THE TRUE MEANING OF NIGHT

AVA

At first, when I wake up, I completely forget what had happened yesterday, so I wonder why I'm so uncomfortable. Being outside scares me at first until I remember that I'm supposed to be out here. It also kind of makes me mad. I'm acting like such a baby out here. A princess wouldn't cry and feel sorry for herself. A princess would go out there and do something about it. Everyone knows that.

I get up and stretch. My hair is wet, and so is my dress, but that doesn't really matter. It must have rained while I was sleeping. I pick up Mr. Fluffy Cat and keep walking away from where my house used to be, even though I don't know where I'm going.

I look up at the sky as I walk. The sky is a cloudy green, and it reminds me of when a cartoon with stinky breath burps on TV, and a little green cloud of icky surrounds his mouth. This is probably because of the rain, but I have a bad feeling. The birdies aren't singing like they always do. Actually, there are no animals anywhere. I feel like I'm the only one awake in the entire town.

While I'm walking, I decide to talk to Mr. Fluffy Cat. He never talks back to me, but I know he can. I can tell. "We should have taken the sleeping bag with us, I think," I say to him, shaking my head. "It was dumb of me to leave it back there."

He just looks at me knowingly, and I take that as agreement. Sometimes it's difficult to make out what he wants to say.

"Yeah, I know. A real princess would have been better prepared. I'm not very good at this."

Another look, this time more sympathetic. I'm sure he would have reminded me if he'd spoken up. He knows these things.

"Well, Mommy said I could be a princess," I tell him, nodding importantly. "And Mommy is always right about everything. Except the pants and the shoes, though," I frown, looking up at the big tree I'm walking past. It's pretty. "I don't know why she always thought they would do me any good. I'm fine, right?" 

I look down at him for a response. Aw, he's smiling. It takes a lot for him to smile at me. Usually I just have to say something really funny, but I don't think this is funny at all.

I give him a great, big hug. "Thanks, Mr. Fluffy Cat. You always know what to say." Well, he doesn't actually talk, but . . . he knows what I mean. He always does.

The houses become more run down as I walk, and I've been walking for a long time. I don't like these houses. They look like they're going to fall apart as soon as the wind picks up. Like a house of cards, except real. Cards don't hurt when they fall on your head, but I'm sure houses do. Who could possibly live here? Didn't that over there used to be the post office? And over there is my favorite ice cream store. What happened to everything in this place? The day gets darker as I get closer to where I think the center of town should be. I don't think I slept late enough for the sun to be setting yet, but I don't know why the sun bothers to come out anymore. What's that dark thing over—?

I gasp and look for something to hide behind. I know what that is. The black hole will probably eat me if I get too close. Monsters live down there, I'm sure of it. Mommy always told me that monsters aren't real, but ever since I first saw that thing, I'm not so sure. That must be where all the monsters come from. The monsters have always scared me since I was little, and they never leave me alone. But maybe they're scared of the black hole too, because nothing bothered me last night—