The Little Lost Girl

Hello Lost Little Girl

    The smell of cotton candy, popcorn, sweat and skunk fills the air as I travel through the mass waves of people on the boardwalk. Another hot summer night, meaning all the tourists would be out for the sights of the great boardwalk of Santa Carla. Making my way to the concert I noticed another wanna be punk band was performing. Walking in I glance at the stage as they sing a very off tune version of Walk This Way, though the crowd doesn't care. They were either too high or too drunk to notice such a minor detail. 

“Isn't it past your bedtime!” A woman spits in my direction. Staring at her with a bored expression I noticed the caked on makeup that laid upon her face. “If you come with me I'll show ya a real good time.” Her friend slurs out. 

“Aren't you too old to be getting your makeup wrong.” a light and airy voice scoffs from behind me, turning around I see an all too familiar face. One of the few people I tend to find interesting in this town. The two old women's eyes went wide and they quickly seemed to sober up. “Tsk. Messing with a boy who is half your age. You're so pathetic.” The amount of venom that dripped from her words made me get goosebumps. She's one of them. The Lost Boys sister to be exact. No one messes with them, and the ones who do…go missing. 

“I- no uh we were just messing with him… let's just forget about this whole thing.” The cake face lady responds nervously, “Right kid. It was just a joke. You knew that.” She asks me in a pleading voice as if her and her drunk friend's life was on the line. Well it might as well be. I've never seen any of the lost boys crew interfere with things like these, especially one where they let the person get away. 

“Is that so,” She muses out with amusement twinkling in her eyes. 

“Y-yes it i-s-is.” 

“The boy can speak for himself,” She snaps at the old woman with a scowl before turning towards me. My heart starts to pound in my chest as I stare at her. 

“I- uh- I'm fine… I was just gonna ignore her anyway. Let's just drop it.” Real smooth pal. Instead of receiving a mocking laugh or glare from the girl she just smiles and nods at me. Weakly, I return the smile feeling almost a comforting assurance in it. She wasn't gonna make me go missing… at least not yet. 

“Well if that's the case then you should really head out of here. Maybe get something to chip all that gunk off of your pathetic face.” As if a switch was flicked, her once comforting smile turned into a sneer with dangerous eyes towards the women. Without a word both ladys had sped through the crowd to the nearest exit. I let out a breath that I didn't realize I was holding out and turned to look where the lost girl was. Part of me was expecting for her to be gone as well but here she was next to me. Looking at her I notice the bored expression on her face as she scans the crowd. Not even bothering to look at the performers on stage. 

“Thanks for uh helping me…” I manage to get out while looking down at the grown in embarrassment. The last time I saw her flashed through my mind. She was on the bike with one of those men who are a part of the lost boys. We made eye contact and everything in my life and the world felt peaceful. As soon as she looked away from me, I ran into the crowd not wanting to catch anyone elses eyes from that group. If you don't catch their eyes you may survive from the missing line was the mano I quickly made for Santa Carla. It took me two days before I found out about them. 

“Had nothing better to do.” She states calmly with a soft smile replacing the neutral one she had before. “I saw you the other night,” 

“Oh… was that you?” I ask awkwardly. Was that you? Are you serious? That's what I decided to say to her. Man what the hell are you thinking. 

“No, I just guessed you were staring at someone.” She laughs while lightly hitting my shoulder. 

“I- uh sorry. I didn't mean to stare at you or your… friends. I was just curious.” 

“Curiosity killed the cat you know,” 

“but satisfaction brought it back.”  

“Huh… Well, we don't really mind. I guess we are quite a sight for sore eyes. Lots of people stare at us, but they aren't as brave as you kitty cat.” She speaks with a mocking tone. 

“Hey, you talked to me first. So I should be calling you that.” 

“Curiosity did kill that cat if it was about me then, but that was a long time ago.” She states with a blank stare. Oh. Did I say something wrong? Was that too forward? Maybe we are not at the stage where we can make those types of jokes- gosh what the hell am I saying. 

“Well if you don't want me to call you kitty then can I have your name?” I ask smoothly, say, I'm kinda getting the hang of this. 

“Emma, but you can call me Kitty. I like it. What's your name?” 

“Uh, it's Jesse. It's nice to meet you Kitty.” 

“Nice to finally meet you instead of being stared at by you Jesse.” She laughs 

“It takes two to stare.” I scoff 

“Touché, the Jesse man is a sassy one I see,” She giggles is amusement 

“I guess I am. It drives the women crazy.” I say, talking right out of our ass now I see. Real smooth bud. I think to myself. 

“Oh really?” 

“Yeah-”

“AYEEE WALK THIS WAY!” A drunk man screams while running past us. Glancing at each other we laugh. 

“Say you wanna get some ice cream?” I ask not wanting to stop talking to the girl I now know as Emma or Kitty. 

“Sure I could eat. I'm always down for free food.” Did she actually say she was down? Looks like this town isn't as shitty as I thought. “Well, lead the way,” 

Let me know what you guys think! This story will switch back to Emma at one point, but I decided to do it as Jesse's point of view instead. I hope you guys are enjoying it and I can't wait to post the book. It will be to die for...