Another word from Hana

Tom realized maybe he was just being a worrywart; his mom's question was totally innocent. He'd been doing the penpal thing for a couple of years, still having never really connected with anyone for more than a few letters here and there. No one had ever seemed interesting enough for him to want to stay in touch—or maybe it was the other way around.

"Not really. I got an email from some girl in Japan, but she seems kind of psycho." 

"Psycho?" Dad asked. "Why, what did she say?"

"She called me an American boy and asked me a million dumb questions."

Mom tsked. "Last time I checked, not speaking English well and being curious did not make someone a psycho. Give her a chance. Maybe she likes video games."

"Maybe she's cute," Lorena added. "You could marry her and join the samurai."

"Sweetheart," Dad said. "I don't think that everyone from Japan is in Dojo practice."

"Yeah, it's probably only like half," Tom said. He expected Lorena to laugh at his joke, but was disappointed to see she thought he'd been serious.

"Really?" she inquired.

"It's only a joke, sis."

"Oh. Yeah, I knew that, dummy."

"Well, anyway," Dad said, moving on. Well, I think this weekend we should go see a movie, go bowling, or something. Who's in?"

By habit, everyone around the table raised their hand.

"All right, plan on it. Everyone meets here on Saturday noon."

For some reason, right at that moment, the thought hit Tom that he should tell his dad everything. Keeping secrets was eating away at his insides, and now nothing but silence from Hana. The feeling was getting worse, not better. Just thinking about telling someone seemed to take a thirty-pound dumbbell off his shoulders.

"Next time mom's out shopping," he thought. "I'll tell him. Maybe he can help me figure everything out, if he believes me."

Tom put his dishes away, then watched a series of movies on TV with his family. The whole time, he only thought of one thing. Midnight

                                         ~

It was time for bed, but Tom wanted to check his email one more time. He felt obsessed, checking it constantly in hopes that Hana would write back to him.

He sipped a cup of hot chocolate as he logged onto the computer in the basement, almost spilling his drink when he saw Hana's name in the inbox. He put the cup down, leaned forward, and clicked on her email.

     Dear Tom,

Someone needs to teach you how to answer a stinking question. I asked you many questions, and all you did was to write back to me asking me more. If I lived in the USA, I would smack your head with a pogo stick. I am a good, smart Japanese girl, so I'll answer your questions.

First, I have to tell you that I had a very hard week.

Something is chasing me, and I'm very scared. I almost burned the letter five times. Well, not really. When an Aoki makes a decision, an Aoki never goes back. I made my choice and I'll stick to it like butter to a peanut, or whatever you crazy Americans say.

Anyways, I'll now answer your questions.

I have four clues now. I got the last one last night. Maybe you'd get one too. It's about dead people, which doesn't sound good.

We should definitely help each other.

I saw the bulky eye thing, but not the gnome thing. I don't want to talk about it.

I'm fourteen years old, almost fifteen.

I like your diary idea, but I thought it's only girls that make use of diaries. Well, I made one too. I hope it's OK to steal your name. Mine is called Hana Aoki's diary of mysterious clues. I even used English to make it look like yours.

I joke a lot, if you'd meet me. You'll think I am crazy. Last summer I beat up ten boys. I am very good at martial arts and skills. I'm glad we can be friends.

        Sayōnara( that's Japanese smart boy)

Hana

He'd just finished the email when his dad walked in on him and told him to log off and go to bed. Grumbling, he obeyed. His dad never shouted at him about using his work laptop for pen pals. "Maybe he has found out," he thought.

He hated the fact that he had to wait until tomorrow to write back to Hana. He thought about sneaking downstairs after his parents were asleep, but he knew the alarm "Dad's waker" would make his dad catch him due to the fact that he hadn't studied the time the alarm rings. The last time he tried, it was hell on earth because most of the time it rings early and most of the time very late, they can be undecided. And also, it was going to be hard enough to tiptoe through the house and open the door to the front porch at midnight without making any noise.

He brushed his teeth and said goodnight to everyone. As for his sister, he always stays in front of her room to bid her goodnight. She would go hay-wide if he'd ever stepped into her room, which he cared not to venture. Though he could remember how bad it was the day he'd entered, and afterward, he vowed not to do so. After that, he got to bed, put his lamp on for reading, and pulled out the book "Harry Potter," flipping to chapter one.

Twenty minutes later, he did the worst thing he could possibly do.

He fell asleep.