Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Hotel Lobby ❯ Hotel Lobby ( One-Shot )

Hotel LOBBY .

she just can't stand her reflection anymore

 

ONE : SHOT
by kurumi

 

 

 

 

You had always believed anything she said, from being happy and enjoying life, she told you. She told you that everyday the sun would shine, no matter what. You were about to tell her that sometimes it rains, when suddenly her smile beamed and she told you that even if you saw the rain that somewhere the sun was surely shining, and you believed her. You knew she was right because she was always shining, and as far as you were concerned― she was the sun. You're sun. She'd always been there for you. You can remember that when you got hurt, she would play nurse and fix you up, all better. When you were picked on when you were four for having chubby cheeks, and you tired to act how they wanted, she whispered in your ear when you came crying home. “Let's take control and be ourselves!” It took a couple minutes for you to get it, but only seconds after for you to follow her words. That was the first time you can recall ever loving someone so much. She was your mother and she was the only one you needed. Not even your father could match up to your mom's place within your heart.

 

No one, and nothing could take her place… it was impossible. She was by your side, she was your sun, and she was all you would ever need. Her vermilion hair, her cerulean eyes were a clear image of what you always wanted to be― your mommy. As your grew up a little more, by the time you reached five, you began to notice that your mommy loved your daddy too, which was the time was okay, even if you were a little jealous (because you were mommy's little pumpkin, not your daddy's). But still, you three created a pretty nice family, you had to admit.

 

You made it a habit to tug on her sleeve every couple minutes, as a reminder to mommy that you were still alive; as though she might forget. She would smile gently down at you, as gentle as she was, and tap her finger onto your nose. It would tickle so much that you had to wrinkle your nose up, and it made you laugh when daddy called you a “caterpillar”(daddy's little caterpillar). Somehow the three of you were like a picture hanging in the foyer of a large house, that was always perfect. Everything was perfect.

 

 

―☆☆ »»

 

Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. You cried to yourself in the corner, in the dark. In the dark, you cried. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. You cried out. EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING IS PERFECT… but it wasn't perfect. She was gone, the sun wasn't shining, and it wasn't PERFECT! You're mom is dead, and dad is beating himself up, while you cry (cry & cry) in the dark. Trying to assure yourself that everything is PERFECT… because you try and believe it is. You told yourself, who needs the sun? It hurt when your best friend Selphie told you that she could be your sun now. You've never hit anyone before, and you didn't expect that Selphie would be your first. Your eyes began to burn with tears as Selphie only smiled with her toothy grin (with two teeth missing in the front, because of you) and tried to comfort you, despite your violent efforts against it. You don't need the sun. If you don't need your own mother, then you sure don't need Selphie!

You only run away, leaving behind your best friend (your sun?) and her two missing teeth. You go back to your corner and cry, because your mommy is gone, in an eternal eclipse, and even daddy can't keep himself together. You can't seem to remember your mommy's gentle hands, her warm cerulean gaze, or her soft geranium hair anymore― and it kills you. Your mother is only a far off, distant space of memory that eats away at your heart. You wave off… GOODBYE SUN!

 

You're only five and one half, what could you possibly do?

 

 

―☆☆ »»

 

 

You're six now, and have been dubbed as “the quiet girl”, which would have been a surprise a year ago. The girls think you're weird because you refused to look in mirrors, so that even the teachers talk behind your back― your only thought, who cares? Really, because, you don't care, and you've done a lot of that lately (not caring). The only one who actually calls you her friend anymore is Selphie, and she occasionally brings Tidus along, but you don't want to make friends (do you Kairi?). You come home every night, and prepare your own dinner, because really, who is there to make it for you? It's surely not your father, and certainly not your mother. You've grown to become bitter towards you mother, blaming her for you becoming a social outcast at six years old. Your daddy doesn't notice, but why would he? He spends late nights at work, and you have become an inanimate object to her papa, like a sofa. It's just there, and is something he doesn't need― just has.

 

He doesn't even talk to you during the long car ride to his business function. He only rambles under his breath how absurd it is that he has to take a five-year-old girl on this trip. You turned to him and told him that your six, and he didn't think that you've heard, but doesn't give you any recognition, because, really, you're just there. You mumbled under your breath how stupid it is that your papa doesn't even know your own age, and how absurd it is that you have to go because your papa doesn't have a wife anymore to watch you. You don't really care that you're just a thing, because your papa right now is really just a `he'.

 

You're both just there, occupying (wasting) space in a house that is empty because fate was mean and gave your mother cancer. You still think it's your fault for being such a baby, needing sun like that. You didn't really want to hate your mother, but it's the only thing you can do, because everything was PERFECT until she went and got cancer, leaving behind a five-year-old to a `he' in a house that is much too big, and dark. You turned the opposing way so that your cheek is squashed against the car window, and your tear ducts burned with tears, and as crystalline aqua begins flowing out you make sure that papa didn't see… because even if your papa is now only a `he' you really don't want him crying like you.

