Promise?

Chapter 2

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Her voice was soft, her words gentle as she squeezed the girl's hand tightly. She wasn't angry at the girl sitting next to her, just confused- unable to comprehend why she hadn't done something as simple as that. Granted, she wasn't exactly an expert on such things; she was only seven years old after all, but that didn't stop her from drawing her own conclusions. She was smart enough to understand that all of the wounds on the girl were not from a simple fall off a bike or from tripping down some stairs (something she'd actually done on a number of occasions). They were made by someone. "Didn't your parents tell you that you have to tell someone if somebody is doing bad things to you?" The hand not clasped around the girl's ice cold one balled into a tight fist on the damp grass beside her thigh as she struggled to maintain her feelings in check.

She could hear the girl's soft breathing; slightly labored and laced with the occasional wheeze that cut through the otherwise silent night. She didn't dare move, sure that if she did the girl beside her would change her mind from what she hoped had been a decision to trust her and instead leave. She was scared that if the girl did leave it would all come to an end and she would never see her again...

The girl however said nothing and did nothing. Aside from shifting around so that she faced her, training those glowing blue eyes on her, there didn't seem to be any care in the world to her. No urgency to answer any question, no fear or anxiety at being reprimanded- no desire at all to open up.

She on the other hand could feel bile and thick emotions she wasn't sure how to describe welling up inside her. Screaming, crying, shaking her- just allowing herself to explode in anger would help no one... it would quite possibly only make things worse. She had to calm down, had to allow the girl to speak... or not if she chose and simply just be there to listen. She just had to do what she could in that moment for the girl to be okay, for her to feel safe and comforted... and that was to just not say anything at all. Pursing her cold lips as she mulled a few thoughts around while she waited for something to happen she looked down at the dark grass between them... specifically at their tiny hands clasped together... and suddenly it was like a spark went off inside of her. Her eyes glittered while her lips curled into a smile. Looking up from their hands to look at the pale girl beside her, tendrils of loose black waves fanning around her face making it look as though it were free floating, she squeezed the girl's hand once before letting it go.

"Don't move. I'll be right back." Before the girl could even have a chance to cock her head to the side she'd jumped to her feet and was running for the mouth of the alley, through the long expanse of the verdant front yard to her home and up the cold cobblestone steps leading to it. When she got to the front door she held her breath and pushed at the door so as not to make any sound. One she'd managed to open a space wide enough to squeeze through she slipped inside and went to work gathering as many of the items on the list she'd made in her mind.

And through all of this... the pale slip of a child, sitting on the dewy wet grass on such a bone chilling night with nothing but a threadbare oversized t-shirt to keep warm, finally allowed a soft breath to slip past a pair of cracked bloodless lips. The first since slipping out of the window to the cage... since planting numb bare feet upon soft wet grass to catch some fresh air. What did the other... the one with the strange ashy hair want... there was nothing around to offer her and yet there she was... touching... smiling... being so very strange. Surely there was something she wanted... everyone always wanted something.

He did.

And yet... unlike Him... the other... the girl... with ashy hair seemed different somehow. Strange yes but not in a bad way... Fascination and curiosity welled inside veins that failed to feel cold... a funny sort of fluttering tickled inside a chest that ached and ribs that stabbed with every breath drawn.... The hands that always burned with an icy chill felt sweet relief by a warmth that would not disappear even long after the other's... the girl's had slipped away.