A Missed Shot

Chapter Nine

She finds herself to be about four and a half feet shorter than what she naturally was and she's in a kitchen. She can see everything from this person's point of view, but she can't control anything, not even her voice. Her hands are drastically smaller than they already were and same for her feet. There's a slight force of weight around her neck but she can't tell what it is because of her lack of body control. The sun shines brightly through the windows, making the place a lot more vibrant with its dark blue walls glistening in the sunlight. She was wearing white and pink Nike shoes with blue jeans and a white sweater that slightly overlaps her hands.

She's in the process of digging around in the drawer when she catches a figure of someone tall and with red hair walking in the corner of her eye.

"Mommy!" Destiny found herself exuberantly calling out for the woman and rushing her with a hug. She looks up to meet eye contact with her and it is indeed her mother. What the hell? Destiny can hear her own thoughts ringing and echoing as if she were screaming in a hollow tunnel.

"Hey there, Noel," her mom replies in a cheery voice. Noel? Who the hell is Noel? Talking in a baby voice now, she says to Noel, "Did my princess eat her vegetables?"

Destiny wanted to shout back at her mom telling her there was no need for the cooing and baby voices but all that came out was an upbeat "Uh-huh!"

The mother chuckles and lifts Noel into her arms. "C'mon, let's go get a look at you." They walk into the living room with Noel wrapping both arms around the mother's head. Everything starts to come into recognition. The chandelier hanging above the burgundy couches and brown coffee table. The door. The stairs. The second floor. This all was the same. No way. It's the orphanage. But if this is my mom then how the hell am I here? Maybe it isn't my birth mom. . . Her thoughts get cut off when the two stare into the mirror, both of them smiling ear to ear.

Her mom wolf whistles. "Look at you! You're learning how to dress!" Tought myself, thanks. Destiny wanted to reply with a sarcastic response but yet again, nothing came out but a giggle. Then her eyes glided down to her chest. It was her amulet. This is me?! What the hell is goin' on? I gotta wake up.

"Hey mom," they hear a voice call out from the stairs. It's another girl, about four years older looking than Noel. She has red hair too. She wore what Noel was except for the fact that it was practically a photo negative version. Rather than a white sweater, it was black. So were the shoes, but the pink was still there. The jeans were red rather than blue. And she wore a red amulet, just like Destiny's with a smug smile on her face. Ellie?!

"Oh. Hey Alexis. Perfect timing." Who the hell is Alexis?! Her mom sets her down on the floor. "Take watch over your sister. I need a nap. Been a long day at work."

Ellie lets out a sigh, shaking her head and takes hold of Noel's hand. Let me the hell go! But inevitability, without a choice, they hold hands facing their mother.

"Fine. Come on, girl." They go upstairs to play in their room, with their mother following going to her own. The room has a twin bed set. One with a blue blanket set and the other with a red and purple carpet. Even the sides of the room were painted blue and red. The ceiling remained untouched and still a pale white. Go figure.

Alexis opens up a small box on her dresser and pulls out a lollipop and hands it to Noel.

"Thanks," Noel says.

"Yeah," Alexis replies. "What do you wanna do, kiddo?" Rip you to shreds.

Noel unwraps the lollipop and puts it in her mouth and she gives a shrug.

Alexis sighs. "You'll think of somethin.'"

* * *

About half an hour passes in the dream. Noel, chewing on the lollipop stick, is playing with some action figures on the floor while Alexis paces back and forth.

"Okay," Alexis says breaking the silence. She goes under her bed and pulls out a small iron case and flicks it open. Inside are two handguns, one is black and the other is silver. She pulls out the black one and twirls it in her hand showing Noel.

"What's that," Noel says. The hell do you think it is? It's a GUN!

"This is Ebony and this," Alexis gestures towards the case, "is Ivory."

"Okay."

She forcefully puts the gun in Noel's hand, squating down next to her. "Take this. Go into mommy's room, point and pull this thingy. Got it?" You evil son of a bitch!

Instead of shooting Alexis, like she wanted, Noel smiles and gives a polite nod. She creeps into the hallway and into her mom's room. Destiny swears up and down that it's the same one that she is sleeping in. Without hesitation or any sort of way of knowing, Noel pulls the trigger. The kickback of the gun nearly takes out her eye, causing them both to scream out in agony. So that's how that got there. Damn, this hurts. Really bad.

Alexis rushes in and puts a lighter in their mother's hand before picking up Destiny and consolidating her to peep down. They go into the bathroom and treat the wound. "Grab your jacket and meet me out in the front. Do you hear me?" Alexis was a bit hard to hear but she did and acknowledged so with a nod.

While getting her jacket, she can hear liquid squirting all over the place throughout the house. The hell is that sound? The second she gets that thought in her head, Alexis comes running in stuffing Ebony and Ivory in their holsters on the back of her hip. She tosses on her own jacket. Without warning, she picks up Noel saying, "You move too slow," and they storm out the front door where the liquid trail ends. She puts Noel down. "Turn around, close your eyes and cover your ears. Now!" She does as told. Everything is black. She can't hear a thing but what sounds like a match striking wood. Her hands are manually removed from her ears. "Don't look back," she hears Alexis's voice in her ear. It sounds like a bunch if roaring coming from behind her. But she doesn't turn around no matter what. They approach a black Impala and Noel gets in the back while Alexis drives off with the radio playing "Highway to Hell," by AC/DC. Alexis glances back at Noel and shoots her a wink. She wakes up gasping for air and panting. The radio alarm is what woke her up. The same song as in the car.