Laundry Blues
Story 1
I Must Save the RabbitTo hell with this, I'm going out, Raito yelled. I don't need to see my family look like a bunch of hapless idiots on a bad prime-time TV show. He grabbed his jacket and keys, and in the spirit of a rampaging rhinoceros, stormed down the stairs.
Raito, waiiiiiiit!a tiny voice yelped. Quickly, he spun around to see a small girl in footsie pajamas tremble at the top of the stairs. In her undeveloped hands she grasped a giant, ridiculous polka-dotted stuffed rabbit with stuffing sticking out on all ends.
Can't you please stay and watch Don Kanonji with me? Please? She sat down on the top step and pushed off, using her rear end as a sled down the wooden steps, going thump-thump-thump before landing at her older brother's feet, giving him the puppy-eyed look only little sisters could make.
Raito laughed and shook his head. Look, we all already lived through his idiocy once. I still don't understand why Dad had to go and call the station about Mom passing away. We don't need no friggin' exorcist here, and we didn't need one then. And we certainly didn't need one come to our house and make a fool out of us on national television.
The girl began sniffing, and Raito patted her head. Hey, now, Usagi-chan, don't cry. I'm just going over Ishida's house for a bit.
Usagi-chan immediately perked up, holding out her ripped bunny. Can he fix this, then...? she asked, with a long drawn out silence. Without her saying it, both Raito and Usagi-chan knew the second half of that statement- because Mom can't do it for me anymore.
Raito took the well-loved ball of fluff from his little sisters hands. She smiled, and quickly bounded up the stairs to finish watching the ghost-hunter show. He took a large paper bag from the kitchen cabinet, put the heinous rabbit inside, and walked out the door.
The fresh air was nice, and a light breeze was forming. Raito sped up his gait, enjoying the dusk and the glow from the low streetlights that hung every few meters.
Stupid freaking show, he muttered under his breath. I hate that man. Mom's ghost was in our house. I saw her. I could speak with her! And that Don-moron had to come in waving that big stick and made Mom go away! Raito kicked a stray tin can with all his strength, sending it flying down the street. If only Dad and Usagi could have seen Mom...
Raito froze; he sniffed the air. Something had shifted, he was sure of it. Although the street was a main drag, he was sure he had been the only one walking it- yet, footsteps sounded. Slowly, he turned around. A ghastly creature with a hole straight through his chest stood behind him, breathing hard and dripping saliva from the corners of its mouth like an animal.
It was a ghost, to be sure. The ghost of what or who, he didn't know... wait, he did! It smelled like Sunday picnics, of gingerbread and garlic and light perfume. This horrible being, standing before him, teeth bared and looking to strike smelled just like-
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A tall boy of sixteen or seventeen, skinny to the bone, ran down his street the next morning, knowing full well his own futility- he was going to be late for school. Pushing his square glasses back up his nose as he ran, he skidded and spied a brown shopping bag lying haphazardly on the sidewalk. Upon closer inspection, a few dried drops of blood were absorbed into the thick paper, but the item inside was perfectly clean- although old and worn out.
It was a polka-dotted stuffed bunny.