The Greatest Weapon

She stopped to look in the mirror realizing that things would never be the same. He was gone and was never coming back. “Your words are your greatest weapon.” His words rang through Saki’s mind as she fixed her hair in the mirror, mentally preparing for what she was about to do. I can do this, she thought to herself. But what if you can’t, a traitorous voice in her mind whispered. “No, I can. I have to tell him what happened, he deserves to know,” she said aloud, silencing that voice. Saki took a deep breath before opening the door and starting her short walk to the house of Yamato Ishida. “It’s nice to see you out and about again after the accident,” a disembodied voice called out as a tall figure stood up from behind the bushes surrounding Saki’s neighbor's house. “Very unfortunate what happened to young Takueru, yes, yes. He was just such a kind and hopeful young boy.” The voice, who Saki could now identify as Maseru Aoki, an old man with an innocent smile and a back that could never seem to be straight, continued, ignorant of how his words affected Saki. “I heard that his brother hasn’t left their house in a week.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m going to talk to him now about it.” 

“Well have fun dear, and remember that nobody can know better until knowing better is useless,” he says with a knowing smile before going back to his bushes. What a strange, strange old man Saki thought to herself as she continued her walk. 

The tall white house loomed over the surrounding trees the black door seeming an eternity away, not mere yards., Saki took a deep breath as the doubt started to creep back into her mind. I got this, she thought to herself as she knocked on the door. “Who is it?” a dead voice asked from inside as a ghost-like figure opened the door. “Oh, it's you. What do you want?” 

“I want to tell you what happened.” 

“No, no. You do not get to come into my house and tell me what happened to my brother. Besides, I already know what happ-”

“Oh, yeah what happened then Yamato?” Saki interrupted.

“You had a chance to save him, and you didn’t, Saki, that's what happened,” Yamato answered with a flat voice.

“No,  that isn’t true. That isn’t what happened. He made his choice and I made mine and we're going to have to find a way to live with it.” A tone of resolution in her voice.

“Oh, yeah tell me what happened then Saki. How did you come out of it alive and he didn’t?” Yamato responded with a dead voice.

“We were hiking in the woods. Then the storm started. The rain started to fall from the sky and thunder started crackling. Lighting strikes a tree in the distance. It catches fire and, we run. Fast as we can but the fire was faster. We came to a split in the trail, he went one way, and I went another. That was the last time I saw him,” Saki explained in a strangled voice.

“Oh, I-I didn’t know that. Why didn’t you explain when they asked you what happened?” Tears rolled down his face as he responded.

“I tried so, so hard, Yamato, but nobody would believe me. Somebody started the rumor that a tree fell on him, and that-that I could have saved him. Everyone thought that was true, but it's not.” Saki spoke in a strangled voice. 

“I believe you.”