Chapter Text
The photograph on the wall looked like a polaroid snapshot, a neat date written on the border. A man was featured, caught in the middle of a deep laugh. He wore a monotone flannel and worker’s jeans, some sort of chain necklace, and dark boots. Everything about him was dark, in fact- the straight, crow’s-wing black hair that went to his shoulders, the scruff on his chin. Everything but the warm light in his eyes as the man looked to the young girl on his shoulders, the only speck of color in the entire picture.
She wore a blue princess’ dress adorned with sparkles and sequins and frills, her fire-engine red hair up in a ponytail with a rose-gold crown sat crookedly on her head. Her grin was contagious, demanding everyone around her to be just as delighted in the world as she was.
They walked up to the photograph, dragged as though they were a simple puppet controlled by a marionette. With a red dry-erase marker, they scrawled a vicious red X right on the man’s face.
They turned, taking in the dozens of other pictures and dozens of red marks on the plain wall. With a hum and a snap, crackle, pop, they left the room.
Not many more, now.