"Do you think I'm pretty?"

Huey absolutely abhorred the instances in which she would bombard him with this stupid question. He laid on his back while she sat erect, next to him, underneath their serene tree, surrendering to Autumn. The breeze was chilled yet pleasant, as the Hill had seemed to sometimes split a wind gust, or perhaps it was just the difference in altitude. Their Afro's lightly bounced with the wind. It was the last clear nights for a while, or so the Weather Channel had predicted. Huey had taken it upon himself to read his Almanac he had for reasons undefined and was slightly amused that the book had predicted the same overcast and storms to linger. Hues of indigo and caramel-orange coated the skies as the sun made its way to descending.

Usually Huey had come to his sacred Hill to seek spiritual insight or to develop his deepest and profound thoughts, but this time he had just wanted to clear his head for a change. He had already attempted meditating, but his brother proved to be a hopeless distraction. Jazmine was not exactly any better. He opened one eye and looked at the mixed child clinging to her knees, eyes indicating her need of approval. He was a little disgusted.

"Jazmine, go home to your parents if you want to be called pretty."

"But they have to tell that! I know you wouldn't lie to me!"

"You're seriously drawing unnecessary worry over your looks, and you use the fact that they lied to you to rationalize it? Jazmine, they've lied to you about almost everything. I always try to warn you about you're getting into, and you never believe me until things get disastrous. Why, out of everything I could enlighten you on, do you wish to know how I think you look?"

She sighed and crossed her arms. "I just wanted to know! You never gave me a straight answer! I won't ask any more." Huey was sure that he had not heard the end of it. The sun had been more than half way down the mountain when they fully watched the sunset.

"We should probably get going now. It'll be dark by the time we get home."

"Why can't we just stay a little-"

"No." He gave her a wicked scowl that told her to give up. The message conveyed well to her as they walked down. The street lights were lit and the suburbs quiet. Jazmine was well adjusted to his bitterness enough to be able to continue to talk him into madness. "Huey?"

He continued to lead them. "I've been having a bad dream a lot lately and it's really bothering me. Don't you know a lot about dreams and stuff?"

"We all have that dream where we are naked. It's a primal instinct."

"In my dream I'm dying. But it's like I've been killed and I'm alone in the dark somewhere outside." She began crying silently. "Sometimes I feel like a scary monster is gonna get me, Huey." A group of three racoons knocked over empty metal trash bins across the street, making Jazmine yelp and jump onto Huey's back. He almost immediately dropped her off of him. She tailgated him, holding onto his long, dark pea coat. He grunted inwardly, but he decided that it didn't impede his movement, so he let it go.

"Jazmine, should you meet any monsters in this world, they'll all be human. I promise you that."

"I don't want to get killed by anybody!" She began crying.

"It's life, Jazmine! People have been atrocious to each other in regards to human rights and dignity since civilization began. There are murderers, rapists, child molesters, slave owners, corrupted power officials and governments, and they're walking all among us! You probably didn't even know there's a man kidnapping little girls around this damn neighborhood. If you thought what Wuncler did to you with that lemonade stand was cruel, you should visit the girls our age working in his Vietnamese sweatshop, or the mass farming industry he owns where your precious horse was coming from!"

She still cried. Why was he being so mean? He had never been this particularly snappy.

"Apparently you're actually a complete Caucasian after all. You don't know what it is to be horrified."

"And you do?" She asked back.

"I've seen enough in my lifetime so far. More than enough, more than you could ever deal with. Most of it didn't even happen to me. You could never deal with anything horrible. You've never had to suffer."

She was hurt, but she was scared. She still clung as Huey could feel her vulnerability. They walked withing inches of each other until they were near Jazmine's house. As per his decorum with her, he walked her to her doorstep and left as soon as she closed her door. He wondered why he even bothered with her sometimes. He thought that even though she didn't know much of reality, she still listened to him, and would even help him in whatever he needed done. But that made her another sheep, though. He felt so conflicted about her personality. It just truly frustrated him that she was so smart but so sheltered. When she wasn't being a sensitive crybaby she could actually hold her own against him. She was even able to send some bitter remarks that actually made Huey feel bad. The more he thought about that, the more he realized that he must have made her feel like that on an almost daily basis whenever he preached upon his peripheral soapbox to her.

