Quick little author's note...:
___ = Name
H/C = Hair colour
E/C = Eye colour
F/C = Favourite colour or just a colour
Bolded letters mean A/N and any sentence in italics is you thinking to yourself (Ex: Just what the hell is she doing?)
-End A/N-

||: My Life Sucks, How About Yours? :||

Looking back on it now, life is a wild roller coaster of ups and downs.

"___ come help out in the kitchen will you!" I placed a bookmark in my novel and hopped off my bed.

"Coming!" I shouted out as I ran downstairs to see Papa getting spices out of the cupboard. "Are we having your special curry?!" My eyes sparkled as Papa smiled down at me.

"Your intuition is good as always." Giving me a pat on the head I went to fetch the stool from under the sink and help out with cooking. We hummed our favourite opening song from Food Wars! as we cooked. Mama came into the kitchen and did something but my eyes were covered when it happened.

"I'm home!" Kana's voice rang throughout the house as the door shut behind her. "Welcome back darling!" Mama called out, leaving the kitchen to give her eldest daughter a hug.

"Nee-saaaaaan!" I jumped down and ran circles around my big sister. She gave me a big hug before sending me back to the kitchen. I looked around to find Papa nowhere.

"Papa...?" I grew worried when he didn't answer. "Eeeek!" A white cloth was wrapped around me as my little feet lifted off the ground. A snicker came from behind that sounded like Papa.

"You forgot your apron again." A quick noogie from him and we were back to cooking.

"Order up!" I walked out with a tray holding four dishes. Mama's and Kana's faces changed instantly smelling the fragrance coming from the traditional curry. Papa snuck up behind me and stole the tray placing it on the table.

"Itadakimasu!" We chanted while placing our hands together. Digging in and practically scarfing down the curry, I quickly cleaned my plate and rushed back up to my room, picking up my novel from earlier and continued to read.

This was a normal day in the Jones-Honda household. My name's ___ Honda and I live with my mother Amelia Jones and my father Kiku Honda. I have one sibling who is 6 years older than me, her name is Kana Honda! I love them so very much! I'm a 6th grader who loves to read books and learn. I also have a thing for action movies with lots of explosions. I don't have any friends and spend my time studying and drawing during recess. I get invited to go out and play by the other girls but I'm not very athletic and would just end up embarrassing myself, so I stay indoors.

Yawning, I check the time and tell myself it was time for bed. I grabbed my favourite stuffed panda, whom I named Yao Chin, and snuggled into my blankets, falling fast asleep. My dream that night was another nightmare...

Waking up in an unknown place is scary, that's what I told myself. A gun shot fired and I let out a small shriek of terror. Looking to my right, two boys appeared one holding the gun that had fired off. They began speaking to me in a language I didn't understand, which scared me quite a bit. I was sitting on a hard concrete floor in what looked like an abandoned building. One of the boys shouted something and out came a lot of scary looking men. They all had suits and guns or knives. I scooted as far back as I could into a corner, cowering in fear. The two boys came closer and I could make out a few of their features. The one on the left have honey brown eyes that held a dangerous kindness behind them, while the one on the right had piercing olive eyes that made you freeze in place. The olive-eyed one leaned in close to my face and pressed his gun to my head, then, in perfect English, said... "Now little girl, where is your father, Kiku Honda hiding?" His voice held a sharp malice and was as cold as ice.

A hard slap woke me up and my eyes shot open. Kana stared at me extremely worriedly. I tried to ask her what was wrong but a coughing fit began. Why does my throat hurt so much? She gave me a glass of water and I quickly downed it. Mama and Papa came into the room so after.

"Oh my precious baby what happened?" Mama hugged my head close, causing me to get lost in her large breasts. They waited for me to respond while I regained my breath.

"I had another nightmare..." I began. "But it was different than the others. This one was more real than them. Nothing was out of place or abnormal, it seemed too much like real life..." I trailed off at the end of my sentence thinking about something more horrifying. If that was a dream... How were they speaking a language I've never even heard before?

Papa gave me a sympathetic look. "What exactly made it so terrifying that you would scream and cry in your sleep?" Huh? I had no idea I was screaming... I explained to them how they were speaking a language I've never heard before and how they asked about Papa and the gun being pointed at me. I noticed Papa's expression change as I spoke but didn't say anything about it.

