Yet another story that I'm starting… hm. I was wide awake with this idea, so I hope you guys like it. I went crazy with this idea and I thought "This is it!", so I hope it lives up to my (and your) expectations!
Don't forget to favorite/follow/do-whatever-you-do/review, yeah?
~Let's do this~
Chapter 1: The Discovery
Screams echoed up and down the dark hallways where she was kept, waiting her turn like the rest of the patients.
Tears streamed down her face and onto the animal in her lap as a storm raged outside of the cell window, getting the floor wet like it always did when it rained.
Her tiny hands grasped the bear as the voice of someone she didn't even know ran through her head.
If you ever feel anything, bite down hard on it, and you will be relieved.
"It hurts," the small, pale girl whispered as she brought her nearly-completely developed teeth to the ear of the bear and bit down as hard as she could.
"Shut up in there!" The loud voice of the warden boomed down the hall and echoed out of the window, letting those sound waves echo throughout every cell, including hers.
"Patient 919; ready for your daily mystery bath, little shit?"
The sound of that voice alone was enough to make the little girl soil her white, patient robe as those dark eyes set themselves on her from the heavily locked door.
The mystery bath. The girl had already distinguished that her mystery bath would be for longer than she could stand and that the choices were either scalding or below freezing… and she wouldn't be the one to choose.
"…"
"Come on, you psychotic piece of shit, it's your turn. Put that fucking animal on the bed and come back for it, or I'll tear it limb from limb. Your stupid parents died giving you that thing and now you're here, and I'll make sure you have no connection to anything if you keep this shit up."
The warden, a large, busty woman with ugly curly hair and a scrunched up nose, was the one being that haunted her nightmares. Those beady, dark eyes and demonic behavior toward everyone that she came into contact with were the scariest things on Earth.
As usual, the small girl stood on shaky feet, but refused to let go of her precious bear.
A swift and painful slap came from the hands of the burly warden and the girl staggered back a few feet and bit her bear's ear to keep from crying any more than she already was, but promptly made her way out of the door, protecting the bear from the hands of the disgusting woman.
The long hallway was dark, damp, and smelled like rotting corpses, which the girl had learned that they kept those in the floor beneath, just so the patients could smell what death was like as a warning.
"Keep it moving, 919! We don't have all day!"
The girl jumped at the sound of that intimidating voice again and kept walking, her bare feet scraping against the grimy concrete, leaving a mystery sludge between her toes. The sound of screaming and moaning was unbearable yet unnoticeable. If it sounded especially pained, it hurt to think about, but if it was constant, it slowly faded into the background of this life.
At the end of the hallway, there was a door with more liquid, of which was warm to the touch.
The bath must be ready.
The girl whimpered as she cowered away from the door, shaking her head and her limbs began to quake with the muscle memory of both types of ordeals.
"Go in there or I'll fucking lynch you right here, 919!"
The girl's brilliant blue eyes darted around the hallway, looking for an escape from the torment that was her existence.
"Get the hell in the room, you fucking little shit!" That woman grabbed the small, pale girl's wrist and forced her into the room, swearing all the way there.
The pale girl nearly fell onto her face underneath the fluorescent lights that beat down on her paper-white skin and her equally pale hair. Her breathing intensified as she approached the tub full of water, of which had steam coming off of it this time.
Hot bath.
She flinched away from it, biting down as hard as she could on the bear's ear and began to audibly gasp for air as she tried her hardest not to start to cry. If she did, she would be beaten black and blue just like that one time… and she swore, never again.
"Why, hello. What's your name?"
A smooth face met hers and she flinched away from the deceptiveness in the man's gaze. She'd never seen him before; the one who usually bathed her was nowhere in the small, lit room.
"A-ha!"
The smooth-faced man and his unusual hat pointed at a clipboard with the girl's picture on it and patient number.
"Your name is Evelyn, right? Little Evie? You're only five years old and your birthday is April 4th."
The girl only shrugged, biting down on the bear again. She had no idea she even had an age or even a name other than 919, so if that was what she was to be called, that was it.
"Why are you in a place like this? Aren't your parents worried about you?"
The girl, rather, Evelyn, shook her head. Her short, damaged hair flew in and out of her huge blue eyes.
"I see. Well, I'm here to get you out. You won't be taking any baths today."
His large hand flashed toward Evelyn, but she quickly ran to a corner of the room, biting the bear again.
"You don't trust me? We have to go, and I'll make sure you get out of here so that you never have to see that woman again. I can only do that if you fully trust me."
Evelyn shook her small head, clutching onto her stuffed bear for dear life.
"I've been smuggling people out of here for a long time now; it's my secondary hobby. Why do you think they have less people to pick on now?"
Evelyn's colorless face grew wider at the prospect of being able to escape, but what if they were caught? She would be killed for sure; that scary lady would tear her apart and eat her for breakfast, Evelyn was sure of it.
"Okay, I want you to get into this bag and lay as still as you can so that we can get out of here."
Evelyn looked to and from the man and the bag; she was used being deceived and she was so sure that that was what this man with the odd-looking hat and mysterious demeanor was trying to do… but there was nothing in his body language that told her that she should be careful.
"Shit!"
Evelyn squirmed inside the body bag that she was put into. It smelled clean, unlike anything else inside of that wretched place that she called home as the man who had helped her flung her onto a comfortable surface, slamming something.
She then heard a screech; a terrible one, one that made even her insides cringe as she swung to the left.
"Evie; are you alright in there?"
The man sounded out of breath, and Evelyn grunted to make herself heard to soothe his worry. Though, Evelyn kept biting onto that bear's dark, furry ear to calm herself down. Wherever she was, it was dark and the raging storm outside was overhead and she was rapidly swinging from side-to-side.
