The Jorougumo’s Toy Hospital: Chapter 1: Enough

The Jorougumo’s Toy Hospital: Chapter 1: Enough G.M. Germer, 17

"You good for nothing rodent!" Mrs. Miyake spat, shoving a plate of food in the face of her 19-year-old son Hibiki, who had just been shoved onto the floor of the dingy kitchen. "I give you exact instructions, down to the fractions, and you still screw this meal up!" Mrs. Miyake threw the plate onto the floor, smashing it and sending sauce flying onto Hibiki's old uniform. "How am I supposed to retire when I have no heir worthy of inheriting my shop and no way of making another ever since you make Papa end his own life?!" Hibiki didn't answer, nor did he make eye contact with his mother, until she grabbed a fistful of his shaggy black hair and forced him to look up. "You will never be able to surpass me or your Aunt Minami at this rate," she spat, "I don't know why I even gave you a chance to cook tonight." Hibiki stared into his mother's dead black eyes. "I swear I followed it this time, Mother. I swe-" A cold hard slap was planted on his face before he could finish.

"It was not good enough for me! And if not good enough for me, then not good enough for customer!" Mrs. Miyake dragged Hibiki by his hair to the back of the restaurant and threw him out the door into the cold, mid-Autumn night. "You no cook here any longer. Clean out food scraps, then go home." She kicked the broken plate out the door before slamming it. Hibiki gave a sigh before running a hand through his hair. Phew. Still no bald spot yet from all the tugging. He looked back up to the door, then over at the bags of trash waiting to be hoisted off to the nearest dumpster, which was a good hike away from the family restaurant. Better get going, then. Taking two of the bags in each hand, Hibiki dragged them across the carpet of damp leaves left from noon's thunderstorm, thankful for them, as it lessened the chance of the bags getting shredded by the concrete. He walked through the dark back alley in his half of Brichester City, ignoring any shady pair of eyes who just happened to look his way. Honestly, at this point, he'd prefer

getting kidnapped or murdered to going back home to that woman called his mother. She probably wouldn't even put up missing person posters for him, or even notice his corpse if she ever came across it in this alleyway. Hibiki gave another deep sigh as the weight of the trash bags began to take its toll on his poor arms. He looked up into the sky and saw the crescent moon staring down at him. He knew his father was sitting in its shadow, looking down on him. "I'll be with you soon, Father," Hibiki murmured, "you won't be alone for much longer now." Looking back down, Hibiki saw the dumpster come into view. It was already filled to the brim with junk. Why did this one dumpster have to belong to this entire block? It was so inconvenient for everyone. One by one, Hibiki took the trash bags and threw them up onto the growing mountain as high as he could. He missed two out of four times, but he couldn't care any less. He just kicked the bags that missed and slunk back home. With back bowed, he crossed his arms running them over the old, filthy bandages snaking from his wrists up to his forearm. They had soaked up a lot of blood that week; so many broken plates thrown at him, so many whippings… how no one had noticed Hibiki didn't know. He was too busy wondering why he still put up with this. Oh, well. No time to ponder it now. There was his front door. The key should be under the welcome mat. Crouching down on the doorstep, Hibiki felt under the tarnished old piece of fabric, searching for the little metal trinket that could temporarily liberate him from this cold autumn night. If only he had something warmer than this stupid blue jersey tee and ratty old red scarf! And where the heck was the key?! Hibiki had felt all under the mat and he hadn't found any trace of metal. Maybe he accidentally pushed it out and didn't notice it? Turning his attention away from the rug, Hibiki searched the rest of the porch, going as far as to search for it in his mother's thorny rosebush, which had grown quite out of control. Hibiki didn't mind the new pokes and scratches on his body. What were a couple new injuries to a million old ones?

