-Break-

“A father and a son, a son and a father. They sit together at the dinner table for the first time in seven years, but still, the two of them don’t talk.

On my right side lies the son an Anathematized human. He is a rude boy who says vulgarities neverendingly to the point where I will soon wash out his mouth with soap. The great little annoyance Iancu.

And on my left and at the head of the table lies a nightmare, the great inventor and man who many consider a modern-day genius, Avram Bogdan.

The son who seemingly hates his father turns his head away trying to act as if my words don’t bother him. While the father looks straight ahead removing his annoying son's existence from his mind.

Seeking attention Iancu puts his feet on the table to elicit a response from his father, but not getting one he puts them down as he realizes how embarrassing and disgusting it is.

The tension in the room is so flavourful and well-aged, that one could even get drunk off of it. There is little as intense as the tension between a child and their parent. This truly shall be a legendary battle of two bats.”

“CAN YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!”

“Breaking the silence Iancu tries to force some of that tension on me, by screaming at me like an oaf. Truly fiendish.”

“I might actually hit you.”

“Well what else am I supposed to do, if I don’t alleviate the tension, I might become intoxicated by it.”

“THERE IS NO TENSION. Especially any deriving from anger.”

“Wait if all this tension doesn’t derive from anger, might all this tension actually be sexual? My god have I truly walked into a den of demons.”

“Not a chance.”

At the head of the table, my father says, “Elia not only are we about to eat but this is also a house of god, so I won’t allow any vulgarities here.”

“Is a vampire really trying to teach me about god?”

In the corner of the room, Elia and my father start to talk, whilst smiling. Feeling sick I stand up and say, “I am going away.”

Suddenly Elia falls out of her chair, but is caught by my father who asks, “Elia are you okay?”

“Yes, it is just that I lost my balance.”

As she is in my father's arms, she mouths to me; Sit down Iancu, or you know what I will do.

Sitting down, I say, “I am going to stay after all.”

As Elia sits back on her chair, she kicks me in the leg and then gives me an evil stare.

This bitch!

Bursting through the door Ivana, Wadim, and Gheorghe finally arrive.

“Sorry it took us so long.”

My father says, “Don’t worry, the food is still warm so you can sit down and get ready.”

With haste the three of them sit down, jittering with excitement.

After my father gives a little prayer, he says, “You can take it off now.”

Overall the plates on the dinner table are the Anathematized jellyfish, which not only conceals what the food looks like but makes it so that the state it was in doesn’t change from the moment it was put on.

Taking the jellyfish off, my nose is instantly struck with a heavenly sensation. Immediately moments of all the good things that have ever happened to me in my life appear in my mind bringing me close to tears.

Stop Iancu. I need to regain my composure; I can’t lose myself to this.

Directly facing me Wadim, starts to bite into the food and moments later he starts to cry, and says, “I forgive you, Mom.”

Ivana beside him says, “I might be alone forever, but I am enough I don’t need to change.”

Gheorghe to the right of me says, “Just because I look like a monster doesn’t mean I am!!”

Elia beside says, “I promise I will be a better friend; I will eat the cake this time.”

Crap the food is making all of them have an emotional breakdown, if I eat it, I am fucked. I refuse to fold first!

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Pushing my plate away, I say, “I don’t feel like eating I am full.”

The four of them try to grab at my plate whilst saying, “MINE.”

I pull my plate back and say, “This is still mine.”

“But you said you were full.”

“So what, it is still my food I get to decide what happens to it, and don’t you still have food on your plate?”

“I see, so whoever finishes their food first gets yours.”

Immediately Elia, Ivana, Wadim, and Gheorghe start to engorge the food in front of them, but the first one to finish is Elia. “I WOOOOOOOON! Now fork it over Iancu.”

“I never agreed to that.”

“You would really betray the promise you made to a maiden, you demon! If I had known you were such a fiendish liar I would have enjoyed my food more.”

“Not my problem.”

Ivana sitting down in defeat says, “The only person who ate Avram’s food so fast was Gloria.”

Gheorghe says, “Well when your husband can cook so well eating becomes a personal hobby for you.”

Wadim just says, “Thinking about it, don’t you guys think Elia is a lot like Gloria?”

Feeling anger well up inside me, I shout, “SHE IS NOTHING LIKE MOM!!!”

Looking around the table I notice I ruined the mood. Why, why, why, why do I feel like an outsider in my own house, every time I interact with these people it always ends up like this. I should just leave.

“Iancu is right Elia is nothing like my wife.”

Staring at my father, I hear Elia say, “How so?”

