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Son was always the first one to fall asleep. She never liked staying up late, her abba would not be proud at all, and she would hate to disappoint him. Ghosty, on the other hand, loved to stay up late, always sleeping at the crack of dawn, when the sun was waking up itself. She never understood why.
Until today. It was different. Ghosty somehow managed to convince Son to stay up, sneaking downstairs to get some snacks.
"Shhh..." Ghosty did a shushing motion, her blue eyes sparkling from the dim candlelit room. Son let out a sign looking around, nervous. They weren't supposed to be up. It was almost 2 in the morning.. "Didi?" Son immediately jumped, her brown eyes focusing on Ghosty.
"Y, yes?" She hated how quiet her voice was, how careful she was trying to be. Their parents were probably sleeping now. Ghosty, on the other hand, had no care in the world.
"Can you.. keep watch!!" Some words were stuttered, but she got the gist of it. Right. So she was a distraction, how great... Seriously, where was Grzegorz when you need him, he was a much better spy. He was probably asleep. Which Son should do. But, she can't really refuse her younger sister, else she wanted to deal with a crying 5 year old...
"Yes.. Just, be quick mkay? Abba and Tata might wake up soon.." The younger nodded, sneakily moving towards the pantry. Meanwhile the elder began to slowly make her way upstairs, the floorboards thankfully quiet beneath her panda slippers. Moving across the hallway, childlike paintings littered the walls, and a black dahlia stood alone. It felt like it was staring at Son, warning her. Maybe this was a bad idea. Everything Ghosty planned was usually a bad idea, although she would never tell that to her face. She would feel bad. Deep breaths. She had to stay watch. Son finally made it to their parents room, and sat down outside their door. Muffled words were escaping the room, and Son could not help but grow slightly curious.. yet, it is not nice to spy on adult conversations.. Just this once won't end up.. horrible, right..? She slightly opened the door, not enough for the two inside to notice, enough for Son to see her abba pacing back and forwards, head facing the floor.
"So, what I'm getting from this," Ash crossed his arms, eyes staring at Ewron. "You decided to just..." Pause. "Just, decide on what to do for me?!" His voice was slightly breaking, glitches violently distorting around him.
"She's my daughter too, Ash. " Ewron scoffed, before continuing. "I want her-"
"To suffer." Ash shook his head, fingernails digging into scabs barely healed. He didn't care, the pain gave him something to focus on, ignoring the bubbling rage. "I am not letting YOU, send my child anywhere. I don't care. I refuse to let you hand her in." Ewron blinked once, twice before his jaw clenched, eyes neglecting to look at Ash.
"Ash, kurwa! She'll-"
"She's. Not. Going." His voice slightly rose, the pacing stopped. Ash's eyes felt wet yet he ignored the feeling of bile slowly rising up in his throat. "It's one thing to send her to therapy, but.. a mental hospital?! Nope. Absolutely not."
"Ghosty needs help. They offere-"
"Fuck their offer! I refuse!" Ash sat down on the bed, one hand wiping his eyes. Ewron however, refused to back down as he looked down at him, slightly sneering.
"What? Why are you crying?" Ewron's voice lacked any pity or empathy, replaced with a cold and indifference tone. "No wonder why you're so lonely, always so negative."
"Oh, please. Watch as the pot calls the kettle black! Where the fuck are your friends, then?!" Ash regained his composure yet his vision was still being blurred by the glitches.
"Shut it. Our daughter will not end up like a failed lab rat like yourself. Get it together, Ash." Ewron's teeth audibly clenched together, his arms crossed.
No response. "What? You're mad its the tr-"
Ash began to wail, streams of tears poured down his face, glitching. He hiccuped. He didn't know what to feel. He furiously wiped at his eyes, his hands shaking. The glitches practically engulfed Ash's body now, spiked at the edges. He tried to swallow a sob yet it felt like acid. Ewron paused. Oh.
"Ash, I-"
"D.. don't..." Fuck. His voice sounded too little, too raw. He hated this. He could barely see anything, glitches fogging up his vision. "You're an asshole. What the fuck?! You're calling-" Ash clenched his fist and stood up. "Do you even know what I had to go through?! Yet, you are so insistent on giving Ghosty up, you don't even fucking care! Why is it-" his voice began to distort. "Is it when I want my daughter to be safe, im being labelled as a bad guy?! And you dare have.. the audacity..? To call me t-that,. Your own husband! I don't care how mad you are, what the actual fuck..." His voice broke off into a whisper, his frame still shaking.
Ewron remained silence. "You don't know what I had to go through, don't you?! Tell me, you Kaminey!!"
Ewron sighed, "Ash, I'm just doing whats b-"
The pacing began once again. "Fuck you. I had to deal with being tortured on a day to day basis." He began to bite down on his finger, "assaulted, purely because they were curious if I glitched inside too. Other kids touching me to see how it felt, but no yea! Fucking call me a failed lab rat. I don't care anymore! Send our daughter off to be tormented! Send her off to have years worth of trauma, because you know best, and the best is for our daughter to develop hatred towards her parents!"
. Towards the floor, Ash clenched onto the bedside table, nausea overtaking his senses. He felt it again. The prodding of the tools, the way he felt with his claws all over his bo-
It was too much. He felt himself hunch over, eyes burning.
Son was watching it all unfold. Her eyes prickled with tears until Ghosty snuck up behind her, poking her. "Didi, I got it.. lets go!" She felt herself being dragged around, still trying to process what was going on.
And, in the morning, when Ewron and Ash sat apart from each other, the latter having Ghosty closer to his side, only Son knew what happened last night.
Maybe she should've fallen asleep.