Heads and Tails

Crawling on the wet grass as droplets of rain dripped from my chin, I continued weeping.

            Where should I go? Everything’s taken from me yet again. What had I done wrong?

            Shelter… food… anything… help me…

            No longer able to keep myself up even on all fours, I surrendered and fell into the grass face down. I pulled a few strands of grass off the ground with all the force I still have, cursing.

            The taste of soil lurked in my throat as I closed my teary eyes.

            Soon… all these would end… I’d see my family again…

/////

I groaned when I realized that I was already awake.

I didn’t want to open my eyes yet. Judging from the soft thing I can feel around me, the faint darkness surrounding me, the scent of air fresheners playing around my nostrils, and the cool temperature around me, I must be in someone else’s house. They must’ve found me extremely pathetic, lying on the grass like that, so they thought they’d want to give me some place to spend the night, not to mention they also changed me into dry and fluffy clothes.

“That’s the problem with you,” I heard a male voice. I almost opened my eyes, but I managed to keep them closed. “Now what do we do with her? We can’t just abandon her!”

“But I thought you said we shouldn’t be too soft,” another female voice tried to speak, but stopped abruptly as if the other man sent her a cold glare.

The male voice hissed, saying something I couldn’t make out. The other voice said something, but I couldn’t understand it anymore for she’s sobbing. Whispers followed, and all I heard were gibberish.

“NO ONE ELSE SHOULD KNOW! KEEP THAT IN MIND, IDIOT!” the male voice yelled, and I heard angry footsteps, a door slam shut, and more angry footsteps that got louder and louder, and a door opening. It’s probably this room’s, because a faint streak of light entered the room, and the violet darkness that I could see in my eyelids turned dark red.

Without seeing a single thing from the room, I slept again, hoping that I’d be somewhere else the next time I awoke.

/////

Apparently, what I hoped for was impossible, because the next time I woke up, I could feel the same clothes and soft bed and could smell the same air freshener.

            I knew I wouldn’t be able to leave this room no matter what I do, so I opened my eyes. I was hugging a pink pillow that smelt like mild perfume, and I was lying on my side on a red bed full of stuffed toys. I was facing the wall, so I decided to get up and look around.

            Sitting on a chair near the side table was a dark-haired boy who looked about fourteen. He was playing on a PSP. He seemed to notice me, and he turned around and smiled.

            “Hi,” he said. “You know, we all thought you’re in an eternal sleep. You slept for centuries.”

            I raised an eyebrow.

            “I was only joking, of course,” he placed his PSP on the table and faced me. “So how’s the sleep?”

            “Who are you?” I asked, and after saying that I realized that I wanted to brush my teeth.

            “We’re supposed to be asking you that!” he replied. “I’m still wondering why my sister brought you here… now she had to sleep in my room while I stayed in her room with someone playing sleeping beauty on her bed.”