The Voodoo Doll

Chapter II: New Life

"I'm sorry, but you have to leave."

The words stung more than a beehive striking a baby's bare skin. At first, I thought I misheard, but how can you not hear such a thing? How can your ears possibly mistake such a sentence?

"But...", I blurted out, barely keeping my voice from breaking and my long-contained tears from starting to fall again. "Miss Aoki, where..", I swallowed. "Where will I go?"

It was a futile question. We both knew it. I had a rough idea of my future plans once I reached the age of sixteen. And she was aware of everything happening in this orphanage. Despite my secrecy, she knew I worked part time, buried my money in a corner of the playground, sneaked out late to work extra time, all for one purpose: to get out of this place.

But the thing is, I never wanted to be kicked out.

Not like this.

"You will leave at dawn, I already bought you a bus ticket for Shibuya." ,Miss Aoki said. She was facing the window stationed behind her chocolate-coated, smooth but messy desk. She wouldn't look at me.

During the sixteen years of my life in the Fukushima Aiikuen Orphanage, never once did I see Miss Aoki make a decision and get back on it. And that day was no exception. I knew she was acting like this for my own sake. I knew she loved me like her own daughter, she believed it wasn't my fault. But no one would have believed her, not when her favourite student took someone's life.

I had no evidence. I had no alibi. I only had a broken heart and even more people hating my guts, right now. I had to leave...before anyone else got hurt.

My name is Hitori Yuuki. I was abandoned by my parents since birth. I was hated by many of the kids in the Orphanage I lived in. One of my two best friends died. The other one now wants me dead for what I did.

But don't get me wrong, I don't need anyone's pity.

Because I aim to be strong. Even if my path is filled with pebbles being thrown at me from everywhere, even if I have to walk it while crying my eyes out, my arms lifted above my head as the sole protection I have, even if no one wants me, even if my loved ones leave me, I will survive.

Even if the world wants me to disappear...

I will not.

✘✘✘

A few hours later, I was riding some old man's truck heading to Shibuya. As if the bus driver knew who he was picking up, the so-called comfortable and fast bus didn't show up at all. I waited and waited, but the deserted road kept its secrets, kept its silence, the horizon staring back at me in mischief, daring me to cry for my dark fate.

Until some old man decided it would be better for me to tag along with him.

Shibuya was unlike anything I have ever imagined. Skyscrapers grazed the clouds, so high I couldn't help but follow their trajectory until my neck hurt and vertigo hit me. The streets were cleaner than Miss Aoki's office, and that's saying something. Banners of new anime series hung everywhere, pedestrians walking by them indifferently, as though huge TV screens on tall buildings were the most natural thing in the world. The old man knew exactly where I wanted to go, for as soon as I started telling him my destination, he interrupted me. Everyone starts somewhere, and it's always at the Shibuya Crossing.

He was right.

The moment I put my feet on the black concrete, I was glued in place. I had never seen this amount of people cross a street before. They all seemed in perfect sync with each other, the space fit everyone, the sound of their feet hitting the floor in a symphony that told tales of strong men and women, who knew exactly what to do with their lives, who loved what they did, and who did what they loved.