"Stop it, or I'll get angry."
I don't know who this lady is, but I feel like I've known her for a long time, even though I'm sure I've never met her. She just appeared in this mysterious forest, and we started talking about random things like how she cooks clam chowder and how to use the shell as a bowl, also about whether I would get a driver's license or should I get my personal driver, and other random things.
Oh, that's right, this lady is a kangaroo, and her name is Marianne. I feel like I heard this name somewhere, but I don't remember where exactly.
The important thing is that Marianne kept poking my cheek with her paw. It certainly wasn't painful, but it was extremely annoying.
"Brother, wake up."
brother? I'm human, not a kangaroo. Wait, could it be that Marian is one of the evolved Aloki that I heard about; is that why she calls me brother? Yes, that's explains a lot. I should have tied the strings quickly and discovered that it was Aloki from the beginning.
"What do you want?" You have to be direct sometimes.
"Mother told me to wake you up."
Mother? Do you mean the mother of Aloki? What does she want from me? I've never heard that she can communicate with smudged people. Did the smudged people hide this information from the world for their own safety? Should that be the case, I will not be the martyr who reveals the truth.
"Mother, my brother refuses to wake up."
Does she mean the transformation? Why are you in a hurry? It will happen tomorrow, first thing in the morning. Will I be able to hear the mother then too? Doesn't this mean that I will betray humanity by doing so?
I don't hate humans. My parents and siblings are all humans. All the people I know are humans. It is true that no one except my mother sees me as one, but that doesn't mean that I want to betray them. It is just that they do not see me as one of them. and No one is forced to accept me.
Throughout my life, except for the incident night, no one raised his arm to assault me. Perhaps fear was the reason, but the important thing is that no one tried to harm me.
"Inform your mother. Tell her and her hateful children to get out of here, along with you."
I will not betray humans. The mother must know that humanity has another soldier who will join the human army tomorrow and end the aloki era.
Instead of wailing, I heard the sound of crying. Marianne the kangaroo was crying fervently, "Wawaawa. Mother, brother Jran said he hates oti and told me to get out of here, Wawaawa."
"Oti, Oti, don't cry, my dear child. Your brother is dozing off, disoriented, and unaware of what he said."
I felt goosebumps hearing this voice... This voice is one I recognize.
"Really?! Brother Jran doesn't hate me?"
"Absolutely not. Sweetie, he'll even apologize now, won't you, Jran?"
"Won't you, Jran?"
This sentence was like a hammer that woke me up from the weird dream I was having. I was lying on my bed. I turned to see four red-haired females in the room, teenage twins in each other's arms, staring at me with quivering eyes from the corner beside the door. Opposite the bed stood a woman in her thirties, with a girl in her arms. Little girl, with traces of tears still on her little face, the woman wasn't pleased at all.
"Good morning, mother."
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The atmosphere was heavy, but not as heavy as it had been on my mother's previous birthdays. Four of my family members and I were sitting in my little garden. All my family members are here but two, and happily they chose not to attend. I have the worst relationship with them. What I did to one of them, I regret it. and I am afraid of what the other could do to me; I am unable to talk to him without getting stuck in a panic.
"Oti, stop; don't pick the flowers."
Before my five-year-old sister could ruin Miura's flower bed, I intervened. I scooped up the small child, held her around my neck, and ran to get her attention away from the flowers. Her laughter filled my heart with warmth and happiness. This girl is still innocent and don't see her big brother as a monster like others do. it appears mother, took care to conceal this information from her—at least until I leave.
Otila was born two years after my banishment, so all our meetings were on my mother's birthdays, and on rare occasions my mother would sneak her here without my father's knowledge. Otila was my favorite; the day she discovers who I am, I will lose another member of my family; therefore, I pray that I never cross paths with her after I depart, just so I may hold that memory of her close to my heart.
Next to my mother, the twins sat whispering to each other while giving me sharp and confident looks. Their sudden confidence is due to the guards surrounding the cottage, ready to pounce the moment I do something stupid, and since they work for my father, I wouldn't be surprised if they broke my arms or legs... by mistake, of course.
I don't hold it against them. No one, and absolutely not six-year-old girls, can take what those two kids witnessed; the incident permanently damaged their psyche, and no matter what I do going forward to mend our relationship, they won't forgive me, and I don't think they should.
"Yura, Bora, please stop giving your brother such a long look. Talk to him if you want to. You have him in front of you right now, yet you have no idea when you'll see him again.
"No thanks," they both respond simultaneously.
Although my mother has the best of intentions, things cannot always be fixed by kindness. My family's hatred of me makes sense, and they are entitled to it. I want to make things right between us because I love them, but I know I don't deserve their forgiveness. Even if they do, I won't go near them again, and I won't let that incident happen again.