He had brushed his teeth and changed into his pajamas by the stroke of ten on the clock. Riley had been wasting his mind on television downstairs for his weekend, leaving Huey to a one person sleeping situation. He laid down on his bed. Reflecting on his day, he felt a little guilty for being so harsh to Jazmine. He didn't mean half of what he said. Well, he did, but he could have put it into better context. He also had taken particular interest in her dream. Recounting his dreams, he had some too eerily similar to her frightening nightmare. If there was one region where he should be more sympathetic, it was the significance of dreams and their affects on people. He had himself many nights of repeated terror he wished not to know and forget. He knew she was feeling the exact same way if she had to bring it up. He dismissed everything and went to sleep.

When it was noon Huey had been outside, raking the mountains of leaves. It killed him that the tree hadn't even begun to fully shed and he was the only one who did outside work. He was actually the one who did the most work around the house, to which he figured to be his lot in his child life. Compared to what other kids were being forced to do, it wasn't such a bad deal in the end. He had finally gotten the leaves into a neat and concise pile. He was furtively proud of his work there. He threw the rake to the tree in the yard, it landing upright and read for it's next use, which seemed to be pretty soon as Jazmine jumped into the pile.

"Hey!" He scolded. "I expect you to help clean this." He scowled. She giggled and grabbed the rake, doing as she was told.

"I just thought I'd say hi before I left for Cindy's. I'm hanging out with her all day until my parents come home at eight." The mess wasn't that big, and she was already half done.

"That's pretty late. Aren't you going to sleep over at her house?"

"I don't wanna sleep over. Besides, I know a shortcut through the park."

"Whatever." He muttered as he went inside his house. She stood up and sighed as she walked away. She wondered why she even bothered with his miserable attitude. She knew by now he didn't really care for her. Suppressing her hurt, she sulked her way to Cindy's house. It had been overcast and gray, amplifying her gloomy mood. She just felt like today was going to be a bad day.

Huey wasn't too happy to be woken up merely minutes after going to bed that night. Tom and Sarah had rudely interrupted their Saturday night sleep by pounding relentlessly on their door, screaming as if they had witnessed a genocide. Huey was the only person with any incentive to open the door to the annoying couple. Their faces have never looked so flushed and morose. He saw crying parents without their crybaby daughter. He knew immediately it had to do with Jazmine.

"Jazmine never came home tonight, did she?" Huey concluded.

They incoherently cried.

He didn't need to deal with their incessant tears, so his briskly promised to find her and dashed to his room with utmost urgency. He didn't bother to listen to his sibling's protests to being woken up as he threw on his boots and pea coat. He also went under his bed and strapped his katana to his back. He dashed out of the window and made his way to the place he was sure to find her.

Meanwhile, Jazmine wished that Huey was there to tell her how stupid she was for being at the park so late and alone and to take her home. She was cold, too, because at Cindy's house, they had given each other makeovers. Jazmine wore a black dress more appropriate for the Summer time. She had no make up on other than a light peach lip gloss. She noticed she wasn't even at the fun part of the park, instead being on a convoluted path around the woods. She even wished her father were with her, if only to distract her from the dark. She couldn't even call the moon for company.

She walked around without a jacket and shivered. She enjoyed the sounds of the leaves crunching under her feet remotely. Some squirrels were still out and about in the park, mostly running around in the chase of mating. She walked until she saw the single working light post in a while near the pond. She discovered areas of ice on the surface of the water. That meant that at most the temperature was thirty two degrees. She knew she had to get out of there as soon as possible now. She was thankful at least there was no windchill. She leaned over and saw her reflection in the water. Only now she realized how foolish she looked like that. Cindy had somewhat straightened her hair, which was already coiling back into her beautiful African curls. Although it was huge and poofy, her hair was actually as soft as the clouds. She had taken out the pins and put her hair back into her puffy pigtails. The dress had pockets that came in use for holding all of the jewelry she was sick of wearing. She continued to evaluate her phenotypes and began to feel shame for trying to modify what she had. Her hair and light tint to the skin were her only prominent African features. She recalled Huey telling her father to enhance her African beauty. Ever since she heard him tell her father such a statement, she's been obsessed with getting Huey to admit she thought she was pretty. She had rarely heard anything positive come out of the young rebel's mouth, and for the good to be directed to her; she felt that she deserved it to a degree for being there for Huey and for him always being there for her. Now she desperately wished Huey was there to walk her home.

She stopped wasting time and walked away from the freezing body of water. She continued strolling down the dimly lit sidewalk, determined to get home. She vowed to never stay out at dark ever again. Her nightmare came flashing to her again, making her even more fearful than before. In contrast to her optimistic nature, she carried the idiosyncrasy that manifested as a pessimist in distress. Should this ordeal be during the daytime, or about her getting grounded for staying out too long, she'd be perfectly rational. But her mind crawled into the crevices of utter despair. She was not a natural leader, this being her weakness.

