Page 33

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

AKIKO’S DREAM – THE LOCKED DOOR

Later that night, the recurring dream returned. The one where I’m chasing after my father. But this time, I made it farther than I ever had before.

The pier’s boards groaned beneath my feet, and the tang of saltwater filled my nose. His silhouette at the end of the pier, near the bait shack, teased me like a mirage. He was smiling, waving me forward. I ran, the wind blowing at my face as I pushed myself to reach him. But when I arrived, he was gone.

I stood before the weathered bait shack, its warped wooden slats barely holding it up. “Papa!” I called out, my voice straining against the roar of waves below and the cries of seagulls. I peeked over the edge, expecting to see him face down in the waters. But he wasn’t.

And then I spotted him on the boardwalk, smiling, waving. How was he able to stay ahead of me? Frustrated, I charged forward, determined to close the gap and finally grab hold of his hand. Yet when I reached the spot where he’d stood, he was gone. Again.

Suddenly, the boardwalk was teeming with people. Where had they all come from? I pushed through the crowd, searching for the familiar blue shirt he always wore. A flash of color ahead caught my eye. There he was.

I took off, weaving through the crowd, bouncing off people like a pinball. He slipped into an alleyway between two buildings, and I followed. As I turned the corner, I caught sight of a door at the far end of the alley just as it closed. I sprinted toward it.

“Papa!” My tiny fists slammed against the wood until they stung. “Papa, please.” My voice cracked, but the locked door stood firm and impenetrable.

Where had he gone? What was this place?

I woke up with a jolt, my chest heaving, my hands clenched tight as if they were still hammering against that door. For a moment, I didn’t know where I was, disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings of my new room. Slowly, reality settled in, and I exhaled.

The dream always left me feeling empty, but this time was different. The locked door lingered in my thoughts. Was it my father I was chasing? Or was I chasing something else—something locked away from me?

I sat there in the darkness, grappling with what the dream was trying to tell me, if anything. Or was it just a cruel trick of the universe reminding me that my father had abandoned me?