A Broken, Once Supposed Fairytale

𓆩੩𓆪

Jiyuu had danced cheerily back to Yuuri and told her how she would get a job to get some money. Although a little doubtful of the idea, her little sister still appeared joyous of this. It was the first time any of them had genuinely smiled since leaving the hospital. It felt odd– like a skill she used to have but couldn't do very well anymore. 

Once the barber shop was open for business, Jiyuu knocked on the door to request to fill in the place for the job. The barber was taken aback by Jiyuu's horrid appearance, but after some convincing, she got the job. 

She would work hard after hours, keeping the shop clean and tidy. It wasn't as bad as she'd expected. She earned just enough money to buy bread for her and Yuuri to eat. They even got a new change of clothes. They were indeed way happier like this than before, but they still didn't have anywhere to stay. They had no choice but to sleep on park benches.

After a few weeks had passed, Jiyuu was helping the barber out at the shop by cleaning the floor, which was scattered with hair and moustaches. As she swept, she felt a sharp pain in her left eye. She cried out loudly, clutching her stinging eye. As she waved the broom around in panic, she knocked a porcelain vase down onto the floor. Shards of ceramic burst and stabbed a customer's ankle, making him yell in pain. The pieces of the vase were strewn about the floor, and powder covered the space under it like glittering grit. 

After that, she was fired and kicked straight out in disgrace. Tossed onto the road, she had to swerve to avoid being hit by a passing lorry. She flushed with embarrassment at being thrown out in front of so many people. Still clutching her broom and covering her throbbing eye, she found Yuuri scampering away from something that, from the look on her face, was definitely not a cute bunny.

Was it a wild dog? Did it bite her? Jiyuu had at least enough knowledge to know that dog bites could be fatal. She didn't do bad in school, after all. But what she saw next would shock her for the rest of her life. It wasn't a bunny, not even a dog. It was a mad monster.

Jiyuu blinked hard with her uncovered eye, hoping this was some delusion. But it didn't work. What on earth was that horrendous creature? A few metres away from them, it still looked disgusting. It was huge and bulging, with a flat, squished head. It only had one single huge eye, protruding out of the top of the thing's head like some mutant antenna, and it had multiple arms equally revolting as itself. Its entire body was dripping with disgusting slime that stank of sewer water.

Since being accepted into the barber shop, she had worked restlessly. Although considerably thinner, loose skin still hung around her, distorting her body's shape under the dress she was wearing. Her hair was still unkempt, giving people the impression that she was a blue-maned lion. But inside, she was utterly terrified of the creature. 

She turned so her back faced Yuuri. 

"Yuuri. Run." she whispered.

As if under a commanding spell, she sprinted and ran away as fast she could. Jiyuu faced the creature again.

The crazy creature leapt at her. She screamed and ducked, darting past its groping, slimy arms. She hadn't moved this much before– but she was moving a little too fast, even if she'd just lost half her weight. 

She finally let go of her hand covering her eye, which was covered in translucent amber-tinted goop horribly similar to the amber of her eyes. But that wasn't important now. She could still see with both eyes. She wiped her slimy palm on the side of her skirt and held her broom like a spear, although she didn't really know how weapons were supposed to be held.

She continued to leap around, ducking and avoiding its attacks like a wild rabbit. Suddenly, she heard Yuuri's voice from behind her.

"Nee-san!"

She whipped round to see that the slimy monster had somehow extended an arm and grabbed Yuuri. The sight of her sister being held captive made her start panicking, but something else unsettled her.

Why was no one coming?

Did no one hear their screams and the monster's growls that sounded that a sewer's gurgle? Did no one glance out of their window even once? That sounded so unlikely. Unless...they couldn't see them at all.

"NEE-SAN!!" 

She jolted as she heard her sister scream. The monster was about to eat her– 

"NO!" yelled Jiyuu as she ran towards it and jumped, whacking the monster's eye with her broom. She accidentally glared straight into its huge eye with her own throbbing left eye, and it froze up as if turned into ice.

Then it burst, spraying squelchy pieces of flesh everywhere with a sickening splat.

"YUURI!" 

Jiyuu catched Yuuri right before she fell to the ground, and they lay there like an exhausted heap. 

Her legs felt so tired, she couldn't really feel them at all. As she wiped sweat from her face, she felt something sticky. She looked down at her palm to see the eerie amber goop again. She examined it.

It was the exact same shade of her eyes. She would have believed that it came from them, but if so, what did her eyes look like now?

"Yuuri," called Jiyuu, reaching for her spear-broom.

"Yes, nee-sa—" her sentence was broken off by a gasp as she looked at Jiyuu's left eye.

"What is it, Yuuri?" asked Jiyuu anxiously. 

"N-nee-san," she said nervously, twiddling her thumbs. "Your eye is red."