February 10^th 8:00 pm JST

Sendai, Japan

(February 10^th 10:00am CST)

 

 

The next few months were very tense around the house. I had not heard from Emily for over a month and it seemed that Kaden had not agreed to put aside what had happened in the past. Then one day, in late January, I got an e-mail from Emily. Kaden had agreed to meet her, though she said he was hesitant to do so. Yoshie took over from there and it seemed they were exchanging e-mails almost every night. Celeste was not as eager for the meeting. She tried to forget about it, but it seemed that every time she was successful there was some reason for either Yoshie or I to remind her. Kazuo didn’t want anything to do with it, and had even become a bit cold to his sister, whom he was usually overprotective about.

A few days later, those that were in charge of the players had finally agreed to let us help with their move. I was surprised when I received their call to tell me that their house had already been prepared, even though it was still a month before their arrival. So, the next day I went to their offices after work and picked up the key. Of course with all of the formalities it took two hours to do so. I chose not to mention it to Celeste but I didn’t realize how long it was going to take. Because of that my phone had started buzzing half way through. When I had gotten out of the meeting I texted her that I was on my way home, but didn’t tell her why I was late. I walked up the front path slowly looking at the lone key attached to a small tag with my name on it. I stood at the door, took a deep breath, opened the door, and took a step in.

            “Tadaimaaaaaaaa! ” Next thing I knew my cheek was against the floor and my feet were in the air.

            “Shino are you alright?” Celeste had come running into the room worried, but when she saw me she cracked up laughing.

            “When you’re done, I could use some help.” Celeste quickly apologized and lent me a hand. I looked at the mess of boxes I had tripped over, “What are all these?”

            “They came today. From Iowa.” Celeste’s tone quickly changed. “So, why are you so late?” I could tell she wanted to get off the subject and I was a little sad that I couldn’t help her.

            “I had to pick up the key to their house. It’s actually not all that far from here.” I smiled but she just looked away and remained silent.

            “I knew it! They came!” I turned to see Yoshie standing in the entrance behind me with a huge smile on her face.

            “Yoshie, what are you doing home? You should be at cram school!” Celeste scolded her daughter, but it didn’t seem to effect her too much.

            “I just had a feeling their things would come today, and I was right,” Yoshie squealed as she counted the boxes.

            “Fine, you were right, now go to your room and study. You’ve got your entrance exam next week.” Celeste was looking sternly at Yoshie and pointing to the stairs. Yoshie didn’t seem to be listening as she picked up the key I had been carrying earlier.

            “Is this to their house?” Yoshie asked excitedly.

            “Ah, yes, must have dropped  it.” I took the key from her and before I even had the chance to say anything Celeste interfered.

            “NO!” Celeste had put her foot down, but Yoshie wasn’t about to give up.

            “Come on, Mom, please. Tomorrow’s Saturday. There’s no school and I promise to study extra hard on Sunday.” I knew Yoshie wasn’t going to give it up easily, and she had been studying a lot, so I thought I would back her up this once.

            “She could use a break. And we really can’t leave these boxes sitting here.” After I finished speaking, I realized I should have kept my mouth shut. Celeste turned her eyes toward me, and I could feel the electricity burring into my head.

            “Fine. Do what you want. Just don’t come crying to me when you’ve failed your exams!” She turned and stomped into the kitchen. I sighed; it was the couch for me tonight, that was for sure. I turned toward Yoshie, but then I felt it again. The same electrifying eyes were burring into my back. 

            “What is going on down here!?” I turned and right then, I realized Kazuo had gotten most of his personality from his mother!

            “We’re going to take these boxes to Uncle’s house. Want to come?”

            “I’m busy studying, which is something you should be doing too!” Yoshie countered by sticking out her tongue.

            “Come on Yoshie, let’s get these into the car.” I handed Yoshie a box and ushered her outside. One thing I knew in this house was not to make either Celeste or Kazuo mad. They seemed timid and nice on the outside, but once they got mad, watch out.

