Sakura left her parent's townhouse in Maida Vale quietly not wanting her parents to hear her leave. Her parents were still sleeping and she wanted to avoid any questions about where she was going and what she was doing.
She checked her appearance in the hall mirror before she left. Carefully putting her newly cropped super straight hair behind her ears. She was wearing a bright pink fitted cashmere cardigan with some black skinny jeans and a pair of ballet pumps.
She looked at herself and felt quite pleased at her appearance. She finished the look with a Chanel red lipstick. She looked polished but casual which was kind of her vibe. She closed the door quietly and jumped into her brand new cream Fiat 500. She loved that car and had got it as a present from her parents when she finished School. It was her first car so she still felt excited every time she drove it.
When she got in the car and before driving she called Darren on her I phone they both smiled and laughed on Face Time chatting together excitedly.
'Ok darling I'll see you soon,' she blew him a kiss and she set off on her way. It was actually quite a straight forward journey from Maida Vale to Hayes once she got on the A40 and should only take about 30 minutes especially with such light traffic. She turned on the radio and sang along to some corny Christmas songs and she felt like her heart would burst. She thought of Darren and how lucky she was to have met him. She smiled to herself when she thought of how they met and she suddenly thought of Bill and mentally thanked him. Her BillyBoy! It was because of him and gaming.
'Rest in peace Billy Boy,' she said out loud.
It was going to be such a relief to spend the day with Darren and his family especially because they thought the same way as she did regarding Corona. She was an only child and her parents completely believed the narrative. There was no way she could bring up her own views or question the government to them. She had kept her thoughts to herself.
She was studying to be a pastry chef, it was something that she was completely passionate about but the course she was doing at Le Cordon Bleu school in Covent Garden was on hold because of lockdown. Still she practiced every day and on the seat beside her were two boxes of specially prepared cakes. Individual Christmas tarts, fresh cream chocolate eclair's, meringue's and her favorite and unique doughnuts with different flavored fillings. She had gone a bit overboard but knew that they would all get eaten. Each one was a masterpiece and carefully decorated so she took extra care as she drove not to shake the box.
She dreamed of having her own pastry shop one day with a little café attached and had fantasized about this since she was a little girl. She had always been quite entrepreneurial like her parents and had helped out waitressing and learning the art of Sushi since she was a young girl. Her parent's restaurant was now one of the top sushi restaurants in London if not the UK. In that way her parents were her inspiration but a rift had developed over the past year with her parents becoming rigid in their thinking.
This caused Sakura such pain as they wouldn't listen to her views and she quickly learnt to keep them to herself becoming more and more isolated as the weeks went by. Her parents didn't even notice that their only child had withdrawn from them. Living in such a big house and used to not spending a huge amount of time together they didn't realize or want to know their daughter's views.
Earlier on when the Corona pandemic had started she had brought up the subject when they were all at dinner and had questioned the narrative and wanted to open a debate about it. Both her parents had been almost stunned into silence and then her father had gotten so angry. She had never brought it up again. But every day she had done more and more research and her rational inquisitive mind questioned it all.
Finally, she had found other people like herself online that also had started to question the mainstream propaganda. It bothered her that they were not allowed have an opinion anymore and that there were no debates. This set off alarm bells in her mind.
As she neared Hayes her heart started to beat a little faster and as she pulled into The Crown pub she saw that Darren was already at the door. He had been waiting to hear her car pull up. They greeted each other with Spice joining in and jumping and barking furiously.
'Hello my little Spice!' said Sakura as she patted his velvety head. Spice had taken a real liking to Sakura and they all joked it was because of the cakes.
'Oooh can you help me bring these boxes in but take care of Spice,' she laughed sweetly. The smell of fresh pastries filled the air.
They headed inside and went upstairs to the warm kitchen. Jan and Victoria were ready to welcome Sakura all wishing each other Merry Christmas and giving each other hugs. It was still early and Jan had prepared a breakfast for them all.
'Can I make you a coffee love?' Jan said as Sakura sat next to Victoria.
'That would be lovely Jan,' she said with a big smile.
Within minutes she was holding the baby and had Spice at her feet.
'So are you joining us for the march on New Year's Day?' Victoria had asked.
'Yes I can't wait especially because it's going to be your first protest march. It's so good to be surrounded by people who all think the same as you. I went on my first march with Darren, it was our first date and it blew me away.' she said.
They all tucked in to some toast and eggs with fresh coffee and then Jan asked her how her Christmas had been.
'Oh the usual just my parents and I we always have a traditional English Christmas dinner early afternoon and exchange gifts in the morning.'
'Everything is a bit strained at the moment,' she said sadly, her pretty face crumpling up. Jan gave her shoulder a squeeze.
'I know it's the same for us with Darren's Dad and Grandmother. 'You know they wouldn't even come over because they think mixing with us is too dangerous they even said our behavior could potentially kill someone!'
'All they believe is the government and the mainstream media it's sad and has caused such a divide in so many family's.'
'Hey let's not be sad today,' Darren chimed in. 'We nearly got arrested yesterday and got questioned by the cops.' he laughed.
'Can you believe it?' said Victoria. 'Little Teddy wasn't wearing her face mask,' and they all laughed.
They spent the day chatting, eating and making plans for the New Year's Day freedom march. In the early evening they all sat together and ate the beautiful cakes that Sakura had prepared.
'Wow you really have a talent,' Victoria said reaching for a second pastry. They had all bonded so quickly and Sakura had been welcomed in to the family. It almost felt like she had always been around. They talked of how she had played computer games with Billy Boy and had not realized he was old enough to be her grandfather and it had brought a tear to Jan's eye remembering Bill.
They all laughed hysterically at Sakura recounting it all.
'He was like a father to me,' Jan said to Sakura, 'and I loved him so much. My own childhood had not been great and Maggie and Bill had become the family I never had.' she went on. 'It's sad now as it all seems so broken. This is the first Christmas we've had without Bill and Maggie. So much has changed Sakura especially since we lost Emma as well.'
Jan cried as she opened her heart to Sakura and the young girl seemed to know all the right things to say.
'That is why we have to fight Jan, we can't let them get away with this.' Sakura said.
Then Jan reminisced a bit telling Sakura all the stories about Emma and Bill and Sakura smiled and was happy to listen to all the stories and get to know the family even better.
It was late in the evening when Sakura disappeared into Darren's room.
'You might as well stay the night,' he said