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Three: Keiko Akashimi
“Daddy, I want to put in this CD.” I said handing him one of my various Disney CDs.
“Now, Honey, you know very well that today is Sumi’s turn to pick the music. Tomorrow will be your turn again.” Daddy said and though I understand what he is saying, it doesn’t mean I have to like it.
“Fine.” I said while putting my CD safely back in my Disney princess CD case. I turned my head to look out the window at the landscape passing by fast to avoid Sumi’s victorious glare. I hate her taste in music. I see her hand daddy a Marilyn Manson CD and seconds after it was in, she started head banging. Teenagers suck. She used to play with me all the time when she was twelve, but now that she is thirteen I’m too young all of the sudden. I’m eight years old! Jia is eight, but since she’s an advanced eight year old in the same grade as Sumi, she doesn’t have to be excluded like me. I swear, the moment I met Jia I knew that I had been replaced.
“Why do we have to go to school during Spring Break?” Sumi asked trying to sound sophisticated.
“Because we want you to learn as much as you can so you can go to college and become something great.” Mommy said smiling at daddy.
“But all my friends are going to Cabo!” All the sophistication left with her brief, whiny statement.
“We have to work, sweetie.” Daddy lamented.
“What do you do again, Daddy?” I asked.
“I specialize in trades and business transactions. Mommy helps out in the office. She’s like my co-pilot.” Daddy took Mommy’s hand and kissed it making her smile.
“Trading what?” Sumi asked making their smiles wipe away.
“Whatever needs to be traded. Who’s ready for breakfast?” Daddy asked and changed the subject at the same time like he always does when Sumi’s or my questions about his work get too specific. He always misses career day, too. Sumi and I think he does illegal stuff. Lately, she’s been bugging him a lot. I don’t blame her. Last Christmas, these bad guys dressed in all black came over and beat him up pretty bad. They also broke dishes, tipped over our beautiful tree, and took all our presents. He promised nothing like that would ever happen again, and it hasn’t; but Sumi feels like it might. That’s why she wants some answers.
We parked at the gas station we stop at every morning to buy breakfast and get gas. While Sumi, Mommy, and Daddy got out, I tried to be sneaky and switch out Sumi’s bad CD with my good one. As I pressed the eject button and put her CD on the center console, I felt a presence that gave me chills up and down my spine. I turned my head to the right and suddenly I was face to face with a big, creepy Hummer with black tinted windows. I don’t know why I felt so scared, but I tried crawling into the backseat forgetting that Sumi’s CD was on the center console. I broke it with my knee which made me gasp at the same time that the Hummer’s window started to roll down. The driver looked right at me! He looked so mean. His eyes were as dark as death, his hair was blue, and his lip had a nasty scar on it. As he looked at me, my skin prickled and my hands started to moisten. After the longest two seconds of my life, he creepily drove away. I quickly got out of the car and ran to Mommy feeling that if I hugged her hard enough, she would protect me from everything; like somehow she would become my shield.
“What is it, Keiko?” Mommy asked placing her loving hand on my back.
“What’s wrong, honey?” Daddy chimed in.
“She’s shaking. What’s the matter, Keiko?” She asked now with a more serious and concerned tone to her voice.
“The bad man was here,” I finally confessed.
“Who’s the bad man?” Mommy asked.
“The bad man is the person she blames everything on. She broke my gold eye shadow the other day and blamed it on him. What did you do now, you little punk?!” Sumi yelled as she squeezed my arm extra hard and firm. Daddy looked in the car where I was seconds ago and noticed Sumi’s cracked CD.
“Is that what the bad man did?” He pointed at the CD and raised his eyebrow while he spoke in a deep, stern voice.
“Not with his own hands…” I admitted.
“What, Keiko? He made you do it with your hands?” Sumi sarcastically asked rolling her eyes.
“Technically, with my knees.” I replied.
“Keiko Akashimi, I am very surprised at you! I’ve taught you to take responsibilities for your own actions.” Mommy yelled and stopped hugging me at once.
“But the bad man scared me, Mommy!” I pleaded.
“What was my CD doing out of the CD player?” Sumi asked. My stomach dropped. Now they really won’t believe me. Sumi went to the CD player and pressed the eject button. My Disney CD popped out.
“I thought so.” Sumi dryly said.
“That’s it, Keiko. No breakfast for you. You sit in the car with your seatbelt fastened and think about what you’ve done!” Mommy yelled. I lowered my head and did as she said. There really was a bad man this time! I haven’t lied since Mommy said that lying destroys people, families, and civilizations. I promised I would never lie again, and I haven’t! They should’ve believed me.
After ten minutes of solitude, my family returned and the smell of breakfast filled the air. They put on their seatbelts and we started driving to school. My stomach growled and I knew it would be a long day. I knew I would be looking at the clock counting down the minutes till lunch. Sumi noticed my agony and turned to me licking the jelly slowly from her jelly doughnut. How evil. My mouth watered involuntarily.
When we got to school, I didn’t bother to say goodbye to Mommy and Daddy. They didn’t say anything either. Sumi walked in front of me and I followed looking at my feet. Jia was at the top of the steps waiting for Sumi. I wish I only had to see her at school because when she comes over the house, my parents always hint toward me being more like her. I really dislike her only because I know it’s not right to hate.
