A small figure laid on the ground. Red and blue lights shone to and from her peripheral vision and she, motionlessly, rested on a slab of cold hard concrete. Her head felt as if something was constricting it continuously, black spots appearing in her vision, cagily blocking her view of the red pile of mess in front of her.
A larger figure was splayed across the road, crimson blood covering every crevice of their surroundings, jaw disfigured and chest broken in, widening the eyes of the tiny child who had to bear witness to abhorred sight, fear and worry enveloping their small orbs.
A queasy feeling assaulted the girl, a mix of warmth from the blood dripping down her forehead and the frosty rain which pelted upon her frail body culminating into a feeling similar to when she’d caught an ailment which had left her either sweating from her own body heat, or shivering from the lack of it.
Tiny tears merged with the rain that thundered down upon the her, mockingly so, diluting foreign blood, aiding it in reaching the girl from the mangled body from whence it came, staining her clothes and seeping into her body.
A small grey truck, sporting a broken front light, resulted in the yellow fog light of the car diffracting throughout the rain, highlighting the two bodies.
‘B... bright... my head... If only I could cover my eyes... but my arms... I can’t...’ distressfully groaned the child.
The front of the car had a large dent covered in blood, the windshield was shattered, glass embedded with blood adorning another person who laid on the dashboard of the vehicle, unconscious.
A song played in the background, slowly growing louder as audio returned from an unwanted captor. The van’s radio display from which the cheerful song was coming from has been stained with blood, waning every few seconds before loudening once again with renewed vigour.
The sickeningly sweet voice of the vocalist which made it’s way towards the small girl slowly lulled her to sleep as her eyes slowly clamped shut, under the aid of a fatigued and confused mind.
Before her eyelids completely closed, a small vehicle with bright lights appeared at the end of road, tumbling towards the crash site.
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Erupting from her slumber, an unfamiliar white ceiling greeted the young girl who was slick with sweat; clearly flagging the presence of a nightmare.
Staring at the ceiling above her, Chloe recalled what she could from her last moments of consciousness. The crimson liquid that desperately clung to her body before being washed away by the thunderous rain, a disfigured body which laid perfectly still and a damaged vehicle that was located a few metres away from the both of them.
Peering down towards her body, the girl panicked as she couldn’t see the left side of the room, or her body for that matter. Lifting a shaking hand towards her left eye, a soft material greeted her fingertips, covering her eye completely.
She sat still for a minute or so, before resuming her scan of the surroundings, finding the room to be mostly empty apart from some cheap looking tables, a few pieces of machinery and a IV drip sat beside her. A tube was connected to her wrist, feeding some sort of liquid into her veins, eliciting a discomforting feeling in the girl upon viewing the sight.
There was another person in the empty room.
Grey hair cascaded around a figure, who seemed to be in her mid forties, as she sat asleep in what looked to be an uncomfortable position. Her untidy appearance would have lead anyone to rightfully conclude that she had arrived here as soon as possible.
Well, waking up to the blaring alarm of your phone, groggily choosing to answer the call, only to find out that your loved ones had been engaged in an accident was probably not one of best situations which would lead a normal person to take the time to ensure their outfit was one of perfunctory quality.
Not wanting to wake the woman up, the girl once again stared towards the blank ceiling and pondered.
Chloe Barker, a girl had been dealt a poor hand of cards in life, had been cursed with a weak constitution since birth which resulted in regular mandatory hospital check-ups. It was January when the accident had occurred, the main culprit of why the skies had been so dark at only 7pm in the afternoon.
Chloe and her father, Mikhail, had gone to the hospital closest to them by foot and being the only arduous exercise Chloe received from her day to day life, the hospital’s doctors endorsed the small treck by foot over to the nearby hospital over the use of a vehicle.
The check-up had concluded smoothly, consisting of a few rudimentary tests being performed on Chloe to gain data about the state of her weak body. Usually Chloe’s father, Mikhail, would take her out to the convenience store in order to get some ice-cream, but as it was early January, it had been a cold night and thus Mikhail had ordained that it would be most beneficial to return back to their house as soon as possible to reduce the risk of Chloe contracting a cold.
