[HxH] Caffeinated Catastrophe

𓆩♡𓆪 Six: Doppio

TW: Slight mentions of unhealthy relationship dynamics and child neglect.

In itself, the concept of family has always been a rather outlandish one.

You are born into this world, fresh and new, screaming for your dear life. Cold air hits your skin, something you've never experienced before, a bizarre sensation after months of drifting through a space filled with warmth and comfort.

You have absolutely no clue what is going on. In fact, your brain isn't even developed enough to differentiate the colours painting the walls of the room you're in, or clearly examine the shapes and people that surround you.

Everything is a blur of different shades of grey. It's overwhelming, so you continue to scream.

A person you've never seen before coos at you with adoration in their eyes, holding you tightly, seemingly ignoring your obvious distress. They softly trace the skin on your face, an astonishment carried within them that could rival a person who's just witnessed a miracle.

Are they trying to soothe you? Or do they just not notice you agonizing over the mortal skin you've found yourself in?

You look like a shrivelled up grape.

You feel like one, too.

They don't care about that though.

Just by virtue of having emerged from their womb, you've now been assigned an important role in their life. Your existence had become a priority to them the moment your little raisin self was graced by the first touches of wind.

Or maybe it didn't.

Maybe the first thing that encounters your sight is not a proud face, excited to welcome you into this world, but instead an expression of disappointment. Not a single hint of gratification displayed on their features, they stare at you as if you're a leaf that just happened to hit the windshield of their car while they were driving somewhere.

A nuisance, one could say, but not an earth-shattering one, either. More of a small inconvenience.

Isn't that a great way to start life? One day in and you've already been the cause of another being's sense of disillusionment. You should really give yourself a pat on the back for that!

Well, if your arms weren't so short and stumpy, that is.

In your current state, you probably won't even be able to clean up after yourself.

Instead, you now have this virtual stranger, someone you know essentially nothing about, taking care of you. Feeding you, bathing you, clothing you, the list goes on. You're completely reliant on them, though you don't even know a singular thing about them. They care about you simply because you exist.

Or maybe they don't.

Maybe the first few formative years of your life are instead spent surrounded by nannies, never even getting a glimpse of the one that caused your existence, bringing you into this world for reasons of their own.

The sole memory you carry within yourself is that disappointed expression of theirs, and even that disappears after a couple of weeks. Whilst your vision gradually starts to improve and the first hints of colour grace your sight, the remembrance of their face becomes a blur.

Soon, their very existence will be erased from your memory, the only indication of their presence being the tiny story books one of the younger maids regularly sneaks in, filled with images of happy families holding hands and going on exciting adventures together.

You wonder if perhaps, you have one of those, too. You don't think about it all too much though.

There's no purpose to it.