Mei Hana by Mark Lauck (love letters to the dead txt) 📕

I remember a time back when Mei was eight. She lives in a Victorian Gothic estate on a hill ways from Keito. It was built specially for the Sakawa family by a group of old-themed American builders. The house really suited her way of life. Mei really does enjoy the way the house looks, interior and exterior. One day she was in her room playing the violin; she was playing a song created by a popular, local music artist. I was watching her play, and she played it most beautifully. In the middle of the song, she had stopped abruptly.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Something came across my mind, when does father get back home?" Mei asked me.
"He's on a very important business trip," I told her.
"I know that, but when does he get home?" she asked once more.
"I'm not sure, Mei." I responded.
She had waited patiently as days passed by. She wouldn't do anything to entertain herself, but she did the things that she needed to do to keep herself alive. I was surprised by how strong she was for waiting just to see her father come home. Two weeks had passed by since she started waiting for her father, and terrible news had arrived.
"Tragedy has struck around all of Keito. A passenger plane carrying four hundred passengers had crashed in a nearby forest North of Keito..." began a newscaster.
I was surprised when I heard that the passenger plane was identified as the plane that Mr.Sakawa was riding. Mei was heart-broken but fell into deep denial. She didn't accept the fact that her father was dead and continued to wait by the door. Weeks passed, and it seemed that there was nothing that could stop young Mei from waiting for her father to walk through the front door and spend time with his sweet daughter.
School came around, and, constantly, she would skip out a few days just to wait for her dear father to come back. She was never held back by attendance, though. She was always lucky enough just to skip out until she had exactly enough attendance to pass for the year.
She did the same routine year after year. It bothered her mother that Mei didn't really leave the house much either. She never brought in any friends, didn't visit any friends, nor did she ever talk about people as if she never had any friends.
She had turned thirteen when she hit eighth grade. Her mother was becoming ill and missing out on work. The bills were not being caught up, and I had to do a few negotiations with the bank to keep the house going for Mei's sake. Her mother didn't show any signs of her feeling any better, and she called it a punishment for not taking care of Mei as much as she should have. She blamed everything on herself and, at this day, believes that the reason Mei is gone is her fault.

"So, how did Mei end up in my hands?" Tsuniga asked.

She had been sitting on the living room couch with her elbow on the arm rest and her hand pressed against her chin. She was bored.
"Hey, Taako," she began, "I'm bored. Why don't we do something fun?"
"Alright, how about hide and seek?"
"I warn you! With a house this big, you'll never find me!" she shouted and ran up the stair case.
The door bell rang, and I got up to answer the door. A man, who dressed up as a courier, stood there and handed me a suitcase.
"This is something that the investigating team had found in the crash that belongs to Mr. Sawaka. Please, handle it with care," said the man before running off.
To me, it sounds like the man had handed me a bomb and ran off before it could detonate. I placed the suitcase down on the table and opened it.
Inside was a note, it had read, "Dear my darling, Mei, I wrote you a note about the experiences I am having out here in China. The business has been agreed upon and now Daddy's going to be making more money, but I will also be able to hang out with my little daughter more then I used to. China is a very populated place! It's filled with lots of delicious foods, nice people, and places to hang out at. One day, we both should come to China and have some fun! I can't wait to come home and see what's you're up to. Your loving father, Ryan Sawaka."
"Father is really dead. Is he?" Mei said staring me.
"I'm afraid so," I replied.
"And mother is ill," Mei asked feeling down.
"That's also true," I inform her.
She began to finally accept what had happened to her family but took blame on herself for what was going on. She began walking up the stairs in a sad mood.
I didn't know what to do; I didn't know if I should stop her. Upon climbing up the steps, she had tripped and blacked out. Instantly, I called an ambulance, and she was taken into care at the Keito Hospital. When I went to go visit her, the doctors had told me that she left the hospital. Her excuse was that I called her earlier to go meet me somewhere.

"And so, I found her outside in the rain, and she passed out," Tsuniga says.
"That would make sense," said Taako, "she had always had a weak body, which is why she played musical instruments. For her to just instantly run out like that isn't safe."
"So what do we do?" Tsuniga questions.
"I hope that you keep her under your care until either her mother is better or until we find any kind of alternative."
"I understand," Tsuniga said nodding his head.
"Looks like Mei is done talking to her new friends," Taako said.
"You're right. I'll tend to her."
Taako left the premises and leaves all form of lighting as if he just magically turned invisible, or at least a chameleon.


