Moth to a Flame

Katsumi stood at her door, contemplating what she needed to get. She walked over to her bed and reached under it to get a medium sized traveling bag; she stood up and placed it carefully on her large bed before walking over to her walk in closet. She opened it up and stepped inside, observing what she could wear out and what she shouldn't.

She reached out and pulled some casual dresses off of their racks before shuffling back over to her bag and placing them neatly inside before going over to some drawers and taking out plenty of underwear and bras. If she was to stay away longer then she estimated she'd have to learn to do laundry, it couldn't be that hard to figure out how to clean clothes.

Katsumi continued to pack clothes until she was satisfied that she wouldn't need to come back to grab more things, in case her parents were ready and waiting to lock her away. When she was done she went over to her desk and left a short note, addressing both her parents and informing them that although she was safe that she had gone away to think about things and would be back when she had cleared her mind.

Once Katsumi had zipped her travel bag up with her necessities she stood back with a small smile gracing her lips impressed with herself for packing so lightly. She picked her bag up and quietly left her room, she glided down the hall and passed the lounge but stopped when she heard the voice of a child, the voice of Akane and then the voice of her very own mother. Katsumi's heart stopped and she placed her bag down and crept up to see into the lounge to gauge what was going on.

“I’m sorry ma’am I swear I wasn’t doing anything wrong!”

“Oh yeah?!”

“Yes, please leave me alone, I swear I didn’t mean to do anything!” Akane yanked her hand away from Katsumi’s mother and ran off into the night. Katsumi didn’t want to show herself in fear of getting caught so she stalked back upstairs and grabbed her bag. She took off out the front door before her mother saw her and ran in the direction she saw Akane run. Akane being a small child and having never left that neighborhood before made her nervous. What if something happened to her?

“Akane?!” Katsumi shouted for her as she ran towards the house that belonged to the girl. She looked around as she ran and didn’t notice Akane appearing in front of her until she almost tripped over her.

“Oh, Akane! I’m so happy you’re safe. I’m sorry my mom acted the way she did.” Akane shrugged. Katsumi could see the tears in her eyes and felt horrible, she wanted to pull her into a hug but when she tried to Akane shrugged away and looked up at Katsumi taking her hand.

“Bad people came to my home.” Katsumi looked at her in confusion as she guided her back towards the house. She could see the drunken teenagers messing with spray paint and kegs.

“Hey! Get away from our house!” Katsumi had never felt as brave as she did at that moment. When the teenagers saw Akane they suddenly became very afraid. Katsumi was looking at them, while Akane was staring at them with anger and casting a horrifying look at them. When Katsumi looked down at Akane she seemed normal, nothing was weird or out of the ordinary but they ran screaming away from us.

“What was that all about?” Akane started crying as she looked at the mess they left her home in.

“Don’t worry, we’ll clean it up.” Katsumi messed with her hair and wiped the tears away smiling.