Singing in Blue by Lauren N. (uplifting book club books .txt) 📖

"Aika.....Aika....wake up Aika.....Aika!" someone yelled at her.

"Ichirou? Ichirou!!!!" she called back.

She woke up screaming, she was confused and started to breathe heavily as Makoto started to cry happily next to her. He caressed her hand and squeezed it tightly, he started to talk to her but she couldn't hear anything. She tired to tell Makoto that she couldn't hear him but no sound came out, she felt around her mouth. A cup like shaped thing covered her mouth, feeding her oxygen. On her right arm an IV gave her vitamins, on her left hand a hospital wristband occupied her wrist. To her right Makoto sat, along with flowers and some 'Get Well Soon!' balloons. To her left a heart rate machine beeped, and a bottle of medication layed open on an endtable.

She looked at Makoto and pointed to her mouth, he came over and took if off, watching her take ragged breaths.

"Aika, I'm so happy you're okay!" Makoto said cheerfully, "I thought you would never wake up!"

"Yeah," she slowly responded, her head started to throb and she reached to hold it. It hurt even worse when she touched it, it was wrapped in bandages and it felt as so it had stitches in it.

"What....happened?" she asked, "Is Ichirou here?"

"No," Makoto told her, "I called him though, you were running and you ran into a streetlamp. I was afraid you would die in my arms. You were bleeding pretty badly and I had to run you to the hospital."

"Why was I running?" Aika felt clueless, she didn't even know why she was running in the first place.

"I don't really know, but I think you were just so shocked and hurt that you needed to get away from everyone."

"I guess that makes sense," she wanted to remember what had happened but her mind was totally blank,"I wanna get out of here."

Makoto smiled, "Don't worry! I'll check you out of here as soon as I can, then you can go home and rest with your brothers."

Her brothers would be coming home from daycare any minute, but how would she take care of them if she couldn't even take care of herself?

A nurse came in moments later carring a clipboard, Makoto signed some papers and help Aika out of her bed. He wrapped one arm around her waist and the other around her shoulders, he guided her out of her room and onto a elevator.

They stood there in silience for a while until Makoto spoke up, "I'm kinda glad Ichirou left...It's given me a better chance to get to know you."

Aika begain to feel uncomfortable, she removed his hands off of her and walked out of the elevator. She didn't have a ride home so she decided to use the hospital's phone to call a taxi.

"Wait!" Makoto shouted running up to her, "I'll take you home!"

"No, it's okay, I wanna be alone for a while." She dialed the taxi company and was soon saying goodbye to Makoto as she entered the taxi.

She fastened her seatbelt and looked out of the window, it was geting dark outside and she saw couples huddled against the rain. She cried softly, thinking of what had happened.

"What the hell.." she sobbed, pressing her face against her hands, "Ichirou's gone, Makoto is a creeper, my brothers are probably scared and my head hurts!"

The taxi stopped infront of her house and she ran, almost slipping on her driveway. Aika went inside and shut the frontdoor tightly, walking over to check her house phone for messages.

3 MISSED PHONE CALLS, the machine read, showing Ichirou's phone number twice and the daycare's number once. She listened the the daycare's call first, it was telling her that, because she was hurt, her brother's daycare lady was going to be taking them home.

Aika braced herself as she pressed a button on the answering machine, Ichirou's voice rang through her mind. "Aika, I'm so sorry about today, but you'll be my strong girl, right? America's great, I'm in California and the weather's amazing. There are palm trees everywhere and there are tons of beaches, maybe I can take you with me here someday. I start school tomorrow but the administrators wanted to make sure they had everything in order. I'll try and call you every chance I get. I love you."

Aika started to cry again as she listened to the second message, "Oh my God, Aika are you okay? I tryed calling your cell but you never answered. Makoto called me a few hours ago saying how you fainted when I left...Oh, Aika, I'm so sorry! I never meant to cause you-" Ichirou's cell phone went off in the backround, he pulled away from the phone for a second and came back crying softly, "Aika..! Don't die..please! If you died I don't think I could live with myself! I love you Aika, I just love you so much...! I need to come home...I don't want you to get hurt anymore! I'll cancel my scholarship...I'm gonna try and get a flight back to you as soon as I can..Stay strong Aika!"

