Promise?

Part I: Chapter 1

All she could see were the bruises... the cuts... the scars and the raw angry welts on her skin.

She didn't know who the beautiful pale girl was but it didn't matter... she knew she had to help her. She was so tiny, smaller than her and she was the smallest in her class so she wasn't exactly sure how old the girl was. Probably a lot younger than her... maybe five or six. Her pretty skin, despite being covered by so many angry wounds, looked almost silver from the glow of the moon above them. She'd never seen anything like that before... it reminded her of the fairies from the many books her mommy read to her each and every night before bed. And paired with long silky black hair that fell around the girl's tiny body in a mass of tangled waves and curls and eyes so big and a blue so bright they glowed like dark jewels in the night it was all she could do to stare in awe.

The girl was like a doll... like a tiny little fragile fairy- something so beautiful it made her tiny heart clench and her cheeks flush with excitement and wonder. But it also made her want to take the fairy-like girl in her arms and hold her tight the way her mommy and daddy did whenever she got a scrape on her knee or after she'd been scolded while whispering that it would be okay and that she was safe. But she didn't do that. She wasn't sure if it was out of fear of hurting the girl or because she felt shy. All she did know was that something was wrong with the world if someone as beautiful as the little girl before her could be hurt the way she was. Just seeing all of the wounds covering every inch of bare skin she could see on the girl became too difficult to even stand.

Who had done that to her?

Where had she even come from?

What exactly had been done to her to give her such painful looking wounds and scars?

And why?

Who in the world could possibly hurt someone as beautiful as her?

Didn't they know... that hurting a fairy like her could bring them bad luck?

Didn't they care?

Did the girl?

By the time she found enough strength in her legs to propel her forward towards the girl with her back pressed against the wall of the next-door-neighbor's house she counted twenty bruises... that she could see. There was also a black eye, a split lip, dark shadows that looked suspiciously like fingers around the girl's neck and not to mention all of the other bruises around her tiny arms, the rest of her slender neck, her dainty wrists, and her willowy legs among so many others that disappeared beneath the thin fabric of the grimy oversized shirt she wore. And then there were the cuts- so many cuts; on her cheeks, her limbs, and one in particular that made her wince in pain when she noticed it glistening against the moonlight- it was deeper and longer than the rest and still oozed thick blood so dark it shined black with the glow of the moon shining down on them just above a dark winged brow. When the girl breathed a funny sort of sound slipped past her bloody cracked lips that sounded almost like a faint wheeze... whatever was causing such a sound to slip out of her apparently hurt the girl as she winced slightly and clutched at her side tightly every time she breathed.

She was thin too- skeletal even with knees and elbows jutting out painfully against the thin skin over them while the bony grooves of her rib cage peeking out from under the stretched-out neck of the shirt she wore and that hung loosely off her tiny frame to fan around her knees along with the dark hollows under her doll like eyes conjured up images of skeletons and pale faced hungry vampires to mind. And when she reached for her, tried to touch a hand to the girl's shoulder it took every bit of strength inside of her not to cry out from the shock of feeling the sharp bones of her shoulder against her hand. It was surreal, it was strange and scary because she'd never met anyone like her before- a kid who was so tiny and fragile that with the slightest touch could shatter into a million pieces yet looked every part like a storybook fairy despite how hurt she was but more than that she felt a deep sense of sympathy for the girl and a need and overwhelming desire to protect her (which surprised her significantly) from whatever had caused her such harm.

She swallowed against the thick lump in her throat that wouldn't let her breathe and sniffed back the threat of tears stinging her eyes. There was a stinging pain in her chest... a strange ache that felt like a throbbing bruise and that made her clutch at the fabric of her sweater tightly in hopes of alleviating the sensation. It didn't. And while she struggled to stay calm and collected- to keep from screaming out from the shock and horror of what her mind was imagining the girl had been subjected to (she didn't want to scare her) the tiny slip of a girl watched her unblinking and in silence. In fact, the girl was so still and so quiet as she sat on the dewy grass in the alley between the two houses, that she was beginning to wonder if the girl really was a doll after all... She actually became curious enough to forget all about helping the girl out (for a second) and instead got to her haunches before the tiny figure and leaned in close enough that she could count each of the individual eyelashes framing her glowing blue eyes. She got to number twenty-five when out of nowhere the girl blinked making her gasp in shock and fall flat on her butt.

There was a moment of embarrassment, of sheer humiliation and anger at being made the fool but all of that went away the moment she looked up at the girl sitting in front of her. The girl didn't laugh, didn't giggle- didn't so much as crack a smile as she watched her through heavy lidded eyes... just cocked her head to the side, some strands of inky black hair falling over her face, and blinked. Not a hint of amusement anywhere on her pale face.

She frowned, she couldn't help it. And as she straightened herself into a sitting position hoping that the heat she felt in her cheeks was just that and for once they hadn't burst into twin flames of red as they tended to do whenever she was embarrassed, she studied the girl, not caring if she came off as a rude or intrusive. She didn't think the girl would mind it though... not with the cold blank look she shot at her and that seemed to be permanently etched on her beautiful face. Pale with twin orbs of glowing bright blue eyes that reflected no feelings, no hint of thoughts or even pain (she had to be pain, didn't she?) it was like looking into a blank void. No matter how hard she looked at the girl, no matter how hard she stared deep into those twinkling jewels staring back at her she could not find any indication that the girl felt any sort of pain, cold or anything at all. Sure, the girl winced when she breathed and clutched at her side but it didn't reflect at all on her face or her eyes... as if nothing could so much as touch them. Which was strange in itself given how bright a blue they were, as if a light were shining from somewhere inside of her and escaping through them. It was weird but very beautiful to look at... unlike anything she'd ever seen.

There was a cool sort of...indifference to the girl, like she was bored but not exactly. It stuck her almost as if the girl couldn't quite express emotions like her... like her mommy and daddy... like everybody else and it kind of reminded her once more of a doll, so stoic and unmoving. It was eerie to say the least like trying to talk to a statue that could not move or talk back and yet it was not enough to dissuade her from reaching for the girl again. She wanted to help her... She wanted not only to be her friend but to hear her speak, hear her laugh, to know what it was she had been through and why.

"It's okay. I won't hurt you." Her voice was soft, like a gentle whisper as she scooted closer to the tiny girl until their knees just barely touched. "I can help you. With your cuts... I can clean them... if you want..."

She didn't really need a response. Wasn't exactly looking for or expecting one either, as if somewhere deep inside of her she already knew that she wouldn't be getting one. She offered the girl a small smile that she hoped was reassuring and held out a hand. The girl didn't even look down, her eyes never strayed from hers, and yet a breath later she felt a tiny touch on her hand so icy cold it made her shudder from the shock. She was afraid that she'd messed up and scared the girl away but the iciness at her hand never left and in fact kept growing stronger and stronger until the girl's tiny hand was safely nestled in the palm of her own.

And while the girl watched her with those glowing emotionless eyes of hers making her shiver despite the warmth of the sweater around her, she decided that she would do what she'd told the girl and so much more. She would do everything in her power to help the girl in any way she could, become her friend and protect her... like all those princes riding on their fancy white horses did in so many of the stories her mommy liked to read to her come bedtime. It didn't matter to her how long it took- the sudden pounding in her chest, the excitement dancing in her veins and the small smile tugging at her lips was proof of that. And it was in that very moment while she stared deeply into those pools of glowing blue staring back at her that she imagined how extraordinarily beautiful the girl would be when she finally smiled.