"Yuno, what are you doing?!" Spat her mother, once she woke up and was coherent enough to realize what was happening. She crawled over to the bars of the cage and glared at the girl.
"Ah! You're awake!" Yuno had been huddled in the corner, reading a book and waiting for her parents to finally wake up. She beamed at her mother and stood up, approaching the front of the cage. She could see that her father was awake too, looking a bit dazed. That was good! The sooner they got this whole thing behind them, the sooner they would become the parents she once knew again.
"Mama, Papa…I'm sorry I had to do this to you." She began, looking down at the floor shyly. Yuno had planned out a whole little speech for herself. "But…I can't deal with the way you treat me anymore. It's like the two of you don't even understand how I feel. Mama, you lock me up for days without food or water. I nearly died last time! And Papa, you tell her not to do that…but you leave for so long! I hardly see you anymore. Mama is so depressed without you, and she takes it out on me. "
"All these numbers and these charts need to stop." She continued. "And no more cage. I want to eat decent meals like everyone else, too. And I want to stay out later, after school with my friends. I want to date boys. …I just want to be normal." Yuno finally finished. She looked up from the ground, waiting for their reply.
The only reaction she got was them shaking the bars.
"Yuno, let us out!" Her dad yelled. She had never heard him sound like that before, except for when he came home from his trips and yelled at Mama.
"What are you doing?!" Her mother repeated, her voice's pitch rising. "Do you have any idea what you're doing?!"
Yuno was a little confused. Had they not heard what she had to say? She stared at them.
"Ugh, let us out now!"
Yuno shook her head. "Once you realize what you've put me through and apologize, I'll let you go…" She was sure that her parents would apologize any moment now.
"You horrible child!" Her mother finally screamed at her, once she saw the girl wasn't going to open the cage. Yuno's whole body tensed in shock. "You terrible, ungrateful monster!"
"…Huh?" Yuno tilted her head. She didn't understand. This wasn't the response she had expected at all. She thought for sure that once they had a taste of what she had been through, even just a few minutes, they would understand.
"You're not my daughter! I wish I had never brought you home!"
Yuno's eyes widened at the cruel remark. She turned around and fled from the room, closing the door behind her.
…What had gone wrong? Yuno wasn't sure why they had reacted that way, but it scared her. Her knees felt wobbly and she slid down the wall to the floor in the hallway. She hugged her legs to herself. From the room, she could hear her parents arguing.
"..This is your fault! I told you not to lock her away and now look what happened!"
"You have no right to tell me how to raise a child when you're never here!"
"Ah…at least Mama and Papa are talking now." Yuno closed her eyes. At least that was a start. "I'll go check on them tomorrow. They're probably just mad right now… once they calm down it will be all right."
A/N: I wasn't really happy with this chapter, that's why it took me a while to publish it. I hope you like it anyway!