Born Fallen

Chapter 2

Evelyn would never admit it, but she was worried for Laylah. For the past year or two, Laylah spent a lot of time sleeping. Part of her knew it was because she was younger and because her body was almost always hurt, but she was still worried. Laylah was hurt a little less than three days ago, but the longest time she had been awake and coherent was an hour, and that was simply trying to get her to eat.

Three- and four-year-olds were supposed to be energetic, not spending all of their time sleeping and recovering from injuries or these episodes that Laylah has. Of course, four-year-olds also were not supposed to be beaten almost daily.

Evelyn was mature for her age, she knew that. But she also knew her skills were limited. And the only one who may be willing to help someone like Laylah was the spook.

Of course, Laylah was on top of her, sleeping, and she knew from experience that trying to wake Laylah when she only fell asleep a few minutes ago was practically impossible, unless you were Mother. Evelyn would need to wait at least a half hour before she could even try.

The seven-year-old absently petted her younger sister's long hair. She had to admit, her sister was absolutely adorable sleeping, even with the wings and black markings. Of course, she never thought those features looked bad on Laylah, either. Evelyn personally thought her wings were really pretty, but she wasn't stupid enough to say that out loud.

Little Elli came toddling through the doorway, and spotted Evelyn and Laylah at the table. "Is she sleeping again?" she asked, eyes wide and full of worry. "Did Mother do something bad again?"

Evelyn winced. She never told Elli much about what Mother does to Laylah, and neither does Laylah, but Elli wasn't stupid. "Mother did something that hurt Laylah really bad three days ago, but Mother told me she won't be here for another week. Laylah can use the next four days to recover. Has she been sleeping?"

Elli avoided her eyes. "L gets really tired after an episode, and those happen a lot," she said slowly.

Evelyn narrowed her eyes. "That doesn't answer my question and you know it, Elli. Does she sleep?"

"She does, but she has nightmares and moves around a lot. You can hear her screaming and it's scary." The three-year-old shivered.

Evelyn petted Laylah's hair again as she squirmed around in her lap. "I know, Elli. It's scary for everyone."

"Even you?" she asked, eyes wide.

Evelyn nodded solemnly. "Even me."

They stayed there in silence for a while, before Elli whispered, "Sometimes I think L will never wake up again. Sometimes I think that the voices swallow her up and she doesn't know how to use her own voice. And sometimes, when she sleeps and I can't fall asleep, I hear a man comforting her, but L can't hear him. He tells her it'll all be okay in the end and then the room gets all warm and L's hurts go away. He's always here, always inside of L, but he can never show himself."

And sometimes, Evelyn thought, a chill running down her spine, the people I try to protect are also the ones that terrify me.

***

By some miracle Evelyn was able to pry Laylah off of her and into bed before she too fell asleep. The next morning, the seven-year-old with too solemn turquoise eyes found herself in front of the spook. Elli's observation was dead-on, she found.

"What is it that you want, girl? I'm heading out now," he said gruffly.

"You hit Mother three days ago because she asked if you would kill my sister for her. Or did I get that wrong?" she told him bluntly.

"Are you here to ask the same thing, girl?" he asked suspiciously. "Because my answer would be the same thing, if a bit less vulgar than my answer to your mother."

Evelyn smiled bitterly. "Whether it's tomorrow, a few weeks from now, or even years from now, Mother will end up killing Laylah, sir. I'm asking you to take her away so that doesn't happen. Entrust her to a family that will care for her despite her appearance and allow her to live to her fifth birthday and beyond. You are a spook, and according to Elli, my youngest sister, you 'deal with the dark' rather than kill them. So do the same with my sister, and you can plunder my Mother's weapons and sell them to earn your compensation, sir. That is, if anyone will buy weapons used to torture and rape a four-year-old."

"Bring me to your house, girl. I want to see why you insist your sister is part of what I deal with for a living. And how old are you, girl?" the man commanded.

"I'm seven, sir. I'll bring you to our house. Mother will be gone for another four days." She glanced the man and added, "If Laylah is awake, try not to intimidate her too much. She'll be terrified of you enough. She's scared of a lot of things these days, especially people."

They headed towards the house, and Evelyn had to run in order to keep up with the spook. "Who's to say your Mother won't pick you as her next target once your sister is gone, girl?"

"If you could take all of us, I wouldn't ever be able to repay you for saving our lives. However, I also don't expect a miracle. Elianna, the youngest, just turned three, and she's all over the place. I don't think anyone would be willing to take all three of us and still treat Laylah as a normal child and still keep in contact with you in case something... dark does occur and is caused by Laylah, accidentally or not."

"Are your sisters as smart as you? What do you think that girl will do?" he asked.

"Hard to tell, but I'm a bit biased. Elli is certainly smarter than the average three-year-old, but she's mainly very good at observing things. It's harder to tell with Laylah, though. She's... well, she hasn't had the opportunity to show how intelligent she is. A lot of her time spent awake is time panicking so much she can't think properly. Or she's too exhausted to think properly. There's rarely been an in-between moment in the past two years. As to what she may do... well, I honestly don't know. It's more... just in case," she explained.

They continued walking for a few more minutes before Evelyn finally said, "Well, I suppose I should tell you this, should you end up having to take care of Laylah for a while. Elli can tell you more than me because she's more in tune to Laylah than I am, but it's still better to get some warning. Umm... how do I put this...? Well, you see, Laylah can hear things, and see things."

"Like what, girl? Spit it out."

"Laylah says she can hear dead souls, and she says she can see the souls of everyone nearby, living or dead. It's not something she can really turn off, so it's always there and it's why she's really really scared of crowds and gets sick whenever she goes into town with people on the streets."

"She can see ghosts, as well?" the man eventually asked, no expression on his face or in his voice.

"Well, probably, I mean, ghosts are simply lost souls in the living realm. Um, sir, can a normal person feel a ghost's presence?"

"...On occasion, girl. Why?"

"Because I think our house may have our father's ghost in it."