"Oh! There you are, Tsuniga!" Mei says waving the giant stuffed bunny in the air. By the time she stopped waving the bunny, she knocks over a group of guys with the bunny.
"Woah, woah, woah! Watch what you're doing, lady!" says one of the guys. He lifted his eyes and looked at Mei, "I mean... I'm sorry. I'll be more careful next time. Hey, what's your name?"
Tsuniga interrupts, "Mei, we should get going. We got to be home soon." He grabs her wrist and drags her off.
"What's his deal?" said another one of the guys who was dusting off the back of his pants.

The two didn't spend a lot of time in the festival after Tsuniga encountered Taako. They mainly just walked around looking at gift-store items that locals sold. It wasn't before long that they got home.
"I had a great time today, Tsuniga," Mei happily says to the person she hung out with the entire day. She began to take off her shoes by the front door and notices a note in the shoe rack. It read, "Mei, Racko (Tsuniga's father) and I have bought you a pair of slippers to use when walking around the house. We didn't want you to feel uncomfortable!" The slippers were basic cotton-based shoes that were pink. It wasn't Mei's favorite color, but it was cute enough to wear. Without hesitation, she puts them on.
"Wow, you got a pair now?" Tsuniga says with a smile on his face.
He walks Mei over to her room. "Rachel and Racko shouldn't be too long before they get bake home for supper. I guess it's time for us to just sit back and relax a little bit," he says.
She nods.
"I'll be at my room playing Ulitmate Kado Gaiden Tellican Gochi Madone Shadow Core Eleven-Three-Twenty-Two Beta Fifty-Nine Alpha Protocol Seven," Tsuniga says trying to figure out how he remembered that name.
Mei walks over to their bathroom. It was a pretty roomy bathroom. There were two glass screen doors; one glass screen door lead into the bath tub while the other led to a shower. She came over to the bath tub and began to run some water. She searched the closet of the bathroom for a towel. What she had found was another note which read, "Hey, Mei. This is from Rachel. I know that you'll eventually need to clean up, so I thought you would look in here. I set up a pack of clothing for you to wear for whenever you do end up cleaning up." Mei looks at the clothing, and it was the exact same pair of clothes she had already been wearing. Mei sighed. While the tub was being filled, she walks over to Tsuniga's room to inform him that she'll be in the bathroom.

"Tsuniga, I'll be in the bathroom cleaning up," she says. She looks at Tsuniga. He was wearing a pair of Turtle Lake Headset and didn't hear a word from her. "Ugh, Tsuniga. You and your video games."

She walks back into the bathroom and steps into the bath tub after removing all forms of clothing. "Hot!" she yelps at first, but it wasn't before long before she got accustomed to the heat.

Fifteen minutes passed and Tsuniga had just finished a match. He was in a terrible position where he had to go to the bathroom to let out. The lobby screen came up, and he rushed over to the bathroom. "Huh? Steam?" Tsuniga thought while he was looking around the bathroom.
"Huh, did somebody enter?" Mei says putting on a towel inside the bath tub area.
Tsuniga's face quickly turned red. What in the world! She should have warned me before she went ahead and took a bath!

He did what came to his mind first: hiding inside the shower.
Mei exits the bath tub portion of the bathroom and looks around the room. Nobody was around. "I guess I was just imagining things," she tells herself.
Tsuniga held his breath; he wasn't going to get himself exposed, not like this at least.
Mei walks over to the mirror and blow dries her hair. "I'm not an idiot, you know," she said towards Tsuniga. She walks over to the shower and opens the door. Nobody was there.
"Huh?" she said with disbelief. She really thought that Tsuniga was there. She walks inside.
Tsuniga had climbed over the short wall that separated bath tub section from the shower section. As stealthy as a ninja, he exits the bath tub section and ran out the door.
"That was a close one!" he says sighing, "why was I there again?"
Right when he finished saying that his crotch area felt wet. After what he just went through, he felt like the most stupidest and embarrassed guy in the world.
Tsuniga's parents walk into the hallway and spots Tsuniga and his current conflict.
"Uhm, what's going on?" Tsuniga's father questions while really confused.