You see, Chloe’s illness was quite the special one. The surgeries that the young girl required, and had gone through so far, were very costly for the middle class family of three, burdening them with loans which they had to take out.
The common cold was a fairly low specced opponent for the common person’s body to fight off. Unfortunately, this was not the case for little Chloe. The common cold might as well be a deadly illness to her, on which she had not the best of chances to fight off, hence why she had to have so many check ups.
Mikhail offered to give his daughter a piggy back, but was promptly refused by the strong willed girl who wished to engage in physical exercise in the hope of helping improve the condition of her body.
Settling for just holding Chloe’s hand, Mikhail quickly embarked on their venture back to their abode, of which neither of them would make it to their destination unscathed. The sky above them turned cloudy as rain clouds started to appear, prompting Mikhail to pick up their pace so as to arrive home before it started to pour down.
A few drops of rain splashed on the dense ground, catching Mikhail’s attention who had reached a junction, only to be halted by an traffic light turning red as soon as they had reached the intersection, as if it were condemning the pair to their soggy fate.
He peered down at Chloe whilst inwardly letting out a sight of relief, ′thankfully I made her wear a coat and some gloves...′ .
The small child smiled back at him in response to his stare, prompting Mikhail to let out a large grin.
The Barkers lived in a city, a large, large metropolis which was filled with ginormous metal monstrosities which put medieval fortresses to shame in size. Their surroundings were that of a large junction, split by a road and some evenly spaced white stripes indicating that this was indeed a pelican crossing.
The white stripes had been worn down by the many years of use and external weather resulting in them being only half as visible as when they had first been applied to the road, whilst the traffic light, which glared at Mikhail with a red light reflected of his glasses causing him to wince as they flickered on and off.
There was obviously some damage sustained by the light and thus it was not in a working perfectly resulting in it’s abnormal behaviour. Mikhail’s worsening mood was uplifted when saw the pedestrian lights snap from red to green, signifying that it was their turn to cross.
Looking down to his daughter, he spoke in a gentle voice, “Lets cross now Chlo”. ‘Chlo’ was the nickname that Mikhail chose to call his daughter, finding it an appropriately cute nickname for the little girl. They hastily crossed the intersection, pellets of rain starting to thunder down from the sky as two yellowish beams of light came into Mikhail’s peripheral vision.
Clearly the truck, the source of the unsettling yellow light, was tumbling forward at a speed unbefitting of a city intersection. The vehicle accelerated as Mikhail pulled Chloe ahead, walking to towards the end of the road, not yet noticing the van. Both of them were located in the middle of the street which spanned 20 or so meters, leaving 10 meters to go, whilst the truck was accelerating towards them at an unholy speed.
Stolen novel; please report.
As the noise erupting from the vehicle entered his ears, he quizzically looked towards it’s source, finding it to have come from a speeding object which was quickly approaching them at a frightening pace, showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.
Chloe had yet to understand the severity of the situation, the speed at which Mikhail suddenly started to tug her along making her out of breath.
She peered up towards his frightened exterior, deciding to not ask any questions focusing solely on keeping up with her father. Suddenly, she was shoved forwards, looked back towards her father with an puzzled expression.
There her father stood, a metre or so away from the metal vehicle. Time seemed to slow for a few seconds as the van slowly inched forwards, making its way towards the man.
Mikhail still had full contact with the small girl as time resumed to it’s normal pace, resulting in Chloe being roughly flung a metre or so before landing on the ground.
Chloe felt her head make contact with the cruel concrete below her as a nauseating crunch filled her ears. As the small girl attempted to push up her body from the floor, her weakened physique rendered her helpless.
A series of thumps and cracks entered her ears once more before coming to a dull stop filled Chloe’s ears.
Mikhail’s body was flung forwards, the impact sending the damaged vehicle driver off the acceleration pedal and causing the driver to fly out his windshield. In a drunken stupor, the vehicle operator hadn’t managed to see the two under the dimly lit lamps which where dotted around the junction.
