Leaving

Inoue's POV

At 7am, I was given forms to fill out for my discharge.

I quickly filled them out and took them to the nurses' station.

I don't want be here longer than necessary.

The woman takes the forms from me and she said. "Goodbye."

I hurried out of the hospital, carefully walking on the corridors as some of the doctors seem to be rushing around.

There's still heaps of people at the hospital, who were more injured than me.

As I stepped out of the hospital I saw Hiro next to a black SUV. He has a group of men surrounding him. He turns toward the door and a smile spreads across his face. He then walks over to me.

"I'm here to take you to your place to collect your things. Then I want you to spend some time with my family before you leave. Hana took a liking to you."

A smile spreads across my face. "I took a liking to her as well, sir. She's a great a kid and you have raised her right."

"Thank you," he opens the door for me and I climb in.

Hiro moves to the other side of the car and he

climbs in too, sitting across from my spot.

"Your house was on a higher ground, so it didn't get damaged during the tsunami. A few teachers weren't as lucky as you. They lost their passports and other documents. So, they'll have to go to their consulate in the town to get a new one. It will take them a couple of weeks to get it. I'm afraid that all the children won't have any good teachers when they leave."

I touched his hand. "There are other people out there that will be interested in teaching the kids. I've learnt a lot from the children while I was here and I'm really going to miss this place. Do you want to know the real reason why I took a job here?"

He nods.

"I couldn't go back home. The place where I grew up with my family. A boy told me that if I stepped foot back into the town he'd ruin my life. I was so scared to return home. So, when I came across the opportunity to become an English teacher for the kids on this town I took it and not once have regretted it."

"And now you want to go back to the place where you grew up?"

I nod. "It's about time that I face my past. I want to move forward and enjoy the rest of my life. I don't want to live with regret, especially after what happened here.

As we drived down the dirty track, there are lots of heaps of trees on the ground we've passed. Power poles are on its side, cars have mud on it and some look like it went a few round with a truck.

Hiro looks out the window. "A couple days ago the road was blocked by these trees, power lines and cars. I got a group of people together and we cleared everything up." He turns towards me. "My wife and three other kids were safe in the house when the tsunami hit and when I saw the rush of water from the balcony of my place I thought my daughter would be dead. When things settled down I went to all the hospitals to find her, but I couldn't find her. There was one hospital that I didn't try and with a sinking feeling I went there immediately, I thought she was dead. Until saw you on a stretcher with my daughter holding your hand."

Hiro wipes his face as he remembers that day.

"You know she didn't want to let you go. She cried when I pulled her away. I had to promise her that she would see you again in a couple of days. I took her home after she was checked out. She had a few bruises here and there. Other than that she was perfectly fine."

I don't really know what to say to that, so I stayed quiet.

Before I know it the car comes to a stop in front of the building I live in.

The guy that I rented the place from is standing at the doorway. He looked at me as I approach the place.

"Hey, Hisuka. How are you?"

A smile spreads across his face. "Better now that you're here sweetheart." He wraps his arm around me. "Do you know who that guy is?"

I nod. "I saved his daughter. That's who he is."

Hisuka drops his arm from around me. "Do you have the keys to your place?"

"No, I lost them when I was caught in the tsunami."

I don't have my handbag either. I wonder if it survived the tsunami.

Looking at Hiro I said. "Can we go to the school. I want to see if my handbag is still in one piece."

"Sure,"

I hurried up the stairs and packed my clothes into the suitcase.

It didn't take me long to pack my stuff. I put my photos in my carry on bag and then I walked back down the stairs to where Hiro is currently talking to Hisuka.

Hiro looks up to me the moment I exit the building.

"Let me help you." He takes the heavy suitcase from me and we walked to the car.

I climb into the car. "Bye, Hisuka." I waved at him as the car heads in the direction of the school. "Hiro did the school get hit?"

He turns towards me. "I don't know. I never made it to the school. It looks like we'll see for ourselves in any moment."

The school wasn't too far from my place. It was down the road and I walked there all the time.

There were heaps of people walking around the town, but right now there's no one out, they were probably staying at higher grounds right now.

Maybe a lot of them are tending to their wounds from the tsunami. Or they're still too scared to go back down here.

It's going to take a while for people to live again especially after the devastation that the tsunami has caused.

There's a few body bags at the side of the road as we arrived at the school.

A cross is placed close to their bodies.

Looking at the school, I see that it's still standing, but you can see that the tsunami had reached the school as there's dried up sand on the floor.

Moving forward I walked towards my classroom. I saw my desk next to the door that leads to the next classroom.

I unlocked the drawer and found my handbag in there.

My purse is dry and all my stuff in there seems in good condition

It looks like the water didn't rise as high here since it's a little higher up than the beach.

There's a bush track behind the school that we took that leads to the beach.

It takes about thirty minutes to reach the beach from the school, I wonder how the rest of the teachers are?

As I finished thinking that, three teachers walked into my room. One of them being the teacher that told me to leave Hiro's child behind.

She walked over to me. "I'm glad you're alright." Looking at my bag she asks. "Are you leaving?"

"Yes, I am."

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