A Silent Goodbye

Hikari's gaze was fixed on the torn picture of her and Leyon on the table in the living room of her house. She grabbed the sellotape that was next to the torn photo and got to work. Three minutes later, she accomplished her task. Though the picture didn't look as good as new anymore, at least it was saved. All she needed to do now was to show it to Leyon. Maybe then he'd remember her. The photo was the ultimate proof of their relationship, proof that she had been a part of his life, even though it was for a short while.

Getting up, Hikari turned to leave the house. Delaying any further would only lead her to encounter her father and that was the last thing she wanted.

"Finally back, eh?" came a gruff voice.

Hikari halted her steps. Someone up there must really hate her. Luck was never on her side, and she wondered why.

"Looking at you now, I reckon that boy's not dead," her father taunted. Hikari could picture him standing behind her. "Are you going to see him?" he questioned even though he already knew the answer. "You're not going anywhere, girl."

That day, Hikari deeply regretted ever coming back to her house. What she didn't know was that that day marked only the beginning of what was to come next. She never would've predicted the train of events that would soon follow.

One entire week passed. Leyon had been recovering fairly well. As for his lost memories, there was still no hope. He hadn't met the little girl since that day, but he didn't think much about it. Susan had been persuading him to go back with her to the city; he would have a better chance at life there, she had said. She'd also mentioned something about her office being in the city and how her superiors were now raging at her for neglecting her duties. Apparently, Susan had been away for far too long.

"Are you all set?" Susan asked Leyon who was getting dressed up to leave. The entire week, Susan had been his caretaker. As for Leyon's mental health, there was nothing Susan could do. She was told not to mention anything about how Leyon was brought to the hospital by the girl the night before he was admitted there. The doctor had been hesitant to tell Leyon about the past incidents for fear of negatively impacting his mental health. He'd said it would be dangerous for the boy to force himself to remember events he couldn't recall as it could lead to a disastrous outcome and worsen his condition.

Susan could care less about Leyon's memory loss, though. That wasn't included in her responsibility. Leave it to his luck; if the boy was lucky, his memories would eventually return someday. Besides, the little girl had somehow magically disappeared since that day and never returned. Susan took that as a green light to further execute her plans. What she needed to do now was to take Leyon to the city and put his name under the childcare unit of the orphanage where she worked. That was her job - the sole purpose of her whole trip.

"I'm done. Let's go," Leyon replied, snapping Susan out of her thoughts. Soon, he would be leaving for the city with Susan.

---

"Get in the car. Hey, are you okay?" Susan asked as she was preparing to get into the car. Seeing a hesitant-looking Leyon staring at the road behind him made her stop for a while.

"I'm fine," Leyon replied. He kept staring at the straight open road, his expression unreadable.

"Do you remember something?" Susan asked again.

Leyon shook his head in response. He had long discarded the thought of ever regaining his memories. He felt he didn't need them. Nothing would change in his life even if those memories returned. The doctor told him he lost those memories because his mind didn't want to remember the things that happened prior to that. So, what was the point of trying to remember something he wanted to forget?

"Let's go," Leyon finally said. As he got into the car, his eyes failed to notice the figure of a small girl running toward him from afar.

---

The first thing Hikari did when she finally managed to escape from her father was run to the hospital. She needed to see Leyon. She needed to show him the picture. But by the time she arrived at the hospital, it was already too late. She couldn't find him anywhere. When she met the doctor who treated him, he told her that Leyon had left with Susan.

'It can't be', thought Hikari. 'Leyon... you can't... you can't leave.' Her mind broke down as she felt warm tears cloud her vision.

As soon as Hikari left the hospital, she caught sight of a car parked in the distance and saw a boy who looked a lot like Leyon climb into the vehicle.

Clutching the glued photo in one hand, Hikari ran as fast as her little legs could carry her but the distance between her and the car was too far apart. The further she ran, the further the car sped past, away from her. Even so, she kept trying to reach it until her legs gave up on her. She collapsed on the hard, dirty ground. Covered with cuts and bruises, she lay there helplessly, her legs unable to lift her body off the ground.

"Get up. Get up," Hikari commanded her legs as she willed her mind to get up, but her body responded angrily at her by inflicting more pain instead. Her knees were badly injured, and there were also other open wounds on her body, but she couldn't identify them all at the moment. Feeling weak and powerless, she wasn't able to control the parade of emotions spilling from her chest.

Unable to soothe her aching heart, Hikari finally burst into tears. Tightly clutching the photo to her chest, her bruised fingers digging sharply into her palms, she silently sobbed her heart out in utter agony.