He shifted uncomfortably, warily eyeing the girl in front of him. Desmond actually almost didn't see her there, with how quiet she was. She looked like a dwarf, sitting in a chair that was a little too large for her. Her head was tucked down to her chest, like that dog they used to keep at the Farm when it ate his shoes.
"What's your name?" he asked. The girl just kept staring at her hands. She must be thinking about something really hard, he thought.
"Hey!" He tapped her shoulder. Her head snapped up to look at him. Blue eyes widened, and Desmond worried that he might've scared her. His cheeks grew warm, flustered now that she was staring at him.
"I said 'what's your name?'" Desmond knew there were only 5 kids here, so this girl had to be new.
"OH!" She moved a bit of blond hair behind her ear.
"Lu-Lucy," she stammered. "My name is Lucy."
"I'm Desmond." He stuck out his hand, the way mom had told him to greet new people. The girl – Lucy – stared at him for a moment before hesitantly gripping it with her cold one.
There was an awkward silence. Both of them looked down, but when he peaked back, he saw that she was looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Desmond opened his mouth, to say something, anything really, when Lucy beat him to it.
"How old are you?" It took him a minute to remember how old he was; Dad always did say that he was too forgetful-
"I'm seven."
"I'm six," replied Lucy.
The floodgates opened, with every question they could think of pouring out of their tiny mouths. Desmond tried his hardest to remember all of it. He learned that Lucy was an only child, just like him. Her favorite color was red, and his was blue. Lucy liked cats and rabbits. Desmond preferred dogs. Her favorite thing to do was read, while his was to climb the trees all around their house. Lucy's favorite food was spaghetti, while Desmond's was the blueberry pancakes his mom made him for his last birthday, and both of their birthdays were in March.
"Where are you from?" he finally asked. A huge grin spread on her face. Desmond decided that he liked it when she did that.
"I'm from Chicago! There's this really good pizza place across the street, and my friend Paula lives next door!" She started describing to Desmond what her neighborhood was like with as much detail as possible. Truth be told, Desmond actually couldn't catch all of it, her words moving at a speed too fast for him to comprehend. He was frantically trying to understand what she had just said before he realized that she had abruptly stopped talking. Her head was tilted down again, staring at her hands clenched in tiny, trembling fists.
"What's wrong?" he asked. She hesitated before speaking again.
"My parents," she started. "They told me they had to go."
"Go where?"
"I don't know," she flinched. "They said that where they were going was too dangerous for me, and that I had to stay here."
"Did they leave because of the bad men?" Desmond asked. His mom and dad always told him stories of the bad men.
"What bad men?"
"The ones my mom and dad always talk about." Desmond frowned. "My parents are always talking about how if I leave the Farm bad men will get me, and that I shouldn't leave without anyone." Lucy's eyes widened, tearing up before Desmond could do anything. He jumped back in surprise, not knowing what to do.
"Nonono – don't cry," he exclaimed. "Please don't cry!" She sniffled a bit in the chair, but otherwise the tears kept dropping silently. He reached a hand to her shoulder, trying to comfort her in some way.
"I'm sure your parents are fine! Mine are nuts anyways!" He started waving his hands in the air. "They're always going on and on about bad guys, they never stop talking about them, but I've never seen one, and I go out into the forest all the time!"
"Really, now?" Desmond whipped around to see his father standing in the doorway to the kitchen. The wrinkles in his face were twisted into a deep set frown.
"We're going to have a talk about that later," his dad said. He looked at Lucy, still sitting in the chair. Desmond looked back at her. The tears had stopped, but a few sniffs escaped here and there.
"Come, Lucy." She got down from the chair, and Desmond could see that she was actually only a few inches shorter than him. She followed his father outside of the room, barely sparing a passing glance as she left.
"Bye Desmond," she whispered. Desmond was too lost for words to respond verbally, halfheartedly waving his hand in the air after her. He stood there for a moment, dumbstruck, when he heard his father calling back to him:
"Go to your room, Desmond." Breaking him out of the trance, Desmond grumbled as he made his way back upstairs to the room he occupied to himself. After finishing his nightly rituals, getting a visit from his mom and a lecture from his dad, Desmond finally laid down to sleep. The last thing he thought about before bed was Lucy's smile.
He hoped he'd see it again.