UnderAnger (rewritten)

1- Bedtime Story.

It was a long day. Me and Dad spent a lot of the day outside climbing Mt. Ebott, like we did every weekend. We had our own rituals that we did, and I took it very personally when Dad didn't follow the schedule correctly. Today was no exception.

The sun was coming down when we got home and I rushed into the hallway leading to my bedroom. Dad lagged behind, hanging up his coat. I stopped impatiently and stamped my foot on the ground.

I waited a second before blurting, "Are you coming, Daddy?"

"What? Sorry, Nimiee, but aren't you getting a little old for bedtime stories?"

I crossed over to him. "Well, Daddy, I have a loophole. I recall you saying that you'd tell me the story about monsters when I got older. So, as long as the story you tell me is about monsters, then I can still make you give me a bedtime story despite my age." Dad chuckled and walked up to me, patting my head, "Well, damn. You got me there. You should grow up to be a lawyer, Nimiee."

He always said that. And every time I answered the same way. "Nuh-uh. Imma be a professional mountain climber."

Dad shook his head with a grin and led me from the landing, down the hall, and to my bedroom door. The end of the hall was the kitchen from which I could hear my mother loudly washing dishes. She was talking to somebody, maybe one of my sisters.

Dad opened my bedroom door and I quickly rushed in, hopping on the bottom bunk of my bed. I eagerly awaited my well deserved, grown-up story as I crawled under the sheets. On the top bunk of my bed, I heard tussling. Ugh, my youngest sister, Hiwata, must be awake. She would be asking dumb questions the whole time...

Dad pulled up Hiwata's small chair from the corner of the room and sat in it. I was always amused to see a grown man hunched in a tiny pink throne.

He had turned the lights off, only leaving on my desk lamp so that he was able to see. Dad cleared his throat, his signal that he was about to start the story.

"Hundreds of years ago, there was another species that ruled the world, other than humans. They were called 'monsters'. These monsters were similar to humans, in the way that they were very smart and were social, except they looked very scary and they had magical powers."

Hiwata looked down from the top bunk and asked sleepily, "How'd they get powers? Are they 悪者たち (bad guys)?"

I shook my head, confounded by her lack of immersion and awful English.

Dad dumbed down his wording now that Hiwata was listening and explained, "The monsters weren't 悪者たち (bad guys), but they weren't perfect either. Humans were very scared of the monsters and their magic, so we 宣戦布告 (declared war) on them. Monsters, despite their magic, were small in numbers and very weak, so they hid away."

"Where'd they hide?" Hiwata asked. Regretfully, I was actually thankful she asked that question, since I was wondering the same thing. Dad leaned forward dramatically, "They are underneath Mt. Ebott."

I raised my eyebrows, and I heard Hiwata gasp. Hiwata scoffed quickly, recovering, "Daddy, you said the monster story would be real."

I banged the ladder and yelled at my little sister, "Be quiet, Hiwata! Of course it's real!"

"Nuh-uh. How could the monsters fit in the mountain?"

"I'll prove it to you! Imma go up to the very top of the mountain and find the monsters!!"

Dad quickly placed his hand on my pillow and shook his head, "No you aren't," he warned, "That's way too dangerous for a nine-year-old. Your mother would kill me."

Hiwata giggled, no doubt humored by the image of our small mother beating up Dad. I banged on the ladder again to shut her up. I wasn't amused, in fact, I was upset. Why's Dad telling me I can't find the monsters? He's indulged in all my adventures before, so why not this one? It must mean that the monsters are real.

A few weeks later...

After telling my classmates about the monsters in Mt. Ebott, I lost interest in the subject of monsters. My friend pointed out a flaw in the story- if the monsters were underground, we would have found them by now. When I asked my teacher, he scoffed and regarded it as a silly myth. Having to choose between believing my father and my teacher caused a complex conflict of interest. Obviously, I'm not gonna admit falsehoods on my Dad's part, so I just dropped it.
Nevertheless, I still used the loophole I found to get a new monster story every weekend. What can I say? A monster story is better than no bedtime story at all.

When I got home on Friday, my mother gave me the news that she and Dad would be gone over the weekend and that our oldest sister, eighteen-year-old Lianee, would be babysitting me and my four other siblings. I was somewhat excited before I realized that that meant me and my dad's ritual would be broken this week. Disapointment was resounding... it meant that Dad wasn't gonna be able to finish his monster story- he was gonna tell me about monster souls this week.

Lianee noticed my disapointment. "What, am I not cool enough for you?" She grinned.

I didn't look at her, "You're ok, I guess..."

"Oh, right, you like Dad's bedtime stories, don't you? You're nine, Nimiee... you know what's better than getting tucked in? A cool older sister with money and a driver's license."

Yeah, she was right. Lianee is always right. I pretty quickly forgot about my disapointment as it was replaced with excitement yet again. The weekend would be very fun with this complete freedom.

At the end of the day, Dad came in my room and tucked me in, which he didn't normally do on weekdays.
"Are you sad that I'm leaving over the weekend, hun? I know how you like things to go as planned."

"It's fine..." I paused and then, overcome by the spur of the moment, asked, "Dad, are monsters ACTUALLY real?"

He smiled, "Oh, I couldn't be sure. In the stories, the monsters used their magic to keep the humans out and keep their species in. Nobody has seen monsters in over a hundred years, but there is a lot of evidence that they could have existed. I guess nobody will ever truly know."

That wasn't the answer I wanted, but it was better than a flat-out no. Satisfied, I turned to my side, said goodnight, and drifted to sleep.