The world stopped. Everything I had ever known about my aunt seemed to disappear, my thoughts about her floated right out of my head and into the air. Suddenly, things didn’t seem so happy anymore. The sky was clouding over and the rustle of cherry blossom petals floating in the wind made me want to shudder, It looked like it might even rain.
Tora didn’t speak when she heard the boy call her mom, she didn’t cry, she didn’t even seem to notice the darkness that Tengoku was turning to. All she did was run, right into his arms. She held onto him like she would never be able to hug someone again, her dress blowing in the eery breeze.
“Jude, my son!! I’ve missed you ever since the day you were taken away from me.” My aunt whispered to him.
Well this was confusing. Tora never mentioned she had a son, she never even mentioned she had a husband! How was I supposed to believe this was her own living breathing child? Even then, the boy named Jude mirrored the exact same reflection his mother did. They had the same dark eyes, the same nose, the same everything if that was even possible. I had never seen a parent and a child look so similar, but it was so beautiful.
“Mom,” The young man whispered again. His short black hair cupping to the sides of his glasses. “I have to tell you so much… It’s been so long since I’ve seen you.”
“Baby please, you must tell me everything,” Tora’s crooning was soft and quiet. Tears trickled down her face as she made an effort to wipe her son’s away. "I need to know how you got here… I need to inform the police you're safe-”
“I’ll tell you, b-but… Can’t I just hold you for a moment? I never thought I’d see you again…” Jude began to cry harder, yearning for his mother’s touch.
Tora hushed him, rubbing his back like she would to a child. “I’m sorry… It’s never going to happen again my love. I don’t know how you got here or where you’ve been, or even how many bad things you’ve been through, but I’m here now. Don't cry…”
It didn’t take long for the two of them to realize Millie and I were standing right there too, sticking out amongst the emotional scene like sore thumbs. “Tora! You never told us you had a son!” My sister gasped.
“I didn’t need to tell you,” Our aunt replied solemnly. “I hoped I’d forget about the years I raised him. I didn’t want to remember the pain…”
“The pain of what?” I asked abruptly. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best question to ask in the moment. Now was not the time to provoke Tora, especially when she was so delicate like this. Her hair had fallen out of it’s tangled bun, it was long and reached down to her hips, making her look instantly younger. I knew at this point she was in her early 40’s, yet suddenly she looked like my mother, wise and mature looking yet slim and as precious as a gemstone.
“Mom,” Jude cut in before Aunt Tora could manage to speak. “I know I need to explain things, and I know you probably do too, but not in the open like this. We’re being hunted as we speak… Let’s just talk about everything at my apartment, it’s safe there. It looks like it might rain anyway, and if I know anything about living in Tengoku… That’s not good.”
Jude’s mother didn’t need an explanation, she simply nodded and we left.
. . .
I held my breath as we walked threw numerous people, the sun was setting behind black storm clouds. None of us dared to speak a word, there was only one sound heard in all of Tengoku…
Rumble, rumble rumble.
The thunder made it’s threatening warning. It was not going to leave us be till the rain started to pour from the clouds. We ran up the staircase of an apartment, I couldn’t tell if it looked creepy because of the darkening sky or if it had always seemed that way.
“This way,” Jude said as he unlocked a door to one of the apartments. “Welcome to where I live, Mom.”
His small home was warm, a wonderful escape from the cold outside. There was his kitchen, his living room, and one bedroom. On his windowsill there lay a black cat beside a succulent plant, her eyes drifted lazily out of the window without a care in the world.
“A KITTY!” Millie gasped as she ran to the window. My sister picked the cat up as she meowed in protest, looking at her owner with annoyance.
“Be careful,” Jude said. “Mango doesn’t like to get cuddles very often.”
“You named your cat Mango?” I asked, giving a funny look at this stranger who was apparently my aunt’s son. He shrugged. I guess a tropical fruit was a fitting name for a pet in his opinion.