“My wife was an idiotic, hardheaded, selfish, brat. Never thinking before she acts, and never caring about the stress she puts us in. She always pushed herself so hard that she would collapse causing me to always do all the chores myself, and when she would eat, she would nearly empty out our fridge, she really didn’t think about those around her.”

Please, just please stop Dad I don’t want to hear any more.

“She would always help anyone whenever giving smiles at the destruction of her own, she would always cry like a cute puppy whenever she saw me cleaning up her mess instead of just working less. She would always brag about my achievements because in her words I didn’t realize how amazing I am. She was always active which inspired me to work through bad days, and the faces she made when she ate my cooking filled my soul. She was stronger than anyone else, kinder than anyone else, and the best mother there ever was, in all the time she was here there was not a single day Iancu didn’t smile, and her ass was enormous. So, in summation, she was nothing like Elia.”

Hearing this I feel something well up inside me, but it is interrupted as Elia smashes the table saying, “I felt like I was just rather brutally insulted. We all know ii wanted I could easily be your wife.”

Confused, my father says, “I didn’t know you were a drug addict Elia, because your mind is far away from you.”

“What do you mean, I am cute and adorable!”

“You must mean gross and annoying like a child which you are, my wife was many things but not as argumentative as you are.”

“But you have been so nice to me.”

“Because you appeared at my doorstep like a lost puppy, and if a child like you kept walking around Elpída alone, a crazy child-loving old ninja lady may have kidnapped you. So, in summation, your gross and you never had or will ever have a chance with me, and besides my wife was enough for me in this lifetime.”

“You a rude cruel man, I can see how your son ended up such an undisciplined brat,”

Beside Elia, I give her a smirk and say, “Ehh, looks like someone is acting childish.”

Grabbing me by the neck, Elia says, “Shut uppppp!”

Ivana across from us says, “You know if we compare Iancu to how Avram was at that age, I wouldn’t call him undisciplined at all.”

Seeing my father clam up, I ask, “What do you mean?”

“Back when your father was younger, he was a real rebellious child, burning down buildings, picking fights with gangs, he even painted the queen's face back in Blestemate. He was arrested about 10,000 times.”

“Ivana, I need you to be quiet!”

Ivana then shapes her head into a tiny model of my father and says, “This is what he looked like in his childhood.”

Giggling Elia says, “Who dresses like that!”

“I would even go that far!”

“Hey, you two stop laughing at me.”

Laughing, Ivana says, “And he would always say the same thing; I am going to build a robot. Really a robot, we all know instead of building a useless war machine, adding mechanical parts to the human body is the best way to go about things.”

Gheorghe and Wadim nod their heads in approval, but as they do me, Elia and my father say, “Not a chance.”

Elia says, “Instead of destroying the pure human body, we should aim to create mechanical companions.”

“The human body even with additions is still too limited we must make greater beings instead.”

My father says, “Be honest you have all dreams about riding in robots throughout the heavens.”

Wadim says, “Grow up boss. The art of crafting golems was lost millennia ago, and you want to make something even greater than that a robot, stop dreaming.”

Gheorghe says, “Unlike robots, adding mechanical parts to the human body can be used for countless medical procedures, it will benefit all of us, unlike your nonsensical dream.”

My father says, “Are the employees rebelling against the boss?”

Ivana says, “The employees are trying to enlighten the boss to change his foolish ways before it is too late.”

Elia says, “Then it seems we must all discuss this until you see the error of your ways.”

Wadim says, “You might be a scary little girl, but we won’t budge on this.”

“I was right to verbally abuse you idiots.”

Gheorghe says, “Say whatever you want Iancu I won’t change my mind.”

My father says, “Until one side surrenders!!!”

Ivana says, “Non shall leave this room!!!”

For the rest of the night with everyone in the room we just talked, for the first time in years, and the happiness I felt that day was something I thought I had lost.

-Break-

Waking up, I stand up and see that everyone is collapsed around me. So, I quietly make my way to the door, but I hear, “Iancu where are you going?”

Turning around I see my dad is up and facing me, so I say, “What do you care?”

“What do you mean what do I care, you ‘re my son aren’t you do you really think you can just leave without telling me where you’re going?”

Feeling my heartbeat fast, I say, “PISS OFF FUCKER!” Then run away.

Chasing after me my father says, “Where are you going?”

Φ Staring at the father and son, whilst I pretend to sleep a single thought runs through my mind; how cute!

Name: Anathematized Jellyfish

Height: 20cm to 300cm

Type: Omnivore

Description: An animal that looks almost identical to a jellyfish. It is capable of growing when given sufficient water, and any non-living thing within it will not change in state.

Fact: It finds fat disgusting, so it will usually ignore women when hunting.