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."
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNu2MxqJzY
She didn't respond. "Ate?" I turned on the lights.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeigW2xuY2f
She took her blanket off, smiling. "What?"
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBXRXftBW4
"Oh, nothing. Just don't laugh too loud, you might wake Lolo and Scarlet." I turned the lights back off again and went upstairs.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcUr79vx8q
Ate stopped laughing.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRLqiK04hr
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.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHidA0xH5Pv
I went up and checked. The lights inside the stairway and the ones hanging from the wall outside were off. "Scarlet?.."
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQc8RGq9za
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."
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡypNYlpsPhP
I sighed. "I know, our grandma loves you and grandpa. But don't be worried, she's happily resting where good souls go."
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡop1eKpa4pN
Scarlet turned to look at me, and then back to the fence. "Is that true, Grandma?"
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbiZRpXy55
"Scarlet..." I sighed. "Grandma loves you, even from heaven." I walked through the doorframe to pat her shoulder.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoeYqzQmPz7
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.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV5j9brjGj3
"But grandma said she can't go to heaven yet!" Scarlet insisted.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvXVdsK0bB
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.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡICX9aqyBvp
I ran down the stairs to Mom and Ma who I could hear were still awake, grabbing Scarlet along with me.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJJqiMgp54H
"Ow!" she complained.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtZ8qUVHoY
"Sorry! I don't know how to carry kids!"
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOnrPQnwPz
Chaotically holding Scarlet, I went to Mom's room. She was not there. "Mom?!" I checked Ma's room. She was not there either.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBvt5Wopz3
Then, I realized their voices came from the kitchen, and I rushed down there. Mom and Ma were in the kitchen, shouting.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZmKwqT1JYV
Scarlet cried. "What's happening?!.."
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxRs9g4jxLL
Irresponsible, or maybe panicked, I left Scarlet to cry on the empty couch by herself and went to Mom.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvqqyWERMvp
"What do we do?!?!" she screamed to Ma.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTG9LJJsmuO
Ma stood in front of the kitchen backdoor, blocking exit. "We have to kill it!"
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZcuPMK385Y
There was an orange fox, hissing with the voice of Ate echoing behind it, scratching the air and floor, leaping here and there.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ028FrspDSB
"It took Ate!" Mom shouted at me.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwyvUzounv
"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!"
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqIw9JGzVM
Ma lashed out at me. "Then what?!"
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJ2mYjOucb
"I-It's not like the left-handed wolf! We can get it on our side!"
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsbXSQeYBt
Mom screamed as the fox screeched at me. "Ha?! What are you talking about?!"
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvv2al89VKp
"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.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZcO5XUxGPk
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.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3nSxbTUkX
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.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp3rQrcVlOR
"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.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB59ikI2S16
Ma breathed a sigh of relief. "Now where's Ate?"
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4xjRLQlGx9
The deafening howl of a wolf pounded the air. "And Lolo?!" Ma panicked.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjHsuHLYIpv
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.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCiAtSK50RU
The howling ended, and it was like I could finally breathe.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzHYZzw5ow
I looked at Scarlet, furrowing my eyebrows with concern. "What?" Before I could get up, the fox collapsed onto me.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv2OCieel04
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.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSgbQmaSPYW
She leaped onto my arm and bit my hand.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTbQYDraTLj
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.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDaVaLTbn0
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.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVu8EWLTgM6
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
然後按「加至主畫面」