PROLOGUE
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. Please do not repost, translate, or reproduce this story without permission from the author.
Warning:
This story contains mature themes including toxic relationships, manipulation, emotional abuse, violence, and psychological distress. Reader discretion is advised.
The airport is filled with people saying their goodbyes, I love yous, smiles, tears, and the bittersweet feeling of leaving. Either to start a new life or to finally go back home. One kid is helplessly crying while watching her mother disappear into the crowd, never daring to look back. Because looking back will only force her to stay. Somewhere nearby, someone has just returned home after years of being away from family. In her eyes are tears of joy and the overwhelming feeling of finally being home. There are also two people holding each other tightly, gripping their luggages as they prepare to begin their journey together.
She watches it all.
She has always romanticized this part of life, this term they called sonder. The realization that everyone we meet carries a life as complex as our own. She sits quietly on the bench waiting for her flight to be called. Inside her mind is a thunderstorm of thoughts. In her chest is a heavy feeling that begs to be released through tears, but she cannot cry anymore because she is a big girl now. And she cannot go back either because there is nothing left for her to return to.
Suddenly, flashes of home enter her mind. Their small worn out house. Her three siblings whom she had grown deeply attached to. But life happened, and she had to leave. Otherwise, all of them would remain trapped in that place and what she silently calls hell.
That thought brings back so many painful memories. She wonders where her mother is now. The same mother who once said she would only go back to her hometown to take care of the grandparents she had never even met. But she never came back. Instead, she ran away with another man. The very same reason why she herself once wanted to run away from home. What hurt her the most was the excuse. The lie. Pretending it was about family when it was never really about them at all.
Above everything else that had happened in her life, her mother's betrayal remained the most painful. It was her last straw. Her mother had always been her role model growing up, the one person she thought would never leave them behind.
But she also remembered that there had always been too many signs. Like whenever her mother would say, "I am only staying because of the kids." She never knew how to react to those words because somehow it made her feel like their existence was the reason why her mother was suffering.
When she was younger, she used to hate her father so much. But growing up allowed her to finally see things from both sides. Her mother was not the only one hurting in the marriage. She now sees how her father, despite being emotionally distant for most of her life, was also trying in his own way. But the house had long been filled with resentment. Her mother constantly complained about him, spoke badly about him, and then another fight would begin.
The shouting would echo through the neighborhood for everyone to hear, leaving her consumed with shame. It became one of the reasons why she grew up lacking confidence and always afraid of letting people get too close. Deep inside, she feared they would eventually see the kind of home she came from. A home filled with anger, silence, and people endlessly hurting each other.
"Flight number..."
Her thoughts were interrupted as the boarding announcement echoed throughout the airport. A sudden surge of excitement rushed through her, quickly followed by an overwhelming fear. She slowly stood up and made her way toward the boarding gate, each step feeling heavier than the last.
No one came to see her off. Part of her thought it was better this way. No painful goodbyes. No tears. No one watching her leave.
But she was wrong. So wrong.
The moment she finally walked forward, tears began running down her cheeks. Still, her heavy footsteps continued moving ahead as she quietly carried the weight of leaving everything behind.
To Japan.
