Lucky and the Killer ✔

Hello, Sarah

Sarah stared down at the food on the plate, but she wasn't eating. They had vegetation much like Earth's, but instead of being green, the plate was mostly purple. Dark, bruised leaves stewed together beneath the lights above them. Everyone else was eating.

She looked towards the corner of the room and past the empty plates on the long, adequately-adorned table. No matter where she went, or who she was with, there were always empty plates at the table.

"What's wrong, kiddo?" King said. His voice was gruff but soft, and it made her lift her head at last.

"What isn't?" she said back. Orbs bounced around in the corner of her eyes like drunken fairies—that she didn't care to see at the time. She had to look at something, though. It was either the orbs or the empty plates.

King shrugged and Lucky punched his arm. She rolled her eyes and then gave a pleading stare to Bella and Felix. Only, Bella didn't say anything back like Lucky thought she would. She let Sarah stare out over the plates, and she stared down at the food beneath her. Bella took a bite.

"How are you just going to shrug that off?" Lucky said with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"She's right," King shrugged again and took another bite. A war was child's play to his father. There would be worse things to come, he thought.

"Don't listen to him, Sarah," Lucky cooed. "It's alright."

Sarah bit her lip and tried to ignore the obviously-white glare of the empty plates. It was never alright. Everyone always said that, but it wasn't ever true. The best she could do was to sit there and stop blinking. Blinking always made tears come out. She'd learned not to blink. It was better that way, anyway.

Sarah watched the orbs bounce around. Some were white, and others were gray. They were mostly blurry. She couldn't explain to anyone how it worked. It was something you had to feel. She could focus on one, and she would just feel—much like an empath. The dot near the door was afraid.

"Someone is here," Sarah mumbled.

"Huh?" Lucky asked.

King and Bella put their forks down as the guard opened the door. Sarah stood. The guard smiled a little bit as he pulled his hat off and twisted it into his hands.

"'Cuse the interruption. Mr. King, sir, your sister is here to see you."

Lucky watched King's jaw clench. She could see the muscles stiffen up and his eyes narrow. For a brief moment, he simply looked at the man.

"What did you say?" he asked as his brows grew closer together.

"There is a woman here claiming she is your sister," the man said as his smile died, "said she's been looking for you."

Before anyone could even leave their seat, King had pulled his gun and was walking towards the fidgeting guard. King clenched his eyes shut and pulled the gun behind his head before pointing it back towards the man—as if he were trying to stop himself. He just couldn't.

"I swear," King groaned as he pressed the barrel of the gun against the man's clammy forehead, "if you don't get out of my sight, I will kill you."

"King!" Lucky screamed. "For heaven's sake, what is wrong with you?"

Bella simply stared. The brown curls fell beside her open red lips. She was as porcelain as the ceiling and as quiet as the floor. Lucky slammed her fork down and made her way down the step that separated the dining table from the rest of the room. Bella watched Lucky grab King's arm away from the man. She slid the gun from King's hand, and he threw his hands up in the air.

"Get him out of here or so help me," King stammered.

"I'm sorry!" the guard said. "I just...I thought you would want to see her."

"See her?" King shouted. "She's dead! You have some, some nerve."

"She's at the door," Sarah said simply.

"What?" King said along with the rest of the room.

"Liz is at the door," Sarah repeated. "Go on. See if I'm wrong."

King stared at Sarah in a way Lucky couldn't figure out. His face was still agitated, and something like hate filled his eyes. Everyone watched him as he swung the door open, stepped past the guard, and began walking down the empty, marbled hallways.

"I'm going with him," Lucky stammered. She didn't bother to put on the ballerina flats she'd kicked off. They still sat beneath the table. She padded down the cold floors barefooted and adorned in the most royal array of blue jeans and cotton t-shirts—that she'd stolen at some point in time from Earth.

"Wait," Bella called out. She began to raise up from her seat, but Felix put a delicate hand on her slender arm to caution her. It was probably best that they left them alone. Besides that, someone had to stay with Sarah. It was dangerous to leave her alone.

"Do you think they'll be alright?" Bella said as she bit her lip. Every fork was down. Chairs were pushed out. Some chairs were still pushed in. Sarah stood behind her plate as she stared calmly at the open door. The guard slipped from sight, but he didn't go back towards King.

"It's King," Felix said as he let out a heavy sigh.

"That's what I'm worried about," Bella said.

"What does it matter?" Sarah said. She slid from behind her spot at the table and began walking away. She made her way to the large, open door. She clawed the ponytail holder out of her wavy hair and freed it from being bound. She watched the dots bounce and clammer as she turned out of the room and began walking down the hall.

"Sarah!" Bella cried out, but she wouldn't be able to get to her. The doors to the dining room shut on their own. Like her people, the locks around the palace were easy to control. It was a gift—a sympathy present for having to deal with being an empress.

"Open this door right now!" Felix yelled, but their voices and cries were growing quieter in the dim, solemn castle halls. Sarah walked.

"Sorry," she mumbled. Her hands trailed along the walls as she moved closer and closer to a different dot. This dot wasn't afraid at all. This dot was...indifferent. It was as indifferent as she wanted to be.

"If...you are lost in the way," she hummed, "deep in a lonesome story...call out to doubt and fear, cling to your lonesome body."

The melody was a sad one, she knew. She loved to hum it anyway. It danced around in the air like a blackened sort of magic. She reached the end of the hallway. She'd not traced out King or his sister at all. She'd gone towards the one dot no one else knew about.

The door pushed open beneath her small hands. The lock gave way to the power of her mind, and the night sky ushered itself in. Sarah stepped outside towards the newcomer.

Helix looked up from his hands to the little girl standing in front of him. His glassy eyes took her in, and even though they glistened and moved, the rest of his face stood in remorse. His lips didn't move. Not even the wind blew his hair. They stared.

"Hello, Sarah."