Locked Memories

The only form of light illuminating his room from the darkness was the burning flame of a plain white candle that stood on his bedside table. On top of the same table were also pictures of him and his parents. Just like every picture told a story about one's life, the pictures on his bedside table told their own story too, no matter how good or bad it might have been. Captured in those pictures were memories of happiness and contentment — the feelings of fulfilment he no longer had.

Picking up the small wooden frame that held a picture of his parents, Leyon looked at it for a long time, his eyes studying all the intricate details of the simple clicked photograph. Out of all the pictures, that one was the only one that meant a lot to him, the one where all his happy memories were carved into. It was their family picture taken somewhere on a beach.

Unconsciously, Leyon smiled as he looked at the picture. There in the picture was his mother, sporting a wide smile and looking at his father, who was carrying him on top of his shoulders. Tracing his fingers over the thin glass of the frame, Leyon studied the appearance of his parents, reliving those fun, joyful moments full of laughter; those happy moments they had spent together; those moments he would never get to experience again.

"Pa. Ma," Leyon said to the picture as he tried to smile through the heaviness emerging from within his chest. "I'm okay now. I'm with granny... I hope you both are doing fine," he continued, putting the picture down to its rightful place. "I'm going to live well from now on. So please, continue to watch over me from heaven... I love you, Papa, Mama."

Blowing off the candle next to him, Leyon settled down on his bed and soon drifted to sleep.

Unbeknownst to him, Claire had been secretly watching Leyon from the cracked open door of his room and had witnessed everything. Silently and in tears, she slowly closed the door and leaned backwards, her hands tightly clasping her mouth to muffle the sounds of her uncontrollable sobs.

---

Beneath the unending crystal-clear blue sky, the lush green valleys stretched out far and wide, looking magnificently rich and radiant. The morning sun shone like a fiery ball in the sky; its pale-yellow beams splashed like gold dust upon the swaying leaves of May, bold and daring yet warm and beautiful. The soft cushion of green grasses growing in the meadows of the valley moved steadily in the direction of the breeze, dancing like the waves. The sweet scent of spring blossoms and the melodious morning chorus of the songbirds filled the heavenly air. It was a little paradise on earth. This was the beauty of the countryside.

Sitting on the lavish green grass, Leyon gazed far into the horizon, picturing everything he was seeing and engraving them into his memory. A tiny fraction of him wished he could relish this moment with his parents, but he knew that was impossible. Nevertheless, he was thankful to the person who brought him here. Though that person could only accompany him silently by his side, he didn't mind.

Leyon hadn't at all expected Hikari to come to his house right after the night they both met, but she surprised him that morning, barging into his house like an uninvited guest and shoving her written notes in his face, asking to come play with her. He could tell Hikari liked him a lot. Though she was mute, she wasn't so different from the other kids. She had this giddy, cute nature of hers that made it harder for him to turn her down. Maybe he didn't want to disappoint this new friend he just made.

Leyon wouldn't voice it out loud, but he knew Hikari's intentions. He knew she was trying to cheer him up by bringing him here, and he was genuinely grateful for that.

"It smells nice here," said Leyon, taking in a deep breath. Hikari scribbled down some words into her notebook and handed it to him.

"Will you com and play wit me eveyday here?" The words were written on the note in messy handwriting.

Leyon nodded his head, giving Hikari a warm smile.

"Hey, Hikari... I can help you improve your vocabulary if you want."

"Realy? Tech me, Leon." Hikari scribbled on her notebook, and then passed it to Leyon excitedly.

"Okay. First of all, my name isn't Leon. It's Leyon, L-E-Y-O-N." Leyon wrote down the spelling of his name in Hikari's notebook and continued, "Do you get it now?"

Hikari nodded in understanding.

"Good. So, you can call- write my name like this from now on. You can also write Ley for short if you want. My parents used to call me by this name... but nobody calls me that anymore," said Leyon, sadness crossing his face a brief second before he shook it off completely. Clearing his throat, he went on, "See here." He wrote down some words in the notebook. "You see this letter 'a'? This should be written like..."

Leyon placed his fingers on the notebook, pointing to the words Hikari needed to understand whilst the latter intently watched and listened to his teachings with a very determined look plastered on her face.

"That's it. You just have to learn these for now. Then we can continue tomorrow," Leyon concluded.

Hikari beamed as she stared at her notes, scanning the contents of the lesson Leyon had taught her. She then looked up at Leyon. Giving him a wide smile, she instinctively opened her mouth to thank him. "Thank You." Her lips seemed to move, forming the words but no sound came out.

As if consumed by grief, Hikari's once happy and brimming eyes suddenly lost all their shade. A single drop of tear cascaded down her cheek and fell on her notebook. Then came another. Before long, it became a full-blown wail. She was crying so bitterly, so painfully it was hard for Leyon to watch.

"What's wrong?" Leyon asked worriedly. "Are you hurt somewhere?" Confused and not knowing what to do, he tried to say comforting words to stop Hikari from crying but couldn't. Nobody had ever taught him how to console a crying girl.

The more Hikari continued to cry, the more Leyon was confused as to why she was suddenly crying like that. He couldn't help but feel alarmed at her condition. This Hikari, to him, was just like a delicate piece of glass, and he was scared if he touched her, she would break.

"I hate people who cry," Leyon suddenly blurted before he could stop himself. He had said it out of desperation and that seemed to have worked.

Hikari instantly paused and gazed up at him.

"Stop crying... I don't know why you're crying, but if you think crying can solve everything, if you think crying can fix everything, then just do it. Cry all you want," said Leyon in a serious tone.

Hikari looked at Leyon, confused and horrified.

Leyon's expression had turned cold and placid. "But if you're crying for problems that you can't solve or for things that are out of your control, then you're just being stupid. You should know crying will never solve anything," Leyon said. "My dad... taught me a man should never cry for things that are out of his control. He taught me crying won't solve my problems, it will only show weakness and never make me strong. So, I will never cry. No matter what, I have to be strong to protect the ones I love. Even though I couldn't protect... them."

The last words almost faded into a whisper, but Hikari fully understood what Leyon meant to say.

Quickly wiping off her tears with the back of her hand, Hikari took her marker pen and scribbled something in her notebook.

"I'm sorry. I'm okay now," it read.

"Good." Leyon smiled at Hikari.

Getting up from the soft grass, Leyon extended his hand at Hikari, motioning his eyes at her to take it. She accepted his hand, and he quickly pulled her up. "Let's go home."