Tora hadn’t moved since we’d come inside the apartment, She touched her hand to the wall and whispered every so quietly, “My child… You’re so grown up now.”
Her son motioned for her to come sit on the couch where Millie already was, cradling Mango like a baby. The black cat batted at my twin’s face as she continued to meow in protest of being snuggled.
"So who even are you?" I asked to the young adult, taking a seat beside my sister.
Instead of him speaking, Tora took a deep breath and prepared herself to tell us everything.
First, she told her son how my sister and I were his cousins, and how we had been sent to Tengoku. She told us how she didn’t let Jude see any of his relatives, and nether did Jín let anyone see her children. “We were a broken family filled with hatred towards one another.” My aunt had said.
Then she told of her own past. She spoke about how her husband had died eighteen years ago from a terrible disease, and when she found out she was pregnant he was already gone. My aunt had to raise her son by herself, and on top of that Jín and her parents refused to help her.
“But Jude has always loved robotics, it’s been his passion from the start.” Tora said. “He loved to build and code things too, so when he was eleven I took him to my job at Motoyo inc where he could watch people do programming. I left him alone for just a few minutes to ask a friend for something, but when I came back… My baby was gone.” My aunt’s eyes flickered with pain, I could tell how much she didn’t want to recall her past memories.
“Did someone… Kidnap him?!” Millie asked desperately. She was no longer playing with the cat in content, her hands trembled as she watched the only aunt she’d ever known wipe tears off her cheeks, trying so hard to keep her composer.
“That’s what I thought too,” Jude’s mother said. “Motoyo had a humongous investigation that even made the news, the police came and searched everywhere, but it was as if my son had disappeared into thin air…”
Jude’s face looked heartbroken. He crossed his arms and held himself for a moment before looking at his mother.
“Someone did kidnap me, just not in the way you would think. I remember this woman with blonde hair taking me to a room, and then she closed a door behind me. All I saw was blackness and it felt like I was falling. But then… I ended up here, in Tengoku. I’ve been living here for seven years now and I’ve never once found a way out. Earlier today I saw the woman again, this time she was coming out of a train station, holding a gun in her hand. She saw me and so I ran, all the way back here.. And then I found you.” Tora’s son said as he recited the day’s events.
My heart skipped a beat. “Wren Nilsen… Sh... SHIBUYA!” I screamed, practically jumping off the couch. “Jude, you were at the Shibuya station earlier?!”
My big cousin nodded. “Just outside of it. I was looking for something to eat, honestly.”
“She took you from me, but why?!” Tora wailed, holding her son’s hand. Everything seemed to be a mess, my relatives' voices went up in chaos.
I thought hard. First, Miss Nilsen had been my mother’s friend back in their school years, they eventually got the same job working at Motoyo. Then she had tried to get my father’s attention, but was blown off when she found out Jín was dating him. She sabotaged my parents by putting a bomb in my hand and locking Millie and I in Tengoku for who knows how long. That was all I had learned thus far.
“Wren hates the Motoyo family,” I murmured, putting the pieces together. “She hates every one of us, she’s tried so many times to blackmail us all!”
“That’s probably why she did that to Jude… To get revenge on Tora.” Millie said. “Gosh, what is Wren’s problem with Japanese boys?!”
Jude shrugged, waving his hands in confusion.
We talked on and on for the rest of the stormy night, making plans on how we could defeat Miss Nilsen. Millie had fallen asleep on Jude’s arm and Mango had decided to wander over by me. My eyelids felt heavy and tired, and I couldn’t stop yawning every minute.
Today had been quite the day, and I was sure none of us could ever forget it. Somewhere, back in real Tokyo, my mother was waiting for me. I wondered if she missed me as much as I did her. Tora and her son kept on chattering, making up for seven years worth of missed conversations. As for me, I closed my eyes and listened to their voices, the thunder and rain that poured from the sky lulled me. Soon enough I was asleep, escaping the mayhem that life brings.
ns 172.69.6.54da2
and then Add to home screen.