Ripple Through Life

She sat down next to me and hugged me with one arm, continuing to dial with the other, all while staring at the television. Her eyes unblinking, holding an expression I couldn’t quite read.

Aftershock #1 [03/11/2011]

I’d gotten a diary that day. Pink and sparkly with a fairy on the cover. Sitting with my mother at the dining room table, I started to write, determined to have perfect penmanship; the day’s events were nearly forgotten in my mind. My father had just managed to get home after being caught in hours of traffic with everyone trying to leave their offices while the subways were still shut down.

What should we do, Phil?

I don’t know. We could go to my parents?

All the way overseas? I’m not sure I want to go there.

I mean, what else can we do? We don’t know how bad the radiation is. We need to go somewhere fur ther, at least. We should leave tonight then, before traffic gets even worse in the morning.

Yeah, we should. We can decide about my parents after we get further down south.

Okay. Sakura?

I looked up.

Can you go pick out some of your clothes and put them in your backpack? We’re going on a trip.

Okay!

Aftershock #2 [07/24/2011]

The backseat of the car smelled like new leather. Sitting between my mother and brother with my father and the real estate agent taking up the front, I marvelled at the trees outside. I’d never seen this much nature before in Tokyo, and now this was our new home. It’s so green! I can’t believe it’s so green here! My mother also stared outside, except she was silent. When I turned to face her, she still didn't say anything, aloofly squeezing my hand in response. The real estate agent laughed from the front seat. Yes, it is really green. Those are evergreen trees, that’s what the state is known for.

Aftershock #3 [08/26/2021]

It had been ten years since I’d seen the velvet blue patterned school bus seats but they were exactly as I’d remembered. I sat in the row second from the back, setting my coat down against the seat to use as a pillow.

Hey!

I looked up and a boy was standing over my seat. Hi.

You used to go here right?

Yeah, I did. It’s been a long time though.

Y’know I’m pretty sure we used to ride the same bus. He dropped his things down in the row behind mine and kept talking through the gap between the seats. For the first time in a while since being back in Japan, I was at ease. Something felt familiar, the conversation flowed easily, like I was back with an old friend. And even though I’d barely known it, I was. 8