"Just don't." He told me. He said not to look at the guys with the scars across their mouths. I just looked up at him and held onto his hand tighter. I was more scared at the time, but if I went back now, I'd still be just as scared if he wasn't by my side. He told me not to look at them. No one looked at them it seemed.
His face was super serious. His hair was white-ish grey, but I couldn't tell if it was natural or it just came from all the stress and shit he's had to deal with all these years. I was a young girl at the time, but I really thought I could change his life--- I just didn't know how.
I can't remember how I got there though. My family and I had gone to take a trip. I was 8. Thought I was a grown girl. Thought I was on top of the world. Thought I could do anything with a bit of help from my vast imagination. Scary how fast reality can hit a little 8-year-old girl?
So, we had to stop. Dad had taken a wrong turn and he ended up down some dead end with an abandoned park. It was pretty frightening. It looked terrifying even before I knew what was going on; even before I thought I knew what was going on. We got out of the car and mom held onto my hand. I think she was more scared than I was at first. I was more curious. I looked around and every time I tried to wonder off, she'd tug on my arm, pulling me back into place against her right leg. Dad looked around and tried to get connection on either his phone or his GPS. Neither would allow access to connect to anything. There was not reception-phone or GPS. It was one of those paranormal odd ings. I'm not sure how to explain it.
A little shadow pranced from tree to tree-like a monkey. I was interested in that. "Mommy look at that!" I pointed in the direction that I last saw the shadow at. "That's her." A whisper came from the shadow; the words traveled and blended in with the wind. It wasn't heard. I didn't know about it saying that until he told me himself. The wind did pick up and my little hair clip fell out of my hair and skipped about with the wind. I let go of Mom's hand and ran after it. A little pink bow hair clip, made of plastic, managed to skip about 20 feet away from where we started. It landed in the bushes and as naïve as I was as a child, I chased in after it.
He picked me up quick and covered my mouth. He had one arm around my tummy, holding me up and the other hand was covering my mouth; assuring I would make no noise. I screamed either way. A muffled scream- but I did scream. I got scared and now some strange man was holding me, and covering my mouth. Just like Mommy told me, I'm not supposed to be with strangers, not supposed to talk to them-anything. Well, nothing. If that would have been any other guy, I would have fidgeted, screamed more, maybe even attempt to hit him in the groin. I didn't know what that area was, but Mommy and Dad told me that when a guy got hit there, it would hurt. Even so, something was oddly comforting about him. It was weird. I still don't know what it was.
He started walking, still holding me with one arm and a hand over my mouth. I could feel his heartbeat, and it was strong and steady, not wild and going a million miles an hour like mine. I was scared, but comforted at the same time. Looking back, the walk to that building was so short, though at the time, it seemed like forever.
This place-This city, it was crowded. There were things all over the place. The place was dark and depressing. The buildings were a gunmetal color. The sky was a light brown-ish. The clouds were black. No sign of confidence as I usually thought clouds had-confidence. The people weren't people. People looked malnourished, or they had cancer and were close to dying. Most of the women looked at way. Then there were these men... They had 'U' cuts on their necks, or large scars on their mouths. I couldn't help but to stare. The way the stitching was and the way their skin looked like it was going to fall off. The scariest thing to me though, was they had no eyes. You could tell they had been brutally ripped out, or even carved out. He put me down and held my hand. That action comforted me. Even on the ground and walking, I was still staring. "Don't stare at them." His voice was cold, but had a relaxing tone to it. He was relaxed and knew what he was talking about. "Why not?" I asked instinctively. I was just in the question years of my life. "Just don't." He told me. I just looked up at him and held onto his hand tighter. We got to the building. It looked like the worse one there. There was a girl on the inside. She looked Asian. Her hair was cut short, like a bob cut. She looked at him, then at me, then at him again.
