Maniac’s Mayhem

(Shinobu)

It has been a week since we started living in this new place, and we are slowly getting used to it. In the morning, we have breakfast with everyone. Then we are free to play around however we want while Evelin does some work with Ashley. Most days we spent that time watching TV while playing with Snowball and Daisy.

After lunch, one of the golden eyes usually takes us to do something. From making arts and crafts to learning how to drive in a virtual world to playing board games. We also make it to the indoor gym on one of the days where we play with the ropes and other equipment, allowing us to move our body to its full potential.

Currently, we are eating lunch together with Ashley, while Evelin is talking to someone on the phone. Lunch is good, like it always is here. This time we are having some fried bread with heaps of berries on top.

“Mom, what are we going to do today?” Cali asks as Evelin walks towards us after having finished her call.

Evelin smiles, “Today Doctor Noir is coming, so we have to deal with her first before we can go do something fun.

Ashley nods to herself. “Oh, so the kiddos are finally going to therapy, don’t worry, she is a nice person. All the other kids like her a lot,” Ashley continues, seemingly wanting to reassure us.

I nod slowly, putting another bite of food into my mouth. Going to the doctor's to do tests was normal where we were before, so it can’t be that different, right?

The rest of lunch goes by in relative silence as we finish the food and put the plates in the dishwasher. After cleaning up, we move back to the living room to watch some more TV and wait for the doctor to arrive.

We are on the second episode of some cartoon about a girl and her magic sword when a woman walks in, followed closely behind a cat who is almost as big as Daisy with a massive, fluffy tail. She smiles and waves at us as she moves towards Evelin. Both of them walk into the office space and stay there for a while until Evelin pops back out.

“So, who wants to go first?” She asks with a smile.

“I’ll go!” Cali shouts, raising her hand and running up to Evelin.

Evelin smiles, patting her head. “Okay, just remember we'll be right outside, so if you want to leave at any point, you can.”

Cali nods and heads into the office. We continue watching TV, occasionally glancing at the door in question, wondering what is happening inside. Suddenly, the door springs open, and Cali runs out towards her room, leaving the door ajar.

Before we can consider what happened, Cali runs back in carrying her family tree zoo crafting project high above her head. She re-enters the room, closing the door behind her once again. We glance at Maniac, who just shrugs at us, so we continue watching our show until the door opens again and Cali walks out with her craft project, followed by the woman.

“See you later, Cali,” the doctor says with a smile, waving her off. She then slowly turns to me, “Shinon, want to come in?”

I nod slowly, standing up and walking into the office. The inside has not really changed since the last time we saw it, besides a big stack of papers on the tea table and the big cat lounging on the couch; everything remained the same.

“Sit wherever you like.” The woman says with a kind smile.

I look around at the different chairs as well as the plush couch and decide sitting next to the big cat would be more fun. As we sink into the seat, the cat turns, rolling around and putting its head in our lap while showing us its belly. I smile, stroking its soft belly.

“Yuki seems to like you,” the woman says, sitting down in a chair opposite us.

I nod, “I like Yuki too.”

The woman grabs a notepad and a pen. “So, Shinon, tell me about yourself.”

I blink, not knowing what she wants exactly. I look around, trying to come up with an idea.

“You can start at the beginning, tell me about the earliest things you remember until now, feel free to leave things out you don’t want to say and add things you do. There are no wrong answers here,” the woman says, helping me out of the panic

“The earliest thing I remember is the examination room; it smelled really bad, and it was really cold.” I start.

The doctor writes some stuff down, making me pause to look at her.

The doctor smiles. “Feel free to continue. I won't interrupt unless you want me to.”

I nod slowly, continuing the story. “At first it wasn’t all that bad, sure the examinations were no fun, drawing blood and doing different exercises, but we only had to go there once in a while and for the rest of the time we mostly had lessons and if we did not have lessons we were allowed to play in the playroom.”

“This all lasted for what feels like a while, but the people became angrier and angrier.. Shouting more at us and sometimes getting violent. Slowly, some of the other children started disappearing.” I continue trying to swallow something down. “Then we had to fight.”

I pause, whipping away the tears in my eyes, trying desperately to focus.

“Here, use this,” the woman says, making me blink up at her and see the tissue in her outstretched hand.

I grab the piece of paper, using it to dry my eyes quickly.

“Thank you,” I say, looking at the woman.

“That is quite alright. Feel free to grab more if you need them,” she says, placing the box on the table.

“Fighting was... awful,” we finally say, wringing the paper tissue in our hands.

“We can skip this part if you want.” The woman says.

