"Shigeko! Get up already, you're going to be late for school!"

Shigeko had always lived in the castle. Just her and her parents. She didn't have any brothers or sisters. She kind of wished that she had. It would have been good, she would have had someone to hang out with. Sometimes it felt like she had lived her whole life in the castle all alone with just her parents.

It had been kind of lonely.

"Coming!" called out Shigeko as she jumped out of bed. Maybe jumping hadn't been the best thing to do. She wound up getting all tangled up in her blankets and falling down.

"Sorry Sho." said Shigeko as she rolled off of her pile of dolls. She knew that it was dumb, playing with dolls at her age, but it wasn't like there was anyone around for her to actually play with. She'd never had any friends and had been a life long member of the going home club. In fact she had been president, just like dad. He was president of his company and she was president of the house.

Or maybe vice president would have been a better fit since mom was technically the one in charge.

"Shigeko, today!"

"Right! Sorry!" shouted Shigeko as she put her dolls back in their dollhouse. Sho in his room and then his little sister, Mukai, in the crib next to him. In the other bedroom went Shimazaki and Minegishi because they were a couple even though they didn't get along. In the bedroom on the other side went Shibata and Tsuchiya, a couple that did get along. It was always important to get along when you were in a couple, not that Shigeko would have known about that kind of thing. Couple things. She had never had a boyfriend before in her life. Not even a regular friend. That was ok, though, because she had her dolls and she could play at being friends with them. She put Serizawa and Hatori in the living room where the TV was, that way they could play their videogames together. They liked that a lot, it was how they bonded. All of her dolls had someone they paired with…well, most of them.

She put the Fukuda doll in the attic. She'd never managed to find a place for him in the dollhouse.

"Shigeko, you had better not be up there playing dolls again!"

"I'm not! I mean I'm coming!" shouted Shigeko as she put the finishing touches on her dollhouse. She made sure that all the furniture was where it was supposed to be, down to all the tiny plants in Minegishi's room, and once it was done she got up. The only thing out of place was the spider hiding in the corner of the tiny living room.

She didn't want to squish it. Spiders were gross.

They had too many legs and too many eyes, too, now that she thought about it. Eight eyes and it felt like they were all watching her. She closed her dollhouse. Maybe it would suffocate or starve in there…which was mean. She knew that it was mean, the spider had never done anything to her, but it just felt so wrong and gross to have it just sitting there staring at her. Spiders were so gross, all bugs were. That was why she didn't want them around.

That one, though, felt particularly wrong. Maybe because it was so big.

It was gone now, though…but maybe it had invited a friend. There was another one hanging out in her wardrobe right by her school uniform. She reached a hand out and held it there for a second. She didn't know what she had been trying to do there. Pull her uniform towards herself? She didn't want to reach in but she had to. Her uniform was hanging in her wardrobe and there was no way she was going to school in her pajamas. Everyone would have laughed at her, and not just because wearing uniforms was the normal thing to do.

She was thirteen years old, way too old for princess pajamas.

"Please, Mister or Missus Spider, don't bite me or jump on me or look at me or…or anything." Said Shigeko as she reached into her wardrobe and quickly pulled her uniform out before slamming it shut. There was a loud slam and the force of it knocked down the pile of stuffed animals in the corner…had that always been there? She couldn't remember buying all of those Zootopia plushies…

"Shigeko! Now!"

"I'm almost dressed!" shouted Shigeko as she pulled her nightgown up over her head. She tossed it in the corner and then held out her hand again…of course she was going to have to walk over and put it in the hamper. She didn't know what was wrong with her today. Maybe she was just groggy. She didn't feel like she'd slept for very long at all…but at the same time she felt like she had been asleep for a million years. It was kind of like taking a bar, one of the white ones in the mint tin, after you-

What?

What had she just been…oh, right, her uniform. She just…that had been weird and she had been weird. She didn't have time to be weird. She had to get to school. It was Saturday, not Sunday, and Saturday meant school. Even though she felt like that was wrong…there was no way that mom was going to let her stay home today. The last thing that mom wanted was Shigeko hanging out around the house all day.

Mom didn't want Shigeko around at all.

Or at least it felt like that sometimes. Dad was always away and Mom was always laying down in her room and sleeping or watching TV. Before starting school Shigeko had always been so alone and…and she felt so alone now. She knew that Dad was busy and she knew that Mom was tired and she knew…she knew that she wasn't very good company anyway. She wasn't interesting to be around.

There was nothing interesting about her.

She looked at herself in the full length mirror as she tucked her skirt in. She was just so…so plain. Maybe if she looked more like her mom and dad, or maybe if she worse something other than this black and white uniform, or maybe…maybe she was just a boring person in general. It wasn't like there was anything special about her, it wasn't like there was anything about her that drew people in, it wasn't like she gave anyone a reason to want to be her friend.

Not even her own parents.

