into this machine.
She saw the woman, "Hello? Are you a nurse? Are you a doctor or a scientist?" she asked. "Is my mother here?"
Finally they get to school and the girls lead her to the teacher's room. There are many desks in the room and many men and women sitting at them typing on their computers. At the far end of the room are two big desks facing the whole room. Each desk has a plaque on it that says 'Vice-Principal' on it and has their names. Behind one desk is a tall woman with short hair. She is talking on her mobile. At the other desk is a man with slightly grey hair, he is talking to a teacher. All three girls bow and say 'good morning' to the room. Yukari hooks Yukiko's arm and pulls her toward the woman vice-principal.
They both bow to the woman, "Vice-principal. This is Yukiko Ishishima. She is new to our school and doesn't know what class she's in." Yukiko blushes because she doesn't know much of anything. She bows again, nodding and smiling.
"Welcome." the woman says smiling brightly. "Your aunt registered you. Very nice woman. Sorry to hear about your parents accident." the woman says holding Yukiko's hand, "It must be very hard on you." Yukiko nods, but inside she's happy, that lie was what the woman told the school too.
"My aunt didn't meet me at the train station. This may sound stupid, but I don't remember her address."
A few of the teachers sitting near the desk laugh. The vice-principal gives them very angry look and they stop. "I understand. The horrible accident I'm sure is keeping you from thinking proper." she opens Yukiko's folder and writes the address down on a piece of paper. "Here you go. You're in class number two with Yukari. You two seem to be good friends already. Maybe I'll tell your teacher you should be her special friend until you get used to our school. Okay?" As the leave the room she hears the vice-principal say, "An island girl. This won't be easy."
"Went away for a while?" she asked, her face scrunching. "Why would she do that?" she wondered. "My school uniform?" she said looking at her clothes. "Where are my... never mind." she said deciding to ask her questions when she got dressed. Yoshiko put on her school uniform, checked to make sure the sleeves were right, fixed her jacket and pulled up on her socks so that everything looked correct. She probably wasn't going to see any teachers from school here, but she didn't know for sure where she was so better-safe.
She walked to the reception desk and looked around, "It doesn't look like a doctor's office or a science lab." she muttered. "Does my father know mother has gone away?" she asked the woman standing by the phone. It would be okay if the woman said, "Yes," or "I don't know." The only bad answer would be, "No!" because that would mean mother had left her, abandoned her. She loved her mother and didn't want to be one of those families with only one parent.
Yoshiko looked at the small office again. It did look a bit like a doctor's office. Maybe there had been an accident and they didn't want her to know until her father could tell her. But then, why have her call her father. Yoshiko was really confused.
Yoshiko called father. He seemed confused and very worried. Yoshiko told father she was okay, she didn't think she was hurt, but she had to wear a special bandage. He told her to wait at the Phoenix Company until he got there. Yoshiko promised to wait.
Two hours later father arrived at the company.
"I'm Shinzo Miura." he said hugging his daughter. "Is Yoshiko okay? What did my wife say? Is she okay? Why does she need the bandage?" he was very upset.
"I'm okay father." Yoshiko told him. "Ms. Phoenix is very nice."
"This is great!" Yukari says very excited, "i'll help you learn everything about our school."
Hanako holds her hand, "You'll like our school. Except for math. The teacher is boring." she says making ugly faces.
Two teachers walk by and the girls bow, "That's our science teacher and our morals teacher." Hanako says whispering. "They're both good teachers, bur sometimes they're really mean."
"What did the vice-principal mean about an island girl?" Yukiko asks nervous and worried.
"She means people think you're weird." Hanako says without thinking. She giggles, "Sorry. Some island people are weird. You're kind of backward in the way you live. Not you, Yukiko. You don't seem backward. Just some island people are. You're fine. Everyone will like you. Well, maybe not the boys. But who cares?" Hanako says pulling the gitl into the classroom.
The girls get to class and bow to their teacher, "That's Ms Abe."
The girls greet their teacher and she introduces herself to Yukiko. Yukiko tells her teacher she about her aunt, her parents, a family friend Ms. Pheonix and that she's a doctor and shows her teacher her arm, "Dr. Pheonix says I can't take off the bandage." Her teacher nods, smiles and has her sit between Hanako and Yukari.
"Has anyone seen Yoshiko?" the teacher asks
Father follows Ms. Pheonix into the room. Before she can explain Father begins, "What happened to my wife? Is she okay? Was she drinking again? Is Yoshiko all right? Was it alcohol?" Father's questions come quick as he asks quickly.It wouldn't be the first time alcohol was involved. When Yoshiko was ten she drove into a tree while drunk. Yoshiko was hurt but didn't remember the accident. She promised she wouldn't drink and she hadn't. But, tonight she did and Yoshiko died and she is gone, so Yoshiko can be alive.
- 57 posts here • Page 1 of 3 • 1, 2, 3