Underneath The Cherry Blossom Tree

I keep having the same nightmare again and again where I'm hanging from a ceiling in my room. I barely come out of my room and my parents seem to be least concerned about it. And it's been a month I haven't heard from Akio.Anyways, I'm going to head out today after a very long time. I went to the kitchen and asked mum for breakfast. She ignored me as always. I just left the house with a hungry stomach. I went to my favourite spot behind the lake where there's a cherry blossom tree. Akio and I used to come here and spend time together. I sat under the tree where I usually sit . I heard someone walking towards me. The guy tripped and fell down on the ground. I was startled at first but then I burst out of laughter. I know it's ill mannered to laugh at someone like that but I just couldn't help myself. He stood up, picked his stuff and sat underneath the tree next to me. He was busy painting and I was lost in my own thoughts. And then I smelled food. The guy next to me was eating and I was starving cause I didn't even eat my breakfast. Then my stomach growled and he heard it. I was so embarrassed ,my face turned red. He came to me with his lunch box and offered me his food. I took few bites from his share. I know it's indecent or whatever but I was hungry. He asked my name and I said its Yua Sakura and I asked for his name and he said its Reo Suzuki.

He told me he lived across the lake and he comes over here everyday and does his paintings. I was late ,so I said him my goodbye's and left. I got back home and I saw there was nobody around. I was heading back to my room and I heard mum crying. I peaked in her room and daddy was holding her in his arms while she was crying. Mom and dad never spoke to me after that incident with Akio. I went to room and locked the door and sat at the window window looking at the sky. I was wondering how peaceful my life would be if I had stayed home instead of attending the fireworks at my school. But I was excited that I'd see Reo again tomorrow. I woke up in the middle of the night sweating and shivering. I had the same nightmare again. Anyhow I tried to fall asleep again. As soon as the alarm rang I woke up and picked my favourite outfit and got ready to meet him again. I was an hour early so I sat underneath the tree. I was so excited and happy cause finally someone spoke to me. Since I quit school and shut myself in my room I haven't uttered a word to anybody. And when I speak to people they seem to ignore me. So that's why I was excited to meet Reo. Well I still had thirty minutes left so I thought of walking around for a while. I was passing through a cafe and I saw Akio with a girl. I was upset to see how easy it was for him to move on and and forget everything that we had. Even though I had ended things with him I could not forget what we had. I just walked away from there because I didn't know what to do. I went home and locked myself for days. Nobody cared to knock and ask if I was doing alright. Next day I woke up and I heard mum talking to grandma on the phone and she was crying again. I slowly stepped out of the house and went to my regular spot again. And I saw Reo painting. I was so excited to see him. Then we sat down and had a long conversation. As days went by we got way too close to each other. I had so much fun after such a long time. I totally loved spending time with him. One day out of the blue he asked me out on a date. I had butterflies in my stomach but I wasn't ready for another relationship. And there was an awkward silence. He was waiting for me to reply but I had no idea what to tell him. I was afraid that if I turned him down things would complicate between us. But then I told him about Akio . Reo was okay with it ,so I thought of giving it a shot. So I agreed to his proposal. He asked me my home address so that he could pick me up. My nightmares started feeling more real and I barely slept. And lack of sleep made me feel anxious and angry. A day before our date we were talking and the conversation turned into an argument. I didn't wanted to make it worse so I told him that I'll be heading home and left the place. But I didn't feel like going home either so I went to a park nearby. I spent few hours there and then went back to check if Reo was still there and he wasn't so I head back home. Days went by but Reo never showed up.The date we planned never happened. I was alone again. I visited our spot everyday but he never showed up. And one day I finally saw him. I rushed towards him and called out his name. He looked at me with fear and terror in his eyes. I walked towards him and he yelled at me to stay away from him. I asked him what's wrong. And he kept telling me to stay away. I told him to calm down and tell me what's going on. He said in a stammering voice that I was dead. I told him to stop playing around. He said that I was dead again and again. I had no idea what he was talking about so I told him to prove me that I was dead. He told me in his stammering tone that after our argument we had that day he went out to look for me. He couldn't find me anywhere so he went to my house and asked my parent's about me and they told him that I died two months ago. Reo ran away and didn't even listen to what I had to say. I went back home with so many questions running through my mind . I saw my relatives gathered in the living room. Few were sad, some were crying and then I saw my grandma lighting the incense sticks and placing it near my photo like a Japanese tradition. And then it all made sense to me that mom and dad couldn't listen to me cause I never existed. I was dead to them. Nobody ever responded to me cause they couldn't hear or see me. It perfectly made sense to me now. I sat in a corner until everyone left but grandma stayed behind. I was sitting in my room