Mike and Aki

Chapter One

Aki looked down at the gravel below her feet. She walked upstairs quietly, hoping her grandparents wouldn't ask her why she was so beaten up. She looked into the bathroom mirror, her short brown hair was clumped in her blood and her black shirt had a fresh crimson stain in a puddle where her nose had bled. She took a clump of paper towels, clearing the dirt and gravel out of her cuts and put bandages on them.

She had been bullied since she moved into her grandparents house after her parents lost their jobs and could no longer pay for food, clothing, shelter, and the like. It didn't help that her grandparents were the strange type, the kind that had secret stashes of raisins in the garage and gave her sardines instead ham sandwiches for lunch. She didn't blame her grandparents, though, it wasn't their fault.

She changed into a blue sweater and threw the bloodstained one into her hamper, she'd have to wash it later. Aki didn't have any friends at her new school, but she really never had any at her old school either, but this was more having no friends, it wasn't fair, she did nothing wrong. She sighed, not wanting to think about it and sat on her bed, grabbing her laptop and watching anime, hoping that would cheer her up.

"Aki! It's time for dinner!" Aki's grandmother called up the stairs. "Coming!" she called back. When she came down the stairs, the first thing her grandmother noticed were the bandaids under her eye and on her wrist. "What happened Aki?!" she gasped. "I just tripped and fell, I'm fine Grandma." Aki said. Her grandmother scanned her up and down, as if hoping that she could find the truth bulging out of her sweater pocket. "Be more careful, dear. That's the fifth time this week." she said worriedly.

Aki took a seat at the dinner tabel, her grandfather read a newspaper silently beside her. Her grandparents were quirky and abnormal. Her grandmother always joked around about things she shouldn't and made weird foods that her own mother would make for her when she was a child, she was diabetic and gave up on a diet long ago. Her grandfather wasn't really her grandfather by blood, he was really her step-grandfather, her mother's step-dad, but he was the only grandfather she had ever known, so that's what she called him, he was skinny and tall, much taller than the rest of the family.

Aki's grandmother set out a plate of a strange dish. "Thank you, Grandma." she said. Aki poked at the slimy plate, knowing Grandma it was probably cow brain or something. She grabbed a glass of water and sat down, eating the dish but not tasting it.

~Time Skip~

Aki fell dramatically backward onto her bed, gabbing an old black plush rabbit her father bought her when she was little. She burried her face into her pillow, feeling the warmth it absorbed from her own body heat. She sighed, turning over and staring at the ceiling. She hummed a little tune to herself, coaxing herself into a deep sleep.