Sweet Burden

by K L Ogden

  Hitomi rushed down the sidewalk and hurried for her home. More so, she hurried to find out more about her rescuer.

  Today, she decided to cut through the park and come up behind him, if he was even there. She kicked through the fallen leaves and peeked around a tree trunk. She bit at her bottom lip as she saw his statuesque form draped along the bench. She had no idea what she was going to say to him. She had practiced different openings all day, but they either sounded corny or like a stalker.

  “I’ll just wing it,” she thought as she stepped out from behind the tree. She moved towards him watching his back. Within a few feet of him, she noticed his body tense. She stopped wondering if he knew she was there.

  Hitomi took a deep breath and took the last few steps and moved around the bench. She sat down right beside him, but did not look at him. She could feel his gaze on her as her palms started to sweat. Her bottom lip was beginning to feel raw. Continuing to stare ahead, she watched as a man walking his dog passed. The boy did not take his gaze away from her. When the man and his dog were out of hearing range, she pulled her back pack off and tucked her hair behind her ear. Her heart was beating so hard inside her chest, she wasn’t sure he couldn’t hear it. Wetting her lips she turned to him.

  “Are you following me?” Hitomi blurted out.

  His eyes widened and then quickly narrowed. He turned forward and relaxed back against the bench. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  She instantly recognized his voice, but she couldn’t tear herself away from his eyes. They were deep crimson, or the color of fresh blood. “Who are you?” she tried another question.

  “Just a guy waiting for the bus,” he huffed.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Do you always ask so many questions?” he crossed his arms and glanced at her. As if just remembering the oddity of his eyes, he blinked a few times and turned away again.

  “I don’t know. I don’t usually approach people on benches,” she smiled.

  “Why start now?” he replied coolly.

  She shrugged to herself and turned her entire body towards him. She had definitely imagined her savior to be friendlier. “Are you going to tell me your name?” She watched as he swallowed hard and tried to come up with an answer. How was it that she could make him uncomfortable? She continued to smirk. “It’s really not that difficult. You either know your name or you don’t…”

  “I know my name,” he cut her off. Sighing, he faced her again and leaned towards her. She pulled back from him and felt as though she could easily topple from the bench. “Obi. My name is Obi.”

  Hitomi’s grin widened. “See? That wasn’t so hard.” Hitomi was unable to look away from him. Although he was attempting to be menacing, she wasn’t afraid of him. He had saved her after all.

  “Why are you staring at me?”

  “Sorry.” She quickly lowered her head. “Your eyes are just…”

  “Scary?” he interrupted.

  “No.” She withheld a laugh. “Intriguing.”

  “They’re contacts,” he added.

  “Yah. I know. I’ve seen them before,” she shrugged nonchalantly. “Guys wear them at the clubs all the time. But theirs don’t glow.”

  She watched his jaw tighten as he leaned back from her. “What do you want?” Obi crossed his arms.

  Suddenly her pulse went into overdrive. She clenched and unclenched her hands. “I, um…” Her nervousness was climbing up her throat. She wasn’t sure how he was going to react to her knowing that it was him that saved her. Furthermore, he seemed to be in an irritable mood due to her presence. However, she barely knew him and this could have been his normal demeanor. But she couldn’t imagine her hero being somewhat of a jerk. Just say it Hitomi! “I just wanted to thank you.” The words tumbled out of her mouth awkwardly.

  “For what?” he lifted an eyebrow.

  “For saving me the other night. If you hadn’t been there the other night…” she trailed off not completing her thought. Since that night she had pushed everything from her memory except for him.

  Obi’s body shuddered, but he quickly composed himself. “I don’t know what you mean.” His voice was cold and emotionless.

  “You know exactly what I mean,” Hitomi said swiftly watching his reaction carefully. He was refusing to look at her now. “What are you? Are you an angel or something?”

  For the first time, Obi showed her a definite emotion. He laughed for a few seconds and faced her. The humor dropped from his face. “Are you crazy?”

  “Maybe,” she shrugged exasperated. He had seemed humored, but the joy of laughing at her never quite reached his eyes. He was guarded and secretive, causing her to wonder what he exactly was or what had caused him to close off so easily. Her gaze tried to penetrate what was going on in his mind.

  Obi shook his head. “Go home Hitomi,” he said sternly.

  Hitomi’s mouth straightened into a tight line. “If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then how do you know my name?” A smug look came over her face. She had caught him and he knew it.

  “You said your name,” he mumbled.

  “No, I didn’t,” she replied without her voice wavering. Obi narrowed his eyes and turned away from her fixating on the other end of the street. Hitomi continued, “The only reason you know my name is because I told you the night you saved me.” She waited for him to respond. She needed acknowledgment that she had found who she was searching for and who she was dreaming of. Seconds ticked by feeling like hours.

  “You keep talking about ‘that night’. How many times do I need to say I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Obi replied annoyed.

