Monstrum - Jonathan Byers (discontinued)

•Chapter Four•

Five Years Old

The backpack was huge on her shoulders, hiding her tiny frame. She clambered out of the car and nervously turned to her mother, playing with one of her long plaits.

"Mommy?" The little girl asked quietly.

"Yes dear?" Her mother replied, looking down at the tiny girl.

"I don't want to go."

"You have to, darling. All the other boys and girls do too!" Her mother told her sternly.

A young brunette boy, who had walked ahead of the two females, turned and saw that they had stopped and hurried back over.

"Come on! Hurry up!" He spoke excitedly to his twin sister.

"You go on ahead." Their mother told him with a smile. "Have a lovely day darling." She leaned over and pecked his forehead. He thanked her and waved before running off to find his friends.

"See nothing to worry about! Just look at your brother." The mother told her daughter.

The little girl was still scared but she forced a grin on to her face.

"You're right Mom, thanks." The girl spoke, though when she pronounced the letter 't' it had a lisp due to her missing front teeth. She gave her mother a quick hug before turning around with a big breath, and facing the school.

"You forgot your pencils honey!" Her mother reminded her, fishing a pencil case from the car parked next to them. How could she have forgotten her prized possessions?

The little girl carefully took the pencil case from her mother's grasp acting as though it was the most precious and delicate thing in the world.

"Thank-you."

"Bye!" Her mother called out as she clambered quickly into the car, wanting to hurry away so she wouldn't miss her hair appointment. The little girl waved at her mother's car until it disappeared and then she walked forward, shaking slightly as she entered the school grounds. The five year old had never been so scared. She glanced around quickly, trying to find her brother so she could latch onto him. She was so busy trying to find the boy that she didn't notice the uneven piece of ground, instead catching her foot on it and tumbling forward.

She let out a yelp as her knees violently scraped on the concrete, and her palms slapped the ground causing the pencil case to fall from her grip. The pencil case burst and the pencils went flying, a rainbow of colours momentarily airborne and then clattering to the ground around her. She let out a sob, embarrassed, pained and upset that her precious pencils had been so harshly thrown and most likely broken. A trickle of blood dripped down her left knee.

"Are you okay?" A soft voice asked, and Sloane's gaze fell to a pair of worn sneakers standing next to her. She sniffled as she looked upwards, taking in the sight of the brunette boy with dark eyes.

"M-m- my pencils!" The little girl sobbed out, wiping her tears as they appeared.

The dark haired boy had never really talked to a girl before and wasn't sure what to say, so instead he got down on his hands and knees and gathered up the pencils in his hands.

"Here." He told her, holding them out.

"Thank-you, but my pencil case broke!" The little girl whimpered.

"Oh I might have something you could use..." He told her, handing her the pencils momentarily as he fished into his red rucksack and pulled out his superhero lunch tin, emptying its contents into his bag.