"Would you like to skip school today darling?" Mama asked me. I slowly nodded my head and held Yao Chin, my stuffed panda, close. I spent the day with Mama watching my favourite movies while Papa was at work and Kana at school.

I wish I knew what that dream meant at the time and that today would permanently change my life for the worse.

The rest of the day was chaos. Papa came home early and Mama went from happy cheerful to calling frantically on her cellphone. Papa rushed me to my room and told me to pack all of the favourite clothing and stuff in my suitcase. Kana came home and was ushered upstairs to do the same. Mama and Papa quickly followed suit and before long we were in the car driving to the airport. Papa told us the situation, I didn't quite get it at the time, but I could tell it was bad.

Papa's company had gone bankrupt suddenly from a scam within and we had to move out of our home and go to Mama's home country.

"Why do we have to leave?" I asked innocently as my father gave a face that said "ignorance is bliss isn't it." It hurt, that face hurt, but I forgave him anyway cause I love my Papa. "Bad things would happen if we stayed any longer, and I don't want you getting hurt." The rest of the way to America was doused in a thick silence.

Not too long after we had settled in a simple house on the outskirts of New York, I had started at a new junior high school and my sister went off to a nearby college. Mama found good work through her older brother's, Alfred F. Jones', connections. Papa stayed home and looked after me when I came home, and drew artwork on his Wacom and tried to sell it online. His art was very beautiful and had lots of detail.

My first year of junior high I got through everything pretty much unnoticed. No one bugged me, so I didn't bug them. Everyone here was really rambunctious compared to Japan. It scared me a little.

My second year of junior high, grade 8, took a turn for the worse. It was during lunch that these boys, most likely grade 9, came up to me and started calling me horrible names. They said my eyes were like a demons, pitch black and unfeeling. Which wasn't true! They're just a really dark brown... They called me a freak saying no blondie could ever have my hair colour and those demonic eyes. It hurt a lot, and it didn't stop there. They found all kinds of things to tease me about. My clothes, my face (since I don't wear makeup), my hair and eyes over and over again, they even came up with a chant to "drive me off." I dealt with this through grade 8 and thought it would get better in grade 9, but no, they had younger siblings there that came and teased me all through grade 9, and they were in grade 7 for crying out loud!

By the end of my junior high years, I was completely done with life, but I vowed to my sister, after I told her what was happening, that I would not harm or try to kill myself and I planned on keeping that promise. So I lived with it all through my grade 9 school days until...the incident.

I had just arrived home to hear unfamiliar voices coming from the drawing room. Guessing it was more of my mom's guests for one of her famous...parties, I ignored it. But, upon arriving in the kitchen, I saw a note on the fridge. It read,

Dear my darling family,
I won't be home until later tonight, about 8:00, because my company is having another one of its "field trips." I love you and stay safe okay~ ☆

Checking the clock, it was 5:00 pm and so I retired to my room to start on my mountain of homework. Kana came home around 6:30.

"Welcome back!" I shouted out my open bedroom door. Not getting a response like normal, I headed down to see what was wrong. The scene before me wasn't good. Sister had her rapier, from our uncle François, drawn and pointed at some scary looking men in shades and expensive looking suits. She was standing in front of Papa.

"Onee-san! What's going on here?" All of them turned to look at me. It was...highly uncomfortable. A very tall man with platinum blonde hair and a long scarf gave me an unpleasant grin and started walking towards me. I slowly backed away, falling backwards on the stairs.

"No!! You leave my precious child alone!" Papa shouted, regaining the man's attention. I quickly shuffled down the stairs and hid behind my sister. Papa was crouched on the ground, looking worse for the wear. Our unlocked front door was suddenly opened and in came more men, these ones different then the others. A very authoritative looking man with a side ponytail came in last.

"Yao-yao~ Certainly took you long enough!" The blonde scarf man called out in a thick accent. Is it...Russian? German? I'm not sure... They sat and chanted in a weird sounding language for a minute before the ponytail man gestured to his men. Two of them grabbed me and dragged me away from Papa, while 3 others took sister's sword and dragged her away next to me. The ponytail man and scarf man each took out a gun and aimed it at father.

