Like almost in my dreams, only different.
I was wandering the streets, the sun set long ago, a fight ended moments ago that resulted with me slamming the door and shattering the glass that lined it. Yeah it was another one of those nights.
My mother and I had them when I was younger, when I used to be shipped in between her and my father. I'm serious, I would walk in at 3 AM, and we would start screaming and fighting. It got to a point where I would need to walk away before I hurt her.
Well this time it was her boyfriend, her partner in crime, ganging up on me. I told her about the few run in's I had had with the slimy old bastard, she refused to believe me.
"Fuck you both... honestly him over your flesh and blood?! Are you fucking with me or what!?"
"Con, calm down" he placed his hand on my shoulder and I had fucking had it.
On multiple occasions this man had wandered around giving me looks, saying things of a sexual nature
towards me and he has touched me several occasions and not in a loving 'step-father' kind of way either.
I fucking warned him if he EVER touched me again I would kill him and I meant it fully.
I grabbed his arm and twisted it smoothly around his back, to hear him cry out was all I needed and I would let him go. I glared at him; the way his arm twisted I realized I could have easily broken it with the right move, but I'm not that cruel.
He breathed in sharply, struggling under me; I glared at him my mother crying in the background, it seemed like too much drama.
"CON, LET HIM GO!" she shrieked, tears in her eyes. "What the fuck is wrong with you!"
"Go ahead tell her everything..." Was I the only calm one? My heart refused to beat fast, no tears, not even the hint of anger. I was determined.
"I-I You fucking bitch I have nothing to say!"
"Cunt." I growled, throwing him to the ground, he made one full roll before hitting into the table; I turned on my heel and started for the door.
"Fuck this!" That moment of calmness had faded and now only anger resided inside me as I walked out. I hope they both rot in hell.
The streets were cold as always, seemingly empty, and felt as if they shouldn’t be here, as if maybe... I shouldn’t be here.
It being dark I was naturally careful on where I tread, making sure my feet carefully hit the ground.
There was a passing vehicle every moment it seemed, nothing would stay still for too long, not even this world stays the same for a moment.
Then I met her.
It shouldn’t have happened and that’s the truth, I really should not have met her, and besides that it was an accident we met. I heard a distant barking dog, the cold wind picked up along with a few clatters and bangs in a nearby ally.
Curiosity struck me, next to that it was almost as if the wind was urging me to go down that dark path and despite the fact that I had no fucking idea what laid ahead I wanted to know.
It’s that kind of thing that will get you caught in a world of trouble.
What I saw next was something that will stay with me, a young girl hovering over a lump of shadow, her tiny fingers curled as she seemed to notice me.
She turned; it wasn't a natural turn either in a way it seemed as if she was forcing herself to turn. The ally provided a hollow space to echo sound, like her breathing, which was heavy and broken.
My eyes adjusted slowly and soon I could make out the figures, one of which was in fact a young girl, roughly 7. She was standing over what seemed to be a grown man who was splayed out dead.
"Who are you?" She demanded, staggering towards me slowly.
I backed up, asking "What have you done?" with slight fear, I was scared for my own life.
She breathed in sharply. "Again, who are you?" this time she seemed more rushed, almost worried, but it was
hard to tell. No emotion was even carried in her voice, even when she demanded to know who I was there didn't seem to be anger or rudeness, just nothing.
"Con..." I said reluctantly, breathing in my own sharp inhale of air. I moved my weight from one foot to the other, slightly nervous by the scene.
In that moment almost nothing mattered, because the second she stepped into the light that shone from a nearby house I knew who she was before I knew her name.
The thick, long, raven black hair that was fitted perfectly along her face and back stood out brilliantly against the perfect white of her dress. Her fingers laced in red blood along with the upper part of her left arm, the crimson red stood out well against her pale skin as she too another step I saw the glow in her golden eyes.
She must have seen the mixed emotions in mine, hell I didn't know what I should be feeling: fear that the girl in my dreams was real and that she had blood on her hands. Shock that this small girl had murdered a man.
Or anger that she had existed.
I stepped back.
"What are you? Scared of a little girl?" she asked curiously as she cocked her head in a questioning manner, as if examining me at a distance.
"No... Not in the slightest. What I'm backing away from is the scene of a murder."
"Hardly." she spoke, turning she looked at the body and snapped her fingers; they made a sloppy snapping noise as the blood soaked fingertips were pressed against each other.
In the distance the body twitched, wriggling and pulsing inhuman like. Then it fucking rose, the body fucking stood up and walked towards us, slow and zombie like. I watched it as it entered the light… this wasn’t real.
A man, early 30's, stood beside the girl. His throat slit open neatly as it still squirted blood onto the ground in front of me.
"Not dead but at the rate he's losing blood he soon will be." She sighed; sounding annoyed she muttered a
few things under her breath. "Right..." she snapped her fingers again, the body fell to the ground and she looked at me, still scanning me.
"…You don't look like much of a threat...plus you look like fun, want to go on an adventure with me? By the way, no isn’t an option."
"Then why bother asking?" I asked her curiously.
"Just to see the answer." that actually made a lot of sense.
"What a strange question to ask a stranger... will you go on an adventure with me?"
She looked at me, her dead eyes just staring, she didn’t seem to understand, then again she was a kid, and it grew very quiet between us.
"Well?" she asked, breaking the almost heart stopping silence.
"No."
"No isn't an option."
"Really well I said no. Sticking to it." I said, trying to regain composure.
She stared at me, "No is not a fucking option..."
I wasn’t going to let her boss me around. "Go home, kid." I said firmly.
"I want an adventure."
It hit me in that moment, she wasn't fucking around, and she really did want to go.
"If I tell you my name am I still a 'stranger'?" she asked, I considered it for a moment, thinking.
"No not reall-"
"Lullaby."
"What?"
"My name, its Lullaby."
I looked at her, her monotone voice, expressionless face; everything was so out of place. She shouldn’t be here.
"C'mon." She walked up closer and grabbed my hand, the motive confused me.
"C'mon?" I asked.
"We’re not strangers, you know my name and I, in turn, know yours, therefore you can go on an adventure with me."
I sighed; I couldn’t quite understand the events of tonight. It had started with an argument about me being harassed, continued with meeting a girl that was in my dreams, and ended with an adventure.
Maybe it was better like, that not knowing anything.
Then again, what did I have to lose? Honestly maybe an adventure would be good... I could get out of this town, get out of the state, hell maybe find out what happened that night.
"How would you feel about going to Canada?" I asked.
She looked up with a wicked grin, the kind that still shows no emotion. "Canada. Sounds. Great."
