praying for peace
I saw her.
Alex. Alex. Alex.
My best friend.
And she was about to get stabbed.
Protect. Protect. Protect. That was the only thing going through my mind.
Protect. Protect. Protect.
Everything seemed in slow motion. My heart was pounding. I wasn’t thinking. I ran. I jumped in front of her. I was facing Alex as a knife was plunged into my back.
I spit out blood onto Alex’s face. I could hear the men behind me say, “Oh shit. We stabbed the wrong person.” Then, I heard the sirens. “Oh fuck. We’ve got to run man!” I turned around to see three men sprinting away.
“Lily!” I turned back to see Alex saying my name and blood all over her clothes. Whose blood was that? I turned my head down to look at my stomach, to see the blade of the knife sticking out of my stomach.
Oh. The blood on Alex was my blood.
The next thing I know, I fell to the ground, landing into Alex’s arms.
“You dumb bitch! You shouldn’t have saved me! You’re such a baka!” she screamed at me through her tears.
“You jerk. I will always save you. You should know that by now.” I said weakly. I could feel blood pouring out of my mouth, but I didn’t care. “Why in hell did you save me Lily no danna?” she asked.
“Because you’re my best friend, brat. And I love you.”
“Goddamit, Lily! I love you too! But, you had to be selfless, and save me! You should have let me get stabbed!”
Slap!
I had somehow had enough strength to slap her.
“You listen to me, and you listen to me good.” I sneered. “I will never, and I mean never put my personal safety before yours. I don’t give a damn if I’m being selfless, but I would do anything for you. If I die, I want you to stay safe. I want you to be happy. I don’t want you to mourn over me, and I never, and I mean never want you to kill yourself over me. I can’t bear the thought of you being dead.”
Alex stared at me in shock. “Lily, please don’t leave me.” “I won’t. I promise. And you know that I never go back on my word.”
“Please don’t die.” she whispered. “Alex. If I die, I swear to God that I will find some way back to you. I will never stop looking for you. I will make myself known to you, if I’m in the form of a ghost, a spirit, a reincarnation, or even through a dream. I promise that I’ll always be here.”
“You promise?” “I promise.”
My eyes then started to close. I knew I had to get some last words out to her.
“Alex. You may be stuck in darkness, but I assure there will be a way out of darkness. There will always be light in the darkness. No matter how small the light is, it will always be there. There is always hope. And always remember that we are bound together by the Red String of Fate. We will always be bound together by the string regardless of the time, place, or circumstance. The string may stretch or tangle, but it will never break. You are my best friend. You’re like a sister to me. You changed my life. You saved me from the darkness. You saved me from myself. No matter what you decide to do from now on...I will love you forever.” I smiled at her.
I felt as though it had been weird to say an Itachi quote as my final words. But, I guess it really didn’t matter. My eyes closed, and the last thing I heard was Alex screaming, “Lily! Don’t go!” I felt myself being enveloped by darkness, but the smile on my face never faded.
I remember a quote from my favorite anime of all time, Naruto. The quote was said by one of my favorite characters of all time, Itachi Uchiha. He had said:
“We don’t know what kind of people we truly are until the moment before our deaths. As death comes to embrace you, you will realize what you are. That is what death is, don’t you think?”
I know that I was dead or either very close to dying, but I still did not know what I was. Was I a kind person? Or was I my normal sarcastic, snarky, rude, funny, bitchy self. I had no clue.
I just kept thinking of a bunch of other quotes from the show Naruto. It was strange. One show had changed my entire life. It changed my perspectives on peace and war. It taught me about my friends, peace, war, and so many other things. But, the most important thing the show has ever taught me was to never give up!
I then heard a muffled noise. “Wait what? Am I alive?” I thought. Before I could register what was happening, I was blinded by light.
I started to scream.
“What the fuck is happening to me?! Why is it so damn bright? Someone please help me!” I screamed. I started to cry because it was so bright.
Then, my eyes started to adjust to the light. The first thing I saw were doctors looming over me. One of them had a towel and was cleaning me.
“Wait. WTF? Why are they cleaning me?” I thought. Then, someone picked me up.
Then it hit me like a bunch of bricks. I was a fucking baby! What the hell?
“Damn. I guess I really was reincarnated. But, that means I would be able to see Alex again! Now, I’m excited.” I thought.
The nurse that held me said quietly to me, “I’m so sorry sweetie. You don’t have any family. The good thing was that your mother named you just before she died.” I was shocked. I had killed my new mother at childbirth. I really didn’t mean too. “Your mother named you Kanna.” Kanna. That was one of my favorite character’s name from the anime Inuyasha.
Kanna was very quiet, but she was very smart. I personally thought that she was beautiful. She had white skin, white hair, black eyes, and she only wore the color white. She worked for the villain, but when she died, she helped the hero. She had no emotions, but just before she had died, she had emotions. She had never wanted to die. But, she did.
The nurse placed me down in one of those baby beds. Because of my name, was I Japanese? In my past life, I was half Japanese, so I took it upon myself to learn how to speak, read, and write Japanese. Or maybe I was American, and my parents just like Japanese names.
I don’t know. I know that I had immediately wanted to find Alex as soon as possible. I also wanted to be a very smart student in school. I had been 25 when I died. I was a detective. I know, who would want to work for the police. Well, I did. I had heard all the news stories about racist and sexist cops, so I wanted to change that.
I had also studied a lot about medicine because besides a cop, I wanted to either be an ER doctor or a psychologist. I had actually worked at the LAPD. I had always been amazing in athletics. I had also wanted to be a professional soccer player, dancer, and ice skater. But, as I got older, I knew there was no way I could be a professional in any of those jobs. I had never had enough training. Well, soccer maybe.
I had started soccer when I was three, and I played all the way through college. And I was good. Like, really good. Every year, no matter what team I was on, I had always scored the most goals out of all my teammates. Why not be a soccer player?
Well, I had wanted to save lives more than wanted to score goals.
I then remember what the nurse said to me. I was an orphan. No uncles, cousins, aunts, grandparents, siblings, and no parents. This sucked.
I had killed my new mother and I had no idea what had happened to my other new family members.
I decided that if I kept thinking about my dead new family, that I wouldn’t get any sleep tonight. I hadn’t even known these people, but they were dead. All of them.
I could feel myself getting tired quickly. I would think more about my future after some much needed sleep. My eyes closed, and I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.