2 Prologue: Hanako’s Perspective

narrator | hanako

"A summer wind whips through the air and the

trees

Lightning dabbles the sky

like a quick paint brush

Creating a Mold-like painting

Tree limbs bend as the wind moves through them

The sky lightens up from the electric charge

moving through

The air fills with the sound of thunder

Tapping its drums and cymbals

The sky turns a greenish color

Trouble is coming.

A summer storm is fast approaching

Playing the wind chimes outside like a musical

instrument.

As they clang back and forth to the rhythm of the

wind.

Announcing the arrival of the storm

Heavy rain starts offering a soothing drink fo the

earth.

Summer wind"

"This was the last poem my dad wrote before he past in the Tokyo Gas Accident, 3 years ago today" Hanako says while looking at her family picture.

It happened right at the start of the year 2001.

Right on dot with the clock striking midnight and heralding not just a new year, but a new century and a new millennium.

Huge crowds gathered across the world to celebrate modern human history graduating to this new age.

It was a time of new beginnings.

And a time of new disasters.

My parents had planned for a picnic to start the new year, just us, Father, Mother, my Brother and I.

We had gotten there, enjoying the time we had together and just as we were about to leave…..

Four armed men showed up at the park, guns blazing, bullets hitting everyone in sights. Dad grabbed us all, but something was wrong. Mom, who had just left, to the closest supermarket to get more drinks.

We ran as fast as we could to the car park but unknown to us, there were two other armed men at the park entrance.

A gun shot went out as we were running, only to see that Father had stopped in his tracks, he had been shot by one of the armed men at the entrance.

About to run to Father, a laser was pointed at me, which hinted that he won't be hesitated to shoot.

From the entrance, Mother hit one of them in the head, and the other one hit mother in the stomach.

She yelled at us to run, my brother ran but I froze, I couldn't bring myself to run away.

"HANAKO, RUNNNNN!!!" again Mother yelled.

I ran as fast as I could, until I heard about the er gun shot, I turned , to see that Father had blocked and taken another bullet.

I screamed at the top of my voice, running towards Mother, as they were turning to also shoot Mother, but luckily the Police Force arrived.

The armed men ran away while the policemen chased them.

I ran towards Dad, my brother was in hiding, and my mom was making her report with one of the policemen that stayed back.

By the time I got to dad, he was already at his last breath.

"It's okay Hanako, I'll be alright"

"I love you"