Damn Brat

Setting: At the psychologist / present

Doctor: This was probably the cruelest scheme yet. I know I should remain professional but I completely pity that Asta guy.

Pandora: He is one of the sweetest boys I ever came across… if only we didn’t meet again at that lake. And if only I was stronger and didn’t need his support during the Grandpa funeral stuff…

Doctor: If there is a god, all that is waiting for you is hellfire.

Pandora: Yummm, what a nice thought.

Doctor: Why did you destroy his Red Swan painting when you planned to take another one all along?

Pandora: I couldn’t risk him coming to his room only to find his best painting untouched. He’d think: “Ah, nothing bad actually happened. I just need to be more careful next time, I will enter another contest with this painting and all is good. I forgive her, I hope we see each other soon”. When he came home, he found another underhanded blow from me, multiplying his hate.

Doctor: Merciless… Did anything else happen during your time at Grandpa’s house?

Pandora: Even though my mom ignored me for the rest of the week, I still needed to plant another seed…

Setting: Village, apartment building / 7th July 2022

Pandora is holding a piece of paper and looking for a certain door in the apartment building. She finally finds it and knocks. A tall man, looking like he could be at the age of her Father, opens the door. He is revealed to be the one Pandora spotted exiting the cemetery early at Grandpa’s funeral. The man looks really surprised to see Pandora in front of him. More like he is in a complete shock, as he goes mute.

Pandora: Hello. You’re Benimaru, right? You probably don’t know me. My name is Pandora and I am a-

Benimaru: I know very well who you are. You’re a spitting image of her. (Creepy and chilling smile.)

Benimaru has blue spiky hair and cold blue eyes, he has a diamond in his front upper tooth.

Pandora: Great, that saves us some time. I just came here to give you this. (She hands him over a card with some written details on it.)

Benimaru: Why are you giving this to me, young lady? (He sticks his tongue out of his mouth as if trying to lick his whole bottom lip.)

Pandora: You should already know why. (She turns around and tries to leave. Benimaru holds her hand and he pulls her back.)

Benimaru: Why don’t you come inside and have some tea with me~?

Pandora: (Immediately punches him so hard he hits his head against the wall.) No, thank you. (Smiles and leaves.)

Benimaru: (His lip starts bleeding and he licks his blood.) Hehehe, I like it when a girl is so aggressive. I saw you. Why didn’t you go to your Grandpa’s funeral?

Pandora: (She keeps walking away and she answers without looking back.) None of your business.

Benimaru: You might have made a mistake of giving me this information, young lady. I wonder what you’re scheming, heheheh.

Pandora: (Inner monologue) This guy’s a bad news. But I have to endure it.

Setting: At the psychologist / present

Pandora: I’d like you to keep this in mind. There will be time to tell you a complex story but let’s focus on something else that I already mentioned for now.

Doctor: And that was…?

Pandora: The perfect plan to destroy my family bonds for good. The one inspired heavily by Marina and Chloe. Even Yuuji helped with a … prequel.

Setting: Pandora’s house / 7th July 2022

The family came home after a week at Grandpa’s village. A dog barking from the garden is heard again. The family goes to the house through the back door where the dog is waiting. It immediately starts jumping from joy at Pandora.

Pandora: Awww, there is my goodest of the good boys~! I missed you~.

Leon: How have you been buddy? (he pats him)

Father: Here’s your treat for being such a good boy. (he throws a dog snack at him)

Mother: I’m going to bed…

All of them go inside the house. Mother goes immediately to a bedroom. Father sits on a couch and Leon goes upstairs. Pandora starts coughing.

Father: Your cough has gotten pretty bad since yesterday. You should go see a doctor tomorrow.

Pandora: Yes, I will…

Pandora comes to her room upstairs. On her way, she notices Leon holding something in his hand next to his bed.

Leon: Where’d this come from??

Pandora quickly rushes to her room and closes the door, she leans onto the door from the inside and holds her breath. She hears the voices from beyond her room.

Father: What the hell is that, Leon?!

Leon: This isn’t mine, dad!

Father: How come it’s not yours? What’s it doing in your room then?!

Leon: I swear I have no idea!

Mother: What are you yelling about?

Father: Just look what I found in Leon’s hands!

Mother: Leon! Why are you doing this stuff?

Father: This is totally unacceptable! We’ve had these talks over and over, this is a red line you never cross in my house!

Leon: Dad, mom, I promise! This isn’t mine, I don’t know how- … wait a minute.

Pandora hears approaching footsteps. Leon runs towards her door and knocks.

Leon: Pandora! It was you!! It was you, wasn’t it?! Open the door!

Father: What do you mean it was Pandora?

Leon: I saw her in my room the other day!

Pandora breathes in and breathes out as she tries to calm herself down. She opens the door.

Pandora: What’s going on?

Leon: This! (He shows her ‘something’ in a small plastic bag.) I never even held this in my hands before, why was it in my room?! And why did it appear miraculously after you snooped in my room the other day?

Pandora: I don’t know what you’re talking about, big bro.

Father: Pandora. The other day, when you came home… You had red swollen eyes. I thought you were crying. But tell me the truth. Were you smoking that stuff?

Leon: You damn brat!! Are you trying to frame me?!

Pandora chuckles. In a fantasy, the pillar below the statue holding a box receives another crack.

