Are You My Mother?

"Are you my mother?"
I was waiting at the pedestrian crossing when a man next to me suddenly spoke to me.

I was only a twenty-year-old college student at the time and I'd had no memory of ever having a child in my life. Moreover the man looked well over thirty.
Taken aback, I replied, "No. I.....I'm not someone you are looking for."

He looked really surprised when I said it. It was as if he didn't understand why I would tell him such an obvious lie. His reaction surprised me.

As soon as the traffic light turned green I quickly walked away.
I might sound rude but he looked like someone who was mentally disabled, with his large staring eyes and creased shirt, and a small yellow bag that slung across his chest.
That was my first encounter with him, and I would see him many more times over the next few years.

From then on the man would always be waiting for me at the same place where we first met and he would always ask me the same "are you my mother?" question. It was uncomfortable but he would go away as soon as I replied "no." He seemed harmless enough and I didn't feel the need to go and report to the police or do anything like that.

However when later on he started hanging around my college I had to make things clear to him. I remember telling him severely that I never wanted to see him again, and that I found him disgusting.
That seemed to have put him off and after that he didn't appear to me for a long time. Soon I graduated from the college in Tokyo and moved back to my hometown.
About a year later I got a call from a friend in Tokyo.
"Guess what happened! I saw that stalker of yours near the college and he asked me "where is my mother?" I got freaked out and just ran away."
Hearing that only made me think, "oh yeah, I remember that weird guy!" I thought it was all in the past and it had nothing to do with me anymore.
But on the Mother's Day in the following year I found one withered carnation lying at the front door of my house. Immediately I thought "it's him!"and got really scared. I told my dad about it and we decided to go to the police together. But of course the police wouldn't take us seriously. After all nothing harmful had been done. However I felt very uneasy.

Then another few months had passed and one night it was snowing heavily. I was walking along a road when a car slipped and I got caught up in a pile-up.
I got knocked out of consciousness for a moment and the next thing I knew I was sandwiched between a car and a fallen tree. I couldn't move at all and my whole body hurt, but in the confusion that followed no one was able to hear my cries for help.

A  fire started close by and I thought this was the end of me when I heard the familiar voice calling: "Mother! Motherrrrrr!" It was that guy!
Before I knew I  was crying out "I'm here! Help! I'm right here!!"
He seemed to have been involved in the accident too, since he was bloody all over. Ploughing his way through the thick snow, he came over and pulled me out. Now I saw him properly for the first time, I noticed his injuries looked worse and more painful than mine. But in spite of all this he only looked at me and smiled.
"Are you my mother?" He asked me again.
An unnameable emotion welled up inside me and I only managed to utter,".....Yes....Yes." I started crying my eyes out.
But when I wiped my tears and looked up again he was not there anymore. In just a brief moment he had disappeared.

That was the last I saw of him. I haven't laid my eyes on him for years now. I still don't know what he really was but I don't think he was a ghost or that type of thing...

Even now, whenever it snows, I find myself thinking about him - my son, whose name I will never know.

Comments

Unknown said…
that was quite touching.
Tani said…
It was touching. The poor ghost may have lost his real mother and the girl may have resembled her. But the ending was so sweet. ^^
Anonymous said…
Aww that's nice.
Maybe he was from the future?
Anthony said…
aww. i really liked that story. it's nice to read "ghost" stories that aren't about the scares.
Sugar said…
Aww~!! So cute,tat ghost~! Kyahah~!
Dethyl said…
A very touching and sweeet story, thank you Saya.
Tia said…
that was a very emotional and moving story, i honestly shed tears...nice one Saya-chan!
Sachi Goripanda said…
The ending was so sad. :(

Mother's Day coming soon!
zetagear said…
happy mothers day XD
Oh Yeah! Happy Mother's Day!!! XD

Thank you very much for your comemnts guys!
Nami said…
Baaaw, read this story while listening to the "Grey" song that you've posted before just make this story sadder ç3ç

Saya, thank you very much for all your storys! You made me a very odd person (in a good way) :'3

Greetings from Brazil~
@Nami: Oh thank you Nami for your comment!

Don't worry if you have become odd. Everyone who comes to this site is odd in one way or another!XD

It's wonderful to have people from all over the world. I maybe contributing to the world peace through this blog? lol
Oh really sweet story... :)
Kimber said…
I think that he was her future child and when was in the wreck she was pregnant with him.that's why he looked worse than her ..... idk... that's just my op.
DA Strong said…
I agree with Kimber, that was my assumption. It makes it a lot more touching I think.
Yoku said…
I love this story....I love storys with twists in them!Maybe he was a ghost, and she was related to him some how, and he had early childhood memories of his mother, and she looked like her, so he asumed that was his mother?
Unknown said…
Oh my god, this really made me cry. I read this story to my friend the other day and started tearing up, my eyeliner got smudged from the bottom. >-<
Anonymous said…
that was a awesome story. I think he was a spirit of the child she would eventually have. Kinda like a reincarnation spirit or something. all in all it was of awesome proportions.
Thank you for posting this story, Saya. I found it very interesting. I hope you continue posting on this blog. It keeps me occupied whenever I'm bored xDDD
satanwearzprada said…
Aww that was so touching! :) I hope you start posting these stories again! Thanks Saya :)
sasusaku said…
That was really touching and emotional. i wonder if he was her future son.
thanx SAYA for posting such interesting short stories. i am really having fun reading your blogs. YOU'RE GRRRRRRREEATT
aweomeguy666 said…
wow that story was amazing and when i like something it's awesome! and quite sad too guess what im writing in my writing class?!
Marianis2305 said…
Oh my god that was cute. Weird but then really really cute.
♡Princess♡ said…
I remember reading this one!
It's very touching and sad. I think that the person was a ghost who was involved in an accident and he lost his mother and his own life.
He desperately tried to save his mother but failed because he was wounded so badly.
The girl who looked like his mother he was able to save and able to pass over because she finally accepted him as her son- he wanted a chance to save his "mother" again (^_^)

@Princess: that's a neat explanation, Princess! :)
EvilCarbonara said…
awwwww.... it almost made me cry *sniffsniff* that guy was sweet, even if he knew that she wasn't his mother. I wonder why he disappeared?

You post such wonderful(sometimes creepy) stories, saya-chan! (yeah, chan and not -san, cuz yer cute)
Unknown said…
That was kawaii
Envy said…
Oh my gosh, that was just so sweet. It made me smile.
I'm glad there's stories like this out there, even among scary things you can find a comforting place I guess?
Anonymous said…
This reminds me of the character "Ataru" by Nakai Masahiro... awkward but touching :)