Praesidio omnimodo.
Protection at all costs.
- Code of the Guard
Pearland, Texas. Two months ago…
Rin huddled closer against the wall of her bedroom and tried to slow down her breathing. She heard footsteps in the hallway.
The steps were hesitant and irregular. Thump thump stop thump stop thump thump thump.
It was the middle of the night. The sound of shouting and raised voices pulled her out of fitful sleep and left her wide awake and tense.
A few hours earlier, Rin’s mother gave her a kiss and told her good night. Her father wasn’t there. He was rarely home lately, and that suited Rin and her mother just fine.
Whatever he may have been in the past, now her father was an unpredictable, abusive drunk. He only showed up to terrorize Rin and her mother.
His violent, cruel outbursts were now the norm. The last time he did this was the last straw for Mrs. Ishizaki. She kicked him out and her brother Isamu changed the locks. She never expected him to kick the front door in.
The steps halted in the hall and Rin heard the sharp crack and tinkle of something fragile hitting the floor.
“Damn it, Mio” She heard her father slur, “Who the hell put that vase right in the middle of the hallway? You did that on purpose, didn’t you, you little…”
“That’s enough, Katashi.” Rin heard her mother’s voice. It surprised her to hear her mother speak so firmly, but Rin could also hear the tremble in her voice. “You shouldn’t be here. I told you before, you’re not welcome here anymore.”
“Not welcome? In my own house?” Katashi’s slurred speech rose in pitch and intensity, “This is still my house! I’ll come here anytime I please! Your stinking brothers aren’t here to protect you now.”
Rin heard her mother gasp. Softer rapid footfalls echoed in the hall followed by a slamming door.
“Get BACK here!” Katashi roared. Rin heard heavier footsteps rush across the hall. Her father pounded on the bedroom door, cursing and screaming obscenities. “ Open this damned door, Mio!”
Rin suppressed a scream and buried her face in her hands. She shook with fear and panic as fat tears slipped through her fingers, landing on her PJ Mask pajamas.
Rin pulled herself into the smallest shape she could, crying and muttering the same pattern of words over and over to herself. “Don’t let him kill her, don’t let him kill her, don’t let him kill her, make him leave, please make him leave, make him leave, make him leave…”
Rin could hear her mother screaming and pleading with her father as he continued to batter the bedroom door. She heard a wrenching sound of wood against metal.
Rin’s fear, confusion, and anger at her father came out in a harsh whisper that increased in sound with every word she spoke. She was still too scared to go out in the hall but she slowly got to her feet.
“Leave, Leave, stop it, leave her alone, get out, get out, Get OUT!!”
The last word came out in a primal scream. It took Rin a moment to realize her scream was the only sound in the house.
Rin walked to the bedroom door and pulled it open before she could get scared and talk herself out of it.
The door to her mother’s bedroom hung lopsidedly in its frame, barely attached to what remained of the hinges.
Her mother lay in a heap just inside the doorway, crying and too shocked and frightened to move.
Her father was gone. The remains of the front door hung uselessly to the side, revealing a dark night interrupted periodically by the passing glow of headlights in either direction.
Rin steeled herself and made a quick search of their small home. She couldn’t find him. His path of devastation remained but there were no other signs he’d ever been here.
Rin ran to her mother and tried to help her sit up. They fell into each other’s arms. Rin stroked her mother’s hair and asked her over and over again if she was okay.
The sound of sirens could now be heard coming closer. One of their neighbors had heard the commotion and called 911.
Rin and her mother gave their statements to the police officers when they arrived. It all felt unreal. They gathered up some belongings and changes of clothes and found a hotel room for the night.
In the morning they left Pearland and made the long drive south to Blackway. Mio’s other brother Ken moved to Blackway a year or two earlier to work at the Oil Refinery so they would stay with him until they found another place to live.
They never heard from Katashi again, and neither of them ever spoke about what happened that night.