Facade

The Picnic

Kimura Naomi was getting ready for a picnic. Finally she would go have some family time with her family, since it severely needed it. Her husband, despite being a scientist, didn't make much money since the experiments were always failures. She made the most delicious sandwich she could.

"Mom..." Ayumu came to her timidly.

Naomi looked at her sweetly, feeling in a very good mood today.

"Umm... Doesn't it bother you the way dad treats you?" she asked, wincing a bit at her own question.

Naomi looked down. She knew what she meant. She really didn't want her child to think that.

"It almost seems like abu-" Hitomi started with her cold voice, but her mothers shriek cut her off.

"It's not abuse!" she yelled offensively.

Her eyes widened. She lost her cool again. Ayumu got frightened a bit, Hitomi was used to her yelling at her though.

"Look, abuse is something much worse. Your father is just doing what he needs to help me." Their mother smiled, actually believing that. Ayumu nodded and looked down, Hitomi obviously didn't care.

Her mother returned to e. She couldn't just let this little misunderstanding ruin this whole day. When she heard the door opening, her heart fluttered. She ran to the living room as her husband walked in.

"Hello, Oshiro!" Naomi smiled brightly.

"Hi, honey." He planted a kiss on her lips.

"Are we going on that picnic today?" he asked with a smile.

The man was shorter than average, with pale skin, black slicked back hair and brown eyes. The same brown eyes Hitomi had. Just plain and empty.

"I made the best ones, just for you!" she hugged him.

Oshiro drove them to the park. Their car wasn't an expensive one, it was old and dirty. As they got out, Naomi got a bit frightened that there were a lot of people there. Something might happen. Knowing her child, a lot of specifically bad things could happen. She put on the blanket and sat on it. Her husband sat right next to her, their children sitting opposite of them.

"Mom, can I go to the swing sets with Ayumu?" Hitomi asked as she pointed at the swing sets across the park.

Ayumu looked a bit afraid that she even mentioned her. Was her older twin planning something?

"Just don't cause trouble, okay?" her mother asked seriously.

"I'm sure she won't." Her father patted her on the head.

A normal child would have smiled or laughed, but Hitomi just stared at him. He didn't know what to do next, she just kept looking with her peering dead eyes, not even speaking a word. He uncomfortably took away his hand and signalized her to move on. So she did.

"Hitomi is a bit hard to deal with!" Naomi joked around.

"Well, at least she's smart, unlike Ayumu." He mumbled.

As much as she wanted to defend her child, she was too scared to. She didn't want to ruin this day. He finally had time to be home, and he was even in a good mood to top it all off. She couldn't ruin this chance. She just smiled and nodded, like she should.

"So how's work?" Naomi asked, interested since he never talked about his work much.

"Oh, quite nice. We're actually planning on morphing human DNA with human ones." Oshiro answered enthusiastically.

If there's anything he was the most energized about talking about, it was work. He really loved his work. While he could get a higher paying job, he loved research too much to just leave it behind. He would do anything for his job. Which kinda made Naomi panic.

"You aren't thinking about doing human experiments, are you?" she asked, sounding terrified.

"Of course not! I'm not a sociopath!" he joked a bit.

She called her kids over to eat. Both of them came quite quickly. Ayumu looked especially happy. Hitomi meanwhile ate her sandwich in silence.

"Are you having fun, sweetie?" Naomi asked Hitomi, still trying to get some communication with her.

"No." she answered simply and truthfully.

She didn't see anything interesting or exciting about this. Why would she be having fun? She just couldn't see the beauty in the little things. She will never even learn them. That made her feel empty. The only way to get the closest to fun was doing reckless things and getting adrenaline. That was actual fun. Not this shit.

Just then a woman came next to them. She was chubby and short, looking very pissed off. What did Hitomi do now?

"Your little brat took my son's Nintendo."

Of course she had to ruin family time. Why wouldn't she? She has to have her own little fun. Her fun was her only way. Nobody else mattered, as long as she was having fun.

"I didn't do it." Hitomi said.

Everyone would believe her, but Naomi knew she was lying. She couldn't take the risk.

"Hitomi, let me see your bag." Naomi demanded.

Hitomi took the bag as she took steps back.

"I don't have it inside!" she said, looking like she's gonna cry.

"Hitomi, give me the damn bag!" Naomi yelled, feeling angrier and angrier at her problematic daughter.

"You don't even trust your own daughter?" Hitomi asked innocently.

Naomi stopped in her feet. What kind of mother was she? She didn't even have trust in her own child... She shook her head. The child was just manipulating her. She did it. Nobody else could've done it.

Ayumu took the bag from Hitomi and threw it to her mom. She was visibly angry as she punched Ayumu's shoulder. She started crying from the pain.

Naomi wasn't even surprised when she saw the Nintendo in her bag. She just returned it to the lady as she started picking up her stuff, feeling furious as ever. That kid has to ruin everything. Absolutely everything. There's nothing that could go right if she's even slightly involved in it.

As they arrived home, Naomi started yelling.

"Didn't I tell you to behave?! Why can't you just-"

Slap.

Her eyes widened. Oshiro slapped her.

"Shut it! Do you want to ruin my reputation!? Did you have to yell in front of all these people!?" he screamed at her.

"I-"

Another slap.

"You're a horrible mother! Look what you raised! A monster!" he pointed at Hitomi.

She didn't seem to have a reaction, but who knows what was hiding under that emotionless face.

" Your only fucking job is to stay at home and raise children! And what did you do!? Nothing!" he kicked her in the stomach.

Ayumu's eyes widened. She covered her ears, not wanting to even hear that. Hitomi just walked up stairs to her room. Ayumu followed her as fast as she could, just not wanting to hear any more kicks, punches or screams.