Chapter 1

Age 4

It was a sunny day, Kyo and his family were out on a family picnic. Kyo and his sister, Clara were casually playing on the grass , while their parents chatted with each other. After a while, both of them began walking further away from where their family was seated. "Clara, please give it back! I don't like it when you take things," Kyo pleaded.

"No!" Clara ran away, sticking her tongue out with a cookie that Kyo had in his hand. After chasing her, she just ate the cookie, which made Kyo burst into tears.

Clara ran back to their parents, leaving Kyo crying alone, away from his parents. He even lost sight of his sister. 

Two men noticed this and saw an opportunity to kidnap the child of the wealthy couple who lived in Fukushima, Japan. So they seized the moment. One of the men grabbed Kyo and ran off while the other followed. Unaware of what was happening, Kyo's parents remained oblivious.

"Clara dear, where did you run off to with your brother?" asked their mother. "Oh mommy, that is a secret!" she giggled. "But Clara, I have to know that. Concerned, the mother insisted, "What if someone takes him?" Making a displeased face, Clara pointed to the way they were running to.

Clara and her mother returned to where they were playing but couldn't find Kyo. "Maybe he got lost, mommy?" the mother said, growing suspicious, and decided to search for her son, carrying her daughter with her.

"What should we do with the boy, actually? Like maybe let him sit on a chair while we pretend his life is in danger or something?" The man with a beard suggested.

 "There is no need to go that far," his bald accomplice replied as he looked at him with disgust. "The child is just a child. We were told to just take the child and we'll get the money."

Kyo was terrified. Why would anyone try to kidnap him in the first place? The men kept walking to avoid suspicion from the public. They looked like a father, uncle and son. Tears streamed down Kyo's face as he cried, drawing the attention of bystanders. When they were almost out of the park, Kyo mustered the courage to speak up. "Why are you kidnapping me? Why are you doing this?"

Before he could blink, Kyo was already on the ground. It hurt. "Shut up before someone gets hurt," the bearded man warned, pulling out a gun from his pocket. Kyo was terrified, but felt that something was off, not able to put his finger on it.

 "Stop scaring the child. If something major happens to the kid, we won't get the money, or worse, we'll be killed." the bald man interjected. Kyo couldn't hold it in and pleaded. "Please stop it! It is not nice to fight with friends, even if you two are the bad guys!"

"What an annoying kid." The bearded man muttered, kicking Kyo to the ground again. "Keep talking and I will shoot someone," he threatened, pulling Kyo's arm. 

"Isn't this going too far?" the bald man questioned.

"No," the bearded man replied.

"Mister bad guy, please I am sorry, don't do this." The bearded man pulled kyo hard towards himself. "Didn't you hear me? I said that I will shoot someone if you started talking again." 

He withdrew himself. 

"You really piss me off, do you want to draw attention and ruin the job?" Now the bald man pulled a gun, except he pointed it at his mate. "What if I just pull this trigger while this thing is pointed at your brain?" 

This caused Kyo to bawl again. 

"This child is extremely annoying, let me just... No I will just-" He pointed the gun at a nearby lady.

Before Kyo could comprehend the situation, the lady was lying on the ground in a pool of blood. He felt guilty, as if it were his fault for speaking. He remembered a similar feeling when he accidentally broke a milk carton at home. This time, though, the consequences were dire, and he couldn't move or make a sound. The pool of blood grew and grew. The more it grew, Kyo started to realise the situation. This happened because he talked. It was all him. His fault. The bystander looks young, maybe even old enough to be his mother. What if because of his careless behaviour, his mother had died? Well a woman who, most likely also has a family, got shot. 

"Why did you do that?" The bald man yelled. "It is all your fault if we don't get the money. No, if I don't get the money." Why did this feel like a cartoon to him? 

As Kyo watched in horror, both men collapsed to the ground, lifeless. Kyo remained silent as chaos ensued around him, people screaming and calling for help.

Oh, they all died because of me , because I talked. 

"Oh my what is this?!"

"Why is there a child with them, someone please take the child away from there!"

"Call the police!"

The sky was forming dark clouds, those clouds quickly were pouring down their tears. To Kyo it felt like the sky was crying for him, since he couldn't do a thing. He felt like he couldn't do anything at all, not even feel. 

The rain made a loud sound, the sound of the rain made him think of the shots that were made some minutes earlier. 

Pang, pang, pang.

Someone approached him from behind, which made Kyo flinch. 

"Don't be scared, I won't harm you." An old woman. "It's such a shame isn't it? The weather turned sour, when it was sunny an hour ago!" Kyo just stared at the woman, terrified of what just happened. 

"What is your name, dear? Mine is Theresa. Mio Theresa, I am only half Japanese."

When Kyo wanted to reply, he opened his mouth, but there wasn't any sound coming out. His heart sunk.

"It's okay dear, take your time."

The woman took him to the sidewalk where he could be dry and covered from the rain.

When he tried to reply again, he thought back on what happened. 

Talk again and I'll shoot.

If he started talking again, would this woman die as well?

"Where are your parents? Are they nearby? Do you know that at least?" 

Kyo couldn't say a word. 

The woman went still, she thought of other ways to find out more to help the boy.

Kyo just stood there, still looking at the bodies. An ambulance and the police came. When he was looking at one of the officers, he could see a pistol in his holster. Kyo's hands reached to his ears, he closed his eyes and made himself small. 

Even if, by then, the bodies already disappeared from his sight, it was like they were still there, but bigger. With his closed eyes, he couldn't stop seeing those dead bodies. 

His heart kept racing. Suddenly a hand touched him from behind, a big hand, for some reason it felt familiar to him. 

Everything went black.

***

Kyo opened his eyes in a light room, he sat up and observed the room. 

Am I in a hospital? 

The door opened and he saw a man, who looked like a doctor and his dad. His dad speeded up towards him and embraced him. "Are you okay? It was scary wasn't it?" Kyo clenched his fist onto the clothes of his father. 

Those men won't come and kill my dad now, right? 

"Don't worry, the police are investigating the incident, and you don't have to worry, I will protect you, and won't lose sight of you anymore, alright?" 

A nod. 

Kyo just kept hugging his dad when water kept flowing from his eyes.

One thing was for sure, he would never forget the faces of the people who were shot, nor would he ever fully recover from this.