I went downstairs to the kitchen, the lights were off so Ate could sleep. But she wasn't sleeping, she was laughing again at her bright phone, covered under the blanket. "Why are you laughing like a fox? You're gonna wake Lolo and Scarlet up."
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHju1fbD1PQ
She didn't respond. "Ate?" I turned on the lights.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfObtVfO9EC
She took her blanket off, smiling. "What?"
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBEux5z3tG
"Oh, nothing. Just don't laugh too loud, you might wake Lolo and Scarlet." I turned the lights back off again and went upstairs.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3VL54QrsyO
Ate stopped laughing.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdjQ7feEfX
There was a breeze of night wind from up the stairs. "Is the rooftop door still open?" We always close that door once the sun sets, out of worry for thieves or intruders.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrxzjXluRx
I went up and checked. The lights inside the stairway and the ones hanging from the wall outside were off. "Scarlet?.."
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkNlNsLnaIt
She was standing just outside the door, looking at the direction of the mountains again. "Grandma says she wants to play with me only, I should leave grandpa to sleep well."
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLALcoGnpI
I sighed. "I know, our grandma loves you and grandpa. But don't be worried, she's happily resting where good souls go."
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqTQPCsYS0t
Scarlet turned to look at me, and then back to the fence. "Is that true, Grandma?"
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCdxSzTxScx
"Scarlet..." I sighed. "Grandma loves you, even from heaven." I walked through the doorframe to pat her shoulder.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxr7rg0UzV4
My eyes saw in front of the fence, a dress of white, and skin pale blue in the darkness, weighed by wrinkles. I jumped back in to turn on the lights.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZKerHVqzb1
"But grandma said she can't go to heaven yet!" Scarlet insisted.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW4NvhHlUIe
I went back out, hoping the lights would clear things up, but the white dress, on a pale old woman who was standing, looking at us with white eyes, was still there.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5g3yvwlsym
I ran down the stairs to Mom and Ma who I could hear were still awake, grabbing Scarlet along with me.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCrtXCOZO2f
"Ow!" she complained.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVXCZjZo8D
"Sorry! I don't know how to carry kids!"
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ05PQuVbH8a
Chaotically holding Scarlet, I went to Mom's room. She was not there. "Mom?!" I checked Ma's room. She was not there either.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuSKHinMbxH
Then, I realized their voices came from the kitchen, and I rushed down there. Mom and Ma were in the kitchen, shouting.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyqwL6jwnfI
Scarlet cried. "What's happening?!.."
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgT06oGK9cP
Irresponsible, or maybe panicked, I left Scarlet to cry on the empty couch by herself and went to Mom.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqkAYxsfThD
"What do we do?!?!" she screamed to Ma.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7YEDrsTJp
Ma stood in front of the kitchen backdoor, blocking exit. "We have to kill it!"
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmYdgB8VLj
There was an orange fox, hissing with the voice of Ate echoing behind it, scratching the air and floor, leaping here and there.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzkXM3w77d
"It took Ate!" Mom shouted at me.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMYoG3UK8G
"What?! How?!" I saw the fox's coat shining, and its eyes were unusual... too perfect to be an animal. "We can't kill it!"
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07RgHlYJz8
Ma lashed out at me. "Then what?!"
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsA6J5jrgOY
"I-It's not like the left-handed wolf! We can get it on our side!"
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7TZSzwtSTo
Mom screamed as the fox screeched at me. "Ha?! What are you talking about?!"
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjoDMcCrAG3
"It took Ate? We can get her back if we befriend it!" I didn't know what I was saying. When I was younger, I loved to lie for attention---and maybe it was just that all over again.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7AON7sR470
But like someone crazy, begging for tragedy, I jumped on it; petting it as if it were my pet. "We love you, yeah?" I hugged it.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzj3CcDhTpz
I'd always felt there was something missing from my heart. I assumed it was because I had never felt a father's love. But by hugging this... creature, that hole was patched.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeXqxiL07YC
"We are friends." I pressed my nose into its fur, and it was not soft. There was no texture, only warmth. It licked my face and stopped hissing, sitting on the floor.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxyH6pkfhX
Ma breathed a sigh of relief. "Now where's Ate?"
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXuZyc3XgKe
The deafening howl of a wolf pounded the air. "And Lolo?!" Ma panicked.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf04wWbkCk8
Scarlet was standing in the middle of the dining area, next to the couch. "Lolo is howling in the comfort room!" She sobbed out, tears dripping from her eyes, snot sliding from her nose.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUlzvO6p9h
The howling ended, and it was like I could finally breathe.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigk8eGYKkc
I looked at Scarlet, furrowing my eyebrows with concern. "What?" Before I could get up, the fox collapsed onto me.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXriuqlsxVG
It sheepishly jumped off, but fell to the tiles on its chin. Squirming like a piece of orange cotton, it looked me in the eye, its pupils dilating.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW4zi030KCL
She leaped onto my arm and bit my hand.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8Mj73i3HW
Crimson red blood, darker than any time I had ever bled, leaked out of my skin and into her throat. My mind told me to run, but my body stayed. Her bite took my blood and pushed in a few liters more---of what I can only describe as pleasure---through my veins.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJdvtKh3Q5g
I had always wondered what it would be like to feel cared for by a father, but at that moment I forgot all about it. The happiness she was just... injecting me with filled any void being fatherless left.
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVlw1pNGbt
If I could speak through the ecstasy, I fear that I'd beg that fox to continue. But when she leaped away, I was relieved. I could not let my mother and family see the side of me that wanted to be taken over by something that could tear my lungs at its will. That was not a part of me anyone could accept, and I'm glad it stayed hidden.
ns216.73.216.82da2
and then Add to home screen.