by Unknown
The kid grabbed the dog by the neck hair and they both crumpled on the concrete floor. The woman now started sounding quite desperate in his screams for the dogs name but a kind neighbor got out of a house to help the kid. This man was running with mountain shoes and threw a kick that caught the dog right in the stomach. With a yelp, the dog jumped and retreated due to the pain.
"Stupid ass mutt!! Get the hell outta here!!"
Chasing the limping dog away, he looked at the kid.
"Hey boy, are you alright!?"
He crouched and got close to the kid without touching him, disinterestedly, the boy sat down for a few minutes and stayed still. The t-shirt was completely ripped and various scratches, bumps and drops of blood were all over the kid. The wounds on his legs looked especially serious but he stayed silent.
It was hard to watch how miserable the bloody wound on his bare hips looked like but even when the man was trying to help him, once he looked the man directly in the eyes, the kid stared down and did nothing but breath heavily and kept silent.
"Where do you live?" the woman asked a useless question just to show a vague interest in helping but he didn't answer to it. The man offered a hand to him so he could stand up but the kid ignored it. Instead, he started pulling up his pants while still sitting in the asphalt, at this point, it felt like the kid wanted to be rude on purpose, he stood up still looking at the ground while sweating buckets from his forehead. He was standing still while a mysterious cracking noise started coming out from somewhere.
[015]
"What is that?" in many a movie about monsters and serpents we would hear that cracking noise that would belong to a rattlesnake, but this one was different, it was weird and with a high pitch.
Because it was getting darker, the sound was creepier but the bucket was still sitting on the ground.
A bunch of bright red creatures like small lobsters started crawling out of the bucket but these weren't twenty or forty of them, there weren't even sixty, there was more than a hundred of them.
At first, the woman and the man had no idea what those were and the woman gave a soft scream.
"Ah! Right, you were catching crayfish, the season is coming in full swing, I see"
They weren't just "crayfish" They were American crayfish, the hardest to catch, not that they would figure that out with a simple glance. The forceps of those crayfish were removed masterfully but nonetheless, it was like a creepy spectacle. The man's face was in shock once he looked at the side of the ripped plastic bag. The contents of the bag were visible and quite startling, it was the ripped forceps of the crayfish, many of them were still moving and clapping as if they had life of their own.
"Hey, what's...."
The man asked but looking at the fierce eyes of the silent boy, still looking down, he said with a resilient voice.
"Kikuchiyo Akuta..."
That was his name, he was only fourteen.
[016]
~ACT 2
He was a weird kid, not only in terms of his personality but his looks were really strange.
His face didn't even look like that of a kid at all or even human for that matter. If we might be so bold to say it, he was sort of "reptilian looking". Without trying to make fun of him, we can assure you that looking at him you'd feel the presence of somebody that really look like a lizard with long crescent eyes.
His eyes gave a weird look because they were tilted a bit as well. His face never shows any sign of expression at any time and even though his face looked reptilian, his personality was more mouse-like. A very wet and frightened mouse that was too skinny to face the real world.
Comparing him to other kids his age, he was way too short and scrawny for his size.
Every time he had to talk to someone, he'd always look down to the ground, and, if someone tried to make eye contact with him, his lack of expression would turn into fear right away.
He would talk, give a quick look and look down right away, he'd do this with everyone, even with the adults of his family, more so with the only parent he had, his mother, especially with his mother.
Yes, he lived only with his mother in this coastal town that was located about an hour from Tokyo by train. Living in a humble rented house in a quiet location, he usually never bothered to know who his father was, why he left or if he was alive at all. He never asked and his mother never bothered telling anyway, it was as if this man never existed in their lives. They never talked about him nor were they interested in such a useless topic for conversation.
He remembered once asking where his father was, only to be met with furious eyes and punches from his irate mother who was inclined to sink herself in the stupors that alcohol offered rather than deal with her son's feelings.
She was drunk all the time and would turn violent on him quite often, hitting him and kicking him for reasons that made no sense. She got used to hit him with closed fists across his face and cheeks. He wouldn't avoid them, or cry, or beg her to stop, he'd let her punch him over and over until her hand was bleeding and swollen and she passed out until the next day.
[017]
His mother's name was Reiko Akuta. Even though she looked way older due to the constant alcohol abuse, she was actually thirty four years old. She gave birth to Kikuchiyo when she was around twenty years old and she used to be employed somewhere around the neighboring town. Nowadays, close to sunset, she would apply flashy makeup on her face and light a cigarette and take off to work.
