Where to begin this long story of mine
Hmmmm
I guess at the start would be a good point.
I was born in Australia in the Northern Territory in a smallish town with a population of around 5,000 people called Imanpa. It was a quiet town where not much happened and the racing scene hadn't quite taken off yet. All the local racers had to travel 3 hours west to Uluru, or as all the racers knew it, Red Ring Automotive Park or RRAP for short.
I lived with my Mum and Dad on the northern side of town. My Dad was a simple mechanic that loved to work on cars and had worked on almost everyone's car in the town at some point. My Mum worked from home as a software designer for some racing companies. When my parents got married my Dad ended up using my Mums surname instead of his old one. I never understood why he did it, all he told me is “Your Mother's surname was cooler than my old one”. My Dad was from Australia but my Mum was from Japan. I never really knew how my parents met, but when I asked my Dad would just tell me that he met Mum when he was over in Japan on a mechanics conference, which I didn't believe because why would a simple mechanic be going over to Japan for a conference.
My Dad was a nice and loving father. He would go through heaven and hell to make sure that we were all happy. My Mum was very much the same. Both my parents were perfect to me and I didnt care what anyone else said because they are my parents and I love them.
I will never forget the day when Dad came home with the shell of an R33 GTR Skyline on a trailer being towed by his work car.
I ran outside to meet.
“What is this Dad ?” I asked
He got out of his car and walked over to me.
“What’s this you say” He lets out a small chuckle and puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me in.
“This my boy is our new car”
“How could this be our new car, it’s all in pieces” I said
“That’s the point my boy, we are going to build this car as a father and son project”
He leans down next to me.
“Imagine this car in all purple-”
I interrupt him
“Midnight purple, midnight purple”
He laughs
“Yes ok in midnight purple then. It will be the best car in the world and it will be built in our very own garage”
He stands back up and walks over to his car
“How about you help me unload this bad boy into or garage then ?”
I run over to the garage and pull the door up in preparation.
“All ready to go Dad” I yell out to him
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Alrighty son lets do this”
We finally got the car into the garage and put some blocks in front of the wheels so it couldn't roll away. We both just stand there and look at the shell.
He laughs pulls me close to him
“We have quite a bit of work to do before this is winning races”
He pulls down the garage door and says
“But we can’t start work on it yet, I don't have any parts for it and your Mum is going to get angry if we don't go in soon and have dinner”
We both run inside to have dinner.
We lived right next door to my best friend Jimmy Ahn. Our parents were really close so naturally we spent a lot of time together and became really good friends as a result. His Dad was a mechanic as well and worked with my Dad. Jimmy’s Mum was always traveling around for work, I never really knew what she did, but I guess I never really asked either.
We both attended the local school and where always together no matter what we did. I will always remember one day when we went to the library and started looking at some magazines of cars and racing. I will always remember when he turned to me and said
“When we get older I'm gonna be a famous race car mechanic one day just like these guys and you can come around with me to all the places I visit”
I just looked at him and said
“Maybe I will be working as a mechanic alongside you”
He looked at me and stood up, put his hand out and said to me
“I Jimmy Ahn promise to become the best mechanic I can and travel around the world alongside you”
I stood up, shook his hand and said
“I Stephen Sakai promise to join you as a race car mechanic and travel the world”
Life was simple and fun until when I was 9 years old. I will always remember the day when everything became difficult.
It was a Wednesday night after school. Me and Jimmy went back to his house to play some games and hang out. His Mum was home after being gone for a couple of weeks.
“Hey Mum”
“Hello Jimmy, how was school”
“It was alright, I bought Stevie over, we are just gonna play some games and hang out”
I stepped into the room.
“Hello Ms Ahn”
“Hello there stevie, keeping Jimmy out of trouble ?” She says with a smile on her face
“Always” I reply
“Haha good, I will make you boys some sandwiches, but make sure you do your homework before you get stuck into those games” she says
“Yes Mum we will” he replies
We head up the stairs and went into his room. We both finish our homework pretty quickly and get onto the games. A few hours later his Dad comes home. We heard the door slam open and it makes us both jump.
“What was that ?” I ask Jimmy
“I think it was Dad coming home” he replies
“Guess my Dads home then, I should head back” I say
“Yeah alright man, I will see you out”
I grab my stuff and we go to head out of his room.
As we are about to head down the stairs we hear his Dad and Mum talking to each other. His Dad sounds panicked and lost for words.
“What do we do !” his Dad says in a panicked voice
“I don’t know, both the boys are up in Jimmy’s room…..”
There is a slight pause
“We have to say something to them” his Mum says
We hear them walking towards the base of the steps. They both stop and see us standing at the top of the stairs. Jimmy’s dad rushes up the stairs with tears in his eyes and hugs me.
“Im sorry, I'm so sorry” He keeps repeating
I look at him confused and say
“What's wrong ? Is Dad home?”
His Mum starts crying as well and walks up the stairs and hugs me. I try to escape from them.
“I want to go see my dad”
They both hug my more tightly. His Dad finally loosens his grip and looks at me with tears in his eyes.
“Im sorry Stephen, but there g-g-gone”
He breaks down after he finishes his sentence.
“What do you mean there gone” I say
I run outside and head over to my house. I don’t see my dads car in the driveway so I head into the house.
“Mum, Dad, where are you ?” I yell
I head back outside to where Dad usually parks his car.
Soon after Jimmy and his parents run over to me.
I turn around and look at Jimmy and his parents. His parents are standing there looking at me while crying. Jimmy finally steps forward and says to me.
“Your Mum and Dad went up to the clouds, up to heaven”
“No! They can’t. I know, they have just stopped at the shops to get dinner” I said
I hear a car pull up
“See here they are-”
I go to walk over to the car but I stop once I turn around and see that isn’t my Dads car. Instead it’s one of the police officers. He gets out of his car and walks over to me. He stops in front of me and kneels down. He looks me in the eyes and takes his hat off.
“Your Dad was a hell of a man son”
He reaches into his pocket and takes out some things out. He grabs my hand and puts the things in my hand.
“Just remember, both your parents were so proud of you”
He gets up and walks over to Jimmy's parents.
I look down at the things he put in my hand. Its my parents' wedding rings and a half melted Holden badge from the front of my Dads car. I finally hits me what him and Jimmy's parents where saying. My parents aren't coming home because they are dead.
In an instant it felt like I lost everything. All I could do was cry.