Arriving

Clouds and scenery zoomed by. Green, white, blue- it was all just a blur. Big billboards- unreadable. Houses propped like pebbles, and cars moving like ants.

He wished to sleep, to run away from the assaulting thoughts, yet the people scrunched nearby, seemed to act as guardsman, forcing him to face his fears.

Struggles that were created by his sense of guilt, piles of regrets. He himself knew that his four years of studies were essentially wasted. There was little he could do with what he had learned as he had no qualifications, which was deemed by his missing degree and plaque.

The food served for him tasted stale, lacking the desired flavors. The seatbelt acted as a lock, constricting the little freedom he had left. The seats in front acted as the prison bars, with the AC overhead starring as the god of judgement.

No one knew him here, and he knew no one. Nothing was related to his name, besides his ticket and passport which had the printed name of Jay Kaiya. A name gifted from his dead parents.

The last name was inherited from his dad, which meant forgiveness in Japanese. Yes... He truly wished to be forgived and pardoned... Jay reminded of his last name, added a bitter taste in his throat.

The small television screen installed in the back of the seat in front of him, gave him free access to movies and shows, which essentially was the only source of entertainment to seek on this vessle. Seeing the title covers of these popular videos, it just added to his inner turmoil.

He majored in media, studying inside a top tier university, alas... he couldn't even recieve an advertisement offer... He could not help but feel a little jealous and envious of the people on the screen, even with his calm demeanor.

The only other option on the screen was to listen to music or to see where the plane is currently in the world. He listened to the music earlier however, the songs all felt somewhat average which helped aggregate his thoughts.

So now all there was to accompany him was the GPS icon showing how much time was left on his flight, but he also had to transit twice which would end up prolonging the torture.

To him, it seemed as if years had passed, though in truth it was only hours. But, seconds felt like days, and minutes like weeks.

Sooner than he knew it, he already arrived at Okinawa, Japan. It was where he had grown up since middle school, as that was around the time his parents had left.

After staying away for four years though, the island of Okinawa felt foreign to him. Once outside the air plane, a fast wave of moisture hit his skin.

It felt uncomfortable as it made the temperate climate feel hotter than California, but at the same time, it was also nostalgic to Jay Kaiya.

This was where he had grown up for half his life, where he played as a little kid. Running in small parks and hiding during the typhoons. Memories...

They were only memories now though... He was now a young adult at the age of 22. He was old compared to the little him.

22 was still younger than the other young adults around him though, as he lived in America before he moved to live at his Grandma's place. Since he moved from America, he ended up skipping 2 grades because of the difference in education. This enabled him to graduate highschool at 18 years of age instead of 20, which is the common highschool graduation age for Japanese students.

It was somewhat hard to transition the differences of languages, but luckily his dad taught him Japanese to him growing up. This enabled him to transition the difference of settings and even not to worry about English class. However, history replaced his comfort as it was very difficult to him who knew nothing about the history which was common sense here, but these matters are all in the past now.

He was no longer a child. He had to confront the real world now. A world with little emotion and little care.

Jay felt hungry after the long flight. Sadly he couldn't afford to eat as he was almost went virtually broke to buy the plane tickets to get here. Even though it was the evening, and around when people ate supper, due to his circumstances he planned to eat at his Grandmother's place.

He had no luggage as all his belongings fit in his carry-on bag. So he skipped the baggage claim, and headed straight out the airport.

The air outside felt fresh, and you could even smell the sea nearby. The air was mixed with a hint of salt, fitting the feeling of a vacation spot. However, the humidity conflicted with the atmosphere, as it made his clothes feel sticky due to the sweat from the earlier flights. The humidity and moisture just made it more hot in this Summer weather.

Quickly hopping into the nearest cab, he threw his backpack inside and faced the AC towards him. Only after feeling the cool breeze did Kaiya give the taxi driver his Grandmother's address.

The car felt small for his height of 5'9'', but it was big enough not to be cramped. The driver seemed to not be much of a talker making the drive silent. Other than the sound of the engine in the front, there was basically no other sound.

