Thursday 25th of April 2020. Kim sat on the lower cylindrical metallic bar surrounding the lake, using the upper bar to block her body from falling in the lake and gazed in the emptiness of the deep waters, tears streaming down her cheeks. It was the day she had lost her parents and brother, but also the day she had been separated from her younger sister. It was the 11th year since that day, the eve of her birthday.

Kim was born from a caring couple but had lived only five years of happiness with them. She couldn't even recall her parent's name or face. The only ones she remembered were her brother, her dead brother and her younger sister of whom she only knew little.

Her parents had been invited to dinner with some colleagues and had had to leave the children alone. That night was engraved in her very soul and it felt as if it was the night before. The very thought of that night sent shivers down her spine as she broke down into an endless overflowing river.

Her brother had wanted to watch boxing program on the television but the girls wanted to watch cartoons. The television was placed on a sharp cornered rectangular wooden table. The children pulled the remote control with determination to watch their chosen program but the silver haired boy lost balance and his head hit the corner of the table before he blanked out with a thump on the floor in a sitting position, with a trail of blood following his movement.

In shock, the girls dropped the remote control and stared at him, hands over their mouth. They didn't know what to do. They never talked to the people in the neighborhood so they didn't know if they could call for help. Their heart racing, they threw themselves on their big brother and pleaded in between their cries for him to open his eyes, but they never saw, his turquoise pupils ever again. With each passing moment his breathing became more and more hoarse. The girls kept sobbing but understood they could do nothing to help him. He was getting paler and paler with each second. They hugged him closely and felt his last exhale as they broke down into yells of agony.

The neighbours barged in. They had seen the car leaving the yard but had never thought the children would be left in the house alone. They stopped dead in dumbfoundment as their gaze landed on the trio. An elderly woman burst into tears when she saw the teary face of the girls. She approached and kneeled down besides them. The girls tightened their grip on the corpse of their brother, fearing the adults might take him away. The woman placed her hands on their shoulder and shook her head sadly. Two young ladies pulled them from the boy and brought them to their room. The girls had no strength to protest and followed the women gazing back at Toshiro with blurry eyes. They stood behind the couch while the men called the police and their parents.

Their parents gave no answer but the police arrived quickly. Upon the arrival of the officers, Tamika hid behind the woman who was holding her hand. Kim stood still, her gaze down, tears drip dropping on the floor. She didn't even notice the arrival of the police officers. Everyone was confused as to why the parents were not answering the calls but then the talkie walkie of one of the officers beeped. He answered it and everyone heard the news.

The Hitsugaya couple had met with an accident and had been discovered dead fifteen minutes later. The news fell like a house's mass on their heads as both girls broke down. The elderly woman ran to them and hugged both of them tightly as she too broke down. Everyone apart from the officers were crying.

Wiping her tears, Kim went to one of the officers and rugged at his pants. He kneeled down on one foot and looked at her. The words she said to him flooded his heart as his eyes reddened before he too sobbed along with his colleague.

"Kim wants Mama, papa and shiro"

The cries of the officer was enough to bring tears back to her eyes as she crashed her forehead in his shoulder and sobbed. More police officers arrived in a car followed by an ambulance. The nurses were about to bring the bodies inside but one of the officers rushed out and explained what had happened. No one could believe it. The adults preferred not to shatter the windows more by bringing the corpses in the house.

The women explained to the girls that their brother would be taken somewhere nice and asked them to say goodbye to him. No one could bear the sight of a last hug, some last few whispered words and the word goodbye but they had to be strong. The body was taken out and brought away for burial.

No one knew what to do with the children. They refused to eat and stayed seated on the ground where their brother had been in his last moments. After two hours they fell asleep due to exhaustion. The sun was rising. The adults still didn't know what to do with the kids. The elderly woman called her son who accepted to adopt the youngest and give her a better start but he couldn't accommodate Kim. He said it would be hard as he already had a daughter of his own. The necessary arrangements were made. Kim was explained that Tamika will live with new parents and asked them to say goodbye to each other before the flight.

"Why?" was all she could say. The adults said it was best to make her forget about being sad. Kim understood but shook her head when it was time for her to meet her sister one last time. They had already been separated during the day when Tamika had gone shopping. Kim wouldn't support it. She sat heavily on her bed and cried. It was the day of her birthday, the 26th of April 2011. The adults told Tamika that Kim went to a new home already. Tamika sent Kim a card and a small teddy bear as birthday gift through one of the officers. He promised to take them to her sister later that day.

When they were at the airport, Kim had slept herself to sleep again. The officer came to the room, placed the gifts near her and sat on a chair waiting for her to wake up. When she woke, the first thing she saw was the drawing on the card and she immediately broke. It was hard for her. She had not been ready for happiness on her birthday. The officer approached and patted her shoulder before pinpointing to the name at the bottom of the drawing. He too could not utter a word. The cries doubled when the bear was noticed. She brought it to her heart and cried. The officer went out of the room as he too broke to tears.

After that, a cake was brought to the living room. It was Tamika's wish for her sister to have a cake cutting celebration on her birthday. When Kim arrived, everyone was already sobbing. They knew how the girl would take the surprise. They knew she would break. The officer in particular was already down. He had been since the last day the most affected adult of all the others. The words of the child kept looping in his head each second.

Kim saw the cake, and as expected broke. The banners and balloons saddened her more. One of them read.

" Happy birthday Kim from mama, papa, Shiro and Mika!!"

She was shaking. Kim realised it was high time she stopped crying. She forced herself to be strong. She had to do it for her family. To everyone's surprise, she aggressively wiped her tears and beamed at them. Smilently, the cake was cut and shared. Kim had to make a wish as she blew off the the candles.

" I wish mama, papa, Shiro and Mika to be happy where they are"

This was said solemnly as tears flooded her eyes again. No one wanted to eat, but Kim lead the way as she forced herself to eat through her tears. The company where her parents worked made special arrangements for her. She would stay in her parent's house until she was able to take over the company. She had personal assistants to live with her and to protect her.

She grew up to a teenager, but was always seen crying on the same two days every year before she went back to normal. She took these days off school every year. It was as if she allowed herself to show her real emotions these days before she grows to a strong person again. She never met nor talked to her sister but she never forgot about her. No one told her where her parents and brother were buried in fear it might break her even more. No one wanted her to go to the graves and be sad every day.

The company could not pay for everything she needed, thus she took some part time jobs to help her. She worked every day after school hours. She kept herself busy so as not to have time to feel sad although her heart ached every second. She never overcame her sadness so the only way was to keep herself busy. She worked in a restaurant after school till eight o'clock and then as a typist at home until 3 o'clock in the morning. She didn't take tuitions and spent the remaining four hours in doing her incomplete homework or in sleep. She never accepted friends and thus had all her free time to do her homework during school hours. She knew she would be busy at night until morning, thus she did her best to complete all her work beforehand.

Author's note :

I swear I've been bawling my eyes out while writing this chapter. I literally spent two hours crying. The ost hits real hard along the chapter. Hope you like it. Also do tell me if it was that sad or if I'm just overeating cause I swear I really cried while typing this. I started at I think 10.30 and ended at 12.08,literally midnight.