  “But…”

  “I said go home and leave me alone,” he said raising his voice. “You’re just a silly little girl.”

  Hitomi’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. His manner drastically changed from irritated to infuriated. She leaned back grabbing her bag and scrambled off the bench.

  “I just appreciate what you did for me,” she said quietly.

  Obi pivoted back to her and his face seemed to be enraged. She trembled and took a step back from him. Obi moved and within a blink he was standing over her glaring down. His hand grasped around her wrist. “Stop thanking me. Stop appreciating me. Just go away!”

  His grip tightened on her skin. Even though she was frightened, she couldn’t help but feel the way the heat from his hand traveled up her arm. His hand was searing and calloused. Peering up at him, her body visibly shook. She pulled her arm away. “Stop trying to scare me away from you!” she shot back. She wasn’t sure what had possessed her to say such a thing, but she was immediately embarrassed and turned running for her house.

  Once inside, she slammed the door behind her. Muttering under her breath, not only was she completely mortified, she was frustrated. He was the one sitting outside her house. He was the one possibly following her. He had saved her. But all he seemed to want was to be left alone. “Then why are you always around?” she yelled and stomped her foot. “Call me a silly girl. Well, you’re a stupid boy!” She kicked the door and trudged into the kitchen.

  Hitomi mindlessly sifted through the refrigerator, still thinking of Obi. He was obstinate and bigheaded. And now seeing him up close, he was utterly gorgeous. She groaned at herself as she sat down at the table. He was becoming an obsession and she knew it wasn’t good. She just couldn’t accept that he was truly that rude and cold. There had to be some reason that he was pushing her away from him. Just as she rested her chin in her hand, her cell phone beckoned her in the living room.

  Pulling the phone out of her bag that she had thrown to the floor when she entered, she flipped it open.

  “Hi Kerry. Need help with the math homework?”

  Kerry laughed on the other end. “You think I’m doing homework?”

  “Sorry. My mind is elsewhere.” Hitomi plopped down on the couch and kicked her feet up onto the coffee table.

  “Perhaps on your ma
ke believe boyfriend?” she teased.

  “He’s real,” Hitomi protested. “And I talked…” She stopped, knowing that if she finished the sentence it would just turn into her having to relive the entire conversation. Kerry would then tell her that he sounded like a snob and not to waste her time.

  “You talked? You going to finish that thought Tomes?”

  “Um, I talked to a lady there and asked if she knew him. That’s it.” Hitomi bit her bottom lip at the lie. She seemed to be doing a lot more lying these days and she wasn’t very happy with herself. But she decided to consider it as withholding the truth to save her from drama. “What’s up?” she changed to a cheery disposition.

  “Well, don’t be mad at me.”

  “Why would I be mad at you? Kerry, what did you do?” Hitomi’s feet hit the floor as she sat straight up.

  “It’s about the October Formal. I kind of invited someone to come with us.” She said the words slowly letting them sink into Hitomi one by one.

  “You didn’t!”

  “He’s got a big crush on you and he was going to ask you himself. But he said you completely blew him off after school today. He looked so depressed. He just kept kicking the soccer ball around.”

  “That’s what they do in soccer! Kick a ball! And I highly doubt he was depressed. Kerry, I don’t like Bradley. I mean, not like that. He’s very nice and good-looking, but I’m just not interested in him.”

  “Tomes, just give him a chance. You haven’t even really hung out with him. Besides, he’s real.”

  “Obi is real!” Hitomi practically shouted back.

  “He has a name now?”

  “Oh, forget it,” she replied and rolled her eyes. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Yah, at school. Bradley’s going to pick you up so be ready on time.” The line at the other end went dead. She had hung up before Hitomi even had a chance to protest. She flipped her phone closed and tossed it onto the table as the front door opened.

  Her mother’s weary body entered the house. She tossed her bags onto the floor and pulled the tight bun from her head.

  “Hi mom.”

  “Oh, sweetie. I didn’t even see you there,” Regina forced a tired smile and sat down next to her. She put her arm around her daughter and kissed her cheek. “How was your day?”

  “Alright,” she shrugged as she watched her mother run her free hand through her hair, shaking out the brunette tresses.

  “Uh-oh. What happened?”

  Hitomi shrugged again. “When you met dad, did you instantly know you liked him?” she changed the subject.

  Regina smiled warmly. “Something happen with a boy?”

  Not a boy. The boy. “Sort of. So, did you and dad get along immediately?”

  Regina let out a laugh and shook her head. “No. I thought he was a complete show-off. He always knew every answer in class. He dressed in the finest clothes. Other girls were constantly around him. I will say, he irritated me.”

  “But you fell in love with him anyway?”

  “Once I saw past his exterior I found out who he really was. He was a wonderful man.” She gave Hitomi a squeeze and got up from the couch.

