The Father Gone
Stories similar to this that you might like too.
When we woke up the next morning, a familiar problem began to grow in our heads. We were late for school again! We had to do something about that. I remembered hearing somewhere—when you have a headache from thinking too much (the kind of thing people always tell each other), all you need is a good run around outside and exercise can solve lots of problems… well then maybe running just got me out into the open instead?
It was worth trying at any rate; otherwise, Mom’s gonna start getting mad before long if nothing happens soon! Dad seemed very excited by this plan as well, even though he’d slept in today because of being so drunk last night.
“Dad…” The instant I said it, my heart almost stopped dead in its tracks. His back was turned toward us while we stood there gaping. That shouldn’t be surprising, but somehow he looked like a completely different person than usual.
Why was his whole back now covered in fur?! Were these scales falling off some monster?! I did what I could to stop myself from crying or screaming right away, silently examining him through my fingers one by one. Yep. Definitely scales of some sort…!
All those weeks without water down below must’ve left their mark after all!! My god!!! In hindsight though, didn’t the area around his neck get all swollen up that time…?
Did dad grow fins instead? He does seem taller recently… no wait… come to think of it, when I touched the front part of his waist yesterday, he suddenly flinched really badly and put himself between me and dad then… Y-You jerk!!!!
And the reason for everything wasn’t a single bit funny either, huh!! If there isn’t even enough blood circulation in your body anymore, how are you supposed to look cool wearing such tight shorts!?
That might sound trivial compared with the state of his own health, but hey, when your own husband tries to cover his private parts up whenever someone looks in his direction… You’re supposed to laugh at that, not gawk angrily!!
After all, even if my family members should turn into monsters overnight, they still deserved more dignity than this! I mean honestly… Even if he doesn’t want mom finding out yet… Dangit! Why didn’t you use a condom?! Stupid father… Ughh, dammit all!! Is daddy finally turning into that dog guy in the porn movie dad showed us before…??
Ohhh my bad, Daddy… Seriously too perverted…
This kind of thing deserves an Oscar award or some shit for sure… But the point stands, it happened to everyone once and if I recall correctly (because my memory hasn’t failed me every now and then) it had an extremely tragic end indeed.
Good thing I don’t remember anything else besides “oh dear…”, considering whether the rest of the film followed suit. Still, maybe it’ll go without saying by now, but keep yer pants on out there dude, damn it…!
All right, the day was ours! At least that makes things feel better… Speaking of which, we ended up skipping history class as well thanks to having our panties stuffed together during home economics… but frankly speaking, the mood was probably already ruined anyways thanks to my mother coming downstairs wearing only a bathrobe since she couldn’t find her proper clothes.
She laughed with such delight at seeing me half-naked underneath my towel. Now what to do, what to do..?
Which one of the two has caused the most trouble today? Ahahahahaha… First is certainly more entertaining though. She and Mr. S are fighting dirty here. Well, actually my father and I would call that game playing.
Hmph…! Anyway, let’s go watch something hilarious tonight… Although now that I think of it… Let’s make sure we talk to everyone about this tomorrow. Everyone needs to know you are sick if nothing happens. No more excuses shall be accepted anymore.
Until then we need to enjoy ourselves in any way possible~ (Including running naked around town with Mommy.)
A few days passed like this until it came the next Thursday: THE DAY. Before leaving to walk towards the center where we would take the bus to school, Mom told me there was some leftover omelet and waffle batter for breakfast as a reward, and that it tasted especially nice for some strange reason. For whatever mysterious reasons.
Also, at the same time every day since we skipped classes regularly due to that ‘party’ two weeks ago now; there stood Mima outside in front of the entrance holding our umbrella so we wouldn’t lose anyone if we got separated inside the crowd… though in truth the reason for going to school these days was solely to escape her overbearing questions and the chance of having us cut ties with her company… still it was unfortunate that even public schooling failed to educate us properly…
It wasn’t like they could be held accountable, though, as they’re a private establishment. When did schools start teaching practical skills anyways, huh…? Considering my short education level I’ll have plenty of time to catch up on stuff later down the road, just please leave me alone and stay outta my way~~
Or perhaps more accurately, please bring your entire workforce under the category called “things to worry about more instead”… Come to think of it though, shouldn’t work itself also require lessons along the lines of arithmetic first? How hard will this end up being in reality? Hopefully, the professor won’t fall asleep and just spew out random numbers for every answer.
More than likely we’ll both fail, aren’t you jealous Mima, honey…? Yes yes, it’s fine if you don’t say any more, I can picture it clearly from how I already dealt with yours truly… That bastard… Night, how to defeat this idiot who always gets outsmarted?
Mimi stopped glaring in suspicion towards my eyes and glanced behind at Materia once more before giggling softly, revealing that it was because she made a big deal over nothing~ She looked back again for me to reestablish the stare, thinking I was stupidly continuing even after seeing her facial expressions, although apparently this time I caught onto that and purposely took a step away.
