Eleven year old Vanessa Thorne was sitting up in her bed. It was already 11 PM and she was wide awake. She hated when she couldn't fall asleep, it annoyed her. She tossed and turned before she decided flip on her thermal vision. Her ability to see bodies of temperature was a mutation that had only shown itself a few months ago. She could switch her vision from normal to thermal at will, with almost no effort. She smiled as her vision was overtaken by a blanket of green. She turned in the direction of her parent's room to see the two figures as people-shaped blobs of red and orange. She flipped back and forth between her visions, bored out of her mind and wishing her brother was there-he always stayed up late and would let her stay up with him. Unfortunately, he was away at college. She saw one of the bodies sit up and start out the door. She flipped back to normal vision as her mother came in. "hey sweetie, I just thought I'd check on you." She said quietly, sitting on the bed next to her. Vanessa cuddled up next to her mother, putting her head in her lap. "Thanks mom. I can't sleep. She mumbled. The older woman stroked her head. Vanessa knew she was supposed to hate being babied by her mother, but as far as she was concerned, she was never too old to let her mom stroke her head. "You can't sleep? We can't have that now can we? How can we fix it?" she asked quietly.
"The Lobster Quadrille." The young girl suggested. Her mother rolled her eyes.
"Don't you think you're too old for the Lobster Quadrille?" she asked bemusedly. "I'm never too old for the quadrille." She said, curling in closer still to her mother. The older woman smiled, kissing her daughter on the head as she started singing.
Would you walk a little faster?' said the whiting to the snail
There's a porpoise close behind us and he's treading on my tail!
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle-will you come and join the dance?
Will you won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?
Will you won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?
Vanessa was already beginning to nod off as she sang.
You can really have no notion how delightful it will be
When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters out to sea!
But the snail replied too far, too far! And gave a look askance-
Said he thanked the whiting kindly but he would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance.
What matters it how far we go? His scaly friend replied.
There is another shore you know, upon the other side.
The further off from England, the nearer is to France,
So turn not pale beloved snail, but come and join the dance.
Will you won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?
Will you won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?
When she finally finished the song, she saw that her daughter was almost totally asleep. "Did that help?" she asked quietly. The girl nodded quietly.
"I'm glad. You know your father and I love you right? And no matter what happens, we will always love you, and everything we did, we thought of you before we did it. Do you know that?"
"Yeah, I do." She said sleepily, unsure why her mother was talking like that.
"Good. And remember, we would never leave you if we had the choice but sometimes, things happen that we can't control. Good night sweetie, we love you." She smiled as she saw that her daughter had already fallen asleep.
Vanessa Woke up late the next morning, and when she did, she when downstairs to watch TV. She felt a shiver down her spine as she passed her parents room. She looked at their door and shrugged it off-there was no reason to worry. She spent the morning watching cartoons and eating cereal. She started to worry as time went on-it was nearly twelve and her parents still weren't down yet.
She decided to go up and check on them. She peeked inside their room quietly. "Hey mom? Dad? Are you guys alright?" she said just loud enough to be heard. She felt like there was a large rock in her stomach and the feeling refused to go away. "Mom, dad? Seriously are you alright?" she flipped the lights on and she went speechless. Her parents' bed was caked in blood, and there were words written in blood on the wall above them. She ran to them, tears streaming from her eyes. She shook them furiously, cold blood coating her arms and hands. Their throats were slit and there were cuts all over their bodies. Their eyes were wide and empty, and their arms were around each other. "Mom! Dad! Please! You can't be dead! You can't be you just can't!" she kept shaking them, screaming in a sickening combination of grief and fear until she dissolved into a sobbing heap, her head resting on her mother' bloody chest, too shaken and crushed to keep going. "Please…Please."