Everchanging

One Step

!!TW!! Deadname/Misgendering{?} (flashback takes place prior to transition), murder, gun violence, breaking in/robbing

The child was rocketed awake by a bang. Her chest rattled with the ricochet of the sound and Yuuna clutched her stuffed bunny closer to her chest. Her room was dark, her door only cracked open to let some of the hall light in. The moon was high up, its shadow casting a bright glow across the walls and floor. Her messy hair stuck to her sweaty skin as she slipped herself off her bed, a decision sound in her mind.

She needed to find her mommy and daddy. She didn't want to sleep alone anymore when there was a mean monster banging around in the house.

The six-year-old child's knees gave out when another bang sounded out followed by another one in close succession. Her ears rang as she rushed to open the door, her parents' room just down the hall. There was no sound in the house save for a dull thumping and clicking, the banging long gone. It had sounded like a thunder crack.

Yuuna walked down the wooden hallway, her feet cold and quiet as she crept through her own house. The floor in front of her looked darker, slicker than it had been. The dark slickness dribbled closer to her feet and Yuuna kneeled down to look closer while she smelled pennies from the puddle.

The liquid was warm as she stuck her palm into it but it was much too dark to make out its color, but the abundance of its smell made the child nauseous. She crawled through the puddle quietly, peering around the corner to see what was making the noises in her living room.

There was a shadow with its back facing her, its hands pushing through her mommy's fine China and tapping a toy gun on the wooden mahogany of the shelf. Two other shadows were crumpled on the ground, every so often they would twitch grotesquely, and Yuuna realized that the nasty smell was coming from them.

One of the forms was wearing her mommy's ring. The other was wearing her daddy's watch and the little girl wondered why they would take them. She went to take them back when small hands grabbed her from behind, one hand shutting her mouth and the other dragging her by her arm.

"Don't look." Her big sister, Tsutako, whispered wetly while she forced Yuuna's face to bury into her nightgown, dragging the both of them back down the hallway. "Don't look back. Just stay quiet, okay?"

Yuuna didn't have the chance to respond when the moving shadow dropped something loudly and Tsutako pushed both of them into the bathroom. She shut the door slowly, barely making a sound as she pushed past the younger one to open the closet, pushing the towels and bottles to the side before turning back.

"Tsu, I'm scared." Yuuna whispered, her voice cracking as she fought to keep from crying. The twelve-year-old grabbed her little sister by the arm, pushing Yuuna into the closet and forcing her to curl up in the back before she kneeled close. Her voice wasn't audible, just a breath of shaking air that the younger sister could feel more than hear. "Where's mommy and daddy?"

"They're...I don't know but I'll find out, okay?" Yuuna realized the tears that dribbled from her older sister's cheeks as the preteen pushed the towels and bottles in front of her younger sister to hide her better. "We're playing hide-and-seek right now. You have to stay here and do not make a sound until I come to get you. Okay? Promise me, Yuuna. Promise me you'll stay here and not make a sound."

"Tsu, what's going on? I'm scared." Yuuna could see the fear that rolled off of her older sister in waves and it did nothing to calm her down. The smell of pennies had followed them back into the bathroom, staining Yuuna's hands and legs with its stench. And all the child wanted to know was what the fluid was. "The monster had a gun."