Motherly Love

      There's nothing stronger than a bond between a parent and a child. However, sometimes, things may get a little...complicated as one might say. If not addressed, it'll come with terrible consequences.
      In a small town near Japan's Mount Fuji, there lived a teenager named Yuki who lived under the watchful care of her Aunt Akira who doted on her endlessly. Every night Yuki stared up at the snowy peak with wonder and terror. It was there her parents had been lost in a terrible avalanche when she was just an infant.
      "Look away from there," Aunt Akira warned, "it won't do you any good." They concluded with their nightly offerings at their camadona, a traditional shinto family shrine. Yuki bade her aunt goodnight.
      That night as she slept, she heard a sweet, loving whisper.
       "Yuki..." she sprang awake and saw that just outside her window was a beautiful woman and she knew instantly was her mother. It confused and terrified her as to why her supposedly dead mother was there with her face pressed against the glass; however, all her fight and flight instincts had left her as she slowly crept up to the window, where her mother's breath was fogging up the sheet of glass.
      As she got to the window, her mother began telling her about oh how desperately she wanted to see her but her Aunt Akira forbade that from ever happening.
      Yuki was confused yet again as she began to wonder as to why her aunt would do such a thing. Her mother explained that Aunt Akira was unable to have children of her own and was jealous of her brother's blessings.
      Her mother claimed that her aunt killed her own brother and banished her sister in law so she could raise Yuki as her own. Yuki was stunned but before she could interrogate her mother, Aunt Akira turned on the lights.
      "What are you doing at this time of night? It's late." Aunt Akira exclaimed. Yuki turned to the window to see her mother was gone.
      The next day, Yuki couldn't think of anything else. Her mind was fixated and clouded with questions as well as rage at her aunt for lying. At breakfast, she coyly questioned Aunt Akira to relay the story of her parents' passing. Her aunt told the same story she always did, that of a tragic avalanche and a child saved. Yet her tone betrayed a distinct annoyance.
      She told Yuki that she was tired of talking about it then left for work but not before placing another offering at their shrine.
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      That night as her aunt slept, Yuki patiently waited at the window for her mother to return. Sure enough, her mother reappeared. Yuki begged her to come inside. Her mother said she would, but only under one condition: she had to destroy the family shrine.
      Yuki didn't understand. Their camadona was sacred as it contained amulets and keepsakes that protected the house.
      "Poor girl, Aunt Akira tricked you again! She desecrates our camadona with curses that trap you here and keep me from entering!" her mother explained.
      Yuki was outraged, filled with a desire for righteous vengeance. She marched up to their shrine and angrily shoved it over. She watched as the shrine tipped over before it splintered and shattered into millions of pieces which were soon scattered, sending shards of wood and porcelain among the wooden floor boards.
      Aunt Akira ran into the room as her face twisted into horror, eyes scanning the room as her body began to tremble.
      "My dear Yuki... what have you done?!?" she exclaimed as panic rose upon her. Just then all the windows shattered and every door flung open as a shadow appeared over them. The voice of Yuki's mother thundered.
      "At last!" Yuki's mother's voice was raspy as she transformed into this creature, towering  over niece and aunt was a hideous monster with a human head and a spider's body. Yuki's mouth twitched as she tried to scream, however, nothing came out. 
     Aunt Akira cried, "Your mother is the Jorogumo, an ancient goblin! She made it with your father and killed him. All I ever wanted was to shield you from such danger and tragedy!"
Yuki stood between her mother and her aunt trying to take in what's happening until it finally dawned upon her: mother was a monster. Her mother beckoned and promised that now they could be together. Aunt Akira, however, told her that the jorogumo has no love for anyone. She would consume her daughter piece by piece just like her father before her.
      Then, her aunt stopped talking and when Yuki turned to look at the woman, she found that she had been impaled by one of her own mother's legs. Her mother spun her dying aunt into a webbed cocoon and the  instucted her daughter to come home with her, to her real home on the mountain.
      At that moment, Yuki was so overwhelmed by what just happened, realizing that she was lied to. She was left tramatized, knowing that she now had no one anymore! No one except her mother.
      The jorogumo crawled out of the cottage, carrying her webbed up meal and was followed by Yuki. Together, they made their way up Mount Fuji, reunited at last.

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The End.