Kill Me Softly

I put your hair in pigtails while you were sleeping.

I ran, the tears in my eyes blurring my vision. The dirt crept into the cuts on my feet and the tree branches dug into my skin, but I didn't feel any of it. I would never feel it again, and it was all his fault.

~°~ ~°~ ~°~

I struggled awake, and attempted to move my head enough to take a good look at my surroundings. I was in a small room with peeling wallpaper and dusty floors. There wasn't much furniture, but what little there was seemed relatively new in comparison to the rest of the room.

I sat up slowly and regained my bearings. I had no shirt on, and seemed to be wearing black sweatpants that belonged to someone else. My mask was still on, though, thank God. My shoulder was completely bandaged, and for some reason, my hair was styled into pigtails....?

I stood up and walked out of the room, into a short hallway. On one side was a bathroom, on the other was a bigger bedroom. At the end of the hallway was stairs.

I slowly crept towards the stairs, listening carefully. The faint sound of singing crept to my ears, and though the tune seemed familiar, I couldn't recall where I'd heard it from.

"Wandering child of the earth,

Do you know just how much you're worth?

You have walked this path since your birth,

You were destined for more."

It was a hauntingly beautiful song, and I was struggling to remember where I knew it from...

~°~ ~°~ ~°~

"I'm Akira. My mommy said to be friends with you, so I'm going to be friends with you." A little hand reached for mine, and squeezed it. "You look different from the other kids."

I leaned back a little. "How? I'm small, same as all the other kids."

She giggled and shook her head. "No, you're smaller. But that's not what I meant." She looked at me straight in the eyes, and whispered gently. "I meant you look sadder than all the other kids. That's okay, if you are. My mommy sings me this song when I'm sad, so I'll sing it for you now, Bane."

She hugged me tight, and I leaned into her warm embrace. She smelled like a mixture of cotton candy and chocolate chip cookies, every six year old's dream.

"Wandering child of the earth,
Do you know just how much you're worth?
You have walked this path since your birth,
You were destined for more."

She patted my head gently. "Since we're going to be friends, that means you have to learn the rest and sing it to me, too, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

~°~ ~°~ ~°~

What was that? I wondered to myself. I don't remember meeting anyone named Akira when I was little...

Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I made my way down the stairs. To the right was a living room, and directly in front of me was the doorway. To my left was a kitchen, and inside of it was a girl. She seemed to be cooking something.

I walked up to her and waited for her to notice me. Finally she turned around, holding a bowl of something gooey in one hand, and a whisk in the other.

"ROASTED CRAB NUGGETS!!!!" She flung the whisk at me, and it hit my bandaged shoulder. "Holy shit! Don't sneak up on people like that!" She set down the bowl and picked up the whisk, looking at me strangely.

"Do you remember what happened? Like... When we met? 'cuz if not, I can reintroduce myself."

I thought back, but couldn't remember anything about meeting her. I shook my head no.

"Welp, I'm Akira. Nice to meetcha. I hope you don't mind, but I put your hair in pigtails while you were sleeping." She held out her hand. I looked at it, but couldn't understand what she wanted. I looked back at her in confusion.

She sighed and gestured towards the table. "I'm almost done with breakfast, so sit down. You're skinny as hell, and it makes me angry."

I sat at the small table. It had two chairs, and in the middle was a tiny vase of dandelions.

Aren't those weeds?

The girl, Akira, grabbed a few things and set them on the table. Sitting across from me, she started dishing up. "I made pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries."

She set one of the plates in front of me. I looked at it, and could feel myself drooling.

She looked at me in suspicion. "Are you gonna eat or what? Go on, take your mask off." I paused. I didn't know how she would react to seeing my face... It was pretty bad. I used to go around without the mask, but I couldn't handle the stares. Not only was my face covered in all sorts of scars, my eyes were also strange. The left was an icy blue, while the right was a deep green.

Almost as if she read my mind, she shook her head. "Look, bud, I've seen you naked. Whatever's under that mask isn't going to bother me."

I leaned back uncomfortably. Why has she seen me naked?

"I mean, your clothes were so bloody that you couldn't keep wearing them, and I had to tend to your shoulder somehow. So yes, I've seen you naked." I shook my head.

"Fine, I guess I haven't seen your nether regions. So technically I've only seen you partially naked."

She made fair points (and I was really hungry), so I reached back and unclipped my mask. I set it on the table and gauged Akira's reaction. She stared at me for a second, then looked down and started eating. Her face didn't betray her once.

Finally, I reached for a fork and started eating. It was actually really good. I continued wolfing down pancakes at the speed of light until she cut in.

"Um, wow. Just watching you eat makes me flattered. I didn't think my pancakes were that good." We ate together a little bit longer, and then sat in a peaceful silence.

I knew she was going to ask questions soon, but for now, I wanted to enjoy the rare moment of peace as long as it would last.

~This chapter's song is Wanderer's Lullaby (the lullaby Akira was singing) by Adriana Figueroa~

Wanderer's Lullaby belongs to Adriana Figueroa, all rights to the song and it's lyrics belong to her.

~Nightmare-Sama~