Pandora: I don’t know what you’re talking about~. I would neeeever want to hurt my beloved big bro~. I have no motive to do so, do I? He always treats me so well~, as if I was his favorite person in the world. He never pushes me away when I want to hug him~.

The box pillar representing Leon receives another crack.

Leon: Are you high even now or what…??

Mother: This is not our daughter anymore. Something happened. I don’t recognize her at all.

Father: Pandora, please talk to us. This is unlike you.

Pandora: I have nothing to say to you. Get out of my room. Hihi.

Leon: (looking at parents) Now you believe me that this shit wasn’t mine? (He throws the plastic bag at Pandora. It hits her chest but she is unfazed so the bag falls down. Leon leaves.)

Mother has still empty, depressed eyes. Is it just the Grandpa’s death? Is it the fact her daughter is unrecognizable? Or is it something totally different? Mother leaves. Father looks at Pandora with sad eyes that scream confusion. She keeps creepily smiling at them as they leave the room one by one. Father closes the door behind him. Once everybody is gone, Pandora rushes at the door again, she opens it and screams.

Pandora: THIS IS NOT A PHASE~!

Then she closes it again, not even waiting for anybody’s reaction. But nobody answers anyway. She sits on her bed and dials Vulcan’s number. He answers the phone.

Vulcan: Finally! Pandora, where have you been? You didn’t answer any calls or messages and when I came to your house, nobody was home!

Pandora: Oh stop being so dramatic, I was just with my stupid family visiting my Grandpa.

Vulcan: ‘Stupid’? ..

Pandora: Don’t mention it.

Vulcan: So… how was the trip? Is your Grandpa doing okay?

Pandora: Nope, the geezer died.

Vulcan: What?! Pandora! But… I am so sorry!

Pandora: Don’t be, darling! He was old, of course he was gonna pop off sooner or later.

As she says this, a tear flows down her cheek, still not having recovered from her beloved Grandpa’s death.

Vulcan: Pandora! What’s gotten into you? You have been really weird lately!

Pandora: (she coughs) Eh, sorry… I have been feeling super tired. So anyways, I’m alive. So far.

Vulcan: What do you mean so fa-

Pandora: Bye~.

She hangs up the phone and lies on her bed.

Pandora: This has been such a crazy week…

Setting: At the psychologist / present

Doctor: You really are acting like a bitch towards Wulfric.

Pandora: Vulcan. But yeah, I admit that. The following morning, I visited a doctor. Once I got home…

Setting: Pandora’s house, living room / 8th July 2022

Pandora comes home from the hospital. She is holding her medical records. She comes inside and finds her Father watching the TV with Leon. Mother is in the kitchen, preparing lunch.

Leon: Is this from today’s morning?

They are watching a press conference of their Father, the journalists are ‘grilling’ him with nasty questions. In the TV:

Journalist #1: Mr. Minister, is it true that you’re using your position in order to help your daughter graduate from the best psychology high school in this country?

Father: No, that is a complete lie, I was never in her school before. I met her homeroom teacher just the other day when they called me. I don’t even know how they got my number!

Journalist #2: Mr. Minister, we’ve got school records. How do you explain that your daughters’ grades were getting lower and lower and after your visit, she suddenly aced the final test of the year?

Father: My daughter is a smart girl, I didn’t need to pull any strings in order for her to succeed!

Journalist #2: Will you resign from your position of the minister if your involvement gets proven?

Father: Of course, I can sign up for that. Because there was no involvement from my side whatsoever!

Back in the living room of their house, Father turns off the TV slightly thrown off.

Father: Apparently, somebody sent an anonymous letter to the media and they accused me of using my position of a minister to help Pandora with her studies. The timing really was unfortunate, her final test score was perfect a few days after I showed at her school for the very first time.

Leon: That sucks. I wonder who would send a letter like that.

Setting: At the psychologist / present

Doctor: Sorry for sudden interruption but what kind of a minister is your father? I am not into politics.

Pandora: He was. A Minister of Education.

Doctor: Ooooh…

Setting: Pandora’s house, living room / 8th July 2022

Father: I guess some of her classmates could have done it. Pandora, you did mention that guy who always picks on you, what was his name?

Pandora: You mean Shinzo?

Father: Yes, that one. My guess is that he made this up just to get revenge on Pandora.

Leon: What’d you do to piss that guy off so much he would go to such lengths?

Pandora: Absolutely nothing, he just hates my perfect self, ahah.

Father: So, what about the medical check? What about your cough?

Pandora: Well, my coughing is gonna subdue soon. They said there was nothing wrong with me. But…

Father: But?

Pandora: We should call Mother here as well…

Father: Darling?? (shouting) Could you please come here for a sec?

Mother: (appears in the living room) Yes?

Leon: Pandora has something to say to us.

Pandora: Well, this is kinda tough… So I’ll just say it. My cough is alright, the tests showed there was nothing serious. However, … (Pandora starts tearing up) My… my… (sobbing)… the tests showed something else. I have a rare terminal illness and unless I get treated in a neighboring country, I will die within 2 years. Here, this is a medical record signed by the doctor…

Mother keeps a straight face, having no reaction whatsoever. She still has that empty look in her big round eyes. Father is in a state of shock, his jaw drops and he starts sweating. Leon jumps off from the seat screaming “What?!”. 

In a fantasy, the two pillars – a small child and a statue with a box – are suddenly coated in a thick layer of iron.

CHAPTER 14: END