There was a nameless, orphan girl. Her parents died when she turned a year old, and she had been living in an orphanage all her life. Although the children had food to eat and a bed to sleep in, the orphanage was not all fun and games. They would have the orphans do the housework, garden and earn money. Not only that but the children were given no educational opportunities and if they had done something wrong (mainly go against the adults words), they would be scolded and put into a room with no windows. On the nameless girl’s eighth birthday, she took an extra cookie and was scolded, shut in the windowless room, and was not fed. The next morning she was released and immediately told to collect all the laundry. Tired, scared, and mad, she ran away once she was outside. She ran and ran until the city was nowhere in sight, but when she looked up, all she could see around her was a vast blackness of trees. Exhausted, she fainted.
When she woke up, she saw a clear blue sky and felt a soft summer breeze. She got up and found herself surrounded by a field of flowers, roses, tulips, chrysanthemums, every type. Although she questioned how she had arrived in the flower field, or why she did not remember anything of that day, or of her life at all, she smiled and ran through the field feeling free and happy, and rid of worries. As she ran, she saw a small cabin with two people standing in front of it. She didn’t know who they were, but ran towards them anyway, and as she got closer, she could tell that it was her mom and dad even though she had never grown old enough to remember their faces before they passed away. She ran into their arms and they all embraced happily.
For six days she experienced the family life she never had before, and she was happy. On the morning of the seventh day she woke up just like any other day she had with her parents but somehow, that day was a little different. As she sat down to the smell of breakfast, her mom and dad said, “Daughter, we have not called you your name yet, and you may be wondering how you are able to be with us again…well, today is our last day together as well as why,”.
As she sat and listened to her parents, they told stories of her as a baby, always surrounded by roses and flowers. She discovered that her parents have indeed passed away, and that she is neither alive nor dead. Her parents also explained that since she is neither alive nor dead, she still has a chance at life (since she was is still so young). In order to regain life, she will have to service those who are hanging onto the verge of life by appearing before their alleged death bed and handing them a flower, but it must be the flower that best describes the personality of the person. While she is doing so, she will have chances to figure out who she was before arriving in the flower field, as well as her purpose.
With all of that knowledge, she, a little eight year old girl, cried as her parents informed her that tomorrow morning she will forget all of this has happened, and only remember what her basic tasks are, her time limit, which is 10 years starting from the eighth day (tomorrow in this case) and her name.
From that day on begins the story of Hanako (her name), meaning “Flower Child”.
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