Well, no matter how hard Hibiki searched, he couldn't find the key. Giving up his search, he figured that he probably misplaced it. Great. One more thing for Mother to be mad about. Might as well just knock and get it over with. Raising a fist to the door, Hibiki knocked firmly and loudly, as if he were delivering a package. After waiting a minute, nobody arrived. He knocked again, and waited again. Still nobody. Well, third time's the charm. One more knock, and still nobody came. Maybe Mother was still at the restaurant? Looking across the street to the shabby old building, he saw that every last light was off. Mother had to be home. What was she doing? Hibiki decided to knock one more time, as loudly and as firmly as he could. BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM. He immediately regretted it, knowing it would get him into even more trouble. Oh, but the doorknob was already turning. At least she finally answered the door. The front door of the old house flew open, barely even making Hibiki flinch, as this action towards doors was very common for his mother. Mrs. Miyake stared Hibiki down once more. "What are you doing here?" she asked bluntly. "You said I had to take out the trash, then go home," Hibiki stated. "Well, it's all gone now, and I'm home." Mrs. Hibiki continued her glaring. Suddenly without a warning, she shoved Hibiki out into the street. "I change my mind," she snapped. "I slave around all day while you give me headache. You are burden to me, not son. Get out and find a more suitable place for your scumbag self to live." The door slammed shut, echoing throughout the street like Mrs. Miyake's words echoed in Hibiki's head. Burden. Scumbag. She didn't really mean that, right? No, she was probably just upset about him screwing up the meal! It was an accident. His mind suddenly in a blended frenzy of anger and anxiety, Hibiki ran back up to the door and began mercilessly pounding on it. "MOTHER!" he cried. "LET ME IN! I WON'T BE A BURDEN ANYMORE! THE MEAL WAS AN ACCIDENT, I SWEAR! PLEASE! PLEASE, LET ME IN!"

A window above Hibiki suddenly opened and Mrs. Miyake charged out. With a demonic expression of animosity on her face, she let out an inhuman screech: "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Hibiki only had enough time to get a glimpse of his mother before something hard and heavy clocked him square on the forehead, sending him tumbling to the streets again. The asphalt road tore through Hibiki's old bandages and skin as he slid onto the road. He fell limp, laying there for at least a good few seconds before returning to his senses. Looking to his right, he saw what had hit him. A large, sharp stone as big as his fist. And a part of it was oddly red. Red? Red?! Wait, and it had hit him! Did that mean-Bolting upright, Hibiki placed a hand on his forehead… and winced in pain. He quickly withdrew his hand, and felt lightheaded at the sight of his entire palm painted the same red hue as the rock. Blood. Hibiki's blood. His own mother had just struck him with a rock. Gazing back up at the window, Hibiki saw it closed and locked, with all the lights out. Hibiki's own mother had just… kicked him out. Disowned him. And without even giving him anything to help him while on his own. Hibiki felt numb. His own mother just betrayed him. His. Own. Mother. His. Own. Mother. CRASH! Hibiki didn't even have time to think about what he'd done before he heard glass break. Before he knew it, he had thrown the rock at his mother's restaurant, breaking the window. Then, without another thought, Hibiki raced into the night. He had had enough. Ignoring his injuries, Hibiki ran all the way through the city as city lights began turning on and night owls began marching to and fro, neither caring a

feather nor a fig for his condition. Hibiki didn't care either. Right now, he just wanted to run. Hibiki ran and ran and ran, blood loss and fatigue slowly chipping away at his stamina, but he still pressed on. When he was going to collapse and die, he wanted it to happen somewhere nobody even knew existed. He didn't know where that place was, so he just kept running until he found it. Absentmindedly, Hibiki ducked down a dark alley and kept following it. It twisted and wound around like a ball of yarn, but it only went one way, so Hibiki followed it. After a few minutes of what now had become a tired jog, Hibiki reached the end of the alleyway, emerging at the city border. Past chain link fence was a large, open field, filled with wildflowers. Hibiki could smell them, their aroma being blown his direction by the Autumn winds, which now felt a little calmer, as if they were calling him to the field. "Doesn't sound like a bad place to bleed out," Hibiki told himself, trudging out of the alley and up to the fence. Hibiki craned his head up, staring at the fence. It dwarfed him, which was saying a lot since Hibiki was quite tall. It would be hard to scale in his condition, but he was determined to do it. He clutched the chain link fence with his hands and began scaling it. As if his stamina wasn't drained enough, it was a long and tedious climb, and Hibiki's limbs almost gave out once or twice, nearly sending him back to the ground. But he persisted and managed to heft a leg over the top of the fence. There, he sat for a little while, taking in the scenery. The field was like an ocean of color. Every inch you looked at was painted with wildflowers of the most beautiful kind. Hibiki descended into the night-bathed palette, letting the blood of his wounds mix with the yellows, purples and whites. Hibiki felt like he was already dead. This was the afterlife. A calm, peaceful place to finally rest. He walked through the field of flowers, leaving behind the bright and blaring Brichester City, ready to go to the crescent moon and meet his father again.

Hibiki walked and walked and walked deeper and deeper and deeper into the field, lost in its glory. He hoped that his body would give life to more beauty like this. Hibiki gave an innocent, childlike laugh, and his legs finally gave out. He quickly was submerged in the flowers, his face resting against cold dirt. Surprisingly much more comfortable than an actual bed. Hibiki rolled onto his back and stared up at the crescent moon, now hovering directly above him. "I'm going home, Father," Hibiki sighed as he shut his eyes. "I'm going home."