Away from Home

Chapter 2

Ayami had thought about everything she was going to do from that moment on. She thought she knew everything. The one thing that she forgot about was food. She hadn't realized so she fell asleep.

The next morning she awoke ravenous, and Ayami went into the city wondering around, looking for something. Anything with food in it. Trudging along the sidewalk desperately trying to get into contact with nutrients to give her some sort of energy to carry on with the day. People started to notice how Ayami was walking alongside them and they glared at her. Glared at her messy long black hair, her pale skin, her muddied up shirt, and satin filled pants. The whole time that they glared at Ayami nobody bothered to ask her if she was okay. Continuing to wonder in this foreign area Ayami finally found a McDonald's. Although she was happy that she found a source of food, she couldn't remember where her box was. Which ment that she no longer had clothes or somewhere to sleep. With delight she ran over to the door and yanked it as hard as she could. It didn't budge. She tried again. Same results. She tried again. And again. And again. But still the door remained shut. "It's closed kid" a tall man said rushing by accidentally bumping into Ayami. She fell on her bottom and watched the man speed walk by. The man was tall with short brown hair, he had on a business suit and a briefcase. It reminded Ayami of her father. He would always have on the business man attire when coming home from work. With that thought in mind she felt this wave of sadness overcome her. Tears began to well up in her eyes thinking about her parents. Just in time for the first tear to fall there was a tap on her shoulder. Ayami turned around to face a girl. Much taller than her but not too old. "You look scared are you okay?" The polite girl asked. Ayami just stood at the girl, not responding. But somehow the girl managed to understand that she wasn't okay. "Come inside I'll give you a free burger and fries" hesitant Ayami went inside trusting the tall girl. "I'm Aiko Nakamura" She said through a smile "what's your name?" Ayami still being cautious about the girl didn't say anything. When Ayami didn't answer Aiko changed her smile into more of a concerned look. "Hey don't worry! I'm not going to kidnap you if that's what you're thinking." Aiko said trying to get Ayami to tell her, her name. There was a pause then she spoke "A-Ayami" She shyly said. "Ayami? That's a really pretty name. Here let me make you a burger" Aiko said gesturing for Ayami to sit on a chair.

"Aiko... won't you get in trouble?"

"By who?"

"Your boss"

"Oh! Aya don't worry about that!"

"But I don't want you to get fired for that" Ayami persisted

"Aya. I'm the manager, alright?"

Ayami nodded in agreement. "So don't worry about it. What am I gonna do? Fire myself?" Ayami giggled as Aiko went to make her food.

After a couple minutes more people started walking in. But unlike Aiko they had a name tag on their shirts. Ayami read the names as they came in but it wasn't worth memorizing so she didn't pay much attention to it. "One burger and one fries for the beautiful young lady from our doorstep" Aiko says in a commentator voice as she brings a tray of food out. "What do you want to drink Aya?" Ayami paused. She didn't know what she wanted to drink. "Um... can I have sprite?" Ayami hesitatingly answered. Her parents never actually bought food from fast food restaurants or soda either. She only said sprite because that was the last commercial that she remembers seeing for soda.