Sometimes she would return at midnight, sometimes she'd return early in the morning. No matter how early or late she'd return, she always stayed up and served breakfast or dinner to Kikuchiyo. They were together before the boy went to school. This would happen without fail every morning.
Reiko has the distinction of being younger and more beautiful than any of the mothers of his classmates. Often he thought that she'd look even more beautiful without all that cheap makeup.
"Why would she smudge that beautiful face of hers?"
The boy could never understand that particular habit of women.
Even though Reiko had never mentioned to him what kind of "employment" she had, he wasn't stupid enough to ask, because he already knew it. He had seen it on television, when women needed quick sums of money, they resort to one thing.
He figured that his mother got paid to drink, dance and party with men, entertain them, sometimes in ways that their own wives wouldn't. He knew that these men would turn very generous once she'd welcome their advances, their hands on her breasts and her hips.
"Men can't be trusted, they aren't reliable."
His mom used to say every morning after returning from work reeking of alcohol and complaining about whatever happened that day to her. She got even more talkative when Kikuchiyo pretended
with all his might to appear sound asleep, even though nobody could sleep with the noise she'd make when she arrived.
"Don't you dare look down on me, stupid, this is just a job!!"
"Who cares about men with money!! I wouldn't love them for all the money in the world,
they are trash!! They are heartless men!!!"
[018]
"Damn him!! Oh shit!!"
"That asshole!! Getting carried away because I let him do it once!!"
"Pfft!! we'll see next time who has the last laugh"
She kept mumbling these words aloud. She did this while cleaning her face and changing her working clothes. Then she would pour a cup of hot tea and make some more noise.
That noise would always startle him and it was impossible to sleep after she returned home. Trying his best he pretended to be asleep. When the house was finally engulfed in silence, she would start sobbing quietly at first and then she would cry profusely for a long time.
One time he tried to hug her and console her when she was crying just to be punched in the face and pushed away just for that, for trying to comfort her.
"I'm crying, you son of a bitch!! because you're here alive, I wish you'd never
been born!!"
Her screams got more intense and gradually more hurtful.
"I can't wait for the day that you'll go away, you should leave right now!!"
After saying that she hugged him harder and cried loudly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it"
She would apologize while still crying and sobbing, her breath would entangle her words.
"If someday you decide to go away, I will follow you anywhere"
She repeated the same words while hugging him harder.
"Going away? Where?" he had no idea where he should go.
It was confusing his mind to no end. Every kind word and hurtful word was told seriously, as if she believed in all of them from the bottom of her heart. Did she hate him? Love him?
Kicking him from home and following him afterwards? The concept of "going away" was vague for him.
Kikuchiyo figured that when he'd be old enough, he'd move away to a "man's place" one like that guy owned when he went to look for his mom at that place. One where he would live while going to work and returning home. More often than not, he'd feel intimidated by her actions but he didn't hate her. He hated when she hit him and got drunk and irrational but he understood that he was simply a "punching bag" for her problems and frustrations. She took it out all on him, fighting and hurting that invisible force that made her miserable and snatched away her happiness, something that wasn't Kikuchiyo at all.
[019]
He was punished because he was a poor substitute for the real problem.
But it hurts for real when someone punches you with bad intentions, no matter how weak or how loving this person was with you, the pain you have to bear will be sharp and unforgiving.
It felt worse to see his mother crying and frustrated, so he bore the pain and the punches quietly.
That's why it was so hard to return home while knowing his mother was there; bleeding and looking like that after the mad dog incident.
He had scars everywhere, a soft cascade of blood was pouring from his leg, right where the dog bit him and his t-shirt was completely torn. The blood had already clotted over the cut in his left leg.
Kikuchiyo knew how furious his mother was going to be after she'd see him like that.
He couldn't help but walk and stand still in front of the door, for almost half hour. He figured his mom was out working for the rest of the day so he could arrive, take a shower and clean himself up.
Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be. She was drunk and home early. Sensing the boy at the door, she opened it and she got quite the surprise.
"Damn!" he thought "Why is she at home at this hour!!?" the only day that he needed to be alone to avoid a conflict was the very day her mom got sour business and decided to call it a day at an early hour. Luck wasn't with him, sometimes she wouldn't return until the next morning but sometimes she'd stay at home drunk for two days straight.
The alcohol breath was the one that hit him first....
"Answer, who did this to you?" the tone of her voice was severe.
