The little girl had quickly gobbled up her dinner - chicken, rice, and a side of tomato soup, the dinner she'd had quite often in the past few weeks - excited for what would come tomorrow. It was her first day of school, what couldn't be more exciting than that? New people, new friends, and she'd get to learn. It'd be fun, right?
The next day dawned upon her quickly, and she was ready in about ten minutes, raring to go. Nobody was as quick as little Naoki - nope, no sir. She scarfed down breakfast with her four other siblings - Shiko, Ku, Namiko, and Fuji - before they all grabbed their things and rushed into the car. And of course, she'd gotten in first.
"No fair," Namiko, the oldest sibling, huffed.
Naoki smiled and laughed. "Just be faster next time, it's easy!"
Their parents drove them off, and before Naoki knew it, she was standing in front of a tall brick building, with a small set of long rectangular stairs leading up to the top. Children of her age and a little bit older were swarming and surrounding her, playing or talking or crying to their parents, saying they didn't want to leave. Naoki was a bit sad to leave Mom and Dad too, but she still had her siblings, right?
She glanced back at the car behind the school gates. Fuji was still grabbing their mother's leg, tears streaking his face. Namiko and Shiko, who were right beside her, instantly let go of her hand.
"Dang it, Fuji, quit being such a wuss!" Namiko shouted as she ran off to him.
"Naoki, stay here, just for a minute, okay? We'll be back!" Shiko called to her little sister before also leaving her.
As for Ku? He was already making his way up the stairs happily. Little rat, trying to get ahead of everyone.
Just kidding, Naoki didn't really care this time around. Well, she couldn't, because something else was bothering her.
Something was poking at her skin. No, not from the outside. From the inside. The feeling was subtle, but if felt like there was something underneath that was prodding at her. She clutched her wrist, and the poking stopped.
How odd.
Eventually, her older sisters returned with a tear-streaked Fuji, his hair slightly disheveled and his eyes red and puffy. Namiko was scolding him while Shiko was stroking his hair, whispering words of comfort.
Naoki came up to them. "So... we're gonna go in now?"
"Right, right," she said. "Weird that most kids are just heading in by themselves, without some teacher to guide them. Anyway, where's Ku?"
"He already went inside," the little girl replied.
"Ah, typical. Well, let's get going then."
The rest of the day went by rather normally. School wasn't as exciting as little Naoki anticipated. They'd went inside, and mean-looking teachers grabbed their hands, split Naoki and her older siblings apart, and told them to line up with their class.
Naoki would've been fine, but only if her class wasn't full of weird-looking snobs and rude jerks. Some of the girls and boys glared at her, while others were sneering at those smaller than them. Not exactly the most welcoming place. Wasn't everyone outside happy and cheerful just a moment ago?
They proceeded to their classes, where basic introductions took place, though they were cut short. Work was given - tests to see where children were at - shortly after. Now, that wouldn't be such of an issue if the teachers didn't glare with their cold, empty eyes every five seconds, or if they didn't shout their lungs off when one student would help another - and that only happened once. Sure, it was a test, and kids weren't supposed to help each other in this case scenario, but a less harsh form of reprimanding would've been more suitable, no?
Naoki had to take regular breaks from writing. She dropped her pencil on the desk and clutched her wrist. There was that annoying poking feeling again, and this time it was even stronger. It really did feel like something was going to cut through and protrude right out of her skin. The feeling was all over multiple places - her shoulder, stomach, knees, even her face.
What was going on with her?
She kept mum about it as classes continued, her fear growing. Lunch came around. The feeling was now painful, and she could see something - some sharp point - jabbing at her skin. Where were her siblings? She looked around. Sitting with other kids - they'd already made friends. Look at her, still sitting alone. Still, she had to tell them about this. She got up, glanced at her arm, and -
Oh. Whatever was beneath her skin was gone. No more poking or prodding. She sat back down, biting her lip. Great, just great. Nobody would believe her.
She waited for the feeling to come back again, and it never did. Not for the rest of the school day.
Anxiety was fully consuming her, even when she went home. She didn't talk much at all with her siblings, who were raving about their day - except for Fuji, he was still all pouty and upset about having to leave home. But Naoki couldn't get how Shiko, Ku, and Namiko had a good day. What, were the teachers nicer to them? Was there something wrong with her? Couldn't be - surely, one of the kids who glared at her (and other students) would have said something.
Then again, nobody had noticed Whatever-It-Was poking her skin from underneath, so perhaps the assumption that the kids noticed everything was false.
Naoki checked her wrist, which was on her knee, under the dining table everyone was sitting at. Nothing. No signs of anything. It was just... gone, all of a sudden.
"Naoki, what about you?" her mother asked her.
