Falling Stand-Stills
Life has treated this little girl especially hard. Her mind shares her secrets, and her eyes tell a story. Her heart stays strong, however, because her eldest sister always told her, "Keep you're head high, or lose yourself to the clouds", and until now this little girl never understood what it had really meant. Supposedly growing older unleashes a great deal of knowledge you never knew you had, or at least that is what they say, but even the most cleverest person still slips every now and then.
...
Rukia laid sprawled out over the dead grass that stretched for miles. She stared into the eyes of the sky and thought to herself of what the clouds looked like. One was a fluffy dog with a hole in its nose, and another was a pig, but with a nub for a tail. Little seven-year-old Rukia laughed to herself, as she most often did, because she was always alone. Always. Ever since her sister died.
Rukia stood and dusted off her light-brown dress and shook her black, braided hair. Pieces of brown and yellow grass trickled off her petite body and onto the ground. She headed home for dusk was coming and Father always said to be home. "Danger lurks," He says. Rukia never understood, but found it best to not disagree.
Rukia's shadow loomed over the rocks and trees she passed on her little journey. Soon she stood in front of their old, rundown, wooden home. Rukia took the usual steps up to the front door, the floor-boards creaking beneath her feet. She opened the door quietly, and closed it behind her. She never thought to lock it. They were out in the middle of nowhere, and besides bad-guys didn't exist in her mind.
The pale-skinned girl walked by Father, whom slept in a rocking chair, and she made her way to the kitchen. She opened the rusty fridge and looked inside. The light that was supposed to click on didn't work, and the little girl was met with dust and cobwebs instead. Her stomach growled. Rukia frowned and closed the fridge. She went to cupboards next but was met with the same dilemma.
It was the first week in this new house and Father had only bought food the first day they were here. Now, he just sat in his rocking chair and slept. Rukia walked over to her Father and studied his face. It had absolutely no expression. Rukia touched his forehead and bent down to his head. She kissed it gently and whispered, "Goodnight". Though she was starving, Rukia decided to travel upstairs and give in for the night.
Mother had already passed on.
It was at the old house that Rukia and her family, including her sister, lived at. Mother just gave in one day on her bed and died with her fists clenched. Father was nervous and yelled to Rukia and Hisana to cover Mother in sheets. They did as told and the remaining family members threw flower pedals over Mother's make believe coffin.
After their 'funeral' the family took to the train with the last of the money that Father brought in before he was fired. Rukia and Hisana were extremely excited to go somewhere new, they giggled to themselves and Father smiled. He patted them on the heads and looked to the window. Soon, however, he reached into his bag and pulled out a needle. He injected himself and fell asleep. Hisana and Rukia saw both Father and Mother do this plenty of times, but never knew what it was for. They never asked, it wasn't there business they thought.
When the train stopped the little girls, Rukia was seven and Hisana was twelve, shook Father awake. He grunted, but when seeing his beautiful daughters faces he smiled and stood. He slung his bag over his shoulder and grabbed the little girls' hands. They walked a ways down a busy street, which soon dwindled to nothing more than a dirt road. The sun shined down on the family of three and they were exhausted of walking. Three hours later, they were still walking down the same path.
"Where are we going?" Hisana questioned to Father. He didn't make a sound, but just swallowed some pills. He was getting agitated, but the girls didn't understand why. "Where are we going?" Hisana repeated, and something seemed to snap. Father turned and slapped Hisana straight across the face. He never hit them before. Rukia stopped walking and had a look of fear on her face. Hisana cupped her cheek and showed a face of complete betrayal. Father grabbed Hisana by her shirt and pulled her to his face.
"Shut up!" He screamed and pushed her backward. Fate seemed extremely evil for right at that very minute a car drove by and hit the twelve-year-old. Blood splattered the pavement, and Father and Rukia's faces.
"Hisana!" Rukia screamed and ran forward, but Father grabbed her arm and pulled her back. The driver squealed to a stop and quickly got out of their car. Father looked up to see the woman who was in complete alarm. The woman started to speak, but Father picked Rukia up and threw her over his back. He started running down the street.
Rukia was screaming and thrashing all around. The driver tried chasing him, but quickly gave up. She instead went to care for the dead girl in the street.
"Shut up, girl!" Father yelled. Rukia didn't listen and kept on with her crying and screeching.
Once a mile down the road, Father threw Rukia down on the pavement, knocking the wind out of her. Rukia coughed but stayed down. Father leaned down next to his daughter. "I'm so sorry you had to see that, but if we stayed the cops would discover you're mother, and we can't have that. Besides, one less person is less difficult to travel with. Understand?" He said. Rukia didn't know what to say. She had such respect and love for her sister, and though Mother hated Rukia, Rukia still loved her, but now they are dead all in one day and Father is telling her to forget them. Rukia shook her head.
"You said," She began but Father held his hand over her mouth.
"Never show weakness, never. Never cry, never scream, never get angry, never be happy. I'm all you need, and you're all I need. Hisana is dead, Mother is dead, but we still have each other. Alright?" Rukia kept crying, but shook her head. Father helped her up and grabbed her hand once again. "Stop crying."
Finally, after miles of walking off the road, in the dead grass, sun blazing down on their pale-skinned faces, they came to an old abandoned house. Father said this was their new home.
They went inside and looked around.
"Why this house?" Rukia asked as she peaked upstairs.
"My...friend? Yea, friend, used to live here." He said. His voice sounded uncertain, as though he didn't trust his own memory. He was probably lying, but not on purpose. His memory was just that bad.
Rukia walked upstairs and opened the first door on the left. She walked inside and saw a bed with faded curtains and torn up bedding. She stepped to the bed and sat down. She kicked her feet back and forth and hit a crate of some sort. Rukia hopped to the floor and fell to her knees. She peaked underneath and saw a black trunk. She pulled it out, which was no easy task considering how heavy it was. She dusted the top off with the sleeve of her dress. It read a name, "Yachiru". She started to open it slowly. Even the damn lid was heavy.
Rukia threw the trunk's lid to the floor and saw a whole bunch of Barbie dolls, maybe a hundred. She picked one up that was missing a head and she cuddled it.
"You're my new best friend!" She said and smiled.
"Rukia, I'm going into town!" Father called. Rukia, still holding, the Barbie doll, raced downstairs and nodded her head.
"Don't go anywhere, there are bad people out there. Danger lurks," He said and pointed to her, "I mean it." Rukia nodded and watched Father leave. There aren't bad people. There aren't. Rukia thought to herself. Mother and Sister might have died from the hands of people, but it wasn't their fault. Father said when he killed Mother he was 'saving' her, so that is what the woman who killed her sister did. God thought it was time for them to leave, and so he took them. There aren't bad people. No one would hurt her or Father.
Rukia walked to the kitchen window and watched Father work with the old pick-up truck that sat in the driveway when they got there. Rukia wondered if it would ever work again. The little girl walked back upstairs and sat on her bed in her new room she claimed. "It's time for bed." She thought. Today has been long, very long. The sun was almost gone, the skies were bright pink. Rukia held her Barbie doll in her arms and drifted off to sleep.
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Author's Note:
Should I continue this? Is it to confusing? Please tell me what you think of this story. If it is worth continuing I will make the chapters longer. Thank you.