So say good night, I'll close my eyes, and tie my time right by your side

Chapter 2: I'll save you the way you saved me

Tw: i dunno

"Run, Tallulah, run."

The voice that sounded in the little girl's head made her raise her head sharply and look around. Her eyes ran to all the dark corners of the alley, and the hands that held the flute clutched the poor musical instrument harder and harder. At first she thought she saw someone standing at the end of the dark alley, but that must have been her paranoia. After all, it was her paranoia, wasn't it?

She reluctantly rose from her mother and brother's strong and soft embrace, looked at her bloody clothes and hands and recoiled slightly, but then exhaled in relief. After all, there was nothing wrong with her mother, she was just asleep. So was her brother.
But she was awake. And she hears someone walking through the empty streets of the sixth arrondissement with unfamiliar but frightening and nostalgic steps that echoed in the girl's mind. She turned around, expecting to see someone, but... nothing. There was no one on either side of the alleyway, and the girl thought she must be going crazy from the stress she had endured a few minutes ago.

Her gaze was fixed on the exit of the alleyway, she felt a sense of primal fear come over her again, making her want to run, and her sanity had long been screaming at her that she might die.

After all, there was no getting away from the fact that her mother might have been followed.
And they could certainly start hunting for her.

But most importantly, these were the people Tallulah least wanted to meet in her life.

She brought her flute to her lips, ready to start playing it at any moment. Slowly she moved away from the bodies of her mother and brother, and then began her slow adventure as a detective investigating the persecution of her family.

She tried to suppress the trembling that was preventing her from holding the flute the way she should, and her legs didn't want to go any further. But she wasn't going to give up that easily, so she took a few deep breaths and exhales, trying to calm the fluttering fantasies that were preventing her from quietly investigating the stalking case against her and her family.

Although she had calmed down a little, her heart continued to beat in her chest at high speed, ready to leap out of her chest and run away. But that didn't stop her from looking towards the street and glancing at the flute she held to her mouth in case they were attacked after all. The red butterfly that hung from the end of her musical instrument soothed her frightened soul.

She remembered the day they had first been taken out of the care system and when they had learned that not all heroes were terrible people working for the government, but people who were under pressure from their country because of their background.

***

Then they were sitting alone in their room, her uncle - Chayanne - staring at the ceiling, lying on the mattress. His bruises were not yet gone and his wounds were still bleeding.

The family that had been her uncle's last - were not very kind people. At first they really liked him, but after a few of his mistakes - and they became horrible in the blink of an eye. Which made Tallulah hurt.

Even though her uncle was a ten-year-old boy, two years older than her, she didn't know how to address him in any other way. Chayanne himself did not mind this treatment from his near and dear one.

Tallulah sat beside her and played a simple melody on the flute, trying to soothe and if possible put her uncle to sleep so that he could rest and rest from the stress of that awful house.

She was lonely and miserable without Chayanne, so she was even glad to have her uncle back - especially since he wasn't loved there, he wasn't welcome there. She stroked his hair and then continued playing, feeling herself calming down and falling asleep. The music flowed from the flute in a soft wave, covering both of them with a warm blanket of peace and sleepiness.