 

February 10^th 6:00 am CST

Nevada, Iowa

(February 10^th 8:00pm JST)

 

            “Emily, wake up!” I felt someone shaking my shoulder. I didn’t want to wake up, it was so cold. “Emily wake up or I’m going to pour this bucket of snow on you!” I bolted upright and looked at my Mom who stood over me. I quickly looked to her hands and was relieved not to actually see a bucket of snow in them. Mom never made idle threats. I was woken up many times by buckets of snow, ice, and water when I was younger. I looked outside and was a little shocked to see that it was still dark.

            “What time is it?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes.

            “About 6am. Come on, get up and get dressed,” I rubbed my eyes again and looked around at the empty room to get my bearings. There was not a lick of furniture in the room. The fire that had been burning in the fireplace the night before was completely cold. Mercedes was just beside me, and Kaden was on the other side of her. We were curled up on the floor with only some blankets and pillows to sleep with. I started to pull my feet from under the blankets but found them unusually heavy and warm. I looked down and Puddles was laying on them. I pried my legs from under the dog and stood up. That was our last night in that house.

            “Kaden, you too. Time to get up.”

            “Mother, why are you here? We’re not leaving until ten at least!”

            “Not anymore. There’s a big snow storm on the way, and you guys need to get out ahead of it while you can.”

            “Great.”

            “Mercedes, come on honey.” Mom was bent over her granddaughter now. 

            “Did you come alone?”

            “Don’t be silly. Your brother’s in the truck.”

            “I don’t wanna get up, Grams.” Mercedes squirmed as she tried to pull the blankets back over her head.

            “I know, I know. We just need to get you dressed and then you can go back to sleep, hon.”  Mom picked her up and hugged her. “Kaden, once you’re awake, get Bill and load up the chest that you want us to take.”

            “Yes, ma’am,” Kaden yawned as he stood and grabbed some clothes that laid near by. Mom busied herself getting Mercedes dressed while I picked up the blankets and got dressed myself.

            “It’s a two hour drive here. When did you get up?”

            “About four. John’s home from college, he was up watching TV and saw the weather report. I told him last night that you guys were leaving today, so he woke me up.”

            “Hey, sis, there’s a mirror in the garage, too. Did you want us to take that as well?” John asked as he poked his head through the front door.

            “Yes, they go together.”

            “Okay, we about got it loaded then. The wind is picking up, you better get a move on.” I shivered as the wind made its way inside. I quickly looked around in the dark room to make sure nothing had been left behind. When I was certain that everything was packed and ready to go, I pulled on my coat and lugged the rest of our luggage out to the truck. The ground was already covered in snow and the wind was bitterly cold. Mother came out a second later carrying Mercedes with Puddles following them.  I had just started the truck and turned the heaters on when Mom brought Mercedes to me.

            “Mercedes, dear, you have one job before you can go back to sleep. Remember?” Mercedes looked up at me sleepily and then dropped her head. “You know we have to. He can’t come with us.” Mercedes nodded and Mom put her down. Puddles immediately started licking her face and she hugged the dog.

            “Come on, Puddles, we’re going for a ride.” She took the dog by the collar and led it do the pick up that was now laden down with a chest and mirror. John opened the door to the truck and Mercedes climbed in. She called for Puddles to join her and the dog obediently followed. She hugged him again while John attached a leash to his collar and then tied the leash to the inside of the truck. I walked over to her and she crawled into my arms crying. I carried her back to our truck as Puddles strained on his leash, trying to follow and then started to bark when he found he couldn’t.

            I buckled Mercedes into her booster seat and shut the door. Kaden hugged Mom and then got into the drivers seat. I was crying by this point. Who knew when I would see my family again. I hugged Mom and John, and wished I could have seen my other two brothers and my father as well, but I was lucky that John had come at all.

"You be careful," My mother whispered tearfully as she hugged me.

"You too."

"Be good Sis. I'll make sure Puddles is taken care of."

"Thank you John."

"Call us when you get there!" I nodded and then I got into the truck and shut the door.

            “Are you ready?” I looked over at Kaden and nodded. He put the truck into gear and we pulled out of the driveway. John and Mom were right behind us, but they turned the other direction. I watched as their taillights disappeared into the dark. I was unsure of what our future was going to be like from that point on, and I was worried what was going to happen when Kaden finally met up with his past.