In the 144th year of the new empire calendar, due to the fact that wars have almost disappeared in the entire universe, and the empire has nationalized all military factories and restricted local galaxy fleets, most galaxies have turned their technological research from the previous research on weapons and warships to civilian use. Each galaxy has entered a stage of rapid economic development.
...
The sun was setting, and it was already evening, and most people were already on their way home.
On a small path in a city, a girl who just got off the maglev train is walking slowly. The sun slanted over, pulling her and other people's shadows on the ground, different from the brisk steps and happy expressions of other people going home, the girl's steps seemed very heavy, dragging her feet weakly.
The jet-black hair was hanging down her languid cheeks, and those blue eyes were covered by the shadow of her forehead hair, and they seemed to be dull at the moment.
However, no matter how much she delayed, she still stood at the door of the building after returning home from school.
She stood at the door in a daze for a long time, and the people who came in and out all looked at the girl standing in a daze at the door strangely. After a while, she raised her hand, and the middle of a bracelet on her right wrist lit up, and a beam of light scanned her from head to toe, and then let her enter the building.
Soon, she stood at the door of her own house, staring at the door for a long time, her lips tightly pursed, showing a look of extreme reluctance. But no matter how reluctant she was, she still raised her hand to reveal the information ring and let the door of the house open.
The door opened with a beep, and the girl walked in. The woman who was arranging tableware and ready dinner in the dining room looked up and smiled at her.
"Sally, it's time to eat."
The woman said to her with a smile.
She pursed her lips, and without looking at the woman, she gave a low hum as an answer.
The man came out of the kitchen carrying a few plates, and smiled at the girl when he saw her.
"Sally is back," he said, "just in time, dinner is ready."
The girl turned cold and walked to the table without saying a word. The man raised his hand as if he wanted to touch her head, but the cold girl's face suddenly changed, and she raised her hand to open the hand that wanted to touch her head.
"Do not touch me!"
She yelled at the man, then turned and ran back to her room. As soon as she pressed the button next to it, the door of the room closed immediately.
"What's wrong with this kid?"
The woman at the table looked puzzled.
"Maybe it's the rebellious period?" the man said, "Let's eat first and leave food for her, and she will come out to eat when she is hungry."
The couple began to sit face to face, chatting and laughing while eating.
It was already night, the sun was setting, the soft lights were turned on in the room, and the windows outside the tall building were lit up. In the girl's room, however, it was pitch black, with no lights on.
Sally huddled on the bed, wrapped herself in a blanket, hugged her knees and huddled in the corner of the bed, with her forehead resting on her knees.
She wrapped herself tightly in the blanket and curled up into a ball. The starlight shone down from the transparent floor-to-ceiling windows of her room, and shone on the girl's side cheek that was exposed from the blanket, making her face extremely pale and gloomy. She hugged herself tightly, obviously she was in a room with a suitable temperature, but it seemed that she was in the midst of winter, and the fingers that were holding her knees were trembling slightly.
Mother…
She whispered in her heart.
dad…
She lowered her head and buried her pale face into her knees, her fingers had already turned white from being clenched by herself.
Big brother…
...
……………
One night passed, and Sally, who had slept all night curled up in the corner of the bed with her knees in her arms, got up, walked out of the room, silently ate the breakfast prepared by her mother, and then left home.
As she stood in the doorway, she glanced back to see her parents standing in the hall, smiling at her and watching her go, as they had done so many times before.
At that time, she would return a bright smile to her parents, wave her hand, and then rush to the school happily.
But now, she didn't speak or smile, she just turned her head and left the house silently, without looking back again.
When she left, she could feel those two gazes staring at her from behind, and a chill gushed out from her back, making her so cold that she couldn't help but want to shiver.
"Sally, what's the matter with you, you seem to be in a particularly bad mood recently?"
During lunch at school, her best friend asked her worriedly.
During this period of time, Sally seemed to have changed. The person who used to love to laugh became taciturn, not to mention laughing, and even seldom spoke. She looked extremely gloomy.
"I… "
The girl opened her mouth to say something, then stopped, her face became paler.
"I'm scared."
"What's the matter, what happened?"
"Dad and Mom, they..."
In the middle of her speech, she suddenly shut up again.
"Sally?"
"nothing."
said Sally, putting her head down to eat.
"What's wrong? Did you argue with your parents?"
"... No, nothing."
she whispered.
"Sally, don't worry, shall we accompany you home tonight? We will help you reconcile with your parents."
A girl suggested excitedly.
"It's not...they...they're not..."
The girl hesitated to speak, her face was ugly, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.
Finally, amidst the chirping discussions of her friends, she shut up and became silent again.
no…
They are not at all...
...
... ... ...
"Are you Sally's friend? They are all very cute children. You are welcome to be our guests."
The woman greeted her daughter's friends with a gentle smile.
In getting along with these children, the woman chatted patiently with the children, praised everyone just right, served them delicious food, and asked gently about her daughter's performance in school.
She presents the image of a perfect, gentle and loving mother in front of her children, while the man listens quietly, interjecting occasionally, curious about what her daughter is doing at school, and a The image of a perfect father.
In the hall, the husband and wife and children lived in harmony, but Sally was the only one sitting there silently, with her head bowed and her expression indifferent.
After eating snacks, the three girls who accompanied Sally home went into the friend's room.
"Sally, what's going on, it looks like you didn't quarrel with your parents?"
a girl asked suspiciously.
In the conversation just now, it was obvious that Sally's parents were very kind to Sally, but Sally showed resistance and was extremely indifferent to her parents.
"Sally, your parents are very good. You will make them sad if you treat them so poorly."
Sally bit her lower lip and said nothing, with a gloomy expression on her face.