Okinawa was a small island towards the South of Japan, with the size of 466 square miles. Neverless, even with its small land mass, it had a huge population of around 1.5 million, despite its size.

Everywhere buildable was already being used for some purposes. Residential areas were cramped from being built side to side, or stacked acting as apartments.

Commercial areas were better as it was more spacious in its surroundings, neverless was still cramped as owners availablized all the space they owned. It was common to see tiny parking spaces built on hills that tilt 40 degrees, if the space was owned by the owner and connected to the road. No space was left unused.

The streets were also small as all the land was being used. Driving streets were usually two laned, with main streets and the highway that went around the island being 3 lanes. The streets heading off into the sides were commonly 1 laned or even half a lane at times. The side streets leading into residential areas were frequently narrow and often a little dangerous.

Those streets regularly climbed hills, tight corners, and like a maze with many small connections and stoppages. At times they were even next to small cliffs with railings half broken being torn by the weather.

Generally no one dared to drive in those areas during storms. Even when the climate was clear, few people used these shortcuts unless it was where they lived.

The outer appearance of buildings in residential areas, were in many cases looked beaten by the storms that passed by. Some places even had tiny cracks here and there, while weeds grew everywere that was not taken care of. The buildings oftenly had a whitish appearance, or a faded color as few people bothered to repaint them.

Driving from the airport, the light clear blue sea disappeared, replaced with interesting buildings and ads which gradually became duller. The bigish streets slowly became tinier. Eventually the car drove onto a small side street up hill.

Getting closer to his destination, his heart constricted. Everything was different to his daily life he had gotten used to. Even the cars drove on the left side of the street and not the right.

He was already lacking sleep and was hellishly tired. All his emotions he locked away since he had left campus started to boil. He was not sure what to say at all to his grandmother... How shall he explain? Will she dislike or be disgusted by him? He was not sure of anything at all anymore.

The cab than reached its final destination. Stressed, Jay payed the man and exited the car as it drove off, staring at the dilapidated environment surrounding him. His emotions were in turmoil, and he couldn't catch his breath at all.

"Oh is that you Jay?"

Then came a bright old voice interupting his thoughts. Looking at the neighboring house, he saw a kind elderly women doing the laundry in her small backyard which faced his grandmother's house.

Smiling a little Jay replied to her.

"Yes Granny Jin, I'm back from America"

Smiling back, the woman glanced towards the building next to her.

"Well its good to see you back. Its nice for you to care for that place", after replying she picked up the clothes and headed back inside.

With the small interlog, Jay's heart calmed down. Gripping the straps on his backpack, he walked towards the gate facing him.

He opened the dull metal gate himself. The gate swung sideways, and once entering, he reclosed the gate, and lodged the metal pole acting as a lock. It was aged, so it was somewhat difficult to close as he had not done it in a long time.

Looking at the faded colors of the brick wall connecting to the front gate, he turned and went forward the few steps needed to be done to reach the door. It was only 10 steps, but it felt difficult for him to accomplish.

He passed the old beaten down plants in their clay pots which decorated the lonesome house, and stood underneath the dim lighting of the door covered by a small roof to block off the rain from.

The doorbell was only a hands reach, yet it seemed like a vast chasm. Taking a deep breath Jay reached out his hand to touch the switch.

Beeee-     Beeee-

A somewhat creepy high pitched sound echoed in the house. It sounded wierd, but it felt like home for him.

Something creaked slowly towards the door before stopping. The door gradually opened outwards as he was waiting beneath the dim lighting in agony. The old granny who opened the door had a surprised look on her face as she gawked at the lad in front of him.

Gazing at the elderly face now full of wrinkles and white hair in front of him, Jay's inner chaos ceased. All his worries were gone, and what he spoke out was from his heart.

"I'm back Granny..."

The Granny's face became a smile as she beckoned her grandson inside, and gave space for him to enter.

"Welcome home."

Once Jay Kaiya entered his Granny's house, his grandmother closed the door with her hand which weared a white ring made of unknown properties.

Once the door closed, the dim lighting in front of the house disappeared as the evening sky deepened into the night.