Tears started silently streaming down my face and I screamed out to my father. Kana and I were imitating each other as the men spoke.

"It's so nice to see your face again, little brother." Ponytail man began. My eyes widened even more than before if that was possible. Little...brother? But Papa said he was an only child...that I had no uncles or aunts from his side.

"I will never consider you or the others as my family, never again you back-stabbing bastards." Papa glared at the two men pointing the guns at him. Scarf man cocked his gun and smiled.

"I suggest you watch your mouth, my finger could accidentally slip, da?"

"Please Ivan, I think I should be the one to deal with him. Why don't you find someone else to bug...for instance, the two girls over there?" He made a head gesture as he looked over at Kana and I. Gulping loudly, I began to whimper and cower in fear as scarf man, er, Ivan, looked us over. A bored look crossed his face and he sighed, putting his gun away. Ponytail man continued speaking with Papa.

"You shouldn't have left... Things would have gone so much better for you."

"My family would've been in danger! I was tired of doing your bidding and controlling that horrid group!"

"Hm... That's really too bad. If you would be a little more cooperative, you could've rejoined our little siblings."

"Like I care what those rascals do now..." Ponytail guy gave a piercing glare at Papa.

"You should have more respect for them. They rank higher than you in the world now. On another note...what do you say? Would you like to rejoin us? It will be plenty of fun I promise."

Papa spat on his shoe. "I will never do such things ever again, I have a lovely wife and the children I am very proud of."

Ponytail became furious and kicked Papa, hurting him more than he already was. "Too bad. Guess we'll just have to eliminate you then. You are serious threat to my company and your old one. Goodbye, little brother." Ponytail cocked his gun and steadily places his finger on the trigger, aiming it directly at Papa. I screamed and screamed, trying to escape my captive's grasp, but with no luck. We watched as he slowly pulled the trigger back and then...bang!

We all fell into silence, shock racking my body. Why...why did it have to be her!!! Kana flopped onto the ground, clutching her chest where it was heavily bleeding. She was letting out short unstable breaths. I bit the hand that was holding my left arm, hard enough to bleed, which shocked his partner into releasing my right arm. I wriggled free, dashing over to my big sister. As Ponytail pulled the trigger, my sister had gotten free of her captors and dashed in front of Papa, taking the bullet for him, but...costing her her life.

Ponytail 'tched' and decided to try and take his annoyance out on me. Pointing the gun at my head, I froze as I stared into his cold eyes, and we stayed like that for what felt like hours, but was only a couple of seconds. Ivan came and put a big hand on his shoulder, telling him to stop and that they need to leave. Ponytail put his gun away and shouted something in yet another language I don't know, but it sounded similar to Japanese, and him and his men left. Ivan shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as he and his men left, following Ponytail out the door.

I sat in shock, hovering over Kana's cold body. I lightly shook her.

"Ne, Kana, mewosamasu. Onegaishimasu, mewosamasu... Kana? Kana? Nee...san?"

Mewosamasu means "wake up" in Japanese, onegaishimasu means "please," Ne means "hey" and Onee-san/Nee-san is "big sister."

When she wouldn't respond I began to shake more violently as my brain knew why, but my heart wouldn't accept it. Tears flowed and flowed from my eyes as Papa held me close trying to calm me down. His eyes were full of horror at what his past had caused. Get mixed up with the wrong guys once, and it can haunt you for the rest of your life.

Good life lesson right there kids.

We sat on that floor for about an hour until Mama came home.

"I'm home everybod-" She stopped mid sentence and dropped her briefcase and the grocery bag she was carrying, and immediately rushed over to our side. What fell out of the bag was a freshly bought cake. Today was Kana's 18th birthday and also the day she lost her life for good.

Police came not too long after and a small family funeral was held for Kana the very next day. I placed the birthday present I had carefully drawn for her on her gravestone and watched the petals of the flowers float away with the wind. The floodgates would not close and that's when my normal, happy life ended.

My father, Kiku Honda, went missing the following week, some of his belongings disappearing along with him.

2677 words?! Holy cow that's the most I've ever typed before! Well, I hope you like the beginning of this story! We shall continue next chapter soon. Until then, ciao~