A Hidden Heart

2 - Lonely

Cleaning was hard work, especially when everything was twice my height! The broom was too big for me, and so was the mop; I couldn't use them very well. Nightmare didn't have short brooms like the villagers had; at least I could actually use those! Honestly, this wasn't too different from what I was used to; the villagers had occasionally asked for help cleaning their homes, especially the elderly, who were often unable to do it themselves. I had been happy to help them, though! I was happy to help Nightmare, too; his castle was very dirty in some places..it definitely needed work. From what I had gathered in the three days I had been awake, only five people aside from me and the prisoners in the dungeon lived here, and they were Nightmare, Killer, Horror, Dust, and Cross. Nightmare often tried to avoid me, but that was fine; he probably just had a lot of work. The others..well..

"Where're you going, pipsqueak?" Killer smirked. 

"I'm not that small.." I mumbled.

"You're below average for a six year old." Cross informed. 

"Should eat more." Horror stated, munching on a sandwich.  

"I'm capable of feeding myself." I didn't need someone to do everything for me!

"Sure you don't need a highchair?" Killer seemed to think that I was a baby.

I didn't enjoy being teased. Killer did it the most, but he also teased everyone else; it was just his personality. He was the most talkative of the four, and he made it very plain. He also liked pranks, as I had come to find out. The next was Cross, who occasionally engaged in such behavior, but he didn't do it half as much as Killer. His pranks weren't quite as widespread, but they were still present; he liked chocolate, too. Horror didn't speak too much, preferring to stay quiet most of the time. Most of his comments were about food. If he did tease me, it sounded more like concern for my diet; he apparently had a thing with food. Dust barely spoke at all, and only to Nightmare. The most I had heard him speak was quiet muttering to himself, which didn't seem very good; he chose not to recognize my presence - or anyone else's - most of the time. The quartet were interesting, and when I finished my daily work, I was stuck with them. They sometimes left with Nightmare to do something, but they didn't tell me what it was; they always came back injured, though. That was weird, since they seemed to be good at fighting; I wasn't allowed inside their training room, but I could certainly hear them while they were in there.

"I'm too old for highchairs!" I argued. "I'm not a baby."

"Compared to the rest of us, you are." Cross shrugged. "Better get used to it."

"I'm technically five hundred! I just look six!"

"Well, kid, if we wanna count time anomalies, I'm over a thousand." Killer chuckled. "So you're still a baby."

"That's not fair.." I crossed my arms.

"Life isn't fair, kid."

"Boys." Nightmare entered the room, and everyone looked to him. "We're going out in ten minutes; get ready."

"Can I come?" I hoped.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so."

"But I'll be bored!"

"Have you finished your duties?"

"I did everything!"

"Then read a book or something; I don't care. Just stay here."

"Ugh.."