F R A I L

47 - Kyoko

Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through

Kyoko could barely believe it when she saw them leaving. She didn't even know what she was feeling anymore. She knew that this was the end. She knew that after this there was no one else left to help her. No one left to save her. Why did they have to leave? Of course Kyoko understood why they couldn't stay. But still... it felt so much like a betrayal. First Hitoshi getting rid of the wine and then they were leaving her alone with her father. She had no idea what to do.

But her body knew what she had to do. She had to go and bring out the dinner for them and then quickly get another bottle of wine and serve that as well. And after that she'd have to tidy up the kitchen, make sure that it was spotless clean. And then she'd wash her hands and wash her face, before getting into her room and hoping that her father would get too drunk to remember that she was living with him now. But of course she wasn't going to leave it all up to chance.

She brought them their dinner, she brought them their wine, she went and cleaned up the kitchen until it was spotless, before hanging up her apron again and making her way upstairs to her room. She could hear giggles and moans from the living room as she passed by and she knew exactly what was going on there. Hopefully that would mean that her father had enough already.

But from experience that would only make him hungrier for more. She felt nauseous just thinking of it. She quickly went into the upstairs bathroom to wash her face and her hands, before heading into her own room. There were so many boxes standing around that she hadn't even unpacked. She'd have to find her school uniform at some point, but thankfully the police had labelled all her things well enough. She'd just have to go through all the clothes boxes.

She sat down on her bed. The mattress was way too soft for her and Kyoko already knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep well on it. Not that any of that ever mattered to her father. He had gotten her the cheapest stuff he could have gotten her, because he genuinely didn't care about her. The bed was going to do fine for what he had in mind anyway. He didn't need anything fancy. Would make it cheaper to replace the mattress when it became too stained, too.

Kyoko felt a hot tear running down her cheek. She was barely aware that she was crying. Everything felt like it was really far away again. She knew she should probably try to unpack some of her things or try to get some sleep, maybe do some homework, but she felt like she was paralyzed as she was sitting on the bed, waiting for the worst. She knew she should at least get up and take her pills, so she'd be numb for the whole ordeal. It would take a while for them to kick in, after all.

But she still couldn't move. She was getting cold, but she couldn't bring herself to move under the blanket to get a little warmer. She was starting to shiver, but it didn't matter. She just felt so betrayed. Why had they left her here with him? Why had they done that to her? Hadn't they promised to make sure she wouldn't have to stay with him? Well, they hadn't exactly promised it. And of course, Kyoko knew how these things worked. But still - she had hoped it might be different this one time. She had hoped that things might actually be okay for once.

But here she was, in the room she was always staying in when she was visiting her father for the weekends. Only that this wasn't going to be over after one weekend. This was going to be for the rest of her life - or rather until she was 18. Maybe longer, if she wasn't able to move out on her own. And Kyoko was sure that if she made any money at all, her father would find a way to take it away from her. She was going to be trapped here, unless her father was dead.

But that apparently wasn't an option anymore, either. Maybe if she told his girlfriend... but no. No, no, no. That would probably just end terribly for her. She wasn't going to leave him because of something that his daughter said. No matter how much sense it made. And if she left him, then what? It wasn't like she was going to do anything to get her out of this situation. She didn't care about Kyoko.