Like a Moth to a Flame || KNY OC

The New Family

"In here! The noise came from there!"

Iniku lies there, unable to think... unable to feel... unable to speak. All the child could do was stare at the ceiling of her at-home clinic as her father's lifeless arm lays protective around her small frame. Her baby brother's dead body lay near her head. She was sure if she was to look up, she'd see her mother's dead body as well. She wouldn't be able to tell where the rest of her siblings were if she tried.

It was eerily silent save for the noise of someone shouting in the distance that was slowly becoming closer.

"Wow, what happened in here?"

She was sure the person was surveying the inside now which was filled with blood splatter and scratch marks. She knew because she was right there helping her father fight off the foreign intruder.

The steps became louder.

"Cannibals maybe?"

That's right, Iniku and her father walked in on the intruder feasting on her mother's corpse after coming home from training. It wasn't quite right, but the person was close. She musters up the courage and energy to let out a single word.

"...Demons."

She hears a gasp.

"Someone's alive!"

The footsteps come closer.

"Hey! Hey, can you hear me? Where are you?"

"...Over here," she croaks, unflinching.

The footsteps speed up before the figure hovers over her. She can only make out a skinny middle-aged man with sad, big brown eyes peering down at her. Suddenly, he looks up and towards the entrance to shout:

"Hey! We have a girl here! She's alive!"

.....

"Welcome to our new family!"

The preteen draws her sweater closer to herself in discomfort. Since that day, everything's been a blur. Last time she cried was at her family's funeral- since then, she's been going through the motions. There were a few physicians that came to the orphanage to monitor her, but none could truly get into the mind of Iniku Tilahun.