We nod, not wanting to think overly much about what we were forced to do in there. “There were fewer children for a while after that. But slowly they brought in younger children; they uhhm … did not look like us, more like insects.”

The doctor raises her eyebrows but does not comment further.

“None of them, uhm, made it for long. The whole process repeated for a while, but as we grew older, the adults started expecting more and more things from us, and as we completed those tasks, we were eventually given to Father.”

“He trained us more by teaching how to take orders and fight on command, making sure we can defend the interests of the company.” I pause, thinking some more about what happened. “We moved around a lot until Evelin took us away.”

The therapist nods. “I see. There are a few things I would like to discuss, but first, I want to know if there is anything you would like to tell me about all of that. Did it make you feel something strange or some other thing?”

I think about it for a while before finally shaking my head. “Not really”

“Okay, then do you mind if I ask some questions?” The woman asks, looking at us with kind eyes.

I nod slowly.

“First, I want you to describe this figure you called father,” the doctor asks

I think about it for a bit. “Unstable?”

“Like Maniac?” the doctor asks.

I rapidly shake my head. “No, he would hit us if we did something wrong, Maniac just says weird things.”

The therapist chuckles. “Well, that is good to know. Does this mean you don’t see him as a parental figure?”

“What is a parental figure?” I ask, feeling a bit confused by the term.

“A parental figure would be someone who takes care of you. On top of teaching you new things and housing you, they also provide emotional support. Someone who hugs you when you are sad and helps you when you feel frustrated.” The doctor explains.

I nod. Father was never like that. If anyone was like that, it was Mum; she was kind and was always trying to make us feel better.

“No, he was not like that,” I finally confirm.

The doctor nods, scribbling something down. “Then, in that same vein do you see the people currently taking care of you as your parents?”

I frown, not feeling sure. “Maybe I just, uhm…”

“You don’t know if you can trust them and how far they will go for you?” the woman helpfully supplies.

I nod, “Yeah. They seem nice, but, uhm, I don't know.”

The doctor pauses taping her pen against her lips. “This might not be the best advice, but why don’t you test it.”

“How would I do that?” I ask, cocking my head.

“Well, you already experienced what happens when you do something wrong when you stabbed Evelin, I assume the punishment for that was not the same as when you were back in your old place.”

I mull this over for a bit. For certain, if I would have stabbed Father, we would have been in loads of trouble before. I feel myself shivering even thinking about it, and here I did not get to eat ice cream. For a day! That was indeed a big difference.

“You're right,” I say, coming to the same conclusion.

“Then, after our session, I want you to do a simple exercise. Is that okay?” the woman say.

I nod.

“The task is quite simple. I want you to go up to your parents and ask them for something you think is impossible.” She further explains.

I tilt my head in confusion. “Something impossible?”

The doctor nods, “Yeah, like something you have always wanted but could not get, or anything else, just make it hard.”

I nod, not understanding why, but it was not that difficult, and Shinon was already rattling off ideas to me during the rest of the session as she asks more clarifying questions while Yuki was softly purring next to me.

As we walk back into the room, we find Evelin, Maniac and Cali deep into a block stacking game. We slowly walk over, and Maniac smiles at us.

“So, how was it?” she asks with a gentle smile.

“It was okay,” I answer, looking back at the doctor, then nodding to myself. “Can I ask for something?”

Maniac shrugs, “Always.”

I think for a second about the things Shinon brought up, then point up. “Can I have the moon?”

Maniac blinks, looking up, then turning back to me. “Maybe. We would need to get you a bigger room first, since the moon is enormous, maybe we should just move to the moon then.”

Evelin now walks up to us and kneels down. “How about we get you some moon rocks to start? And some rocks from Pluto. Maybe you can get a full planetary collection going.”

I nod, liking the idea and also agreeing that the entire moon might be a bit much.

“Is there anything else you want?” Maniac asks, looking oddly guilty.

I think back on all the things I have seen trying to figure out if there is anything I want. Then it comes to me, the person with white hair had a nice tail. I wanted a tail too. I turn back to Maniac to look at her. “I want ears and a tail just like the white person.”

Maniac winces.

“No?” I ask, a bit disappointed.

“Uhm, it’s not a no, it’s complicated. Like you need to be fully grown up for it to be safe mentally,” she explains. “But I will give them to you when you are old enough, if you still want them then.”

I frown, still feeling disappointed but understanding the problem slightly. What else do we want? Suddenly both my sister and I get the same idea. We wave at Maniac, forcing her to kneel down as well and whisper in her ear, “We want to be like you?”