 

―☆☆ »»

 

You and your papa have been at the hotel for two hours, and he vaguely told you that he is off for his meeting, but you didn't bother replying, because he barely bothered telling. He didn't tell you anything, so that doesn't mean that you can't leave your hotel room, so you did. The hallways to this vast place are so haunting, that you thought of running the whole six-hour car ride home. You keep to yourself, though, as people walked by you occasionally. You made it to the lobby, still unsure of yourself, and it's filled with every kind of person, but you noticed, that besides you that there is only one child. You pulled your arm to yourself, and like you, everyone looks quite lonely, out of place. In some odd way, this cheered you up; only not everyone in this room has a `he' for a papa and a gravestone for a mother.

 

You supposed that maybe papa thinks that you're too young to understand, but you don't have the naiveté of a child, and perhaps he does know this (everyone else does). The other little girl that you spotted in the lobby is someone you think about approaching, and so you being your unsteady steps to her, but by the time you reach the third step you stop. A much taller woman, a much older woman comes and scoops the girl up in her arms, snuggling her close to her face. A mother & a daughter. The mother pulls her daughter with her to face the mirror, and the girl's mother adjusts her sun hat. “Oh, darling, you're lovely! You look just like mommy now.”

 

Those words echoed in her heart. You look just like mommy now!

 

… just like mommy…

 

 

―☆☆ »»

 

 

You run into the dark corridors until they come to an end, and you run under the wooden desk at the end, hoping that no one finds you. You're just curled up in one big vermilion ball that you hope that no one finds. You cry yourself into hysterics and for some reason the face of your mother is the only clear image running through your mind… you're only six years old, what could you possibly do? You hold yourself tighter, and then you heard steps coming down the hall. You know those steps, it's `him', the `he' who is your so-called father. You quieted down, because your papa began talking, and you noticed that he is walking next to someone else.

 

“So, how are things at home?” The man next to your papa asked. You can see him put his steady hand on your papa's shoulder. Your papa pressed his fingers in-between in eyes and let a long sigh escape. “Not good.” You watched your papa look over earnestly to his fellow worker. “Ever since she passed on, things… I don't know… “ Your heart began to ache, hoping he didn't mention your mommy again, you don't think that you could take it one more time. You pulled your tiny six-year-old hands, that used to tug on mommy, and rubbed your eyes.

 

You considered running from under the desk, and out past your daddy so that you didn't have to listen anymore, but you were silenced when you pap's friend began again.

 

“How is little Kairi then?” You keep your eyes alert, wondering if your daddy would say (`who's Kairi?'). You closed your eyes, hoping that your papa wouldn't reply because you were too fearful of the answer that might come. You could only hold yourself a little tighter, as your papa began to talk. “Kairi… she is, I can tell, she hates me.” You pulled your head from under the desk a little, so that you could see your daddy. “You know, it scares me sometimes… how much she looks like her mother.”

 

“I wonder, sometimes, how will I live with her?” Your eyes become so big with tears that you can't keep quiet, even when you put your hand over your mouth. You're frightened now as your papa heard you, and bends himself over to peek under the desk. Your papa widened his eyes, seeing your sapphire orbs pop out from under the desk.

 

“…Kairi…”

 

―☆☆ »»

 

 

`Well, this is great,' you think, while pushed up against a chair in the hotel lobby, after having run from you papa, hysterically down the hall. But really, what does he care, if you're really that impossible to live with. You can't help but feel upset though, because, you promised yourself when your mommy died that you were too strong to cry (at six years old). You crinkled up you nose, hoping that mommy would gently press her finger onto your nose, and that daddy would be at your mommy's side to call you his caterpillar. Only, you know better, but you still can't stop crying.

 

 

While you were crying, you felt two shoulders press against yours, and a face pinned against your back. You can also feel tears starting to soak into the back of your short, and you became confused. You moved you head a bit so that you could clearly see chestnut spikes sticking straight into the air. You stopped crying, as you watch this person cry onto your back… why? You are confused now more than you've ever been… more so than when your mommy died, and when daddy seemed to drift away. Why is he crying… for you?

 

He finally pulled his eyes to meet her own, and you almost want to begin crying again, because his eyes are so beautiful. You can't help but wonder what kind of moron would go and hug a six-year-old girl, who is crying. You just couldn't understand, but when he smiled at you… you couldn't help but feel a ray of sun beginning to shine through…

 

He smiled wider, telling you that he would be there for you, and that he wouldn't let anyone hurt his princess anymore. You didn't catch half of what he said, but you understood that it was sincere. Somehow, even though you just met this boy, he had already declared a loyalty oath to you & it seems that you've between the eclipse of your mother, the over shadowing of your father, and the oceans of tears that you've fallen in love.

 

With the boy you have only met, but when he looked at you and told you that a girl with such pretty geranium hair, and cute cerulean eyes shouldn't be crying, you think that maybe you'll finally be able to look into the mirrors again, and forgive you mama and papa.

 

…because somewhere, in between the sunline, and in the hotel lobby… you've fallen in love.