“What’s up Sumi? Hi, Keiko.” Jia cheerfully said.
“Yo.” Sumi replied. I said nothing. I walked to my class after they walked away without saying bye to me. I sat down on my desk and put my head down. The desk felt cold against my chin. Miss Estefana told us to take out our books and read silently. Even the teachers don’t wanna be here during Spring Break. I raised my hand and asked for a bathroom pass. I wandered the empty hallway that almost looked haunted. When I walked into the bathroom, I immediately smelled smoke. Then I saw Sumi and Jia smoking cigarettes.
“Sumi, Mom’s gonna kill you!” I yelled unaware of how loud my voice had gotten.
“How’s she gonna find out?” Sumi asked full of attitude.
“Yeah, Keiko, how’s she gonna find out?” Jia chimed in.
“Smoking is bad.” I sheepishly said.
“Whatever. Are you done, Jia?” She asked nonchalant.
“Yeah, let’s go.” Jia replied. They put out their cigarettes with the faucet water in the sink and then they left. I went in the first stall and sat down on the toilet. I looked at my watch and it was only nine fifteen. I took a deep breath and decided it was time to face the music and go back to class. I looked at myself in the mirror as I walked out of the bathroom. That’s when I saw the bad man pointing a gun at Jia and Sumi. I quickly hid behind the door leaving a sliver of it open to witness what was happening. They looked so scared! He told them not to speak. Then he grabbed Sumi’s arm and brought her close to him. She yelped quietly trying to follow his instructions. He took out a photo of our family and carefully started examining and analyzing Sumi’s face. He looked back and forth from her face to the picture and from the picture to her face. My pupils dilated as soon as he unexpectedly shot her right between the eyes at close range. Her body limply fell down like a puppet whose strings were cut by its puppet master. My tear ducts started to burn and tears started to come out of them almost instantaneously. Jia’s mouth opened and as soon as sound was faintly starting to come out, he swiftly broke her neck silencing her forever. Before he dropped her body next to Sumi’s, he studied her face next to the picture. And then his phone rang.
“Hello?” He answered with a raspy voice while dropping Jia’s flimsy body. I cupped my mouth and my knees gave out.
“I got the older one…Yeah, I’ll get the youngest after school…No problem.” He closed his flip phone and walked outside. If I didn’t see him walking, I wouldn’t have heard him. He almost moved like a cat; a bad and evil cat. I couldn’t believe how silent his gun was. It was so unlike any movie I saw against my parent’s permission when they thought I was asleep. When the tears lessened and I felt a little more composed, I walked toward the bodies. Poor Sumi. Her body was surrounded by a crimson red blood pool. And poor Jia. Her head was turned all the way around. I cried by Sumi’s body uncontrollably when suddenly a scary thought came into my head. I’m next. I want my mommy! I need to get out of here! I went to the double doors and peeked outside noticing that the bad man was parked right in front of the school. I started walking toward the back where the playground was. I knew exactly where the fence was cut; it’s how the big kids leave school unnoticed.
It was easy to go through the fence since I was much tinier than the high school kids. As soon as I was off school grounds, I started running as fast as I could. I was running so fast that I stumbled and fell down scraping my elbow. It started to bleed and sting, but I couldn’t cry knowing that the bad man was so close by. Our house is only ten minutes from here by car, but running takes longer. I got home at ten. The door was wide open which was weird to me. I walked into the kitchen and noticed mommy was sprawled out on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood just like Sumi! Mommy…
I needed mommy’s comfort desperately, but that was something that would never happen again. I dropped down to her side and pulled her arm over me trying to find the comfort in her touch. Even though it felt the same way my teddy bears hug me, just the knowledge that it was mommy’s body helped. When I stood up, there was no doubt in my mind that Daddy was dead somewhere, too. I went up the stairs and sure enough, there was his body hanging by a rope on the ceiling. There was a gun next to his shoe. It looked just like the one the bad man used at school today. I cried some more at this sight and when I couldn’t bear it any longer; I went to my room to start packing. I knew I couldn’t stay here. I’ve seen Annie. Kids that get taken to orphanages have to clean and instead of kisses, they get kicks. No, thank you. Plus, the bad man would find me. Then I went into daddy’s room and took the emergency cash from his sock drawer. I can’t believe my family is dead. This has to be daddy’s fault.
I looked around everywhere one last time and then with one deep sigh, I ventured into the outside world looking for a new home. I walked and walked until my little feet hurt in such a way I never felt before. How long have I been walking? Then, I saw a building with a sign reading “condemned.” I noticed that the people on the sidewalk were passing by it as if it didn’t even exist. That’s what I need; to be somewhere that doesn’t exist. Two seconds later, I crawled inside an opening and was faced with an elevator that was clearly broken. It leaned like the Tower of Pisa. I opened the door and crawled inside feeling safe at once. I closed the door as much as I could. The darkness of being inside the elevator was as dark as the darkness I felt inside of me. I felt my eyes start to close, but as soon as they did, the faces of my now dead family acted like a slideshow behind my eyelids. I started to cry and shake uncontrollably. It was as if my body wanted to show my soul how much despair it was feeling, but my soul already knew it…felt it. I started to hiccup and after a while, my chest started to hurt. What is to become of me now?
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