"Get out of bed!"
The door flew open, the handle taking a a large chip of paint off the wall it hit. Miss Akashinshi stood in the doorway. Hey violet eyes were glassy and bloodshot. Her simple dress was torn at the bottom, and her long black hair was frazzled. There were bags under her eyes. Her usually pale face was flushed.
Hitomi and Kaito sat straight up. Miss Akashinshi stumbled over and leaned on the cot, bringing her face close to the trembling twins.
"G-get outside you ugly kids," she said, eyes lidded. "Don't want ya in here."
The twins curled their noses at the bitter stench on the woman's breath. Hitomi and Kaito scrambled out of the bed.
"Meet ya at the tree," Hitomi whispered to her brother before he dashed out of the room.
The white haired girl hurried over to the shabby dresser and yanked some old clothes out of it. Miss Akashinshi stood behind her, cursing and mumbling.
"Stupid kid!" she said. "Why won't you just starve to death already? Nobody's ever gonna want ya."
Hitomi went to run out of the room, but a shock of pain in her head caused her to stop. She screamed as the woman pulled at her hair.
"Let go of me!" she cried out.
"You ugly fucking animal!" Miss Akashinshi screamed, and then threw the little girl onto the ground. Hitomi struggled to escape, but the woman's sharp kick to the ribs caused her to crumple.
The woman went to kick again, but she stumbled and came crashing down onto the floor next to Hitomi. The five year old girl struggled to her feet, and hurried out of the room, crying. She sprinted down the hallway to the bathrooms, ducked inside, and locked the door behind her.
Hitomi began to cry in sputtering gasps. She sunk to the floor and curled up into a little ball.
"Why Mommy?" she said through tears. "Why Daddy? Why did you leave me here?"
After she cried for about ten minutes, she decided to put her clothes on, brush her teeth, and brush her hair. She slowly opened the bathroom door, and looked up and down the hallway to check for the abusive woman.
When she saw some of the other children coming out of their rooms, Hitomi figured the coast was clear, and she ran to her room. She halted in the doorway; Miss Akashinshi was passed out on the floor.
Not wanted to risk waking her, the white haired girl just threw her dirty clothes onto her cot from where she stood in the doorway. She then ran down the hallway and turned and opened the doors.
Fresh morning air filled her lungs, and the sweet smell of the woods filled her nose. She skipped down the wooden steps in her bare feet, and when she reached the bottom, danced around in the grass.
None of the other children were outside yet, but she had to meet Kaito at their secret tree. She walked into the woods, the soft grass tickling her feet. The sun shone down onto the girl, making her snow white hair glow. Hitomi soon passed into the shade of the trees. A red fox scurried from one thicket to another, and Hitomi smiled.
She soon reached a large Japanese maple. A large branch shook, and Kaito looked down at his sister.
"What took ya so long?" he asked.
"Miss Akashinshi," Hitomi said, climbing up next to her brother. "Kicked me and pulled my hair. She must've been drinking that gross stuff again."
"It's called whiskey," Kaito informed her.
"Whatever," Hitomi said, leaning her back against the trunk of the tree. "Kaito?"
"Hm?" he looked up from the stick he was messing with.
"Do you think anyone's ever gonna adopt us?"
Kaito sighed. "No, Hitomi. Nobody's coming for us. Not today, not tomorrow, not any day."
"What about real Mommy and Daddy?" she asked, plucking a pink flower from the tree and sticking it in her hair.
"They didn't want us before, why would they come and get us now?"
"Maybe they miss us," Hitomi said, pulling out a rock from her pocket. She began to carve into the tree. She carved four stick figures, all holding hands. She brushed her bangs out of the way, for they kept falling in her face. When she was done adding details to the stick figures, she carved one of the only kanji characters she knew—family.
"What are you carving into the trunk?" Kaito asked.
"Our family."
"Hitomi, nobody is ever going to want us."
"Why?" Hitomi asked. "Why do you always say that?"
"Cause it's true!" he said. "We can hardly eat! Why would they want to put up with our tummy problems?"
Hitomi said nothing for a moment. "Maybe there's something we can eat," she said as her stomach growled. "I'm starving."
"Me too."
"Hey there!" a voice said. Kaito and Hitomi looked at the boy who was approaching the tree.
"It's Nenyoti," Kaito said, voice shaking.
Nenyoti was seven years of age, and was big. He looked like what someone would picture as a schoolyard bully, with messy black hair and scrunched up facial features. He lumbered over to the tree and looked up at the twins. He grinned, showing off his crooked teeth.
"Are you going to come down, or do I need to come up and get you?" he asked.
Kaito and Hitomi jumped down from the tree.
"Leave us alone," the little girl spat.
"No," Nenyoti said, grabbing Hitomi and throwing her into the ground. He wrapped his hands around the girls throat, and she was soon gasping for air.
"Leave her alone!" Kaito screamed, slamming into the bigger boy. However, due to his starving state, he was so weak that the impact made himself crumple instead.
"Are you afraid?" Nenyoti cooed to Hitomi. "Do you want your mommy? Oh wait, you don't have one!"
He released Hitomi throat, only to pick her up again and throw her against the tree. He kicked her in the stomach, and took another grip on her throat.
"Stop," Kaito said weekly, still on the ground.
"Are you sad that no one loves you?" he roared at Hitomi. "That nobody ever will? That you're a freak who can't eat?"
"St—stop!" Hitomi choked out.
"You're a freak," he said, smiling cruelly. "And I'm going to give you a reminder of that, that you get to keep forever!"
He pulled a kitchen knife out of his pocket, and Hitomi struggled harder.
"No!" Kaito screamed. He jumped onto Nenyoti, who struggled to throw the smaller boy off. He let go of Hitomi, who fell to her knees, gasping for breath.
"Get off of me!" Nenyoti yelled, reaching for the kitchen knife that he had dropped.
In a desperate attempt to slow the larger boy, Kaito sunk his teeth into Nenyoti's arm. The boy screamed, and Kaito tightened his bite until a chunk of his arm came off into his mouth.
Kaito froze, and Nenyoti struggled away and collapsed on his rear end, staring and Kaito and crying. Hitomi was doing the same.
The teal haired boy stood completely still. The flesh didn't taste like the uncooked meat he had eaten once. It tasted… good. Better than anything before. The blood that coated his tongue and ran down his face was sweet. It was all like heaven.
Kaito swallowed the chunk of meat, and he felt a tingle go through him. Like a surge of power. His stomach rumbled.
"I'm hungry," he muttered, and then grinned. "I need more."
"Kaito!" Hitomi called out, a horrified expression on her face. "Yo—you're eye! It's black!
Sure enough, Kaito's left eye's iris had turned red, and the sclera black with red veins across the eye and into the skin around the eye.
He paid no mind to his sister's cries, and he looked at Nenyoti, a demented look on his face. "I'm hungry," he said, grinning. "So I'm gonna eat you."