My Family Isn't Human!

I woke with a start in the middle of the night and heard marbles bouncing on the floor.

Thump

Thump

Thump

The sound came closer and stopped outside my bedroom door.

I quietly got out of bed and pressed my ear to the crack beneath the door.

A faint click sounded beyond it. The whole house was silent as death.

I flung the door open.

My death-god big sister had a huge hood pulled over someone's head.

The grim reaper big brother had just bound someone tight with chains.

My vampire dad was sizing up someone's neck with a blood funnel.

My cat-demon second brother sat on the chandelier, his green eyes gleaming with excitement. "Meow!"

I made all of that up.

The meowing stopped abruptly. The hood, chains, and blood vanished without a trace. All that remained was a half-dead person collapsed on the floor, surrounded by my beloved family, who stared at me expressionlessly.

Dad coughed. "We had an intruder. Xiaoyu, did we wake you?"

I glanced at the intruder: a pair of gleaming white horns on its forehead and a tail shimmering silver behind it.

I knew they were lying through their teeth again.

That was obviously a bug.

*

My family was terribly poor when I was little. We all worked ourselves to the bone day and night.

They often disappeared, then came back gasping for breath, their clothes in tatters and strange wounds and bloodstains on their bodies.

Fortunately, our lives gradually improved, and Mom was finally able to tell me stories.

"You see me lounging at home with the air conditioning on all day now," she said, patting my head. "But back in the day, I'd sit on a reef in the deep sea, comb my long hair, and sing, luring countless sailors lost in dreams down to the ocean floor..."

I nodded. "Mom, you're amazing!"

Mom instantly tensed up. "Xiaoyu, I was only joking. Myths and legends aren't real!"

I yawned and nodded again.

Yeah, I knew they were afraid their human child would discover that they weren't human.

But did they never wonder why, back then, they could barely scrape together enough to eat despite working themselves to death in another world, while now food kept arriving at our door in an endless stream?

*

The main story is told in third person.

# Our front door is always open, welcoming food to come on in

*

- Feng Xianyu in her family's eyes: Our Xiaoyu is the sweetest, kindest little darling in the world, and she's human too! (Proud)

- Feng Xianyu in her own eyes: A lazy fish forced to support the family

- A certain dragon, with Feng Xianyu's hand clamped over its mouth (Mmph, mmph!): Bugs are so cute. How could they turn into dragons?

- Feng Xianyu in the monsters' eyes: Help! That terrifying shadow, walking between heaven and hell and leaving bloodshed wherever she goes, is here again!

Theme: A family that loves one another