"Shigeko-"

"Coming!" shouted Shigeko even though it was kind of a lie. She just had to figure out her neckerchief, then she could go downstairs and have breakfast. She held it out in front of her neck and tried to remember how it went. Did she tie it in a knot or a bow? She threw it over her shoulders…and she couldn't get it even. She tugged to the left, to the right, and then to the left again. Still she just couldn't get it right.

How did people do these things?

How did the girls in shows wear these every single day? She had always assumed that the neckerchief was attached to the shirt, like those dresses she had that looked like they had ribbons but really they were just bows attached to the front. She wondered why they didn't make the neckerchief attached, or why she even had to wear this thing in the first place. She had a closet full of dresses. Not her old costumes, they didn't make those big enough for middle schoolers, but she did have some t-shirts from Disneyland and some tulle skirts that went with, not to mention all of what Minori called 'wardrobe essentials' which really just meant clothes from designers that costed a lot of money. Dior, Gucci, Prada, anything with English characters was good, Minori had said, because that way people knew that you had money. Dad had always said that displays of wealth were ostentatious, which was a word that meant tacky, but Minori was her age and she knew-

Minori?

Did she know a Minori? Did she…something ran across her ceiling. Another spider! Were they infested? Were the walls alive with spiders? Was she going to get bitten by spiders in her sleep and end up with spider bite poisoning? Did they even have poisonous spiders in Japan or was that just an Australia thing? That had been the worst part about going to Australia, all the poisonous-

The spider jumped!

"Go away!" said Shigeko as she threw herself backwards. She wound up tripping over her rug and winding up on her bed. She had two options here. She could stay in this room and end up eaten alive by spiders or she could go downstairs and go to school the way she was…or maybe Mom could help her. Mom was home after all, not that she had any idea where else Mom could have been. She didn't have a job or friends or anything like that. She just stayed inside all day. That was just what happened when you became a Mom, Shigeko figured.

You lost out on everything.

Mom could have had a much better life if she'd never had kids. She could have been happy. Of course she was unhappy, she spent all day in her room when there was a big world out there for her, Shigeko didn't know what she would have done if she'd been confined permanently to her room. She would have gone crazy. Staying in one place for your entire life? Not being able to just get up and leave when you needed to? She didn't know how anyone could have lived like that.

She had always lived in the castle. She would always live in the castle.

Shigeko untangled herself from her bed and ran from her room. She closed the door behind her quietly, Mom didn't like it when she slammed doors. Mom didn't seem to like much of anything these days. Shigeko wished that Mom would have just told her what she had done wrong, maybe she could have fixed it, unless what she had done wrong was being born…she didn't know how she was supposed to fix that. She hadn't chosen to be born just like she hadn't chosen to be boring and she hadn't chosen to wear this uniform, either. Why couldn't this have been a normal ribbon? She knew how to tie a normal ribbon. She knew how to-

"Today!"

She knew how to get to school. She had to get to school right now or she'd get in trouble. The hallways seemed longer, and the walls seemed taller. Had the doorknobs always been above her head? And had this hallway always gone on forever? Wait, no, there were the stairs. They were pretty tall and steep, she had to really hold onto the railing while she walked. She didn't want to fall. She didn't want to hurt herself. Even though he could have fixed her…fixed her? She wasn't a doll, she couldn't just go to the doll hospital if she broke, of course there was always the people hospital but she had never been there before…but she had been hurt before…

She didn't want to get hurt now. She was going to take her time.

The staircase let off right into the kitchen…was that right? Hadn't it let off into another hallway? Or maybe it had been the living room? Or the receiving room? Wait, what even was a receiving room? She had heard that word before but she had no idea which room that could have been. That made sense, it wasn't like they ever received anyone.

Nobody ever came to the castle.

It would have been nice if they did, of course. Not that she knew who would have even come. Mom and Dad were each other's only friends after all. That was just how it was when you got married, maybe. You just had your person and then you were all alone…which made no sense. Shigeko didn't know if she wanted to get married. She would rather have lived with friends, she thought, than a husband. A house full of people, like her dollhouse, who always hung out and sometimes fought but that was ok because deep down they would always love each other. Brothers and sisters would have been even better but Mom and Dad didn't seem to wany any more kids. Maybe that was because Shigeko was all the kid that they needed…

Or maybe she had been such a disappointment as a daughter that they didn't want any more kids. After all, she couldn't even tie her own neckerchief.

"Shigeko, there you are."

"Yeah, I-I'm here." Said Shigeko as she stepped into the kitchen. Mom was there. She looked tired. She was still in her pajamas and yellow bathrobe…had it always been yellow? Of course it had been, Mom liked yellow. It was the same color as her hair, not that having hair one color was a good reason for that to be your favorite color. Shigeko's favorite color was blue even though her hair was black and Sho's favorite color was green even though his hair was red.

Not that dolls could even have favorite colors, of course.

Shigeko pulled at her neckerchief. She still hadn't tied it, not in the right way anyway. Mom's back was to her. She hadn't seen…maybe she knew how to tie this? Mom must have worn the sailor uniform to school, too, back when she had been in school. They wore these back then, right? Shigeko didn't know, she had never asked.