without a clue and grandma walked in. She sat down on my bed and called me. I was surprised!. I asked her how could she see me. She said I saw you the moment you walked in at your own family memorial . I chuckled softly and replied that not everyone is fortunate to attend their own family memorial . Shelooked at me and asked that if there's something bothering me. I replied with a yes. She told me to ask her what was bothering me. I said that if I was supposed to be dead then why am I living among you people and why do I keep getting the same nightmare again and again. Grandma walked towards and patted my head and told me that my physical body had been through lot of pain but when I died the trauma was so huge that my soul got stuck onto this place without a memory of my death and that's the reason for my nightmares. I asked that what should I do to set myself free. She said that I have to find out how I died and that would set my soul free. I nodded and then told grandma about how Reo was able to see me. She said that maybe he was dealing with the same pain as you did and that liftes the curtain between him and you. That made sense and I fell asleep on grandma's lap and when I woke up she had already left. Now, I just had to find out how I died to set myself free. I went through paper articles and couldn't find anything. So I had to make Akio talk. I went to his place at night while he was in a deep sleep. I pulled his sheets like most of the ghosts like to do in the movies. But it seems like it didn't wake him up. Then I moved few things and that didn't wake him up either. So I had to make a loud noise to wake him up. I went to the kitchen and smashed all the plates made of glass. That was loud enough to wake him up. Akio came down walking through the stairs to the kitchen. He was frightened as hell to see his kitchen in such a mess. Now I had to do the flickering of lights and so I did. He ran upstairs to his room and locked himself. And now like most of the Hollywood ghosts I had to appear in front of him. But I was a smart ghost cause If I had appeared in a scary form he would die of an heart attack and I would never get what I was looking for so I just appeared in my human form. He was filled with shock and horror. He tried to run towards the door but I threw him the other side. He was like "please don't kill me, please don't kill me, I'm sorry for what I did to u ". I had no clue what he was apologizing for. He again said things like" I shouldn't have lied, I lied to save myself from the principal ". I told him to tell me everything if he wanted me to spare his life. Like I wasn't gonna kill him but after all I'm a ghost and a little ghost drama was necessary. So he told me that we were at the firework festival at school. And on my way back to home he invited me to his house. I thought it was just both of us so I agreed but he had also invited two of his friends. They got drunk and that me uncomfortable so I told him that I was going home. Then he grabbed my hand and leaned forward and forced me to kiss him and his drunk friend's snapped pictures of us in that position. Next day at school everyone were staring and talking about me but I had no idea what was going on and then one of my classmate came to me and showed me the photo which was taken yesterday. I was so embarrassed and furious at him. I grabbed my school bag and went out looking for him and finally found him in the gym room. I couldnt look in his eyes. I asked him about the photos that went viral and he said that they were drunk and his friend sent it to everyone to prank him.And he told me that it was not a big deal and I shouldn't overreact to it. It might be cool and stud for a boy but how would you ever know how a girl feels about such things.The look on his face was so casual and calm like nothing of such sort ever happened. Then I skipped the school and went out to clear my head and when I got back home mom and dad were waiting for me in the living room. Mom called me and told me to sit down. She told me that she received a call from the principal about the photo that went viral. And I was also suspended for a week for forcing Akio to take such a picture and viral it when I was drunk. I was totally shocked to hear that when mom told me I forced him. When I tried to explain myself mom cut me off in the middle of my explanation and said that she was ashamed of me and I brought a disgrace to our family. I stopped Akio and asked him that who lied to the principal that I forced you to take such a picture with me. He said that he was called to the principal's chamber and to save himself he lied. Then I told him to continue. So he said that I got back to school after a week and when I opened my shoe locker I found few letter's. I opened one of the letters to read and it said, " Meet me in the storeroom after school and let's have fun ". I received many letters like that which were filled with filth. I was totally isolated. My classmates stopped talking to me.They didn't even lunch with me so I ate my lunch alone on the school roof. I was branded as a Slut. Boys wrote erotic stuff about me and put it in my shoe locker. I was depressed and exhausted with everything that was going on. I went home and locked myself in the room and hung myself from the ceiling.Thats all I know he said. So,now I knew how I died . I felt different and I could feel my soul fading away slowly. I left Akio's place and went to my favourite spot behind the lake underneath the cherry blossom tree. I closed my eyes and felt relieved but sad at the same time. I was sad that I could never see Reo again. My soul faded away into the sky. Next day it was all over the news about how a guy named Akio Ito and his two friends who died mysteriously which their tongue cut and eyes gauged out with broken ribs and ankles.

Written by : Kounain