GLASS CHILDREN [Completed]

THE PLAYGROUND

Nikolas Turner was like any other normal ten-year-old boy who had parents that were going through a difficult divorce; hatred and sadness thrown into his emotions that were often bright, but got turned to dust when the thought of his family breaking apart.

Earlier that day, his mother and father were fighting again...he'd heard everything from talk about him getting put into a foster home for the way things were going with financial reasons to his father winding up dead for his perilous actions of his past crimes. Nikolas hated it all, though...fighting was never his answer for solving conflict; words were the substitution for that.

"I wish they'd stop fighting..." he said to himself as he kicked his thin legs against the coldness of the air around the swing of the darkened playground, gently. The playground was the only place that he knew of to go, really; there were no relatives in town or a children's shelter for him to run away to until his parents found him. "I don't even think they love me anymore..." he muttered, holding back angered tears.

"No one ever loved me, either, if it makes you feel better...I never had a mom or a dad."

The voice came from just across the playground and only a silhouette of the person that it belonged to could be made out in the blackened color of the night. The person wasn't that tall, though, and was more down to Nikolas's height of a halting 4'9".

With his voice growing into a croak, Nikolas seemed to have an attraction to the odd child much like him that was standing less than three feet away. "I'm Nikolas," he said, feeling that he was safe around this person that he still hadn't seen. "What's your name?" he asked in return, curious to know the identity of this 'shadow.'

"Lilly," the voice—that was now obvious as a girl's—said, emerging from the dark. "It's nice to meet you, Nikolas." She said in a cheerful tone, grinning in the small ray of moonlight that now cascaded over her thin frame and made its way to the boy who sat on the swing. It was noticeable that he was a little on-edge and nervous about sharing information with a person that he didn't know, but there was a small amount of trust in his blue-eyed glances.

"Hi..." he shyly said with a gentle tone, clearing his throat in the coldness of the air. He was beginning to get sick, no doubt about it. "Where did y-you come f-fr-from?"

"Somewhere..." Lily answered, leaning against the playground equipment with a smirk growing on her face as she tucked strands of hair behind her pale, right ear. "Where did you come from?"

"Home," Nikolas answered with a twinkling sadness in his blue eyes that reflected the moon's bright glow. "I ran away."

"Hm," Lily nodded. "I ran away, too, I guess you could day..." she titled her head to the side with a grin. "Why'd you run off?"

"I have my reasons," Nikolas looked down, pushing himself off of the ground, lightly. "Reasons that I won't share."

"Oooh," Lily's voice echoed. "Mysterious, huh?"

"You don't even know me!" Nikolas laughed slightly as he shoved his freezing hands into his navy blue hoodie pockets to keep them warm. "And besides, why're you so interested in learning about—"

"Why do I want to know more about you?" Lily finished his sentence, getting closer to him. With every breath she took and exhaled, a puff of air accompanied her words as she spoke with a gentle tone, "Because you seem...nice." She replied with a smirk.

Nikolas's heart began to race inside of his chest cavity as Lily crept closer to him, letting her arms fall by her sides, contently. "Nice?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "How am I nice?"

"Because you are," she giggled, making the situation out to be as if she had intentions of liking the boy. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No, I don't guess so..." Nikolas swallowed the lump of trapped air in his throat as he jumped from the swing and began to frantically run to the nearest and tallest playground equipment to climb up and get away from Lily. She was nice as well, but something about her was a little off with a hint of eeriness. "Why would it b-be a bad th-thing?"

"I have my reasons," Lily repeated his words, attempting to chase after him, playfully, watching as he climbing his way to the top of the stairs that led to the twisty slide. "Reasons that I won't share."

As Nikolas got to the top of the slide, he caught his breath and closed his eyes to calm his aching nerves and stressful mind. A part of him wanted Lily to go away and leave him be, but another part was happy that she was there to keep him company, even if she was strangely odd. Just stay calm, he told himself before opening his eyes once again as he realized: Lily was nowhere in sight.

"Over here..." the brunette said, crossing her arms with one resting over the other as she stood straight at the bottom of the slide. "Were you looking for me?"

"No," Nikolas said, smarting off. "Why would I?"

Suddenly, Lily turned her gaze to peer up at something that was clearly behind him. With a blank expression, the girl sighed and said, "Push him."

"Wh—"

Just as he was about to ask Lily what she meant by her off-topic words, two cold and small hands were violently pressed against his back with such force that he fell from the top of the slide and over onto the ground within milliseconds; he wasn't scared for more than a moment, but his last breath lingered in the air.

Lily, who was smiling at the sight of Nikolas's broken neck and twisted arm, walked slowly over to the lifeless body of the dark-haired boy and looked down at him with big eyes and a frowning expression that faded from her spine-chilling smile. "Do you think he's dead?" she asked aloud, furrowing her eyebrows and kneeling down to check his slowing pulse—if there still was one, that is.

"Yep..." another voice answered. "He's dead...I know he is."