She and her mom didn't talk that often.

Which did and didn't make sense. It wasn't like Mom had run away from home, she was always right there, but there just wasn't much to talk about. Mom was always in her room or doing something and Shigeko was always either at school or…what else did she do besides go to school? She had to think…gross, another spider. It was right on the wall next to Mom. She didn't seem to notice or care.

"Uh…" said Shigeko. Would Mom have even cared? Shigeko felt like she would have. She didn't turn around, though, she didn't even act like she had heard Shigeko. She did that a lot. She was either hard of hearing or she just didn't care.

Shigeko hoped that Mom was just hard of hearing…even though hoping that her Mom was even just a little bit hard of hearing was a terrible thing to hope for.

"Uh…" said Shigeko as she looked around the kitchen. There was a mess, she should have cleaned it up, but maybe Mom wouldn't have wanted her in her space. Like when she had been little and they had been having breakfast and then…and then something happened but she wound up walking to school by herself. Something about breakfast being late…

It didn't look like she was getting any breakfast, since Mom had already finished.

"Um….mom?" asked Shigeko quietly. Mom turned around. For a minute it was like her face was kind of blurry or censored or something. it must have been a trick of the light or something like that. Shigeko could see her now. She looked the same as she always had.

"Well, look who decided to get up." said Mom

"I've…I've been up for a while, Mom. I mean I got up at the normal time and then…and that's the way that it happened..." Said Shigeko

"Really?" asked Mom

"Really." Said Shigeko. She had been telling the truth and telling the truth was always the right thing to do but right now Mom was looking at her like she had said the wrong thing. Or maybe Shigeko was just misreading her. She reached out with her…what? It had been like she had been trying to feel Mom but with her…soul? She didn't have a good word for it…at least she thought that she didn't. The word aura popped into her head.

But that was just her brain being weird.

"Then what kept you? I've been waiting and waiting for you, you know? You would have had breakfast if you had joined me. I can't imagine what could have possibly kept you in your room all morning. It's not like you were busy texting your friends or whatever it is that young people do these days." said Mom. She sounded kind of mad there…of course she was mad. Shigeko was always being selfish like that, doing selfish things like that. She had always been like that since she could remember.

"There was a spider in my room and…and it was gross…and that's all that happened." Said Shigeko

"Then why didn't you just kill it?" asked Mom

"I didn't want to." Said Shigeko. Mom liked animals so maybe she would understand….it didn't seem like she was in an understanding mood this morning. Of course she never was. She and Dad had that in common. Maybe that was why they had gotten married.

"So I have to do everything around here?" asked Mom

"I-I can help, I mean I can help you out with things. I know how to make breakfast and-" said Shigeko

"You missed breakfast." Said Mom. Shigeko looked over at the pile of dished in the sink. Of course Mom hadn't held breakfast for her. The world didn't just wait for her…not that their household was the world…and if Shigeko had been the one making breakfast she would have held it for as long as everyone needed.

"I could still help you make it, and I can help you do the dishes too, and-" said Shigeko

"You've never made breakfast before in your life." said Mom

"But I…" said Shigeko. It was true. Even though it felt like…she could see it in her mind's eye. Putting bread in the toaster, taking poptarts out of their wrappers, pouring ketchup in a glass….and that was how she knew that she was being weird, that it was just her brain being weird. Mom was right, she had never made breakfast in her life, and certainly not a crazy kind of breakfast like that.

"And look at the state of you. That's how you go to school? You're going to get a uniform infraction like that, Shigeko." Said Mom pointing at her neckerchief.

"I couldn't get it. Could you…could you help me?" asked Shigeko quietly. Mom sighed and crossed the room. Shigeko flinched for a moment before remembering that it was Dad that did the hitting, not Mom.

"I have to do everything around here…this place would fall apart if I left." Muttered Mom and she fixed Shigeko's neckerchief for her. Shigeko didn't have anything to say about that. It was true, Mom did everything around there, and she did nothing….but she couldn't do anything. Like Mom had said, the whole place would fall apart if she disappeared.

Shigeko couldn't let that happen.

The thought of Mom being gone makes her blood turn into ice, like she had been hit in the heart with a blast of magic. Mom gone…she may not have liked Shigeko and she may have been kind of mean and stuff but she was still Mom. Shigeko wasn't going to give Mom a reason to leave but…but she had no idea what that reason might have been. What might have made Mom just leave in the middle of the night…to leave Shigeko to wake up one morning without a Mom…

She had woken up with a Mom.

She had woken up in her room in the castle with her same Mom that she had always had. She was here, Mom was here, and everything was just the way that it had always been. She was dressed and ready for school so that was where she went. She knew that Mom would be back when she came home, home to the castle, and then things would keep on going the way that they always had. They had always lived in the castle after all and things…they had always been this way.

It had always been just her, Mom, Dad, and all the spiders.