"Sally, what's the matter with you?"
"Yes, Sally, you can't do this. Your mother is so beautiful and gentle. How can you be so indifferent to her?"
"Obviously they are very good parents—"
"… no."
Sally clenched her fingers.
"what?"
The girl who had endured it for a long time and was almost out of breath finally couldn't help but said it out of control.
"I hate them! They're not—"
"Sally."
Suddenly someone called her name, and the closed room was suddenly opened, and the figures of the couple appeared at the door, not only Sally, but even the girls were startled.
The husband and wife's eyes fixed on Sally, and Sally's half-spoken words stuck back in her throat in an instant.
She sat on the ground, under the watchful eyes of her parents, her face was pale, cold sweat dripped from her forehead, and her clenched fingertips trembled.
She was scared, very scared.
After a long time, the two eyes that fell on her finally moved away, she breathed a sigh of relief, and raised her head secretly.
She saw those two smiles at her best friends again, as if they had been calculated to be just right... smiles that made her sick.
...
……………
"Here we go, Sally."
"You have to reconcile with your parents, and you can't continue to quarrel."
“We will come again next time~”
and many more.
Wait a moment.
Don't leave me here alone.
I'm so scared.
Seeing the figures of her friends who were about to leave, the girl standing at the door stretched out her hand tremblingly, wanting to ask her friends for help.
Please, get me out of here—
A pair of cold hands stretched out from behind and clasped her shoulders tightly, preventing her from moving.
The couple with perfect smiles stood behind her, grabbed her shoulders, and watched the girls leave with a smile.
don't leave me...
The clasped shoulders were aching, and Sally was restrained in place. She watched the figures of her friends disappear in front of her eyes, and the outstretched hands were weakly hanging from the air.
who can help me...
...
"How can you say bad things about Dad and Mom to your friends? Mom is so sad."
"Yeah, Sally, only bad kids would do that."
"You have to be an obedient and good boy."
"Although you are now in the rebellious period, you can't go too far, you know?"
"You have to listen to your parents. You can't do such a thing in the future, you know?"
"Mum and Dad love you very much, Sally."
dad…
Mother… …
"Mom, this is for the good of Sally. Sally must be obedient."
"Yes, be obedient."
"You are our favorite child, Sally."
Everything around her seemed to be spinning, making her spin around.
She opened her eyes, and seemed to see the two people constantly turning around her, and the two mouths opened and closed, wriggling constantly.
Two smiling faces with perfect gentle smiles... that smile is just right to the point of almost eerie, it is almost as accurate as a precision calculated instrument.
... But no matter how gentle the smiles of those two people were, she couldn't see any warmth from the way they looked at her.
"shut up… "
The girl covered her ears.
She has been holding back, she has been silent in fear, she has not dared to make a sound.
At this moment, she finally couldn't help shouting anymore.
"Shut up shut up shut up!!!"
"Bad children who are disobedient will be punished."
"Sally, listen to Mom and Dad."
"shut up!"
The nerves that had been tensed for a long time finally collapsed completely at this moment.
"You are not! You are not my parents! You are not!"
Tears flowed out, and the girl who had collapsed screamed hysterically.
No matter how smart she is, she is still just a thirteen-year-old girl after all.
"Give me back—you monsters—give me back my mom and dad! Give me back!!!"
Suddenly one day, mom and dad were gone.
When she woke up that morning, she discovered that the two people standing in her home with her parents' faces were not her parents at all.
But the looks and behavior of these two people who are not her parents are exactly the same as her parents, exactly.
... nobody sees it, nobody sees it...
But she knew... she just knew... these two monsters weren't her parents at all!
In the deathly silence, in the bright hall, men and women stood, they still had that perfect gentle smiling face.
But at this moment, amidst the girl's hysterical roar, the gentle smiles on their faces gave off an extremely weird feeling no matter how you looked at it.
It's like a skin covering their faces, and no one knows what's under the skin.
With a bang, Sally was pushed heavily onto the balcony.
As soon as she fell to the ground and coughed, a hand reached out, grabbed her throat and lifted her up. She struggled desperately, almost suffocating, but the strength of the hand that pinched her was not human, and she couldn't break free no matter what.
The man who was choking her was her 'dad'.
At this moment, the man who was choking Sally's throat still maintained a smiling face, and lifted Sally up little by little.
"Children who disobey will be punished."
Her 'father' said to her with a gentle smile, then let go and pushed hard.
The girl opened her eyes, and the last thing she saw was her 'parents' standing on the balcony, still with that weird smiling face, just smiling and watching her fall from the balcony.
She fell from a tall building, and the sound of the wind whistled past her ears.
Tears blurred her eyes, she stretched out her hand, but couldn't catch the starlight in the sky.
help me…
Dad... Mom...
She reached out her hands desperately, but couldn't catch anything.
The icy wind in the dark night soaked her fallen body.
…
Big brother…
... ... ...
Suddenly, a gleam of light flashed in the darkness.
A pair of hands stretched out from the night, and caught the girl who fell from the sky.
The icy wind suddenly disappeared from her side, and the passing starlight suddenly stopped at this moment, and she suddenly fell into a warm embrace.
Sally raised her head, and she saw a pair of bright eyes that shone with a bluish luster in the dark night.
The familiar face of the boy holding her was reflected in the depths of her widened pupils. In the high sky, she saw the night wind blowing up the boy's temples, and the light black hair was reflected in her eyes, and the thin ends of the hair softly brushed past the worrying eyes. Looking down into her blue eyes.
With a sore nose, the tears that the girl had held back for so long burst out at this moment.
…
help me.
When she was afraid, she kept yelling in her heart.
Non-stop, non-stop.
Big brother heard her voice.
He really came.
Come save her again!