"La la la la, la la la. Badup badup. Hello Dilly!"

After thirty episodes, of the upbeat kids show Wattana discovered, she found a deep ache in her chest.

Wattana was too old to be watching cartoon cats in bright saturated primary colours. The recommended age range was three and up and she clearly was in the "and up" part of the age demographic. If the plus sign extended to twenty-five-year-olds, then she was in the clear. Even then, she knew she wasn't the target demographic but she could still feel her heartstrings tug at every wholesome family bonding moment and how attentive the fictional parents were to their children with envy.

As if summoned, her phone began to ring at full volume and Wattana scrambled to grab the device. The screen glowed in the dim living room and the blanket around her shoulders slowly slid to the seat of her couch.

"Hello? Mae? Wattana croaked, her voice clearly dry from forgetting to drink water during her cartoon marathon.

The show continued to play in the background and she lowered the volume to be able to hear her mother better.

"Wattana, you need to drive Mae to the doctor."

"Hah?" She glanced down at her phone to check the time before she brought it back to her ear. "It's late. Mae, what happened?"

"No, Mae has appointment tomorrow and forgot about it till today."

"When tomorrow?"

There was a brief pause. "Nine."

"In the morning?!" Wattana ran a hand through her hair. "Can't you ask Pa?"

Her mother scoffed. "He busy. You can just wake up early, yes?"

"I got work at eight, I can't take you to the doctor. You'll have to find a friend or even call a cab."

"It'll be okay, call sick. Doctor more important."

"I can't just call in sick, I don't have any sick days left."

"It's okay, it's just one day."

"Mae, that's what you said the last time."

"You have to do it! I'm your mother!"

"No, I've moved out for a reason."

"B—"

Before her mom could protest further the line went dead. She threw her phone to the floor with no intention of picking it back up until the following morning.

She gathered her blanket to wrap around her shoulders again and she let herself watch a few more minutes of the show. The more she watched, the more negative feelings began to bubble over the warm fuzzy feelings the show usually gave and she eventually paused it. It was nonsensical to be jealous of a cartoon but she couldn't help but feel some resentment as she thought back to her own childhood. Why didn't her parents ever treated her feelings as valid and actually listened to her? Was it because of the Asian values that her family held or was it because it was her parents themselves that didn't seem to care? They only seemed to expect her to always fulfill a filial duty and talked down to her whenever she expressed any concerns. They still did that to her even today.

It was already dark outside and she looked to her right to see her clock perched high on the wall with its hands joined together to indicate it was already midnight. She really needed to sleep if she wanted to get to work on time.

Wattana turned the remote in her hand before she eventually exited out of the streaming service and the television screen dimmed to black.

Her arms stretched over her head as she got up from the couch and she slowly began to make her way towards her bedroom.

As she was halfway down the hallway, a familiar jingle began to play.

"La la la... la... la la la... Badup, badup. Hello... Dilly."

For a second, Wattana's heart dropped. The jingle was now distorted. It was still the same song. She knew that tune anywhere but it was wrong. Slowed down. Cracking. It sounded broken. Maybe it was because she was far away that it sounded like that and she went back to focusing on how the television could still be on.

Was she that sleep-deprived that she forgot to turn off the television?

A groan audibly emitted from her mouth and she began to trudge back to the living room.

As she approached the couch to find the remote, something about the screen caught her eye.

"Mommy, you were playing too rough and I got an ouchie on my thumb."

Didn't she already watch this episode? If she left the streaming service on autoplay, it would be a new episode rather than an old one.

Maybe she sat on the remote and it messed up the television. It happened sometimes.

As she dug around the cushions for the remote, there was a piece of dialogue that stuck out to Wattana that she didn't remember.

"Dilly, stop being silly and get the peppers. Your thumb isn't that bad."

"But it's bleeding!"

The once wholesome show now took a strange term as Dilly's bleeding thumb was more graphic than Wattana expected. It wasn't just blood that dripped down the cartoon cat's thumb but even worse was that it seemed like bone was exposed.

Wattana felt nausea creep up her throat and her hand quickly grasped the remote before turning off the screen.

Maybe it was a different show. The art seemed off and adult parodies of kid shows existed. It was possible that it wasn't even the streaming service but the video app she regularly used.

She shook her head and rubbed her eye. She really needed to sleep.

All took was one step away for the television to whir back to life again.

The hairs on her arm stood up and she whipped her head back to the screen.

The television was malfunctioning. How much money would it cost to get it replaced? The thought of the cost of the replacement made Wattana dread what her future food budget would look like.

She pushed the button of the television remote and sighed. She had hoped it would work but it didn't. She didn't expect much but she had some hope that the television would be compliant but it wasn't.

What was the point of having shows on demand if you couldn't even control what showed on the screen? Wattana thought. She might as well have standard cable.

The screen now showed Dilly at the kitchen table now missing its standard cozy visuals and was replaced with a ragged cloth, flickering lights, and a plate of raw red meat that Wattana couldn't identify. Dilly let out a loud gag.

"I don't want to eat it. It smells like it's rotting."

"I am your mother. You'll do as I say!"

She went up to the screen and pressed the hidden button underneath to turn it off. She did it fast enough that she didn't pay to have the full context as to why Dilly was crying on the screen.

She couldn't stand the fact that her comfort show was now associated with such stressful images and she took a deep breath. Maybe she should call in sick tomorrow if this kept up so she could fix her television. Or to get rid of it. Whichever was easier.

As she slowly got up from her hunched position, she found herself staring at the screen once more to see Dilly's mother staring directly at her.

She jumped back in surprise and furrowed her eyebrows. The screen seemed frozen as there was no inch of movement on the screen. The mother's eyes were bloodshot and she seemed to be standing in complete darkness which was a sharp contrast to the orange and white pattern of the character which made her more uneasy. It wasn't noisy compared to the last two times the television was on but it was now dead silent and she could only hear the sound of her own breathing.

She should just unplug it if the television was giving her so many issues.

Wattana began to walk past the screen and as she did so, the mother's eyes began to follow her. Wattana froze and the moment she did, the cartoon cat's eyes stayed glued to her body as well.

Was this a coincidence?

"What are you doing? Sit down and watch."

Her heart thundered as she thought she heard the cartoon character speak. The mother's lips moved when she heard that voice. She was sure that the mother spoke.

Trembling, Wattana began to move again once more but slowly and the eyes followed at the same pace.

The mother was watching her. There was no denying it.

She decided to run to the cord now and the eyes followed just as fast.

"Wattana, why didn't you listen?"

She leaped to the floor and promptly unplugged the television, causing the screen to go black once more.

Wattana heaved, letting the air rush in and out of her lungs.

"It's over," she said to herself. "Just some technical difficulties."

She almost laughed to herself as she got up to her feet. She brushed her pants to remove any wrinkles and attempted to calm herself down. She felt all her anxiety begin to slowly melt before she decided to head to her room once more. Maybe, she'll need to sleep with the lights on tonight.

Just as she was about to move her foot to take a step forward, a familiar voice whispered next to her ear.

"It's rude to ignore mother."