Naoki looked up. "Oh, my day was good. The kids were a little rude, and the teachers were also kinda mean, though." Forget the whole skin issue, nobody would believe her.
Her mother frowned, brushing a lock of sleek jet-black hair from her face. "Why were the kids and teachers mean?"
She shrugged. "I don't know."
"Same here," Fuji put in with his light, soft voice. "I didn't get picked on, but I got glared at."
"Well then, Mommy and Daddy will talk to the principal about that," their father said - he usually kept rather quiet at the dinner table, usually focusing on his food instead, but he occasionally spoke between bites. "None of you should be treated like that, and if you are, you tell us, okay?"
They all nodded.
Dinner continued normally, and after everything was cleaned up, the kids had some free time.
Naoki headed up to her room, and then even more panic washed over her.
The feeling. It was back, at the highest level of intensity it had been in all day.
Her heartbeat quickened as she stopped at the doorway of her room, glancing at her arm. The sensation spread over... well, everywhere. It got worse. More painful, stronger, worse, every single awful word you could think of - that's what it was. There was a sharp point in her skin, like a knife beneath a piece of cloth, and Naoki's heart was beating at an inhuman rate as her breathing became shallow.
Her skin ripped, and out came...
A spike.
She bit back a scream of pain and terror as the small, cone-like, bluish-gray object softly fell onto the wooden floor of her room, covered in blood. A hole was left in her arm, red liquid dripping from it. She couldn't bear the sight.
Spinning on her heel, she ran to her parents, who were cleaning dishes downstairs.
"MOM! MOM, DAD!"
Her feet slammed against the tiled floor the second she opened the door to the kitchen and ran over to her parents. The probing sensation was getting worse in other areas of her body.
Her parents spun around. "Sweetie? What is it -"
Her mother screamed.
"I - I don't know -"
"What's happening? Why - why -"
"I DON'T KNOW, DAD!"
And then her skin ripped practically everywhere, spikes flying and shooting all around the kitchen.
The little girl screamed in anguish and agony while her parents screeched out of fear. The spikes ricocheted like bullets - moving at an incredibly fast pace, bouncing off cupboards until...
... one struck her mother in the eye.
Then her skin, and then three to her chest. Same for her father. The spikes all fell down, dripping with blood as they rolled all over the ground.
Naoki screamed, and the heavy pelting footsteps of her siblings could be heard, along with their shouts.
"What's going on? What's going on? What-"
The footsteps stopped abruptly, and so did Namiko's questions.
Namiko turned around, eyes wide.
All of her siblings screamed.
"MONSTER!" Ku shouted. "SHE'S - SHE'S-"
"Wait, no!" Naoki shouted. "I swear I'm not -"
When she took a step forward, they all ran.
"Call the police! CALL THE POLICE!" Namiko screeched.
"Naoki, don't walk any further, stay there!" Shiko yelled. "You'll - uh, you'll puncture your feet on those spikes! You already have too many gashes!"
Naoki looked to see her reflection in the shiny fridge door.
Oh, dear God, she looked even worse than expected. The holes were massive and gaping, her clothes were tattered, and blood was covering her face almost entirely, some of it dripping down and running along her neck.
She really was a monster.
She looked back at her parents, who'd fallen over - dead, she knew that - and could only stare as desperation and dread filled her soul. 285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMVAfe31qOD
Strangely enough, though, one hole shrank. It became smaller - slowly, but surely - with new skin covering it up. The bleeding slowly stopped, and every gash, every horrid-looking puncture slowly repaired itself, stitched itself over. Naoki looked away from the fridge to her arms, and back. She was healing herself.
She glanced at the floor. The spikes had melted into this odd-looking substance - even the ones on her parents' faces, though she couldn't look. She couldn't accept that she had done that to her own mother and father.
Her thoughts were interrupted by her siblings' voices.
"Th-thank you, please hurry," said Shiko.285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQSBbQRwLx
It was hours into midnight, and Naoki was all cleaned up. All the evidence was gone - the evidence of the spikes had melted, her gashes had been covered, and the only evidence was blood. Nobody believed her or her siblings' story, even though they insisted it was real. Not even the cops. 285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvTiJnzNyV
Naoki sat in the hospital bed - she was brought here for further inspection, and yet not a single wound the doctors could find. Just blood.
When she was discharged, she stepped out into the outer grounds of the hospital, with her siblings standing by a police car, officers kneeling down and conversating with the scared bunch of kids. One lady was on the phone, talking while giving glances at a shaking, scared Namiko.
And Namiko was never known for being scared.
Naoki stepped forward, shaking like crazy, and that's when her older sisters and brothers looked. Fuji stepped back, and eventually ran to an officer's side, trembling, and so did Shiko. Ku stared in horror, as he uttered one single sentence:285Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjW9R0glkna
"Run, it's the monster."
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