Big Boys Cry

Prolouge

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small....

Rah lay quietly beside his big sister as the lullaby gently filled the room. For the first time in a long while it wasn't the nightmares keeping him awake, somehow he just couldn't sleep. This time the evils that haunted him didn't need him to be asleep to strike...

...each flower that opens, each little bird that sings...

As the second verse played on, he turned to his other side away from his sleeping sister, facing the window to the world that lay beyond. He was just eight but it didn't mean he did not understand most of the things that were going on. On a night just like this not too long ago, robbers had come to their house and not only did they make out with what little things they owned, they also took his father's life when he had tried to protect them. Their mum never told him and his sister tried to hide it from him but he knew they were running out of money and his mum could barely take care of them and that was why his aunty had to come to stay with them.

One of the evils that haunted him by day.

Rah shut his eyes tightly hoping the lullaby would woo him to sleep but it didn't so he lay there buried in his thoughts and nothing else. His sister shifted beside him and let out a deep breath which she always did when she was cold so instinctively he got up and searched for a blanket with only the light shining in from the corridor to guide him. Once he was sure she was warm he lay back down beside her this time a little bit closer so he could provide her a little warmth.

A sudden screech from the door made his body go completely stiff and his blood almost stood still with the rest of him. He didn't have to turn to know who it was, she came every night, at the same time.

He heard her footsteps as she came over to his side. She squatted beside the bed till she was at his eye level and brought her fingers to her lips gesturing for him to keep quiet. Then she took his hand slowly pulling him off the bed, as she led him out of his room into hers.

This all started the very night his mum's younger sister moved in with them and though he didn't fully comprehend what she did to him every night, he knew it was wrong but he couldn't tell his mum, she already had so much on her plate.

Nobody asked him to be the man of the house when his father died, who would? He was just eight but he knew he had to be so he let her take him out to her room for another night that would add to nightmares already hunting him with nothing but the sweet sounds of the lullaby trailing him behind.

.....he made their shiny colors and made their tiny wings.