She was walking in a cloud of her fearful thoughts as she was violently jerked into the arms of someone who was obviously much stronger and taller. Her scream only lasted a second before he covered her mouth roughly with his arm. She wiggled and writhed but it only made her attacker latch on tighter. He had a putrid stench coated all over him that made Jazmine want to gag. "You're a pretty girl. You shouldn't be alone out here, should ya?" She managed to muffle out, "Please don't kill me mister!"

He began pacing to the woodsy area of the park, leaving the trail. "Might as well make use of you while I got you, don't worry swee-" He cut himself off with a slash proceeded by an agonized scream. She was dropped and fell to the ground. She noticed a liquid was pouring on her, possibly rain. She couldn't see much of what was going on, but she saw the man get farther away from her, about three feet. She got up and heard another slash, seeing a bright light. She soon heard a huge splatter, feeling drenched. It was her turn to scream as the mangled man fell beside her, lifeless and crimson. She looked at her hands covered in blood, aghast. She was completely covered. She heard a panting in front of her.

She saw Huey, standing tall (for her height) with his katana in hand. It was no longer shining with silver, rather the luster of scarlet. His jacket was tattered and he was covered in even more blood than Jazmine. He slid his weapon back into its case on his back. He reached into his pocket and took out a small spray bottle, spraying his hands and the guy. It smelled heavily like Windex to her. He was thankful he had the sense to bring ammonia.

Huey looked at Jazmine's petrified face. Her eyes were fixed on the corpse of the man who was close to molesting her in the cold. He looked just to validate to himself he was dead. She knew that his intentions were perverse, for his placement of hands was not so innocent. He had noticed too. She was too terrified to even cry, frozen in place as the weather had wished. Huey truly felt sorry for Jazmine. He had wished for as long as he knew her to corrupt the fallacy she had been deluding herself with, but never like this. For Huey, this was not his first, or last, action of extermination. He hadn't felt guilty in killing him, but he didn't take any joy in it either. Well, in this case, he kind of did, feeling satisfied knowing his secured spot in Hell has been taken. He saw the blood on her face, already freezing. Her face illuminated in the lunar light when the moon cascaded it's shine on the dark Earth.

"You look pretty tonight, Jazmine."

She slowly took steps towards him. She sheepishly wrapped her arms around his torso, slowly leaning into him. She was still seeing the trauma of the events that just unfolded, but she was feeling safer near Huey. She had never been more sure of anything else in her life: Huey would protect her. She would never again be upset at his acts of "cruelty", no. This had finally disillusioned her with the world and exposed her to the evil that it is. She knew that Huey would always be there to guide and enlighten her. She knew now that she would stay by his side no matter what to support him in whatever escapade he had planned. Against his stoic nature, Huey tapped into his empathy and wrapped his arms protectively around Jazmine. He was thankful that he had made it on time before anything too traumatic happened. But he saw the bastard's hands and her broken soul. It could probably be mended from this incident, but they both knew it was a night they'd never be able to escape.

Jazmine dispatched from his body heat and shivered on her own again. She felt a sudden warmth when she saw Huey putting his jacket on her, arms through sleeves and all. She was too depressed and shocked to move on her own much. He crouched down and took her arms over his neck, grabbing her legs where her knees connected to the thigh, and began to walk upright. He hated the fact that time revealed its lessons in hindsight. That was the real reason he bothered with trying to teach her the truth about the world. He wanted to prevent this from needing to happen by letting her know not to do what she couldn't handle. He wasn't sure what he was going to say to their worried families at home, carrying a shell shocked Jazmine on his back, both drenched in blood. He was ready in the absolute to take whatever consequences came of this night. As luck would have it, they were all inside of the Freeman household living room; an annoyed but concerned Robert and Riley had executed futile attempts to console the grief stricken DuBios'. Robert knew too well what happened to little girls who were wandering around in the night, and it sickened him. He, and as they all feared, other people, knew she was a beautiful girl.

They had finally made it to the stoop in front of his house. Jazmine was standing on her own; the duo had been silent for about a minute or so. She sighed and went closer to Huey. "Thank you for saving me Huey." She hugged him again, retaining his body heat for herself and him as a source of comfort. In a display of rare affection, Huey gave Jazmine a quick little kiss on her lips. He rang the doorbell and held her close, scowling at the world while she cried.