.I
Wandering Lunacy
THE first place Mei Fen visited when on her journey was Japan. She had twenty five thousand, two hundred and seven Yuan in her wallet; which was neatly packed against her passport. Her shoes were slightly tarnished from the long walk to the airport from her house, and her clothes had thousands of particles of dirt on it. She was slightly afraid, almost too where her first night in a motel she broke down in tears. She left her mother, and she left her father. But they hadn’t tried to stop her, not once. They hadn’t even called.
For the first three days, and two nights she had stayed curled in the light red, almost peach, colored sheets of the bed. The blinds were closed tightly, the door had the sign that said 'no cleaning maid necessary' she never ate, and she barely got out of the bed (practically only to go to the bathroom). It wasn’t until that third night, did she realize her parents weren’t going to call. They were never going to call her. She had left. And they weren’t going to come find her.
They didn’t care.
They never did.
She had just turned eighteen. One day prior to leaving. The hardest thing she had ever done, was to leave that stupid note on the kitchen counter:
Dear Mom and Dad,
I'm sorry.
I love you,
Mei Fen
Despite her and her family’s problems, she still continuously loved them with all she had. And if they called her, even if she had no money, she’d find away to get back home to be with her family. No matter how much they fought. No matter how much her father said those things about her. No matter how many times her mother failed to be there. She still loved them, and she would still be there for them.
No matter what.
It was that day in late November, her senior year of high school, that she promised to have the time of her life no matter where she went. It only took her five years to work to get that money, and she wasn’t about to waste it while staying in some dingy hotel room. Nor was she going to let her family tear her down, because she was nowhere near them. And they may have been able to do that at home, but not here. Not when she’s on an island, thousands of miles away from them.
Early morning the next day she got dressed in her favorite long black shirt, ripped denim jeans, and dusty converse’s, walked down the steps of the hotel, and emerged onto the streets of Kyoto where it rained very lightly. It was only a five minute walk from Keihan Electric Railway Main Line Fushimi-Inari station which was located right next to her hotel. That five minute walk got her all the way to Fushimi Inari-taisha where the head shrine of Inari is located.
Mei didn’t, and still doesn’t, know much about Kami’s or the religion of Shinto. What she does know is that the walk up to the shrine was long, the Tori Gates were beautiful, and so was the shrine itself.
She learned that no matter what, native or not, you go along with the prayers and customs that everyone else does. She bowed respectfully at the beginning of the gates; she preformed Temizu at the water basin surrounded by azalea flowers. The minute she got to the shrine she wrung the small bell lightly, she left a few Yuan in the small rounded donation box and preformed the ritual which consisted of bowing twice, clapping twice, and holding the last clap with her hands held together in front of her heart for a closing bow after her prayers.
She didn’t get her fortune, nor did she write at the beginning of the gate. Mainly because she was too scared. The last thing she wanted to know is her future. Nothing is set in stone for Mei. Nothing will ever be set in stone for her.
Kyoto she valued with all her heart. It was the one place that she valued the most. Kyoto is where she began to realize that it was truly okay to leave home. She was eighteen. She could make her own decisions. Sure, she didn’t get to finish high school, but she did get out of the mess she called home.
And so she partied like crazy at some of the local bars, she tried to learn Japanese but it didn’t really work out. She conversed with random people she met at cafés, and had as much fun as possible with the little amount of time she had to spend in the place she truly came to appreciate.
Three days. That’s how long she stayed in Kyoto before she was back on a plane ride to God knows where. She asked the woman at the information desk for advice, and took off twenty minutes later not quite sure where she was going. All she needed to know was that she was getting further away from her family, and nowhere near China.
a u t h o r s n o t e :
So, this is the first chapter, somewhat of an introduction to Mei’s life. Nothing much about her yet, I just hope you get the sense that Mei and her family don’t really get along. Everything will be revealed pretty soon, and don’t worry Jun will be coming in as well. Mainly this is an introduction to Mei and her leaving everything behind and trying to cope with it. :)
d i c t i o n a r y :
- Twenty five thousand two hundred and seven Yuan is nearly four grand in US dollars
- Inari Okami is the kami of foxes, of fertility, rice, tea and Sake, of agriculture and industry, of general prosperity and worldly success, and one of the principal kami of Shinto.
- Kami’s are spirits that are worshiped n the religion of Shinto.
- Shinto is the ethnic religion of the people of Japan. It is defined as an action-centered religion, focused on ritual practices to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present-day Japan and its ancient past.
- Temizu an act of purification done at Shinto shrines to honor kami’s.
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