He didn't answer, he looked at the ground and said...
"What about your job?"
"swaaatam" a violent slap across his face was the second thing that hit him...
He felt like hot fire was applied to his cheeks.
"Who did this to you?" she repeated the question, her voice was unforgiving.
[020]
Kikuchiyo kept looking at the floor silently when, violently, the second slap took him off balance.
"Splat!!" "Answer, who did this to you!!?"
his cheeks stopped hurting but they were burning almost from the inside out.
"BAAM" "Answer!!" SPLAT!! SPLAT!! "Who did this to you!!?"
It was a pitiful and heartbreaking image, the mother and son were making a really somber scene.
The son, bleeding and injured was standing there receiving silently slap after slap while the mom, rather than attending his wounds at once, decided to interrogate him with corporal punishment to find out what happened at once.
But Kikuchiyo wasn't answering, and he got slapped violently again,
and again...
and once again....
and once more....
But looking at how his mother's hand was getting swollen and fearing she would sustain an injury,
he decided to break his silence and told her the story of what happened in the park, the fish net and the mad dog.
"Whose was the fucker or the bitch that owns that dog!!" she demanded with eyes filled with rage and launched another slap to keep Kikuchiyo talking.
"I have no idea, mom"
"Why not, you little shit!!"
"I just don't know, Mom."
"You retarded asshole!!"
She took some time to launch a fierce slap with a heavy hand.
After that, puffing and with a real sore hand, she grabbed him and sat him on the dinner table.
She picked up the first aid kit, a towel and some water in a bowl and placed them in front of him.
"You might be an idiot, but I'm sure you know how to take care of yourself, right?"
That alcohol breath gave him the worse slap of the evening, even the hand slaps weren't that unpleasant.
But her face wasn't pale because she was drunk. Actually. she looked very beautiful with that wild look and her eyes were bright and moist. They were giving a strong light, full of kindness and love.
For a moment, Kikuchiyo heard his mother's footsteps coming out in the backyard and heard her perusing something in the back of the house. She returned almost half an hour later with a strange package that she tossed on the tatami mat where he was standing.
"BAAM" the tatami made a heavy noise.
[021]
"Open it!!" she demanded.
He quietly got on his knees and started unwrapping the strange gray package.
The first thing he saw was the eerie light of a metal blade.
It was a small iron ax, sharp and heavy enough to be handled comfortably.
He slowly glanced at her face as if asking..."What do I do with..?"
"You are going to slaughter that mad dog tonight!!"
She said this with furious ogre eyes.
"Do not let dogs and men make a fool out of you. We are all alone, we all have to struggle in this life by ourselves and nobody will help you when you're alone!!"
She was getting over excited while saying these words.
"Tonight, you are going to kill that mad beast and bring the body to me, I bled and suffered to bring you to this world and no man nor beast will cause us grief and insult by doing this to us and walk away unscathed. The body will be the proof you killed it"
She finished her demands with an intimidating warning that was more scary than anything she had done before.
"Do not return without the white dog's corpse or you will not be allowed to live here until you do."
[022]
~ACT 3
The kid, Kikuchiyo left that night around nine o'clock, but didn't return until the following night
around midnight. It was an absurd amount of time but he was back the same way he returned home the previous night, standing there until his mom could sense that he was there. When she noticed that he was there he was silent, looking down. How long has he been there?
"Kikuchiyo..."
Tumbling around, she stood up to open the door, nothing really had changed from the previous night. The towel, the water bowl and the medicine box were exactly in the place he had left them, even the paper that was used to wrap the ax was in the same spot.
There were two empty bottles of whiskey on top of the table that was visible from the entrance.
That was the only thing that was different from the previous night, even her clothes were still the same.
[023]
She had been waiting for him, drinking whiskey without sleeping or going to work.
When he returned, he was carrying a big black plastic bag that he must have found somewhere
. Holding the bag with both arms, the weight and size indicated that he had something big inside. Because of lack of food and proper rest, his cheeks looked abnormally thin. Spots and stains of blood were covering him all around, but the look on his face was brave and determined and his crescent eyes with that uncanny light, were looking down slightly.
His t-shirt was even more ripped and bloody, after these two nights, it would become unusable.
"Did you kill it?" Reiko demanded an answer.
Without the smallest of facial expressions, Kikuchiyo slowly nodded.
"Show me, I want to see it!!" Walking hastily to the doors, she almost tripped on her sandals.