My Family Is Very Odd

1// It

"Ugly monster!"

A child walked past it, his innocent face full of malice as he spoke.

It turned its head.

These three words had filled its entire difficult and short life, a life where it was never seen, a life with no meaning.

It was ridiculed, ostracized, and misunderstood. After mustering the courage to get plastic surgery, just as it dared to raise its head, a careless shove shattered everything.

It stared at the child. He was very young, seemingly just blurting out a mischievous remark, his tone reckless and carefree.

The same, they were all the same.

["Just kidding, it's just a nickname between classmates, why take it so seriously!"]

["She's so dramatic! Ugh, that's too much, it was just a joke."]

…

["I was just kidding, I didn't think you'd fall so easily! Was it a bad surgery? How come others are fine after falling, but you got hurt!"]

["It must be because you had surgery! Your nose became fragile after the surgery, that's why! Don't blame me! Really, why would you even think of getting plastic surgery? Maybe it's the hospital's fault!"]

["Go find the hospital! Your nose is their problem, not mine! I won't take responsibility! Don't even think about blackmailing me!"]

It thought, its eyes turning vicious.

Just kidding, "ugly monster," "yellow monster," "big nose" were just jokes, the shove was just a joke. It wasn't ostracization, it wasn't an accident, it was just a joke.

It stared at the child, thinking, they were all the same. They were all the same.

But it was no longer the cowardly self that only dared to cry. Its heart held only hatred.

Soon, it would make this child understand the price of a joke.

Just like it did before. It looked at the running child coldly, as if looking at a corpse.

"Um… hello."

"…" It looked down indifferently, mechanically looking at the girl beneath its chin.

The girl was small, her skin very fair, but a different kind of fairness than its own, with a hint of pink. A human, but a human haunted by a ghost. It sensed the presence of its kind around her.

Humans haunted by ghosts, especially children, rarely met good ends. But what did that have to do with it? It thought impassively.

A dead person's face probably wasn't very pleasant to look at, as no one had ever met its eyes for more than ten seconds.

"This… for you, sister." The girl raised her hand under its gaze, slowly opening her small, fleshy palm towards it.

On the fleshy, round palm lay a flower-shaped candy.

This was the first time anyone had offered candy to a ghost.

"You're very pretty, sister, don't listen to his nonsense." The girl's peach-like, round, and pink face split into a cute smile.

Then it heard another first, someone telling it that it was pretty.

But it didn't understand, pretty? It looked at her strangely, not taking the candy.

Although its face wasn't the ghastly sight of its death, but rather its original face, it was by no means pretty. It was the face that had earned it all those nicknames, the face with the big, flat nose.

But looking at the child's eyes, she didn't seem to be lying.

Was there something wrong with her eyes? It wondered. Suddenly curious, it wanted to ask her what she found pretty.

"Um… don't you like it?" The girl's smile became strained when it didn't take the candy.

Amazingly, it seemed to sense the girl's dejection.

Truly amazing, not disgust, not fear, but dejection? Dejected because it didn't take her candy?

Suddenly, it looked down at the candy, wondering uncertainly, could it be that she saw it as human?

Could it be that she wanted to comfort it?

"…" It hesitantly reached out, carefully avoiding the flesh of the living girl, and pinched the lollipop in her hand.

2// Filth

Images of its old-fashioned parents standing together, images of school, images of being ridiculed, images of being ostracized, images of lying on the operating table, images of its nose after surgery, images of being pushed down the stairs, hitting the corner of a step, face down, rolling to the bottom floor, images of lying in a hospital bed, images of its breakdown, smashing the mirror with a blanket, only to be injured again by the tools hidden inside and the shards of glass, images of blood-stained hands clutching the hem of a white skirt, and finally, on a rainy day, filled with despair and hatred, the image of leaping into the icy river.

Then images of becoming a vengeful ghost, and, one day, encountering a chubby little human girl.

Images of the girl giving the woman in the white dress candy, images of the woman following the girl, images of the woman secretly using a gust of wind to blow a bag of chips into the girl's reach, images of the woman and the girl playing together on a small hill, images of the woman and the girl saying goodbye, and finally, the image of turning into specks of light.

Many, many fragments of memory emerged from the consumed shards. Then, within this mixture of worldly thoughts and emotions, a being formed, a being that only knew how to constantly gather, devoid of any perception or thought, driven by instinct to consume – Filth. Within those fragments containing vast emotions and obsessions, Filth suddenly gained consciousness, gained a mind.

That fragment became its brain.

The memories contained within the fragment were too numerous, too much for Filth's newly formed mind to bear. They condensed into two emotions that remained: one spicy and bitter, the other faintly sweet and yearning.

[Li Xiao Gui, Li Xiao Gui]

It chanted in its heart, filled with possessiveness, each word echoing the voice from the memory.

3// Its Candy

After death, it rarely experienced any emotion other than hatred. But ever since it met that child, its soul always felt full, filled with something that was definitely not hatred.

It often found itself alone, holding the candy she gave it, lost in thought.

What did it taste like? It had forgotten.

Probably sweet.

4// Filth's Candy

Filth began to purposefully seek out those special fragments, the ones that could bring about change within it. It instinctively knew that those fragments were different from what it had consumed before, that they could make it something more than just dust and dirt.

That they could give it form.

But no matter how many fragments it consumed, no matter how many emotions it possessed, the first fragment, the one that formed its core, remained its most persistent desire, overshadowing all others.

Because that fragment was the catalyst for its existence, it was its brain.

At first, it couldn't help but follow her. Then, it couldn't help but want to connect with her.

So many fragments it ate were spicy and bitter, only the small piece with her was sweet.

Finally, unable to resist, it secretly handed her a candy through the window.

It had just absorbed the fragment of that child ghost in the park. Influenced by the fragment, it linked the child ghost's attachment to its mother with its own longing for Li Xiao Gui. It was also at this moment that its longing for Li Xiao Gui doubled, reaching its peak, and it finally took the first step.

It called out to her again and again.

She heard it, but she didn't accept.

But, she also gave it a candy.

Now it had candy too.

What did candy taste like?

Perhaps… sweet?

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