“It’s going to be fine,” a young black-haired woman brushes the half-black and pink hair of a little girl.

“But it hurts.” The mixed-haired girl hugs her body closer to her knees and hides her face in her arms.

“Come here. It’s going to be okay.” The black-haired woman stops brushing the little girl’s hair and picks her up. “I’m here. It’s going to be okay.” She places the little girl in her lap and holds her tightly.

The little girl burrows her head into the woman’s chest. “You promise? Mommy?” She looks slightly up at the woman’s pale face.

The mother smiles and starts rubbing the little girl’s head. “Yes, dear. I promise.” The child smiles back, tears covering her face. The little girl’s eyes are completely red from all the cryings. She leans down and kisses her child’s forehead. “It’s going to be ok. I’ll kiss the hurts away.” The mother squeezes the child closer to her and looks out the window. “I hope everything is ok,” she thinks to herself, “They’ve been gone for a long time.” She tightens her grip around her child and uses her fingers to fiddle with her hair.

“What’s that?” The mother quietly mutters. Off in the distance, a small distortion of sunlight rushes towards them. “I see…”

“What?” The little girl peeks her head out from her mother’s chest.

The mother’s eyes shifted slightly towards her child. “I shouldn’t have said that. She should be… Unless...” She keeps smiling and turns her head back towards the curious little girl. “Can you see it?”

The girl looks out the window, trying to see what her mother sees. “Where? Where?” She looks around but can’t see what mother saw.

The mother laughs a little and rubs the little girl’s head. “You can’t see yet, but you will.”

“But I wanna see now!” The girl squints her eyes and pouts her lips.

“Careful if you squint your eyes too much. They’ll be stuck like that forever.”

“Nu-un! I can do it all day!” The little girl scoffs and turns away. “See!” She continues looking out with her mother as the light distortion gets closer and closer. “Mommy? What is that?” The little girl points out the shadow flying towards them. She fidgets around, her pink and black hair swaying side to side. She tries to jump off, but her mother stops her.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Sit still!” She shouts. Her daughter struggles more. She holds her child tightly to prevent her from escaping.

“But! But!” The daughter, insisting on leaving her mother’s lap, tries harder to escape. “It! Yellow!” She flails her tiny arms and legs in the air, trying to kick off. “GO! MEANIE!” With a lucky strike, she kicks her mother’s stomach.

“Gee!” She lets go of her child and wraps her arms around the part her daughter kicked. The mother then leans forward and falls face-first into the ground. Her daughter lands a few feet in front of her, also hitting the ground.

“OWWIE!!” The daughter sits up and rubs her head. She stands up and turns around to face her mother. Her mother was lying lifeless on the floor. The mother’s arms tucked in under her stomach as she laid on her side. Her legs spread out in opposite directions. “Mommy?” she says, bending down and poking her forehead. “Mommy? Mommy?” Her light taps become more aggressive. “Wake up, Mommy! Stop playing. Mommy!” The little girl was too focused on her mother’s head that she didn’t notice the pink spine-like arm growing out of the mother’s back.

The arm quietly creeps up on the little girl. Slowly, it rotates a little so that the larger telson is pointed directly in the center of the girl’s neck. “I’m sorry sweety. This is going to hurt.” She jabs her stinger into her daughter’s neck. The little girl lets out a weak scream and falls to the ground. The mother sits up and lifts her child back into her lap. “I’m sorry sweety, but sometimes you need to give your child tough love. Although, I’m not really sure what that is.” She hugs her child tightly as her arm shrinks back into her back. She sets her in the chair near the window to let her rest.

As she walks towards the door, it bursts open with a kick. The door flies across the room and breaks the next door. A quiet groan comes from the pile of doors, “I’m alright.” Through the hole in the house, a tall, muscular black-haired man bows into the house.

“Hi, dear, is everything-” Her eyes widen as she gasps and places her hand over her mouth. She sees that the man is covered in the blood of the little girl lying in his arms. Her legs were mangled into a paste, with her skin barely hanging onto her bones. There is a hole going from the start of her left chest down to her belly button. It drips slowly on the floor like rain. The man looks down, not even making eye contact. “Is-is- she-” she stutters her words as she cries, “dead?”

“Almost. She stopped twitching a little while ago, but she’s barely holding on.” He said.

They both rush into the nearest room and place the girl down on a plain wooden bed. The mother sits on the bed next to the little girl. “I don’t think I can.” She says, looking down and rubbing her slightly round belly. “Unless…” She grows black vines from her fingers and wraps them inside the hole in the chest. “Go upstairs and get her.”

“Alright,” he kisses the side of her face and dashes off.

The mother clenches her stomach with her right hand as her left one releases red lighting sparks. “It’s going to be ok,” she groans. She sweats, and her arms tremble. After a few moments pass, she stops and looks over at the girl. “Is she?” She places her head near the girl’s mouth and listens. The girl takes a weak breath in and out.

“There you go.” She grows her vines out again, and they shoot red sparks.