For oncoming_storms Prompt 103.4
Five things you'd rather forget
The problem with being intelligent, and just arriving back in England after ten years in Japan was that there always had to be a target for the bullies at school to pick on, and young Toshiko was the one they chose. Slight, her English had an accent they were unused to, and it all made her an easy target.
She sat at home one morning, refusing to go to school. “You must, Toshiko,” her mother tried to reason, speaking in Japanese.
“No,” she replied in English. “Speak English. I must!”
It was then her mother began to realise what had happened to her daughter. Why hadn’t she seen it before then?
It was when Tosh looked back on the experience, she wished that she could have forgotten it. The humiliation, knowing that her mother knew... But it was one that would follow her all of her life.
oOo
She wished she could erase the whole sordid experience with the MOD from her mind. If only retcon pills worked with specific memories, instead of days.
She would still wake up sometimes at 3am, dripping in sweat as she remember the terror of being separated from her mother, watching her being dragged away. Because that was the worst part of all of it - what they had to put her mother through. Tosh could cope, she always had, but her mother...
She just wished she could forget the expression on her face as she saw UNIT dragging her daughter away.
oOo
Why had she not seen it before? The clues were all there, but they all missed them. All except... some cop. They were supposed to be smarter than the police, weren’t they? They should have picked up on Suzie’s strange behaviour, made the links. But they were just so glad that the glove worked that they happily let her do whatever she needed.
Jack was upset, they could tell. Both she and Owen spent time away from him, letting him deal. Sometimes, though, she could the look of utter betrayal on his face - he didn’t show it often but when he did, Tosh had to turn away. She wished she hadn’t seen it, and silently vowed never to let it happen again.
oOo
Tosh sat at the bar, nursing her drink. She’d suspected - god knows she’d suspected, but to overhear them thinking about it, knowing that at this moment they were probably at his flat doing... whatever. She shuddered, pushing the thought away. The last thing she wanted to imagine was Owen shagging Gwen. Maybe the drink would help her forget.
She’d waited for so long, hoping against hope that one day he’d just notice her. She was never going to be good enough.
oOo
Always too late. The memory of Owen, lying there covered in blood from the bullet wound, his expression disbelieving. Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered it, and it was as if it were in slow motion. Maybe she could stop it, push him out of the way, stop that bullet from entering his heart.
But as she looked down on the autopsy table as Martha prepared to start, she knew it was an impossible wish, and she could forever see his expression, no matter how much she tried not to.
Toshiko Sato
Torchwood
Word Count: 541
The problem with being intelligent, and just arriving back in England after ten years in Japan was that there always had to be a target for the bullies at school to pick on, and young Toshiko was the one they chose. Slight, her English had an accent they were unused to, and it all made her an easy target.
She sat at home one morning, refusing to go to school. “You must, Toshiko,” her mother tried to reason, speaking in Japanese.
“No,” she replied in English. “Speak English. I must!”
It was then her mother began to realise what had happened to her daughter. Why hadn’t she seen it before then?
It was when Tosh looked back on the experience, she wished that she could have forgotten it. The humiliation, knowing that her mother knew... But it was one that would follow her all of her life.
oOo
She wished she could erase the whole sordid experience with the MOD from her mind. If only retcon pills worked with specific memories, instead of days.
She would still wake up sometimes at 3am, dripping in sweat as she remember the terror of being separated from her mother, watching her being dragged away. Because that was the worst part of all of it - what they had to put her mother through. Tosh could cope, she always had, but her mother...
She just wished she could forget the expression on her face as she saw UNIT dragging her daughter away.
oOo
Why had she not seen it before? The clues were all there, but they all missed them. All except... some cop. They were supposed to be smarter than the police, weren’t they? They should have picked up on Suzie’s strange behaviour, made the links. But they were just so glad that the glove worked that they happily let her do whatever she needed.
Jack was upset, they could tell. Both she and Owen spent time away from him, letting him deal. Sometimes, though, she could the look of utter betrayal on his face - he didn’t show it often but when he did, Tosh had to turn away. She wished she hadn’t seen it, and silently vowed never to let it happen again.
oOo
Tosh sat at the bar, nursing her drink. She’d suspected - god knows she’d suspected, but to overhear them thinking about it, knowing that at this moment they were probably at his flat doing... whatever. She shuddered, pushing the thought away. The last thing she wanted to imagine was Owen shagging Gwen. Maybe the drink would help her forget.
She’d waited for so long, hoping against hope that one day he’d just notice her. She was never going to be good enough.
oOo
Always too late. The memory of Owen, lying there covered in blood from the bullet wound, his expression disbelieving. Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered it, and it was as if it were in slow motion. Maybe she could stop it, push him out of the way, stop that bullet from entering his heart.
But as she looked down on the autopsy table as Martha prepared to start, she knew it was an impossible wish, and she could forever see his expression, no matter how much she tried not to.
Toshiko Sato
Torchwood
Word Count: 541