  Hitomi saw the sadness in her mother’s face. Regina hardly talked about the only man she loved, but when she did, Hitomi could tell that she relived every moment with him inside her head. Hitomi never met her father, for he died only days after her birth. Her mother didn’t even have a photo of him, although she swore that Hitomi looked like him.

  “I’m going to go take a long hot bath and we’ll make some dinner,” her mother smiled and disappeared up the steps.

  Hitomi fell back against the couch and her thoughts filled of Obi. He was mysterious and intriguing. Beautiful and dark. Irritating and snotty. She huffed and decided to work on homework to keep her mind occupied with something other than him. It didn’t work. Before dinner, she snuck a peek out the window to see if he was still there. He sat there, elbows rested on his knees, appearing to be deep in thought. His gaze was not directed at her house.

  Regina and Hitomi made dinner together and ate in the kitchen. Her mother was telling her stories of the patients at the hospital and laughing. Hitomi made an effort to be entertained, but all she could think about was if he would still be there when she looked outside again.

  After dinner, Regina stalked off to her room for much needed sleep and Hitomi cleaned up the kitchen. She put all the leftovers on a plate and started to wrap it up when she thought of Obi sitting on that bench all day. She wondered if he even left while she was at school.

  She sighed heavily to herself and grabbed a fork from the drawer. Quietly, she carried the plate out the front door. Sure enough, Obi was still perched motionless on the bench. She shut the door and started across the street. She knew that he was trying to ignore her, but he made it obvious that he had noticed her, for his body went tense again and he made a point to not look in her direction.

  Hitomi shook her head slightly aggravated as she sat down next to him, making it a point to sit closer than she had this afternoon.

  “Here.” She held the plate out to him with the fork resting on top.

  He glanced at her and then at the plate. “What is this for?” Obi asked taking it from her.

  “It’s for you to eat. Do you ever eat? You’ve been out here for four hours.”

  “You were watching me?” He turned his eyes back up to hers.

  Her heart drummed against her chest rapidly and she felt her cheeks flush with pink. She turned away trying to hide her reaction to his gaze. “No! I just noticed…Oh, never mind,” she threw her hands up in despair, accidentally smacking him on the arm. She turned back to him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.”

  “I probably deserved it,” his brows furrowed a bit, possibly confused by her sudden amount of fidgeting.

  She marveled at the way his eyes were still noticeably red, even in the darkening of the night. She stared at him and instead of flinching away or trying to hide his eyes, he stared back at her. Her stomach did flips, twists and knots all at the same time. She needed to know who he was.

  “Anything else?” he interrupted the silence. “Do you want to hit me again?”

  “No,” she replied almost breathlessly. “Why won’t you…”

  “Then you should go,” Obi cutoff her question.

  Without a word, Hitomi lowered her head and got up from the bench. She started across the street when she heard him faintly say a ‘thank you’. She wasn’t sure she was actually supposed to hear it so she kept walking without looking back.

  Chapter 4

  Hitomi woke up the next morning and pulled a blanket around her shoulders. It was cold again and she could hear the tapping of the rain against the window. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she got up from the bed and immediately walked over to the window. She had been making it a habit to leave her curtains open a sliver just so she could easily peer outside. She pulled the curtain back and gazed down at the empty bench.

  To say she was let down was an understatement. She let out a heavy sigh and closed the curtains, only to immediately turn back around and open them partially. A shiver ripped through her body so hard her fingers uncurled from the blanket and it fell to the floor. All she wanted was to see him. She couldn’t believe he wasn’t there and she couldn’t believe how disappointed she was.

  Hitomi tried to push the emptiness from her insides as she started to get dressed for school. She said a silent thank you that it was Friday as she pulled on a thick cotton sweater. As she yanked on her jeans, she realized she had completely forgotten about Bradley. She quickly brushed her hair and teeth and ran downstairs. While throwing her books into her bag, her mother came from upstairs.

  “There’s a black SUV in the driveway,” her mother yawned. “Did Kerry get a new car?”

  “No mom. Another friend is picking me up this morning.” Hitomi tried to hurry to escape any further inquiries.

  “Another friend?”r />
  “I have to go mom.” Hitomi hurried to the front door and pulled open the door. Just as she was about to take a step, she noticed the empty plate and fork at her feet. She knelt down and gently picked it up. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting to find. Maybe a clue, maybe a note- something or anything that would give her a little more insight into who Obi really was.

  “Don’t forget your umbrella! And I won’t be home until the early morning,” her mother called to her and trudged back up the steps.

  “Okay,” Hitomi muttered in reply still inspecting the plate and fork. She was brought back to reality when Bradley sharply honked the horn. She practically dropped the plate, but steadied herself. She put the plate back on the ground to the side of the door and stood up. She knew that her mother wouldn’t even notice it. Grabbing an umbrella from beside the doorway, she hurried out to the SUV trying to avoid as much rain as possible.