Mima smiled faintly but it soon turned to a pout instead. What, did you think I forgot already? We’ve been doing this for a week now, just wait…
Then you can suffer even more! A cruel smile crept across my lips to hide the feeling. Yeah yeah, I get it, don’t wanna show your true nature for fear of another person taking advantage of it… You’ll be alright, good luck with everything then~!
We had learned what the other two wanted us to believe was the result of our supposed relationship, albeit with a slight problem within their minds and hearts.
We enjoyed a daily cycle of being scolded for not bringing shame upon our family name in front of others, getting rewarded through our hidden activity by Mother while plotting revenge to see how much each party involved hated our guts, which unfortunately was impossible when both parties were fully aware of the situation and the goal we aimed for.
The ultimate aim here wasn’t victory or loss – we’d simply annihilate them, either through cooperation to achieve mutual goals, by overwhelming forces or singlehandedly annihilating their enemy, or by using betrayal and elimination tactics against one another…
Our activities began small enough too; simple gossip between acquaintances and harmless games in hopes of gathering data, but eventually grew bigger and harder, making our targets list grow faster.
While preparing myself to take action as well. They would use their methods against me, I’ll use mine. That’s why there isn’t an option regarding losing. Win or win, regardless of what we tried, as long as we continued to chase those people away into oblivion – it didn’t matter whatsoever if we weren’t the ones to succeed.
In order to be successful however meant continuing to operate openly without ever stopping, as neither party would stop and surrender their life to pursue us until success. Such is the dream shared between humans; the world is made of individuals who refuse to give up no matter what happened and fight til’ their very death to ensure failure does not reach them…
Only we aren’t allowed such a thing, which explains why this lifestyle isn’t available anywhere else… There are only four factions living alongside me right now. You do realize you’re now a target too, don’t you?! The leader, their followers, and those who wish to avoid conflict.
Like you Mima, I’ll put all my efforts into making you a victim as well… Ah yes, this is the start of my revenge!
After two years, something important occurred:
“Urk~ Uwaahhhh…”
It started when someone poked the most delicate part of my body that usually kept things at bay and left him free of guilt… To be blunt it hurt like hell – ah! Hur-hurwurf~? As usual, my tail lashed back and forth endlessly, yet strangely there was no pain shooting into the depths of it.
No blood came gushing out of anything around it, as the tail should have naturally split off from the injury point in several directions with internal injuries causing excruciating pain throughout the length of it – where am I anyways…? Wait… Where am I currently bleeding internally? Wha? Why!?
As I glanced towards my surroundings, all I saw was empty darkness, which really felt unsettling due to my total lack of understanding of why that was the case and how things worked like this.
It wasn’t completely pitch black, a small light emitted by my left hand emerged and illuminated the scene ahead of me slightly, leaving only faint shadows hiding objects I couldn’t quite make out exactly.
Unable to properly tell its location or height I continued searching, occasionally stumbling down parts of the surrounding terrain that hindered further movement despite attempts at balance and controlling the direction in which to move.
Just who the heck created a place so treacherous where the environment changed from room to room and constantly messed around with whatever it could grasp control over within this dark void without even warning anyone about the possibility of coming face first into unknown perils?
Not to mention my head hurts nonstop, both sides ache heavily and no matter how far my limbs pushed aside obstructing structures they didn’t go anywhere nor managed to cut away any debris blocking me from moving forwards.
These circumstances of course made me extremely curious to figure out these conditions, knowing that one wrong guess was likely to get me killed before I could truly comprehend what was going on. So I walked with caution; my mind trying hard not to recall every gruesome fate awaiting someone careless in situations similar to these…
From time to time, something sharp pricked the skin around my neck to remind me I wasn’t invincible after all – probably some kind of device used to keep track of things or block paths based on logic set forth by whoever placed them there.
After walking a fair bit deeper inside the forest I stopped, lifting my face as it became possible to find more light shining in than just from behind me thanks to a tiny torch hanging beside my left arm. Everything seemed oddly clear up close although it was still dimly lit, yet it must’ve been because it lacked the obstacles preventing the sight of individual plants and foliage poking at it from different angles.
Also, there didn’t seem to be a need to dodge branches since none could harm me in any way if they got stuck onto my clothes or even wound me by slicing open cuts along my scales.
It honestly looked very bizarre having something actually touching certain areas, leaving trails wherever it brushed against the fabric, yet remaining invisible to anyone not paying attention to me personally. Weird… Why didn’t I notice that while I was fleeing from monsters that threatened to tear me apart without hesitation?!
Huh… No reason at all… Right? Hnngrghh! Stupid thoughts… You’re giving me bad headaches… Lately, my thoughts were getting all messed up somehow – where was that guy from before…? Uh, anyways… For a second there my vision started turning white, then…
Do the lights go out again? Sighs… Heading forward was really dangerous in cases like this I remembered from earlier today – if those guys chased me here where would be the safest spot to hide, at least for now till I found an easier path later?
Whatever – let’s run farther ahead to find somewhere I can safely take shelter in – and never leave this forest until everyone comes running through here asking to know what the heck happened. Hmmmmm… But seriously I want to see again the faces of my beloved teammates desperately fighting alone to chase after me this morning…
The End