Chloe, who writhed in pain on the concrete, attempted to look around to spot her father, only to find a large truck with a dented front, paired with a broken front light and two people covered in a pool of a red liquid a few meters away. The rain wetted her stained orange hair, obscuring her view, as if to protect her from the sight in front of her.
She laid motionless as she stared at the body of her father, the pool of blood around his body slowly making it’s way towards her under the aid of the rain as she noticed a pair of glasses sitting beside the body which seemed very familiar. It then all came together, tears beginning to stream down her face as she screamt for help.
Luckily, this accident had taken place in a densely populated city. Even if Chloe had not been able to scream for help, the large impact noise had not been covered up by the rain to such a degree where the citizens of the city nearby could not hear the accident take place.
Chloe laid on the concrete, staring at the motionless body of her father which was dyed in crimson whilst wondering why such a thing had occurred.
Thankfully, she somehow managed to not contract a cold during the duration of the accident, the concussion subsiding before she had woken up. Perhaps this was due to the response time of the ambulance that arrived on the scene being very fast, or maybe a result of the many protective layers she was wearing.
Chloe’s mother had been born into a middle class family and lived an standard life, marring Mikhail at the age of 23. The newlywed couple gave birth to Chloe two years later. Just when Mikhail and his spouse thought their lives couldn’t get any better, Mikhail had passed away in a car accident.
The next week of Chloe’s life sped by as she arrived at the funeral of her father after being discharged from the hospital. Shortly after going back to sleep in the hospital bed, Chloe’s mother awakened and left the hospital to take care of some affairs and also plan the funeral.
Not one word of comfort had reached Chloe’s ears from the grieving woman. Perhaps an empty look or two would be shot her way but that was about the extent of it.
It wasn’t that the woman was an uncaring mother, proven by the fact that she’d rushed over to the two of them at once after being called. However, after she’d heard the news of Mikhail’s untimely death her attitude towards Chloe had changed.
When Chloe’s mother came to take her to the funeral, the small girl had noticed the vastly different way in which she was treated, confusing the girl even more than she’d already had been from this whole tragedy.
No longer did she speak with Chloe in a loving, gentle voice. Now it was a cold and uncaring tone that was used, Chloe thought she understood. ‘It must be because daddy has passed away...’ she had concluded.
The atmosphere at the funeral felt heavy and full of sorrow, the plethora of black suits adorned on various strangers cemented the fact to Chloe that her father was indeed dead. With tears in her eyes, Chloe said goodbye to Mikhail for the last time as his casket was lifted into a hole, Mikhail’s final resting place.
Nobody consoled the little girl as she cried. Her mother was too busy wondering how she would afford to keep their house. Chloe had no grandparents, as they had passed away before Chloe had been born.
A few hours had passed during the funeral, Chloe had been occupying a table near the coffin, sorrowfully staring at the polished black case which contained the remains of her father.
A hand was placed on Chloe’s shoulder. A large man dressed in a black suit with a small smile on his face spoke, “Hello Chloe, my name is Olsen. I am a friend of your dad, you probably are not that comfortable around all these adults... if you would like you can go play with my son, Y/n?”
The man pointed his index finger towards a young kid who looked a bit older than Chloe. He was dressed in a black suit like everyone else and had dark black hair which hung over his eyes. A pair of green eyes were scanning his surroundings, seemingly uninterested in the gathering. Noticing the disappearance of his father, he stood up from where he had been seated and started to look around the funeral as if he were searching for someone.
His eyes landed on Chloe and Olsen before slowly walking over to their area. After a few seconds or so Olsen introduced Y/n to Chloe, “Y/n this is Chloe, Chloe this is Y/n. Get along well.“.
Chloe looked at Y/n as she greeted the boy, who swiftly returned the greeting.
Olsen explained the situation to his son before turning around to face Chloe, a melancholic smile apparent upon his visage, “It’s been a pleasure meeting you, please have fun playing with my son.” he said before turning around and walking over to another group of adults.