Evelyn whimpered and held the bear tighter, feeling tears stream down her face.
"Evie, it's okay! We're almost there, just give me a moment, okay?"
Even the reassuring words weren't enough for Evelyn as she began to squirm nervously again and squeezing the hell out of her bear; not only was she afraid, but she was tired and hungry.
"Shit!" The man swore again, making Evelyn rocket forward and almost into a hole of oblivion of which she recovered from and got back onto the comfortable place as the man swore again and again… over and over.
What if he was just like them?
Whatever was happening, it came to a stop and Evelyn rocketed forward, her hair getting into her eyes and she squeaked.
"Evie, Evie, okay…" The man must have picked up the bag because now Evelyn could feel cold liquid running down her back, getting onto her feet and she used her body to shield the bear from such an atrocity. "Evie, wait here for a moment and get out and go to the door of the place sitting in front of you. I have to go. Your new family will love you."
New family, what was he-?
Evelyn fell back first into the mud and she heard that horrible screeching sound again as the man's presence slowly left her. Though she waited silently, covering her mouth with her bear and clutching it as more things screeched by, she realized two different categories of her dilemma:
One, she was free from that horrid place with that horrid lady and the horrid stench of death, piss, and fear.
Two, she had no idea where she was, who saved her, or what he meant by his final words.
"Tsu-kuuuun! Are you ready for dinner? We'll be having chicken teriyaki today!"
Sawada Nana called upstairs to her small, six-year-old son, Tsuna. That child had been extra shy today, and hadn't come downstairs other than to get a glass of water at three o'clock. However, when Nana had gone in to check on him, he was only playing with his toys and shyly blushed when he found out she had been watching him do so.
Nana let her lithe fingers slide over a dirty dish that she had attempted to clean multiple times that same day, but the stains had refused to wash out, no matter how many times she resulted to scrubbing it barbarically.
"Tsu-kun! You don't want your dinner getting cold!"
"I-I'm coming, Kaa-san…!"
The stairs thumped as a small figure with brown hair as high as the sky slammed down onto the wooden floor below. A few lights shook with the sudden force, giving Nana a moment to stare at the small blush on her son's face.
"Kaa-san, hungry!"
"Your plate is right over there," Nana pointed over to the small table in the middle of the kitchen with one single plate sitting in the middle of the table, adjacent from an identical one.
One miniscule drop of water hit the window as Nana glanced outside, to which she clicked her tongue.
"Rain…"
She had been expecting it all day, and of course, right when she had decided into tending to her garden at the end of the day… at least she needn't do it anymore.
"Sky is crying? Kaa-san?"
Tsuna asked with his tiny little mouth full, desperately trying to keep the food inside.
Nana let out a small giggle at her son; if only Iemitsu could see him now. He hadn't come home for months now, hadn't he?
A frown slowly replaced Nana's initially gleeful demeanor and she stared down at the food on her own plate after leaving her post at the sink.
"Kaa-san?" Tsuna snapped his mother out of her somber stare at her full plate.
"A-ah, yes, Tsu-kun! The sky is crying because… crying is good for everyone sometimes!"
Nana watched Tsuna's face light up like it did whenever he learned new information or heard something good and he dug back into his dinner, watching the window where the wind blew leaves all over the yard and into other yards.
The tapping got louder and louder until it shut the silent communication between mother and son was blocked out just by the wind alone.
Without warning, over the sound of hard rain, Tsuna hopped up from his seat at the table.
"I go play, Kaa-san!"
"Okay, Tsu-kun," Nana smiled to him as he turned and raced up the stairs again, trying to hide his trademark blush. "Tell me when you're ready for bed so I can come upstairs and read you a bedtime story!"
Nana let out a sigh and began to clean up, realizing that she had no personal appetite. Heck, it was difficult raising a child all by herself and it was even more stressful to think that her spouse was off doing who-knows-what.
She let out a long sigh and began to clean up the kitchen, putting dishes into the sink hearing them clang together in the large, empty house.
Though, the echoing sound of crying slowly reached her ears and she put the dishes down immediately.
"Tsu-kun?"
"Kaa-san?"
Nana giggled; she thought it was cute when Tsuna asked her name whenever she asked his, but the matter at hand was that she could hear crying, but it obviously wasn't her Tsuna.
"Where is that coming from? Did someone leave their child outside?"
Being the worried mother that she was, Nana pulled back her brown hair to prepare herself to look outside, with which there was thunder and lightning beginning to make its introduction into the storm.
The crying continued and got louder into wailing as Nana looked down to see a small girl sitting on the porch, holding a stuffed bear to her chest and biting it.
"Aww… are you lost?"
The girl could hardly even breathe, let alone speak coherent words or even comprehend words.
Nana looked to her left and to her right; this little girl was getting soaked and looked lost without anyone in sight. Let alone the thought of a poor child outside in the rain all alone…
I guess that's why I donate to every commercial for those poor children…
Nana thought to herself as she stepped out into the rain and brought her hand to the girl's face; it was awfully pale and she looked malnourished and underfed, and when the girl opened her eyes long enough to register what was going on, she flinched away from Nana's hand.
"Here; I'll let you stay inside for a while."
Why would a child named Evelyn be in Japan? Who knows, yeah?
What'd you think? Did you like how I went about it? Let me know! Leave me a review and I'll answer it next chapter, okay?
By the way, I suggest you take a quick look at my other story, Flowers. I'm quite proud of it, and I'm proud of this one, too! :DDDD
~Teafully~