The Little Ones

She sat on the bed in the corner of the room, numb and blinded by sadness. Her eyes stared unblinking at the wall, purposely ignoring the smaller bed not too far from her own. Her hands lay folded neatly in her lap, as she sent prayer after prayer to a god she wasn't even sure existed. How cruel it was to take a life so young, and how she had been cursed to live with the pain.

A knock on the door couldn't distract her enough to look away from the faded blue walls. The door creaked as it opened, and small group walked in.

"Thank you for sharing the room with us," The older woman said as she looked around the room. The three others, her husband and two kids looked about with her, before their curious gazes landed on the unresponsive girl who sat on the bed. She had forgotten that today was the day she her new roommates were moving in. The son peered around his mother and smiled at the girl sitting on the bed.

"We really appreciate it," He said. The girl nodded her head before turning to look at the group, her eyes sliding over the tiny bed briefly. Her heart seemed to stop beating before picking up again.

"You're welcome," She whispered, her voice soft and filled with sadness. The mother looked at the girl with concern.

"Are you alright, dear?" She asked politely, setting her bag down by another bed. The girl, nodded before turning her head to the wall once again.

"I would much rather not talk about it-" she was cut off by another knock on the door. A tall well built man walked in, wearing a cowboy hat. In his hands he held a bouquet of white lilies. His face was downcast as he walked across the room and took a seat on the bed beside the sullen girl. He removed his hat and bowed his head in prayer, murmuring so softly that the group couldn't hear him. The girl's eyes watered as she listened to his thoughtful prayer.

"Amen..." He said louder as he finished.

"Amen..." The girl said in reply. He nodded his head and stood back up, placing his hat back on his head. In a few steps he reached the tiny bed and laid the lilies on the pillow.  He walked back across the room, tipping his hat politely to the group that had arrived before him, and left, closing the door behind him.

The group looked confusedly at the bed, then back to the girl on the bed. Just as the mother was going to ask what that had been about, another knock on the door silenced her.

The door open wide to reveal a tall, thin woman, maybe 20 years old. In her hands was a small, white teddy bear. She walked past them all, her head held high as she headed straight to the small bed. She placed the bear next to the lilies before she turned to the girl on the bed.

"Derek beat me this time?" Her voice cracked terribly as she seemed to hold back tears. The girl who still hadn't moved from the bed, nodded her head, looking up at the taller woman.

She walked over to the girl and tilted her face up. She bowed and kissed her head, murmuring a soft lullaby before she too exited the room.

"What is this about?" The mother asked cautiously. The girl on the bed tilted her head to the side too look at the group.

"I didn't want to talk about it... " She murmured to herself before her bloodshot eyes gazed back at the group.

"But we lost a little one today... "

"A little one?" The father asked, helping his children unpack. The girl on the bed nodded before continuing.

"I was placed to work in the nursery, a large room where we take care of all the children who are too young to be trained. When you are born a supernatural being, sometimes your body rejects the change, whether you're werewolf or vampire or other. If you are born weak, sick or if your body just decides 'no', before you are 16 years old, you die." She paused, gaging the reaction from the group, they looked at her with wide eyes. She had expected this, they were new, their children just recently took the serums. They hadn't known what could happen.

"So... You lost a child?" The mother asked the girl.

"Not mine, but one in my nursery. She was 3, we just held her funeral," The mother gasped and covered her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes. The girl on the bed, held hers back. She had been crying all day, and this wasn't her first loss, if only it got easier.

"Most nurseries do not lose more than two children a year, and I've lost five," The girl turned her head to look at the tiny bed.

"The first one was the worst... maybe because I was sure I could keep them all alive, so they all would make it..." She paused in her story, unsure of why she was telling them this. Maybe to warn them that her children, now that they had taken the serum may suffer the same fate, or maybe it was to vent her emotions, she wasn't sure.

"Her name was Lucy, she had short curly brown hair and gray eyes. Not the storm cloud gray, but the gray before the sun breaks through. She was so tiny, so so tiny..." Her eyes welled up despite her struggles, and the tears escaped, flowing freely down her face. The kids sat on the bed, listening closely like they would when their mother read to them at night.

"Her favorite color was blue and she liked wild purple clovers. I lost her on her fifth birthday. I went to wake her up so she could have her birthday cupcake, and, she wasn't breathing," Her voice remained strong as she spoke, but the mother was choking back sobs, fearing for her own children now.

"I lost Declan after Lucy. He was 15, just one year short of making it. You see if you can live past the age of 12, then you have a higher chance of making it. I was so sure that Declan would. He only had one year left." She looked back to the wall and bite her lip.

"Then Ky, he was just barely 2 years old... Shanne was three days old... then... Little Mary, who we lost today, was 3." She concluded, her voice breaking loudly. No one said a word. The mother was filled with fear, knowing her children could die, her son was only 11 and her daughter had just turned 6. What kind of terrible thing had she done by making them take the serum.

The girl's body shook as she continued to sit on the bed. Her tears wouldn't stop. If only dealing with the children's death could be easier. They all reminded her of her first, her only child. Losing her little Lucy hurt more than any of them, but the constant reminder made her feel dead inside.

Maybe that's why she vowed never to have another of her own children.

Gripping her hands together tightly she began another prayer.