Y/n looked at Chloe and spoke, “Would you like to play Hide and Seek with me?” he exclaimed, awkwardly playing with his hands behind his back.
The boy clearly did not have much confidence in his social skills.
“O..ok..” replied Chloe with a small frown on her face. It would take a bit more than playing a game to direct her mind away from the funeral.
“Alright then. I’ll be the seeker and you’ll be the hider. I’ll count for 30 seconds, so go quickly and find somewhere to hide. I bet I’ll find you.” he exclaimed with a smile on his face, before crouching in corner and covering his eyes.
Chloe looked at her surroundings before deciding on hiding behind a curtain. She climbed on top of the window sill and drew the curtains shut. The sun shone down through the glass as she peered out of the window. The world seemed so warm, a sharp contrast to the cold atmosphere in the funeral.
She felt as though she could escape all her problems. Hide away from them. Lose herself in the sense of calmness which the window sill gave her. It lulled her into a false sense of security for a short period of time.
However, It didn’t take long before the curtains were opened and a head of black hair could be seen. Chloe paid it no mind, her eyes observing the thriving and well maintained vegetation outside.
“Found you!” a voice called out, commanding Chloe’s attention. Her eyes slowly redirected themselves towards the boy’s direction, her mind coming back to reality.‘Ah, the funeral... Dad....’ .
Tears started to appear in the corner of her glossy eyes before slowly venturing down her chubby cheeks.
At a loss for words, Y/n stared at the crying girl before hastily reaching his hand into his breast pocket, scrambling to find a handkerchief that his dad had equipped him with, and haphazardly presented it before the small girl.
Y/n stared at the small girl, clueless as for what to do next. Deciding on hugging the girl, he wrapped his arms around her and patted her back. That’s what his father had usually done to cheer him up when he was sad.
The two of them stayed in a hug for until Chloe has started to stop crying, Y/n backing up and staring at his counterpart.
His attempt to cheer Chloe up were not fruitless. An occasional sniffle or two from Chloe was the fruit of his labour
“Another round?” he queried, to which the girl eagerly nodded her head.
She stared at the small boy’s countenance before reminding him that it was his turn to hide.
“I’ll... count to 30 now...” said Chloe, proceeding to look out of the window and began counting.
“Sure!” replied Y/n before he ran away, scanning the area. The funeral was a large indoor space. The walls were a bright shade of blue whilst there were black tables dotted around the area. White curtains were located beside each windowsill, whilst Mikhail’s casket was located in the northeast part of the room.
Y/n settled on hiding behind a large grandfather clock which was not far from Chloe’s current location. To be honest, the funeral area didn’t really have any good hiding spots except from the windowsill with the curtains drawn. He sighed before sticking to the side of the clock. At least from this spot he could see Chloe’s movements.
After what seemed like an eternity, Chloe looked away from the windowsill and scanned the room, there were maybe twenty or so adults dressed up in posh looking black suits. Walking around the area, a lady with grey hair walked up to Chloe.
“Come on Chloe, It’s time to go now.” spoke the woman. Chloe looked up at the woman with a worried expression. She didn’t want to leave without finding Y/n first.... she’d feel terrible if she left him hiding there forever.
Seeing her reluctance, the grey haired woman snatched Chloe’s hand and pulled her along, exiting the room before Chloe could do anything. The grey woman’s grip was quite strong, leaving Chloe’s wrist sore after she was let go in the parking lot.
The whole way, a cold stare was directed Chloe’s way. The culprit, the elder woman, clearly viewed Chloe with distain as she go into the car, not listening to Chloe’s mumbling about leaving Y/n alone.
Thankfully, Y/n had been watching Chloe being taken away by the grey haired women and so left his hiding place shortly, going over to his father to see what happened to Chloe. “Oh, that’s her mother, don’t worry about Chloe.” replied Olsen.
Y/n had thought the way the grey haired women treated Chloe was a bit harsh but soon forgot about it after being told they were going to leave since the funeral had concluded.