Aika dialed his number into the phone and tried to call him, but no one answered. She left a message, "Ichirou...I'm okay! You don't have to come back, you need to go to school, it's so important to you! Don't let me get in the way of your dreams, they're as important to you as they are to me. I love you so much, I'll try to be stronger. I'll sing for you, I'll sing so that even in America, you'll be able to hear me!"

Aika paced the floor, swinging her cellphone in her hand, trying to figure out what she would say to Ichirou if he did come back to Japan. The doorbell rang, disrupting her thought and she scurried to the door.

The daycare lady's smile faultered briefly as she looked at Aika's head, which was still wrapped in bandages, but her smiled remained strong. "Hello, Aika! I'm glad to see that your out of the hospital! Your brothers have been great today, they've been worried sick about you!" she gently pushed the kids towards their sister and walked to a car, "Have a great rest of the day, I'll see you tomorrow boys!"

Aika closed the door and brought her brothers in for a hug, "I missed you guys," she said softly, patting each one of their heads.

"We missed you too sissy," her youngest brother mumbled, trying to hold back tears, "We thought you were gonna die like Mommy."

"Yeah," the oldest brother grumbled, squeezing his sister's shirt, "I thought we wouldn't have anyone left."

"Don't worry, I'm here," she said, feeling sad herself but tryed to muster a grin, "You wanna go to Auntie's house?"

"For how long?" the oldest asked, and the youngest tilted his head slightly.
"Not too long, just for a couple of days, that's all."

She dialed Ichirou's number and left a short message: "I'm taking your advice,the boys will be with my Aunt for a while, wish me luck."
Then she left a short message to her Aunt and explained to her that the boys where staying with her.
She clapped her hands, "Alrighty boys! Go pack your bags,get ready to go, we're going on a trip to the toy store first!"

The boys ran to thier bedrooms while Aika ran to hers, she packed quickly, stuffing money and clothes into a little dufflebag.

Soon she was packed and was standing outside with her brothers, waiting for a cab to show up.

"I going to a big music company to see if I can become a singer,that's why your staying with Auntie, but first I'm gonna go and buy you guys some things."

The cab pulled up the driveway and they all piled in the back seat.

"Fun things?" the oldest asked, sitting next to her.

"Yupp!" she answered, as her brothers grinned excitedly.

The car ride was short, for town was only a couple miles away, she paid the cab driver and told him to wait. She and her brothers ran into the busy toy store. The boys each got one toy, small enough to carry around but occuping enough for them while they were with their aunt.

The drive to their aunt's house was a noisy one, with gun shot noises and explosions. The cab soon arrived at her aunt's house, Aika ran to hug her aunt and thanked for watching her brothers. She kissed her brothers on the foreheads and handed them their bags, then climbed into the cab once more.

The music coporation buliding was huge, cars filled the parking lots and people flanked the sidewalks. She greeted the resptionists with a warm smiled and headed to a large room. There was a lot of other girls there, all were trying to get the next spot as a new idol. Aika twiddled her thumbs nervously, lowering her head when she felt someone looking at her.
She waited for someone to call her name.

"Aika Suzuki? Is Aika Suzuki here?" called a woman's voice.

She sprang out of her seat, "I'm here! I'm Aika Suzuki!"

"Okay Aika, if you'll just step inside this room, please." the woman said, opening a door that led to a table of judges and a microphone in the center of the room.

"Hello, I'm Aika Suzuki, 16 years old and participating in high school!" Aika said cheerfully to the judges, trying to hide her nervousness.

"Hm...16, eh?" one judge mumbled, shuffling music sheets,"Well, Aika, are you going to do your best today?"

"Yes!" she responded, grabbing the mircophone and nodded at one of the judges.

"Alright, show us what you got!" said a judge, and started Aika's music.

You can do this Aika

, she told herself, for Ichirou!

She took a deep breath and let the notes flow out," The town is filled with brilliant light
The chill of anesthetic ether
2 AM, and I can't sleep
Everything is changing so fast."
Her nerves flew out of her as if