Mockingbirds Don't Sing Lullabies

Chapter Seven: 9 Years Earlier

Mountain gripped her mother's hand tightly not wanting to get left behind. People were staring at her again. Most of the stares were of fear and repulsion but still others were of sadness and pity. Whether it was pity for Mountain or themselves, she couldn't tell but she was used to them. No one had quite yet wrapped their heads around the fact that her hair was a constant shifting color of silver.

"Keep your eyes forward child. Do not let these people see you give in to them." Her mother didn't look at her as she scolded her.

Mountain just nodded and looked ahead. She had learned a long time ago that arguing with her mother would result in punishment, especially if she argued in public.

Mountain pulled her hand away as they approached the warehouse. Outside the warehouse it was ok for her mother to show love and affection towards her but inside mother was all business. They waited for the familiar click of the steel door opening and then her father sticking his head out to greet them.

Her father beckoned them in before anyone noticed his face then shut the door, locking it back. They were a family of little words so during their brief time together nothing was said and Mountain was left to do as she wanted. This was common. Her parents were busy people after all.

Mountain smiled and then ran down the adjacent hall to a more formal exit. The hall led to an old storage closet that was cluttered with a random assortment of unused or broken items. Behind the tall bookshelf was a small door that led to the cafe on the other side of the warehouse. Mountain moved quickly, moving the bookshelf and then going through the door, she closed the door then raced through the cafe and into the busy sidewalks that lined the streets of Manhattan.

Her brother had given up on their family's lifestyle when he had turned sixteen and had moved out. Their parents weren't supportive but still gave him the money he had needed to get on his feet. So for the past two years Mountain had been sneaking out to see her brother.

She wove through the people until she came upon the large building her brother was living in. She ran in, waved to the front desk ladies, then waited for the elevator. She got lucky when nobody came out or joined her on the elevator. She pressed the button for the tenth floor and waited. When the doors opened she made her way down the hall and to the door that hid her brother from her.

She knocked and then waited for the familiar sound of her brother's grumbling. She heard the door lock click and then saw her brother. He was wearing a pair of jeans and his white hair was in a scraggly mess.

"Hey Mounei. Come on in." He moves out of the way to let her in. "What are you up to?" "Nothing. Is Willow here?" She looked around for her brother-in-law. Her brother had married

his boyfriend a few months back and since then they had grown very close. So close that Mountain started calling him Bubble.

"No. Willow is at the store. You wanna play a game until he gets back?" Her brother made his way to the game closet.

"Yes!"

Willow pushed the door to his apartment open with a grunt. "Thanks to you too babe." He grumbled to himself before hearing his sister-in-law's laughter echo from the living room. He set the grocery bags on the kitchen counter before joining Ceader and Mountain in the living room.

"BUBBLE!" He barely had time to brace himself before Mountain threw herself in his arms.

"Hey little Mounei." He set her on the ground then when over to Ceader. "Hey babe." He pulled Willow into his lap.

"Want to join us in a game of Heads Up?" Ceader had that stupid grin on his face. Willow leaned down and wiped it off with a kiss. "Of course."

"You guys are really chee-" Mountain never got the chance to finish her sentence as her mother burst through the door and into the living room.

"Are you so idiotic that you would associate yourself with this heathen?!" Willow watched as Jasmine grabbed her daughter by the hair and dragged the six year old out of the apartment in a sobbing heap.

The next day the bodies of Ceader Pine Harunei and Willow Leo-Harunei were found by a jogger in the gutter outside of their apartment building. Their bodies were completely drained of blood and their mouths hung in an eternal scream.

Her screams had echoed off the walls in one of the most eiere ways possible. She cried for days. And screamed even longer.