The First Crack

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CHAPTER 30: THE FIRST CRACK

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I followed her.

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I didn't mean to. I wasn't planning to. I just saw her walking fast down the shopping street and I followed her.

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She didn't notice me. She was too focused. Too distracted. Too scared.

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She stopped in front of her house. The same house I had walked her to weeks ago. The same house with the bare walls and the immaculate floors and the silence.

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She stood at the gate for a long moment. She didn't go in. She just stood there.

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Then the door opened.

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Her mother appeared.

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She was the same as I remembered. Tall. Thin. The same performed smile. The same cold eyes.

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She said something. I couldn't hear what. But I saw Hana flinch.

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She said something else. Hana shrank.

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Then her mother grabbed her arm and pulled her inside.

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The door closed.

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I stood there on the street and watched.

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I didn't move. I didn't intervene. I didn't do anything.

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I just stood there.

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And I noticed.

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I noticed the way Hana had flinched.

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I noticed the way her mother had grabbed her.

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I noticed the way the door had closed.

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I noticed everything.

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And I knew.

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I knew something was wrong. I knew something was very wrong.

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But I didn't know what to do.

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So I walked home.

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───

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That night, I lay on my futon and stared at the ceiling.

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The trains went by. The refrigerator hummed. The floor creaked. Somewhere in the building, someone was watching television.

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I thought about Hana. I thought about her mother. I thought about the way she had flinched.

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I thought about the fact that I had seen something I wasn't supposed to see.

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I thought about the fact that I didn't know what to do with it.

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I opened my notebook. The one with Akari's name.

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I looked at the last page. The date. The name. The sentence I had never finished.

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"The thing about being invisible is—"

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I closed the notebook.

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I didn't finish it.

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But I thought about it.

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For the first time in a long time, I thought about finishing it.

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Because being invisible meant seeing things.

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And seeing things meant knowing things.

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And knowing things meant you couldn't un-know them.

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Even if you wanted to.

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Even if you tried. 20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3H2WvLuEi

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