Chapter Text
It was a quiet night, the moon was a bright orb hung decoratively in the sky, sending down a bright light, and illuminating the neighborhood. A community, so small yet so alive, alive and fake. You’d have to assume everyone who lived there must’ve been hard of hearing because no one seemed to pay attention to the broken windows and overgrown lawn of the house that never slept.
A 12-year-old girl sat on her bed, crying, she was curled up underneath her covers, trembling. The other boy in the room was trapped in a deep slumber, so he couldn’t hear her cries or comfort her like he always would. A brown-haired head popped up from the covers to peer at him, the older one she called her brother had bruises all over his face, and though his nose stopped bleeding the little girl’s heart did not.
Pulling her knees to her chest, she wrapped her aching arms around herself, burying her red face, the memories of everything were fresh on her mind, and it was painful, she felt responsible for everything.
——
“Mia Mallory! Are you fucking kidding me? A 75? On your science test, god you’re so fucking pathetic, your brother makes better grades than you and this is all you can pull out of your ass?” The tall man bellowed, placing a hard slap on the little girl, she let out a small cry of pain, falling to her knees. Shaking.
“You women are dumb as fuck, I don’t even know why we let you go to school if you’re just going to be a blemish to this family-“ The man dropped the paper, letting it fall gently to the ground.
He raised his hand once more as if to hit his daughter again, “You should just fucking die.” however before the tips of his fingers could even breach her skin, a firm hand gripped the wrist of the man before her.
“Fucking touch her again. I dare you, David.”
“Oh look, you’re so weak you have to let your big brother stick up for you. Erin, boy you better back the fuck off, this doesn’t concern you, and you will address me as your dad.”
The blonde-haired boy drew his lips back into a snarl, “You’re no father.” Erin let go of the older man before swiftly punching him, Blood splattered onto the floor, a broken nose to represent a broken family.
“I don’t ever want to see your hands on my sister again,”
David stood back up, wiping the fresh blood from his nose, Erin stood in front of the frail girl, kicking away the paper, as if it didn’t matter.
The man they call their father repeatedly hit the boy, but he never budged, he never cried, he never bothered to touch his bloody face, he had one job, to keep his sister safe, so he would suffer through anything.
A final blow, a streak of sweat and red, decorated the carpet in a crimson red. So beautiful yet so painful.
The man backed off, retreating to the kitchen to grab another bottle of booze. Forcing himself to forget, always, forgetting.
Erin faced his sibling, a small smile painting his face, the brown-haired girl simply just cried, tracing hands trembling as she touched his skin, “You’ll be okay.” He promised her, a saying as terrifying, as it is comforting.
She hoped he kept it.
——
So why, why, if there was a god, who so loved his people, as she was taught, why would he let her suffer like this? If there was a god, why wouldn’t he change the man she called her father, Cleanse his soul, and be reborn as a different man?
The answer is simple, there is no god, there never was. Humans are rejects of what most people call their savior, unloved and broken, completely unwanted.
Every day, Mia understands why their mother willingly left them, to join a false deity in the sky, blindly believing in someone, a hoax forged to keep people from going insane.
Sometimes she wondered if she should join her, it must be lonely in heaven if there even was such a thing, she wondered what her mother would say, perhaps how much she missed them both, and apology for leaving them, for falling under the temptation of a rope, for even thinking about letting her fingers brush against the texture.
It didn’t matter though, she was gone, ever since Mia’s father drank himself until he was almost always wasted. His warm love turned bitter and cold, years later he was still the same, part of Mia sympathized with the poor man, no matter how much he’d abuse her, curse her, the little girl could never bring herself to hate him.
Though she was growing tired of the pain and the aches of life, the brown-haired girl wiped her eyes, getting up from her bed, a small thump illustrating her presence, the boy shifted now and then as she trudged around the room, preparing for departure. She wouldn’t be coming back home anytime soon, the school could bite her ass.
Lastly, she slipped on her Converse before tossing on a jacket along with her backpack, the gentle shuffling of feet echoed throughout the room as she readied herself by the doorway, Mia glanced at her brother one last time before whispering a soft, “I’m sorry.” and she left, leaving nothing behind, but a cold bed and empty sheets.
———
Mia walked alone that night, hesitantly plodding down the new path she laid for herself, she didn’t know where she was going to go, and she didn’t know if she’d ever find another place to call home, maybe this was god’s plan, maybe this was how it was supposed to play out, with her, dead, alone, homeless, never making it past 20.
She didn’t want to go out so pathetically, perhaps she had to take this one herself, her brother would be much safer without her in this world anyway.
Mia eyed the road next to her, it was colder now, and a warm yellow light stretched across the granite surface, slowing her pace, she waited.
Two lights up ahead told her it was time, as the car approached nearer, she stepped out onto the road, only to be aggressively yanked back, the car blew its horn and the person inside yelled something unpleasant.
“What the fuck!” The girl twisted around quickly to face who had stopped her from doing what needed to be done, the little girl figured it was her brother, however she was wrong.
Before she was a man no later than his mid-20s, he had long blonde hair pulled into a low ponytail that lay on his shoulder, he wore a clean blazer, with black slacks and a white undershirt.
Butterflies pooled in her stomach and she felt her blood run cold, she had heard stories of kids going missing in the past, way back when her brother Erin was just a Sophomore, but they seemed to stop after that.
Though, those tales always haunted her.
“You might not want to do that.”
Mia scoffed tearing her arm away from the stranger, “What would you know?”
“More than you, you look like you’ve seen hardships, my friend. I’m part of an organization that might be able to help you.” The man grinned wickedly, his head tilting to the side.
The girl backed up further down the sidewalk, trying to create some space, “No thank you, uhm, I’m supposed to be home right now. So if you’ll excuse me. . .”
As she turned to leave the man grabbed her once more, this time more harshly, Mia didn’t have enough time to react before a cloth covered her mouth and everything went black.
This was how it truly ended, or so, she thought.