A fanfiction based on the story of "Town of Cats" by Haruki Murakami
If you see this, I am dead.
Tengo stared at the envelope in his hand!
"So...He is gone! Forever! And ever! and..." For a jiffy, Tengo's entire world seems to go blank!
Which doesn't add up! He had invariably believed throughout his whole existence, that both of them were absolute nobody to each other!
But now that he learned that the last shred of that man's existence is perished from this earth, he probably felt...void?!
"Otosan!" Tengo felt his inside crumbled screaming this one word which bewildered him by the prominence of that emotion!
Although they had spent a certain period together, Tengo regarded this man as no more than a stranger! As ludicrous as it sounds, a stranger that he cared enough to "not like".
Tengo wonders, if that was the case, then what is this abrupt sprout of agitation he is suffering!
"Perhaps..." Tengo conceded to himself "even if we were nobody to each other, I at least felt that he was there, somewhere!"
He went inside the house and hopped on the couch, half-laid. He avoids drinking except for specific occasions. Nevertheless, he is yearning for one right now.
He holds the envelope with one hand in front of his eyes while supporting his neck with the other hand. Gazing at it as if a perplexed kid attempting to guess the gift by observing the wrapped gift box from outside.
Then he put it on the table beside him. He feels quite oblivious of whether to open the envelope or not.
Eventually, Tengo tore the envelope.
A photograph along with a letter came out of it!
Tengo recognized the man. He could assume the woman in his arm is his mother. A newlywed happy couple.
His mother is stunning, way beyond his ingenuity. The first thing that thumped Tengo is how on earth a man like him had won a beauty like her mother over! And the following thing occurred to him is that this is the very first time in his entire life that Tengo saw the long acquainted mans' smile or to be precise the cheerful face.
Which was nearly unimaginable for him whenever he had strived to envision it in his childhood days!
Although the whole attention of Tengo ought to flow towards his mother, he found myself gazing at him.
"He looks... genuinely complacent!" Tengo articulated with a subtle smile.
He thus looked at the letter, feeling kind of a unusual uncertainty as if he should not read it. But curiosity won over as always and he unfolded the letter with trembling hands.
Beloved Tengo,
Even though out of a whim, I decided to write you; I find myself skeptical of what to write exactly!
After you left today, I felt an intense impulse to communicate with you more. Communicate as a father with his son. Which perhaps I never did appropriately, although I thought about it countless times when we were residing together.
I reminisced, that in our past days- each day you grow up towards adulthood, we had grown distant from each other each time.
I tell you, my son, I had felt it in my bones.
You are a remarkable child, Tengo.
One moment I felt proud of you, the next moment I lost myself in anguish and jealousy; as you can comprehend the reason behind it.! I was an awfully contradicted man. No shame to acknowledge.
Reckon, I wasn't even a very ideal person as an elder whom you could have looked up to.
Regardless, I wanted to say____
Tengo woke up with a slight jerk.
"Wait what!" mumbled Tengo! "when did I fall asleep!"
He rose from the half-laid position and sat on the couch. His eyes followed the front and halted upon the envelope on the table. Tengo scratched his head with one hand and loosened his tie.
"Was it a dream!" He sounded both confused and a bit disappointed maybe!