The boy realized once again, with painful clarity.
He couldn't go back.
His family...
was really gone.
He had been the only one who cared in the first place.
The boy smiled bitterly.
He didn't even know why he still felt so reluctant to let go of that family... when he had never felt much warmth there to begin with.
Actually, living with his grandparents now was better than living in his own home had been.
His grandparents cared about him more than that man and that woman ever had.
But...
The boy knew.
Even if he tried to deceive himself...
He still couldn't completely let go.
His... father and mother were both still alive...
So why was his family gone...
What did it matter if he couldn't let go?
He couldn't change the truth.
His family was gone.
Maybe if he had a little more time...
He'd be able to do better.
At least, he wouldn't do what he had today: hide behind a tree the moment he saw that woman.
He hadn't done anything wrong.
That was what Big Sister had told him.
Whenever he complained to Big Sister, again and again, about that man's and that woman's neglect and indifference, and began to doubt himself...
Big Sister always told him he hadn't done anything wrong.
The man and the woman were the ones at fault.
He didn't know...
whether that man and that woman had done anything wrong...
But he felt that, just as Big Sister had said, he probably hadn't done anything wrong.
Because he had examined himself countless times.
With an incredibly critical eye.
And he still hadn't found anything he'd done wrong.
So he believed what Big Sister had told him.
He wasn't at fault.
Even though he believed he